"It's Rooker," said Jasper, sitting down at their lunch table next to Henry. Maggie was sitting across from them, picking anxiously at her tofu burger. "Rooker Ryan is the Smithson Specter."
"Ah, so you admit it's not a ghost," she said, pointing at him with her plastic fork. A chunk of tofu flew off of it and stuck onto his shirt. He wiped it off while she glanced down apologetically.
"Or," suggested Henry, "what if Rooker is a ghost?" Maggie and Jasper shared an exasperated look.
"Okay, I propose we ignore all of Henry's ideas," said Jasper.
"The motion is passed," said Maggie, idly unscrewing the top of her Dasani water bottle. "So what makes you so sure it's Rooker?"
"Well, first of all, there are all the stunts he and the Emoticonvicts have already pulled," Jasper began. "And, he was there late last night, right before I saw the Specter in the museum. And, you said he was hitting on you. Just like the Phantom and Christine!"
"Yeah," said Maggie, "except I think there's a difference in 'Hey, wanna come to a party?' and 'Hey, wanna come spend eternity with me as a masked exile with a hauntingly beautiful singing voice?'"
"Okay, okay," said Jasper. He was used to Maggie poking holes in theories that he and Henry put forward. It helped to balance out their group dynamic and to stop them from doing something stupid when they were wrong. However, this time he just knew that he was right. "The biggest clue of all: He's the Phantom in the play!" Maggie rolled her eyes.
"I think you're jumping to conclusions," she said, bouncing in her seat as he did. Since freshmen year, they had had an inside joke that whenever the phrase "jump to conclusions" was used, they would both "jump" to conclusions. It was silly, and annoying to outsiders, but they liked it, and Jasper was happy to have something special that he shared with Maggie.
"I don't know, I think he has a good point," said Henry, disregarding the unexplained hopping the way he disregarded any and all conversations about social networking websites, Twilight, and Eminem. (And, for that matter, M&M's as well. He still hadn't been able to figure out if they were candy or medicine.)
"Henry, what did we say about ignoring you?" snapped Maggie. She hated it when the boys sided against her, and she hated it even more when (rare as it was) they were right and she was wrong.
"Motion revoked!" said Jasper. "Henry, you're back in the conversation. Say more things about how I'm right." Maggie rolled her eyes and stabbed at her tofurger viciously with her fork, sending crumbs scattering across the table. "Why don't you eat that thing like a sandwich?" he complained. "It's less unappetizing when it's hidden under the bun."
"This bread is stale," she replied, pushing the offending hamburger buns away from her.
"At least it's not moldy," Henry pointed out, then seemed to freeze. "Moldy bread," he murmured, looking off in the distance. "I think I know how we can figure out who the Specter is!" Henry leapt up, his cold spaghetti forgotten, and marched away.
"With moldy bread?" wondered Jasper, confused. "Does he expect us to follow him?"
"Apparently," said Maggie, pushing up her lunch and standing up. She and Jasper left the table and followed Henry down the hall.
"Hen!" called Jasper, jogging to catch up with his cousin, who was striding purposefully towards the museum. "Is this like one of those House MD things where some random, meaningless phrase makes you realize the answer to the bigger issue?"
"What's House?" he asked.
"Never mind," muttered Jasper.
"Why do you always answer 'never mind' when I ask a question?" he asked.
"Never mind," muttered Jasper.
"I met someone in France once who was experimenting with mold growth," explained Henry as they rushed through the hall. "She kept a slice of bread under video surveillance for a few weeks to keep a record of how fast the mold grew."
"This sounds completely irrelevant," complained Maggie.
"Don't you see?" asked Henry, surprised that they had not figured it out as quickly as he had. They stared at him dubiously. "Security cameras!" They had reached the museum, and he pointed up to a corner of the ceiling, where a black camera swiveled to greet the three.
"Of course!" said Maggie, understanding. "There's probably a recording of the Smithson Specter."
"Probably," said Jasper skeptically.
"Told you," said Jasper several minutes later, after they had convinced Garko to let them view the tapes. All they could see was blurry footage of Henry and Jasper from the previous night, chasing a masked hooded figure. It did nothing to help them understand who the Specter was. From what they could see, it could just as likely have been Hunter O'Herlihy as Professor Darkness. "Hey, what if it's-"
"It's not Morneau, Jasper," groaned Maggie. "It's never going to be Morneau!"
