The Impossible Race: Cragbridge Hall, Volume 3 Read online

  Carol’s picture was next. She looked a little younger and wore a large toothy grin. It looked like a glossy pic of an actress. It probably was. “We look goooooood,” Carol said, elbowing Abby. “Seriously, they might want to just give us the trophy right now.”

  “I’m not sure looking good has anything to do with winning,” Abby said.

  “Well, if it does, we’re off to a good start,” Carol said.

  After all the teams had been introduced, Landon spoke again, outdoor lighting clicking on to illuminate him. “Remember that after every event, half of the teams will be eliminated. We start with fifty-two teams. So after the first round of competition, only twenty-six will remain. After the second round, there will be thirteen, and after the third, we’ll narrow it down to six. Those six teams will then compete in the final round for the championship.”

  Abby swallowed hard. They would have to make each cut, always at least in the top half of the competition. Otherwise, they’d be eliminated, and someone else would find out the secret.

  “The highest score,” Landon continued, “wins the trophy and will earn . . . the . . . prize.” He said the last words very awkwardly, like he wasn’t sure what to say after the trouble from the last announcement.

  Sarah jumped in. “And now the clue that will tell you how to prepare for the first event in the Race. The clue is . . .” She paused dramatically, and held it an uncomfortably long amount of time. Several more sets of outdoor lighting turned on. “That there is no clue. This challenge is a bit different. As a committee, we decided to start off this year bigger and better than before. No preparation. So ready or not, here it is!”

  No preparation? The Race was beginning right now?

  “Team, this is crazy,” Anjum said in a group chat. “But I like it.”

  “True to the name of the Race,” Sarah said, “this challenge will require your speed, knowledge, and skill with many of the inventions in this school. You are on the lookout for squares like this.” Sarah raised an object above her head. It also appeared on the screen for everyone to get a better look. It was barely larger than her palm, was mostly transparent, but had a navy blue border.

  “I want you to move,” Anjum commanded. “Don’t worry about the instructions; I’ll patch you in. Derick and Rafa, go to the avatar lab. Get there fast. Jess and Piper, to the robotics shop.” Before Anjum could move on to the next order, the first four students were already on their way. The crowd seemed too excited to even notice them moving in the dark—except for Jacqueline. Abby saw her watching them. She started speaking with the boy she had been holding hands with earlier and pointed in their direction.

  “As soon as anyone touches one of the squares,” Sarah continued to explain to the whole crowd from the stage, “it will read your fingerprint, give points to your team, and give you the next clue.”

  “Malcolm, to the geography wing,” Anjum directed. “I’m in a virtual booth. Nia, you stay here. It may be where we get the first clue. Abby and Carol, to a Bridge lab.” Abby thought he sounded a bit more commanding as he mentioned their names.

  As Abby and Carol began running to the closest Bridge lab, Abby saw several members of Jacqueline’s team get up and leave, jogging in different directions. They were copying their strategy.

  “Each team will have a different route of clues.” Abby heard Landon’s voice explaining the challenge as she ran toward the Hall, the building where the Bridge labs were kept. “Some challenges are the same, some are different, and some come in a different order, but each journey has been determined fair by the committee. Follow the clue you gain from one square to find the next, and then the next. Each team will need to find seven squares. As soon as you have all seven, you have completed the challenge. The fastest team wins.”

  Abby and Carol entered the doors of the building. Anjum was a genius. When they found their first square, they would already have their team scattered across the campus at different inventions. Even if the next clue didn’t lead to an invention they were at, they would have someone closer to where they needed to be than the other teams who were all gathered in the same place.

  “Please turn on all the outdoor lights,” Landon said over the earpieces connected to Abby’s rings. She was jogging down the hall toward the Bridge lab. She had seen the campus lit up at night; it was like a football stadium during a night game. “There are squares in the branches of each tree surrounding this stage. Now, find one and BEGIN!”

  “Nia, go!” Anjum commanded.

  “I’m on it,” they all heard Nia say. She must have left her rings on, because they also heard her steps and her heavy breath and her feet as she ran. She sounded fast. Not a surprise for a member of the Crash.

