Ken looked confused, and Amanda-Nina couldn’t blame him. Nina had been coming on to him for days now, and here she was telling him she wasn’t interested in hanging out together! She couldn’t go on like this. Quickly, she gobbled three big spoonfuls of the sundae. Then she focused on the robot.
Easy-peasy. Amanda pulled out the earphones. ‘Nina, are you feeling all right?’
A dazed-looking Nina stared at the hot fudge sundae in front of her. ‘Where did that come from?’ She rubbed her head. ‘Did I faint or something?’
‘You’re not well,’ Amanda said firmly. ‘Come on, I’ll walk you home.’ She gave Nina a little push, and Nina got herself out of the booth.
Ken’s eyes darted back and forth between the two girls, and settled on Amanda. Then suddenly he grinned. ‘That was you,’ he said.
‘What’s he talking about?’ Nina asked.
‘Nothing,’ Amanda said. She heard a little dinging sound which told her she had a text message on her mobile. A second later, a ding came from Ken’s too.
Taking the phone out of her purse, Amanda looked for the message.
She was pretty sure that Ken was reading the very same message on his phone. They looked at each other.
‘Tomorrow?’ Amanda asked.
He nodded. ‘Tomorrow.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
PAUL CARTER, THE WHITE mouse, had been through a rough night. When Dr Paley learned that Paul wasn’t in his room, he’d become anxious. He’d had the institution locked down — no one could go in or out — and all the staff were alerted to be on the lookout for him. Paul didn’t dare leave the wall cavity, not even as a mouse.
So Dr Paley planned to take all the gifts away from the students. And if all the gifted students didn’t voluntarily submit to his ‘procedure’, the students would be eliminated. He didn’t hear Dr Paley explain how this would be done, but Paul didn’t doubt that he would find a way. And Madame trusted this man. She wouldn’t guess his intentions, and she would probably give him access to Paul’s classmates.
In a strange way, Paul understood the doctor’s plans. And he didn’t even think the doctor was evil — not like Serena Hancock, or Clare, or Mr Jackson the former principal. Dr Paley truly believed that the gifted students were dangerous, that they presented a threat to the world. And he believed he was doing what was best for society.
Only it wasn’t the best for Paul, or Amanda, or Ken, or any of his classmates. Dr Paley had to be stopped. And Paul was the only one who knew or cared about what Dr Paley wanted to do. He would have to stop him.
But Paul was a mouse, a tiny, insignificant creature which couldn’t do much worse than chew through a granola bar wrapper a little more efficiently than a cockroach.
Throughout the night, he wandered the narrow tunnels and crevices in the walls. It was cold in there, and he was hungry. But for the first time in a very long time, cold and hunger didn’t matter so much to him. He had more important things to think about.
He did have one other option. If mice had got into the building, there had to be a way out. If he could find an exit, and get far enough away so no one from Harmony House could see him, he could shift back into himself. He could seek out Amanda or Ken or Madame, and warn them. But even though he’d lost track of the time in his wanderings, he knew it had to be the middle of the night. His classmates, his teacher — none of them would be at school. He had no idea where any of them lived, or even how to contact them by phone, and even if he did manage to contact them, how could he make himself understood?
Only he didn’t want to run away. He wanted to stay who he was — well, not who he was at that very moment. He wanted to be a boy. He wanted to go back to his foster family. He’d never been able to talk to the Grangers, to have any real contact with them, but he knew they’d been kind to him. He wanted to know, to find out what kind of people they were, and why they took in foster children. He wanted to get to know the two other boys he’d been living with. Maybe they’d play games together, maybe they could have fun.
And more than anything, he wanted to be back at Meadowbrook Middle School, in Room 209. He wanted to know the other special gifted students, to become part of their world. To learn how they could all use their gifts to make the world a better place, so that the kind of people who killed his parents couldn’t get away with their crimes. What was it Madame had told them they could do? Benefit mankind. They could do that together. Running away, he’d just be alone again. A thing.
No, he had to stay and find some way to stop Dr Paley and his colleagues. So he made his way through the walls and back to the place where he knew he was just outside the office. And he waited.
He slept a little, off and on, but the hunger and the cold didn’t let him stay asleep very long. When some light came through a crack in the wall, he knew that it must be morning. And soon after that, he heard voices.
‘Ms Callow, I’ve got two young people coming at ten, and I won’t want to be disturbed while they’re in the office with me. Not even if it’s important.’
‘Yes, sir. Oh, and sir?’
‘Yes, Ms Callow?’
‘The Carter boy still hasn’t been located.’
Dr Paley let out a deep sigh. ‘Well. . If a strange animal appears in the building. . a lion, or, or a tiger, whatever it is. . tell Security not to shoot it. They can tranquillize the animal, but they shouldn’t try to kill it.’
There was a moment before the secretary choked out, ‘Sir?’
Dr Paley must have been a quick thinker. ‘I just heard on the radio about some animals escaping from the zoo. That’s all.’
‘I see. Yes, sir. I’ll notify Security.’
He examined the wall, feeling his way along as he searched for a hole big enough to let him get into the office. He was in luck — another mouse came from the opposite direction. Obviously, that little guy knew the area well. He disappeared from the tunnel. A second later, he heard Dr Paley curse.
‘Ms Callow, please send another memo to the director. Something has to be done about these mice.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Paul made his way to the point where the other mouse had escaped the tunnel. All thoughts of hunger and cold and fatigue had vanished. He perched on his hind legs and peered out.
He could see Dr Paley’s feet. The man was walking around the office. Paul could hear things being picked up, put down, moved around. The doctor must be setting things up for the procedure, Paul thought.
He settled down to wait.
CHAPTER TWENTY
‘HE SAID IT WOULDN’T hurt, right?’ Amanda asked Ken as they approached Harmony House. ‘Do you believe