"Maybe that's what he wants us to think," said Jasper, but he stopped arguing. Henry zoomed in the screen as much as possible, desperate for answers. While he worked, Maggie hummed The Phantom of the Opera. "Do you have to sing?" grumbled Jasper.
"I'm practicing," she hissed. "I've got a big show tonight and I'm trying to freak out!" She resumed humming, but then stopped, looking stricken. "Oh my God, is it opera or Oprah?"
"It's opera, Maggie," said Jasper. Maggie sighed in shaky relief, and Jasper stared at her worriedly. Ever since she had begun working on the musical, she had seemed more and more stressed. He hated seeing her so distraught. Ordinarily, she was so collected, organized and together and vibrant. Now she was so caught up in her worries that it took her several tries to pour milk. "This play's really messing you up," he observed.
"For some reason, I get more nervous every show," she said. "It's like, if I don't screw up now, it's going to be the next time, and if not that time, then the one after it!"
"You should try taking calming breaths and just focus on your character," suggested Henry without looking at her. He was still staring at the screen, adjusting the clarity of the video.
"Or, you should picture everyone in the audience in their underwear!" said Jasper.
"Yeah, I think I like Henry's thing better," she said. She glanced down at her watch. "Guys, class is about to start. You two are both coming to the show tonight, right?"
"Oh, you know, I really wanted to catch 'The Sing Off' tonight, so…" joked Jasper. Maggie frowned. "Kidding. Of course we'll be there."
"See you," she sang, stepping out of the room. She looked a little like she had tripped, but Jasper was sure that, on her way to her next class, she was taking a chance to secretly practice her choreography.
That night, while Jasper and Henry were sitting in the audience, Henry munching on a bag of carrots that he had somehow managed to sneak in against Jasper's admonishments and Jasper furiously trying to take Henry's bag of vegetables to stop the loud and irritating crunching noises that kept emanating from the seat to his right, they began to notice strange irregularities in Rooker's performance as the Phantom. "Does he look taller?" whispered Jasper, wincing a bit as Henry chomped down on a carrot.
"You can't really tell height on stage," he shrugged, reaching into his Ziploc bag. "I think I'm out of snacks."
"What a tragedy." Jasper squinted up at the stage, sure that there was something off about the Phantom. Something about the way he moved, or sang. Maybe Rooker had just become a better actor overnight or something, though he highly doubted it.
"He was bound to love you when he heard you sing," the Phantom sang.
"He's just different," insisted Jasper. "I don't know how, but…"
"You will curse the day you did not do," bellowed the Phantom, "all that the Specter asked of you!" Henry and Jasper both froze, staring forward in astonishment.
"What did he just say?" whispered Henry.
Suddenly, on what seemed to be the Phantom/Specter's cue, the prop chandelier came tumbling down, though Jasper was sure that it was not supposed to fall at that point, and all the lights on the stage were immediately extinguished. Though not before they saw someone who was unmistakably the real Rooker Ryan suspended by ropes from the ceiling.
Henry: Hey, Jasper, what are you doing on the computer?
Jasper: I'm "liking" the Facebook page for the DVD Release of Unnatural History, Season One! It's a great cause, and if the page gets enough likes, then Warner Brothers might be convinced to go through with the DVD/Blu-ray release. And also, this sounded a lot less corny when we rehearsed it in the hall.
Maggie: Seriously, like the page. It will make a difference.
Jasper (singing): The more you know…
Maggie: Shut up, Jasper.
A/N: By the way, those were the real characters at the end. Yes, that's right, the actual fictional characters. I didn't write that.
Don't forget to like the page! We just got over 300 today!
http: / / www. facebook. com / pages / DVD-Release-of-Unnatural-History-Season-One /183490668333917 # ! / pages / DVD-Release-of-Unnatural-History-Season-One / 183490668333917
(without spaces).
I really need to finish this story. I'm thinking 2-3 more chapters, including an epilogue. And once it's done, I have so many ideas for the next story!