  “Everyone else to your positions as quickly as possible,” Anjum said. “Many of you aren’t there yet. Unless the clues really surprise me, this should pay off.”

  They all heard rustling. “Dang tree. It had to be tall,” Nia’s voice came across the call.

  “Don’t even pretend that’s hard, Nia,” Malcolm said. “You climb trees several times a day.”

  “Yeah,” Nia answered, “but as a monkey. It’s . . .” she panted, “a bit more difficult as a human. Ouch! And it’s scratchy. I see it. Almost there.” After a few more seconds—“Got it. Come on, come on . . . It’s analyzing my fingerprint. Come on . . . This thing is slow.”

  “Judging from what I can see from the broadcast, Nia, you were the fastest up a tree. Good work,” Anjum said.

  “Okay, here we go,” Nia answered. “The clue is a list of words: Think, Epic, Divine, Poem, Gates, Statue, Comedy.”

  “Unless someone has already guessed this clue,” Anjum said, “Derick and Rafa, use your rings to search all the words together. Malcolm and Maria search whichever words sound most unique to you together. Nia and Jess, no rings, just think how these could all work together. Piper, you take divine. It stands out to me. Search it with the others.”

  “Maybe I should take divine too,” Carol said. “It fits me.”

  “Abby and Carol, search whatever you want,” Anjum said.

  Was he letting them do whatever they wanted because they naturally came at the end of the list, or was it because he didn’t trust them to take an assignment? Abby decided that it was best not to think about it and get to work.

  They went through combination after combination.

  “Epic poem,” Carol called out. “It sounds like something fitting for Cragbridge Hall. And I’ve got a list of them: Paradise Lost, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Divine Comedy, The Iliad.”

  “Divine Comedy,” Anjum said. “Those words are also in our list of clues. That’s the right track, Carol.”

  She did it. The challenge had only been going for less than a minute and Carol had already proved she had a place on the team.

  Relief, followed by jealousy.

  “Wait. Wait. Wait,” Malcolm’s voice came over Abby’s earpiece. “What’s the Divine Comedy about? All I remember is that I was disappointed that it wasn’t funny.”

  “Oh, I know that one,” Piper said. “It’s some guy’s journey through the kingdoms of the dead.”

  “A story?” Maria said. “What are we supposed to do with a story? Read it aloud in the Chair?”

  “We could study its history on the Bridge,” Abby suggested.

  “Not yet,” Anjum responded. “What about the other words? Is there a statue in the poem? Gates? And what about the word think?”

  “There are gates. Dante stops to think there,” Jess threw in, her voice quiet but firm. “At least that’s what my search says.”

  “The Thinker!” Malcolm called out. “It’s a famous statue by Rodin, but some people think it’s supposed to be Dante thinking at the gates of h-e-double toothpicks. Sorry . . . I promised my mama that when I went away to school I wouldn’t swear or drink or smoke.”

  “It’s different when it’s part of an epic poem,” Maria said.

  “Not for me,” Malcolm said. “Or my ma
ma.”

  “Isn’t there a copy of The Thinker somewhere on campus?” Derick asked.

  “Just outside the math hall,” Anjum said.

  “And going into math is kind of like the gates of h-e-double hockey sticks,” Carol said. “Someone was really thinking on that one.”

  Abby heard giggling across the wire.

  “Malcolm is closest,” Anjum said. “Run to the statue! Run! Run! Run!”

  Oscars and Ancient Argentina

  If I had to guess,” Anjum said, “we’re in the lead, but let’s not act like it. Read the next clue as soon as you’ve got it, Malcolm.”

  Malcolm’s Southern drawl came over the message, winded from the run. “All right, here it is: Treasure chest, Filter, Not yourself, Maiden’s hair.”

  “You know what to do,” Anjum said. “Call out whatever may be a good guess.”

  “Maybe it’s me,” Carol said. “I’ve got great hair, and I’m a maiden.”

  “I asked for good guesses,” Anjum quipped back.

