Arthur had never seen a real cactus before. There were dozens of them outside the window along with rough desert. The plane had been a few hours, but instead of an airport they landed inside some kind of massive garage. Once they exited the plane, they were quickly taken through a tunnel and were now in some office.
"What is this place anyway?" Arthur asked. "All I see is desert."
"It's one of several federal witness protection facilities that houses people until they can be placed in new lives," Beatrice explained, "I am not permitted to disclose the exact location. Hopefully the scenery allows you to have a certain idea."
"The Southwest?" Arthur guessed. Beatrice gave no response.
"Wherever it is, it seems awfully far from West Falls," Mo said, "Shouldn't you be getting back?"
"With your parents defection, I'm afraid we have far bigger fish to fry at the moment," Beatrice explained, "Thus, I am being reassigned along with Mr. King once we assure you are placed in a new life."
"Are you going after them?" Arthur asked.
"I'm not at liberty to answer such questions."
"Who tipped you off my parents went solo anyway?" Mo asked curiously, "An agent in the Mafia?"
Beatrice sighed. "No, Mo, nothing that glamorous. In fact, it was your parents themselves who called our main office. They boasted about what they had done and loudly demanded witness protection for you three."
"So they did the bare minimum to help us get out of a situation they created," Mo responded angrily. "Figures. Well, at least they didn't completely forget us."
"Where is Mr. King?" Arthur asked. "When we got out of the car in the Valley he left."
"I'm not at liberty to say anything except that it isn't West Falls. His cover is also blown by them."
"What exactly are those two doing in Miami?" Mo asked. "You said they wanted to play drug rings against each other. How?"
"We aren't completely certain, but given what they stole... it'll be very chaotic if they achieve their goals."
"Where are we going next?" Arthur couldn't help but ask.
"That's still being decided," Beatrice answered. "The relocation will be as far from West Falls as possible. However, we also need to interview your cousin for any information she may have about their activities."
"I'm an open book, but I don't really know that much. We always pretended nobody knew anything."
"All right. I need to speak with someone, but I'll be back in a few minutes." Beatrice swiped a card and the door opened for her. She left and the door instantly was shut again and locked.
"Quite a week we're having," Mo deadpanned.
"All right, class," Miss Strauss announced, "It appears our video player is broken. That is disappointing."
Miss Strauss was staring intensely at Brain.
"That said, I have great news! We're going on a field trip to the park after lunch!"
The class reacted with excitement while Brain felt a chill down his spine. It was clever of her to turn lemons into lemonade like this. The other kids would have so much fun that they would forget Miss Strauss wasn't actually teaching anything in her classes.
"Anyway, let's have a half-hour of silent reading before lunch. After lunch, go to the front of the school and we'll ride the bus to the park."
Brain pulled out his book on magnesium but found he couldn't concentrate. He looked up and sure Miss Strauss was still staring. Brain stared back in what he hoped was as angry an expression as possible.
The bell for lunch rang.
"Lunchtime!" Miss Strauss called in a sing song voice. The class raced to the cafeteria. Brain ate tomatoes and croutons, since he knew better then to try the macaroni.
"I can't wait to go to the park!" Fern said, "It's nice of Miss Strauss to take us!"
Brain muttered in response.
Sue Ellen blinked in surprise. "What's the matter? I thought you liked the park."
"I usually do," Brain grumbled, "Just not today."
"Why not?"
"Long story. I'll tell you later."
"Boy, this is some tough macaroni!" Binky piped up. His hands were so covered in grease they looked like they were melting.
"How does it taste?" Fern asked.
"Like grease with little macaroni pieces," Binky answered, "I guess it wasn't done right."
" -with a slight hint of rhubarb."
"Excellent, Susan," Chef Kamman said, "It tastes delicious. Now listen carefully, class, I have an announcement."
Everyone gave Chef Kamman their full attention.
"Now that you have proven yourselves capable of cooking, I have a challenge for you. Work together!"
Huh?
"That's right. Up until now, you have been thinking in terms of solitary competition. But tomorrow night your going to abandon that mindset. I'm hosting a major event that will contain over three hundred guest. Normally I use my professional chefs, but instead but I'm leaving it too all of you to come up with suitable cuisine and cook it."
"You don't have any specific menu in mind?" Deborah asked.
"No, Deborah. You will work together as a team and come up with a great dining experience for everyone. Your only instruction is it must be a five-course meal. Wines will be dealt with by others so you needn't worry about that. Everything else is your job. If the dinner goes well, all your names and recipes you made for me thus far will be published in my next book."
Many clapped in excitement.
"But if you fail you will all be expelled from the academy."
David's heart began racing.
"You don't think I keep incompetents, do you?" Chef Kamman asked bluntly when noticing the anxiety in the room, "I've expelled entire classes before. There's certainly never a shortage of people begging to get into Elwood Culinary Academy. Fortunately, I think you'll all succeed. Good luck!"
Well, this isn't what I expected, David thought. There was no way he could afford to fail in this task.
Nobody could.