The Mysterious Benedict Society

Kate was appalled. “I can’t believe you two! Where’s this powerful love of truth Mr. Benedict talked about?”

Reynie wasn’t surprised by his friends’ responses. He too had been wary of the notion when it occurred to him. But were they not secret agents? Was not their very presence on the island a deception? Kate and Sticky’s reaction was just an instinctive response, he thought; they would come around in a minute.

Still, Reynie was troubled by Kate’s question. Where was his powerful love of truth? His mind resisted the hidden messages . . . but maybe not as much as his friends’ did. How could he know? Hadn’t he been sorely tempted to cheat on Mr. Benedict’s tests, when Rhonda made the offer? Was he perhaps not quite the truth-loving brave soul Mr. Benedict and everyone else thought him to be?

“Get real,” Constance was saying. “Mr. Curtain is the big deceiver, remember? We can beat him at his own game!”

Kate and Sticky had their doubts, but they were less adamant now. Sticky was polishing his glasses, saying he supposed it might be all right, and Kate had begun to pace, saying, “It’s just that I never imagined myself . . . I don’t know, it’s just hard for me to think that way. Reynie, do you really think that’s what Mr. Benedict is suggesting?”

“There’s one way to find out,” said Reynie, who really hoped he was right — not because he wanted to cheat, but because if cheating was Mr. Benedict’s idea rather than his own, Reynie would feel better about himself.

Sticky sent their query at once: Please advise about cheating.

A few minutes later a light began flashing in the woods. Sticky relayed the message as it came: Do Not

“I guess that settles it,” Kate said.

“There’s more,” said Sticky.

The rest of the message was this: Get Caught.

“I guess that settles it,” said Constance.

“Cheating practice” occupied the Mysterious Benedict Society for two full hours that night. The moment the children received permission, they applied themselves to finding the best strategies for “earning without learning,” as Constance called it. None of them had ever tried it before, and at first they made a very poor showing indeed. But they were nothing if not quick learners, and by the time they called it a night, they all felt reasonably confident they could cheat a cheater out of cheating lessons, nine times out of ten.

Their hard work paid off the next morning. The girls’ quiz scores finally began to improve. Given her height and sharp eyesight, it was simple enough for Kate to sit behind Reynie and copy over his shoulder, while Reynie kept his paper at a helpful angle. Their greatest difficulty lay in watching out for witnesses, but Kate and Reynie were good at this, and their teamwork produced excellent results. In fact, they were so heartened by their success that not even the morning’s hidden-message broadcasts dimmed their optimism.

Sticky and Constance’s cheating strategy was more complicated. Constance was too short to copy over a shoulder, and note passing was much too risky, so at last Reynie had suggested Morse code. Notoriously fidgety, Sticky signaled the answers by tugging his ear or tapping his temple — motions he disguised with head scratches, collar-straightening, and spectacle-polishing — and Constance sat in the back row, where none of the other students would notice her watching him.

The strategy worked, but not without problems. In the corridor between classes Constance complained under her breath, “Every time you have a real itch, I get the wrong answer.”

“Sorry,” Sticky said sheepishly. “I get itchy when I’m nervous. I’ll try to do better.”

“Don’t just try,” Constance said. “Actually do better.”

“Hey, my fidgeting isn’t the only problem, you know!” Sticky hissed. “It would help if you had practiced your Morse code at all!”

Constance’s face turned so red, her pale blue eyes glistened so brightly behind angry tears, and her wispy blond hair was in such a state of dishevelment that she looked more like a small child’s painting of a person than an actual person herself. A fierce display of vivid colors in odd proportions, she seemed to have stepped right out of a canvas for the sole purpose of throwing a fit.

“Now, children,” Kate said in a motherly tone, stepping between them. “Let’s not quibble about who’s to blame. Blaming is wrong. The important thing is to get along with one another, so that we may have better success cheating.”

“Not funny,” said Constance, but the joke did take the edge off her fury, and she said no more.

Nor did Sticky, who regretted his outburst, not least because it was imprudent to discuss cheating in the corridor, and even worse to mention Morse code. Was he crazy? What if he’d been overheard? The very prospect of the Waiting Room made him woozy.

And so the morning passed: struggling to ignore hidden-message broadcasts, concentrating on the lessons, cheating on every quiz. The four had a bit more to think about than the other students. Yet the boys continued making perfect scores, the girls were coming along nicely, the broadcasts eventually let up, and by lunchtime everyone was in an upbeat mood.

At the same time, they were on high alert for clues. Between classes they’d heard the rumor that Charlie Peters, one of the oldest Messengers at the Institute, was graduating. He hadn’t been in class all day, and some Executives had been seen with him in the dormitory that morning. This was the usual thing, someone said. Graduates never spoke to a soul when they left — apparently they were too high and mighty even to say good-bye to old friends. They had no choice, said another student; the Executives never allowed it.

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Reynie said as they made their way to the cafeteria for lunch.

“Good question,” Kate said. “And here’s our chance for some answers.” She pointed down an adjoining corridor, where S.Q. Pedalian had just appeared, escorting Charlie toward a distant exit. “Quick, you try to talk to him while I distract S.Q.”

“How do you propose to do that?” Constance asked. But Kate had already dashed off down the corridor, and Reynie and Sticky were hurrying after her.