  “Wow,” Carol said. “Don’t get grumpy. It’s bad for team morale.” Derick bit the inside of his cheek. He had insisted Carol be on the team and she was popping off whatever came to mind. Maybe it was how she dealt with the pressure. At least she had helped on the first clue.

  “Maiden’s hair” sounded unique and kind of weird. Derick typed it into his rings then skimmed over the first entries. “Wait,” he said. “Maiden’s hair is also a name for a saltwater plant you can put in aquariums.”

  “That’s it,” Anjum said. “Filter, treasure chest. They fit.”

  “And we have the largest aquarium in the zoo portion of the school,” Rafa said.

  “You can only go in as avatars,” Anjum added.

  “We’re on it,” Rafa called back. He and Derick already had their high-tech suits on and had hooked up to harnesses to be ready.

  “Uh,” Derick said, not keying his rings so everyone else could hear. This was just for Rafa. “I’ve never done fish before.”

  “Just follow my lead,” Rafa instructed. “You’ll do fine.” Derick would do better than fine with most of the avatars, but the fish were the only group he hadn’t done. And Anjum could have picked any of the other members of the Crash, but he had picked Derick. Time for a crash course.

  Crash course. Derick chuckled to himself. Dumb.

  “There are two giant aquariums, but one is freshwater,” Rafa instructed. “I think it has to be in the saltwater tank. Choose an oscar. I think they’re easiest. Don’t worry which color.”

  Oscar? That was a kind of fish? It didn’t sound like it. More like the first name that popped into a kid’s head when he brought the fish home from the pet store. Of course, it was also Derick’s grandpa’s name. Derick quickly searched through the fish and picked the first oscar he saw. It had a bright orange body with black splotches.

  “The machine has to find your avatar and drop it in the water,” Rafa said. “What you want to do is flex your muscles on one side of your body while you let the other side relax. Then switch. That will move your caudal fin back and forth—that’s the fin at the very back. You use your other fins to steer.”

  Derick tried to think of the movements, flex one side and relax the other.

  “I’m in the aquarium,” Rafa said. “You’ll be here soon. For me, it helps to just imagine I’m a fish and do what comes naturally.”

  Yeah, but he had done all of these avatars for years. Derick synced to the fish avatar just as a mechanical arm dropped it into the water. “Whoa!” It was like suddenly being on a roller coaster as it careened downward. Derick took in a quick breath before he hit the water. He tried to stabilize himself with his fins on the side. It worked a little, but felt flimsy. He tried to kick too, but quickly figured out he currently didn’t have legs, and his fins definitely didn’t move like legs.

  What had Rafa said? Flex one side while relaxing the other. Derick tried and flipped himself entirely over to the left. He relaxed the right side and flexed the left, but overcorrected. He was now laying on his right side as he went through the water.

  Derick held his breath for nearly half a minute before he realized he didn’t have to. His real body wasn’t in the water.

  “I’m checking the treasure chest,” Rafa gave an update. Derick saw his friend’s fish darting at the treasure chest like a torpedo. “Start into the maiden’s hair.”

  Derick couldn’t quite bring himself upright, but managed to swim down into the plants that looked like green tufts of hair. He weaved around one, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. A large flat fish darted right in front of him. It seemed startled. Maybe it hadn’t seen sideways swimming avatar fish before. Derick moved to the next plant, and then the next. He was on his fourth one when he saw it—something white in the middle of the plant. He circled his front fins, trying to hold himself in place to get a good look. It definitely didn’t seem like it belonged there. He tried to grab it with his mouth, but ended up just bumping it with his fish face. It probably would have been better if a different member of the Crash were here.

  His bump was enough to turn the white piece of plastic. “Something’s here,” Derick said. “It says ‘Room three. Four across. Two back.’”

  “Good job, Derick,” Rafa said.

  “Of course,” Anjum said. “They had to put the actual square somewhere else. When you’re a fish you can’t exactly put your thumb to one and be identified.”

  “My best guess is that it refers to the classrooms next to the avatar lab,” Rafa said. That made sense. They were the closest rooms and where students learned all about the different species of animals and how to become like them with the help of the avatars.

