Chapter 4

Aelita still fought even when she was inside the van. Mr. Campbell tried to hold her, but she kept pulling away from him and screaming until he let her go. Immediately, she tried each and every door, but they were all locked, and she couldn't break the windows.

"Stop that!" he snapped, pulling her away from the latest window she tried to break. "You'll hurt your hand. Those windows can't be broken, okay? So knock it off." So saying, he deposited her in a backseat and fastened a safety belt around her.

Aelita's mind was moving a thousand miles a second. It couldn't be XANA who had her, because XANA wouldn't bother taking her somewhere other than the Factory. Right now, they were on their way out of the city. If these people weren't from XANA, then who were they and what did they want with her?

"Where are we going?" she asked, her eyes darting between the driver and Mr. Campbell. "You're not a teacher. What do you want with me?"

"It's nothing to worry about," Mr. Campbell said, turning in a seat to talk to her. "We aren't going to hurt you, Aelita."

"Nothing to worry about?" she sputtered, too surprised to speak coherently. "You just kidnapped me and---!" Too upset to keep talking, she felt tears running down her face. Just when she realized she was crying, she was much too frightened to stop to savor the sensation. "I want to go back! I wanna go home!"

"Oh, jeez, is she crying?" the driver wanted to know.

"Yes," Mr. Campbell said, sounding annoyed. "There was nothing like this in the job description."

"Aw, c'mon, kid, there's no reason to cry," the driver cajoled, trying to calm her. "Let's be friends, huh?"

If anything, that only made Aelita cry harder. By this time, she was bawling, with her eyes squeezed shut and a veritable river of tears coming from them. Both men noticed that she was getting louder.

"Aelita, honey, stop crying now," Mr. Campbell said, trying to calm her.

"Waaah!"

"Campbell, I'm gettin' a headache. Can't you make her stop?" the driver complained.

"I'm trying!"

"Waaaaah! I want the boys and Yumi! I wanna go home! Waaaaah-waaaah!"

Some little corner of Aelita's brain was still registering sensations, and she realized that crying actually was serving a purpose. It feels good to do this, she thought. I may be scared, but that doesn't mean I have to pretend to be brave all the time. Especially if it makes these two kidnappers nervous and miserable. Up until now, I've been miserable in this whole thing. Let them enjoy it for a change.

It felt like hours before the driver said, "Oh, thank you, God, we're there," and made a left turn.

Aelita looked and spotted a large house up ahead. They were driving up a very long driveway. Feeling as if someone had just drenched her with a bucket of cold water, Aelita realized that she didn't know where they were. She had stopped crying when she spotted the house, but being afraid all over again made the tears come once more. Whimpering, she let herself cry, not caring if she looked like the crybaby Sissi often claimed she was. She had a right to cry if she wanted to!

The van stopped, and Mr. Campbell got out of the car, opened the back door, unbuckled her safety belt, and lifted her out of the van.

"Put me down!" Aelita cried, kicking her feet. "Waaah!"

"There she goes again," the driver muttered. "I'm getting sick of this."

Campbell carried her up the front steps, across a verandah, through the front doors, and into a large entrance hall, where her voice echoed, surprising her. She was set on the floor, and immediately, she leapt up and ran to the door, trying to open it, pounding and kicking on it when it didn't open on the first try.

"Hey, now, that's enough," Campbell said, moving to her side to stop her.

Frightened and still crying, Aelita ran away from him, breaking through doors into another room that looked like a big living room. She kept running, and burst through another set of doors, but this time, she ran into someone.

Aelita lay on the rug, gasping and crying and feeling her hands and knees stinging from when she had fallen. Whoever she had hit had gotten up and was coming over to her.

"Well, there you are, Aelita," said a new voice, scooping her up from the floor. "What's the matter, honey? Did you hurt yourself?"

This was altogether too strange for her, so she screamed and pushed the person who was holding her away. That almost made him drop her, so he placed her on a couch, but stayed by her, holding her hand. "Why are you crying, Aelita?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

Campbell came in at that point. "Oh, good, there she is," he said, as Aelita's crying picked up in volume again. "She ran away from us."

"Why is she crying?" the new person wanted to know.

"Beats me, but she's been doing it since we picked her up."

"I WANNA GO HOME!"

Space

Jeremie, Odd, and Ulrich were all sent upstairs to bed after they were done talking to the police. The principal and Jim had come out, heard their babbled stories, and were on the phone within a minute.

"I don't believe this!" Odd muttered as they reached his and Ulrich's room. "Aelita's in trouble, and we're sent off to bed!"

"Who's going to bed?" Jeremie wanted to know. "I'm heading to the Factory."

"You're going where, Belpois?" Jim said, standing in the doorway. "Mr. Delmas asked me to make sure you three went where you're supposed to go. He doesn't want you to go running off trying to find your friend and getting lost and/or hurt in the process."

"But, Jim—" Jeremie began, but the burly PE teacher cut him off.

"No buts! Now, pajamas, teeth brushed, faces washed, stat! Let's move!"

"Fine, but I'm sleeping in Odd and Ulrich's room!" Jeremie said, stubbornly.

"All right with me, Jeremie. Now, on the double!"

With Jim marshalling them through the routine of getting ready for bed, and with a great deal of protesting and complaints, the boys were at last in bed and glaring at their watchdog.

"Good night, boys," Jim said, turning out the light. "We'll wake you if we hear anything." With that, he left, closing the door.

"It's not as if we're gonna actually sleep!" Jeremie shouted at the closed door.

They lay there for a minute before Jeremie got up and opened the door, intending to head straight to the Factory, even if he had to go in his pajamas. . .

And he ran right into Jim.

Without a word, Jim marched him back into Odd and Ulrich's room and watched him climb back into the cot that had been set up for him.

"Well, the Great Escape is cut short," Odd muttered after Jim had left a second time. "I take it he was out there?"

"Watching and waiting," Jeremie muttered back. "He's probably still out there."

Odd sat up, looked at the door, and shouted, "Hey, Jim, are you still out there?"

"Go to sleep, Odd," they heard Jim answer.

"But I'm thirsty," Odd whined. "I need some water!"

"You're not thirsty, Della Robbia," they heard Jim growl. "Go to sleep!"

"But I am," Odd kept whining. "I really, really am!"

Jim walked in, glaring, and stalked over to Odd's bed. Jeremie and Ulrich were left staring at the still open and unguarded door.

"Didn't I tell you to go to sleep?" Jim demanded.

Odd just looked at him, and then leaped up onto Jim's shoulder's, startling him. "Go, you guys!"

They didn't need telling twice. While Jim wrestled with Odd, the other two boys ran out past them, ignoring Jim's shouted protests. They ran all the way through the school and into the secret tunnel, heading straight for the Factory.

Once Jeremie and Ulrich were gone, Odd hopped off of Jim and back onto his bed. Jim glared at him, ready to kill.

It took another half-hour for Jim to inform Mr. Delmas of the two escapees, and he came and gave Odd a stern lecture and two days' suspension.

"Hey, that's all right," Odd said, burrowing into the blankets. "Suspension I can do. Just one thing, though," he said, smiling innocently.

"Yes, and what is that?" Mr. Delmas wanted to know.

"D'you think Jim could get me that water?"