Jake looked at her with chicken in his mouth. “Why?”
“Connor told me about them, they sound like an exciting sport.”
Jake snorted. “Not interesting for us. Did he mention the part about being picked last? You won’t do any better, you are new and you can’t even turn into anything.”
“You can Jake. You are better off than us,” said Beth.
Jake puffed up a bit with pride. I believe it might have been the first time any girl had ever admired his transformation abilities. “Yes, I can change, sure. But I’m not very good at it. I can’t do special forms. I can’t make just one part of me change like some guys can.”
“Why not? Have you tried?”
“He never practices,” I said. “I tell him he should, but he doesn’t like to. He’s traumatized or something.”
“Shaddup,” muttered Jake. He put his head down and worked on his plate.
“Jake,” said Beth gently. “I bet you could do a lot of cool things. I mean with partial changes.”
“Like what?”
“Well, maybe you make a tongue that snaps out and nails someone’s dessert,” she said. She nodded suggestively toward the next table. Danny and Thomas had gotten to the dessert cart early and had ice cream cones in their hands.
Jake looked at them and smiled.
“That would be cool,” I said.
“And in Hussades, I bet you could gain powerful jumping legs.”
“That’s frogs,” I said. “Toads don’t really jump much.”
Beth gave me a look. This time I knew she was suggesting I shut my mouth.
“I can jump pretty far,” mused Jake. “I once got onto the roof with one hop and my father yelled at me for cracking the shingles.”
“Right,” said Beth, “Exactly.”
I could see that Jake’s mind was working now. I looked at Beth appreciatively. She had gone so quickly from someone who didn’t even believe in us to someone who was coaching Jake. She was one of a kind, that’s for sure.
Suddenly, Jake opened his mouth very wide. Inside, I could see a tongue, a huge tongue that must have gone all the way down his throat, which looked to be about a mile deep. His whole neck looked wider now. I knew he’d puffed it up to hold that huge tongue.
Beth and I looked at each other in shock. Before we could say anything. Jake snapped out that huge tongue of his. It traveled about as fast as a baseball pitch across the room. Thomas was enjoying his ice cream cone. It was a vanilla cone that had been dipped in chocolate.
We watched in amazement as the tongue reached out what had to be fifteen feet. Jake was no expert with it, however. Instead of snatching up the cone, the tip of it merely slapped the cone.
The cone flew out of Thomas’ hand and splattered on the floor. For a second the lunchroom fell silent as everyone figured out what had happened.
Then the place exploded in a wild storm of laughter.
Chapter Sixteen
After we’d finished a lengthy clean-up under the watchful glare of the lunch staff we went down to the basement. It was finally time for Hussades. I felt a familiar sweaty, jittery sensation come over me. Don’t get me wrong, I’d always loved watching the game as much as anyone. When I was expected to participate, however, Hussades seemed like an event created specifically to point out my complete lack of abilities. I was sure to be picked last, and that never felt good.
As it turned out, I wasn’t picked last. Not this time. What happened was far worse than that.
It started when Urdo walked in. She was in human form again and everyone fell quiet when she entered the cavernous basement. I noticed her feet were bare. She’d left her boots up in the laboratory. But I think most of the other kids just assumed she was in workout mode. This was natural enough, as the basement resembled a gymnasium. The floor was covered in blue and yellow foam rubber mats. There were straps hanging down with steel rings at the bottom and parallel bars and uneven bars.
Some of the kids were practicing on the equipment when Urdo came in. Jake tottered along on the balance beam and fell off with a whoop when he saw her. The rest of us giggled. Jake turned red and walked back into line with slumped shoulders.
Urdo, as usual, didn’t shout orders at us. She walked toward us, padding gracefully and silently over the mats. We fell silent and lined up without having to be told.
We’d all changed into our gym sweats. They were loose-fitting and well-suited to something like Hussades. She walked the line in front of us like a general reviewing her troops. She stopped in front of me.
I looked up and saw her piercing gaze. I stared back, without flinching. I had always believed when the game was over, you might as well make a brave show of it.
I was surprised to see Urdo give me a tiny nod of approval. She stared at me for a moment. I wondered then about her reasons for locking Beth and I in the Forever Room. Had she expected us to escape? Had it all been a test of some kind?
“Connor will be the first Captain,” she said loudly.
The crowd gasped and some groaned. No doubt, they feared I would pick them for a day of grim losses. No one was more shocked than I was. I opened my mouth, but didn’t protest or thank her. I snapped my jaws shut and set my lips in a firm line. Perhaps this was another test. If she wanted the worst player to run a team, then so be it, I would do the job as best I could.
She continued to walk along the line, slowly, dramatically. She stopped when she reached the end of the line.
“Danny,” she said finally, stopping in front of him.
With a confident grin, Danny stepped forward and gave her a short bow from the waist. “You won’t be disappointed,” he said.
Urdo raised her eyebrows at him, but made no remarks.
When she got to the end of the line, I realized I had to start thinking about my picks. Whom would I choose? I’d never made these decisions before!
“Captains, step forward,” she said.
Hesitantly, I walked out of line and turned around to face the class. I looked at Danny. He had his hands on his hips and his lips pursed. He looked smug and confident. He’d been a team Captain many times. I could see he was already piecing together a killer group in his mind.
I thought of copying his stance with my hands on my hips, but decided not to be so obvious. Instead, I put one hand up to my chin as if I was in deep thought. Inside, I was close to panic.
Urdo stepped between Danny and me and pulled out a coin. It was a large silver coin, like a silver dollar, but a bit smaller. I knew that coin, they always used that same old coin to start our games. They called it a denari, which meant it was a Roman coin, our History teacher had explained once. One side of the coin was stamped with an emperor’s head. On the other side was a woman lying on a couch.
“Call it, Danny,” said Urdo. She tossed the coin in the air.
“Heads!” shouted Danny.
The coin came down and thumped flatly on the mat. The head of a Roman emperor showed face-up.
“Hadrian smiles on you, today, Danny,” Urdo said.
“I pick Thomas,” he said without hesitation.
And then, just like that, it was my turn. Everyone looked at me. Everyone eyed me expectantly, as if a great bit of wisdom could fall from my lips at any moment.