  Derick concentrated away from his robot fish and back on his real body. He pressed the back of his neck to sever the connection between him and the fish. Abandoned, his fish avatar would simply float to the surface. That might also freak out the fish who had seen him swimming sideways.

  Derick unharnessed himself as fast as he could and darted into the hall. Room one. He ran farther down, passing room two. When he entered room three, Rafa was already there, looking underneath a chair.

  “Got it,” Rafa said. “It’s reading my fingerprint.”

  “Good job, you two,” Anjum said. “Everyone else get ready.”

  • • •

  Abby waited. She hated waiting. Her grandfather’s secret was at stake and she was doing absolutely nothing. Nia and Malcolm had run to the first clues. Derick and Rafa had swum through the aquarium. And she was just waiting by the Bridge listening to Carol comment about everything—from how cool Malcolm’s deep voice sounded to how Derick would probably make a very cute fish.

  And she waited as Nia had to play the next seven notes of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony from where the clue had stopped playing. She grabbed a guitar, looked up the piece, followed along, and eventually plucked out the notes. Turns out her guitar hobby was useful after all.

  And Abby waited as Maria and Jess dissected a virtual frog in the Biology lab to find the next clue. The clue was written on the frog’s liver. So gross. Abby was glad she didn’t have to do that one.

  “It says the next challenge is for five members of the team,” Maria said. “And the key words are: ‘Virtual plains, Millions of years ago, The sixth sphere, Five species.’”

  “It’s at the virtual booths,” Anjum said. “I’m already there. Malcolm and Maria, you’re the closest. Come help me. Then Derick and Rafa and Carol and Abby, each of you send one of your pair and leave the other just in case we need you for the next challenge.”

  Carol turned to Abby. “I really want to go super bad, but you’re faster.”

  Abby took off. She sprinted down the hall toward the physics and math rooms where they had labs of virtual booths. She was better at running distance than speed, but she was fast enough. With every step she hoped she wasn’t about to mess this up. Anjum was giving her a chance and she didn’t want to be kicked off the
team. And she definitely didn’t want anyone else finding out the secret.

  “The clue had to be about the sixth sphere in the holding bins,” Anjum said. “Whatever virtual world that sphere holds, we’re going in.” There were several sounds of rustling as Anjum moved. “I’ve got it. Everyone sync in with my world as soon as you can.”

  Malcolm and Maria said they were nearly in the room.

  “I’m stepping into the world now.” Only a moment passed before Anjum whistled. “Impressive! Whoever made this is good.”

  It had impressed Anjum, the student who had made a virtual space station orbiting Jupiter.

  “Whoa!” Malcolm said. He must have made it into the virtual world as well.

  “Quit gawking, boys, and figure out what we are supposed to do,” Maria scolded. Abby liked her sass.

  Abby raced past another line of lockers, seeing students from other teams running in different directions. She was only a hall away.

  “We have to find the key words,” Anjum said. “And I would guess they have to do with the list you can access at the upper right-hand corner of your vision. There are five species listed there.” Five species. That was one of the clues. “Quickly look at all of them and keep your eyes peeled. I’ll go north. Malcolm, east. Maria, south. Rafa, west. And Abby,” he paused. She didn’t like that pause. “Pick a direction.”

  She was a leftover. Abby didn’t know what she was about to face, but it still felt like she wasn’t a high priority.

  “Just some friendly advice,” Malcolm said. “Don’t get stomped or eaten. I’m pretty sure that will kick you out of the world. Oh, and you can also select a huge virtual tranquilizer gun. I’d recommend it. I doubt these things are all vegetarians.”

  What was going on? And what kind of species were in this virtual world? Abby raced into the room just in time to see Rafa step into a booth. She went into the next, put on her suit, hooked herself up to the suspension equipment, and synced up to the world Anjum was in.

  In an instant, she felt a warm humid mist and smelled a mix of ocean and leaves. She gazed at a stretching landscape of mountains and trees with a green-water coastline within a mile or two. Then she saw it. A bird. No. Not a bird. It flew closer and closer. It didn’t have feathers, but a long snout and clawed feet. And it was the size of a car.