That night Trent was pacing around the kitchen when his father walked in. At first, Trent didn't look at his father. He couldn't be sure these days whether Mesagog knew what they talked about. Finally Anton broke the silence.
"So how was your day?" Anton asked. Trent merely shrugged.
"Is something wrong, son?" he pressed, forcing Trent to make eye contact.
"Like you haven't heard," Trent grumbled. Anton let out a sigh.
"You mean about Dr. Oliver?" he asked.
"Yeah…Dad how could you let that happen?" Trent demanded.
"I can't control what he does. I wish I could," Anton murmured. Trent turned his back on his father and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn't going to get any help with the bail money if the conversation kept in this vein.
"Well can you help us try and fix it then?" he asked, still not turning around.
"I'll do anything I can," Anton answered.
"Help pay his bail," Trent stated. Anton let out a long, slow breath that made Trent turn around.
"How much is it?" he asked. Trent's gaze darted to the floor.
"Five hundred thousand," he muttered.
"What? Was the judge crazy?" Anton scoffed. Trent cracked a little smile.
"So you'll help?" he asked, sounding hopeful.
"I'll see what I can come up with," Anton answered.
"Thanks Dad," Trent said, hugging his father quickly before heading out of the room. Anton watched his son go and suddenly felt light headed. He gripped the counter in front of him with one hand and used the other to rub his temples. The pain in his head grew stronger.
"No…not now…please," he begged to no one in particular. His body shuddered several times and he collapsed to the floor. When he stood up again, he was no longer Anton Mercer. Mesagog looked around in displeasure before disappearing into an invisiportal.
The following day felt like agony for Trent and the rest of the team. Conner and Ethan were still giving Kira the cold shoulder. Every time Trent tried to talk to them they'd blow him off too. So Kira and Trent found themselves sitting together at lunch.
"Those two need to grow up and stop acting like idiots," Trent groaned.
"Yeah I mean…don't they get that the longer we fight to bigger the risk is that Mesagog will do something," she agreed.
"I talked to my Dad last night," he said offhandedly as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"What did he say?" Kira probed, hoping it was something good.
"He said he would see what he could do about helping to pay for Dr. O's bail," Trent answered.
"I still can't believe the judge set it so high. It's not like he would do anything," Kira groaned.
"Who knows…maybe they have the judge under a spell too," Trent said with a shrug.
"God this is just so messed up," Kira muttered, getting up to throw her trash away. Just as she was returning to the table, Conner and Ethan approached them. Trent stood up and put himself between the approaching guys and Kira.
"What do you want?" he asked defensively.
"Dude…chill. We just wanted to apologize to Kira," Conner answered. Trent started to move but decided against it.
"Why the sudden change of heart?" Trent demanded.
"We've been thinking and you're right. We need to just forget about what happened and work as a team. It wasn't Kira's fault," Ethan explained.
"Thanks guys," Kira said, walking from behind Trent to give them both a quick hug. Trent was about to tell them about what his dad has promised when they all spotted Cassidy and Devon heading their way.
"Oh great. Just what we need," Trent muttered under his breath.
"Hey guys," Cassidy said, smiling.
"Hi Cassidy," Ethan greeted.
"So…have you heard anything about Dr. Oliver?" she asked, pulling a pen and pad out of her bag.
"No…we haven't sorry," Trent answered immediately.
"Are you sure?" she pressed.
"Because I heard he was sent to jail for life," she told them.
"Get your facts straight Cassidy. He hasn't even had a trial yet," Kira shot angrily.
"So you do know something," the blond said excitedly.
"Forget this. We don't need to stand here and watch her slander Dr. O's name," Trent said, starting to walk away. Conner started to follow suit.
"Guys wait!" Kira called and both stopped.
"We do know something but you can't go spreading it around," Kira saod. Cassidy's eyes lit up.
"His bail is five hundred thousand dollars," she said.
"Wait…why can't we tell people What if they wanted to raise money?" Devon asked. That got Trent to turn around.
"You really want to raise money to help get Dr. O out of prison?" he asked and Devon nodded.
"I mean sure he gives a lot of homework sometimes but he's a cool teacher. Whatever they say he did I don't think he really did it," Devon answered and went fishing in his pocket.
"Consider this my contribution," he said, handing Trent a twenty dollar bill.
"Thanks. Just…be careful. We don't want Randall to find out. I have a feeling she doesn't want people to know what's going on," Trent said. Cassidy nodded.
"I promise, I'll be careful," she said and fished into her purse and handed over two twenties. Just then the bell rang and they headed in for the rest of the day's classes. The following morning, Trent made a proposition to their science class.
"Guys…we're trying to raise money to help pay Dr. Oliver's bail. So if you want to donate anything, even if it is just a couple dollars, it would be really appreciated. Murmurs filled the classroom and wallets appeared all around the room. He pulled out an envelope from his backpack and began collecting.
"How much did we get?" Kira asked as they headed down the stairs of Tommy's lab that afternoon. He pulled the envelope from his bag and emptied it out and quickly counted it. They'd gotten donations from some of the other students in the halls.
"We have five hundred and sixty four dollars," Trent answered. He seemed pretty surprised and impressed at the mount of money his classmates were willing to donate to get their teacher back.
"What's going on?" Hayley asked, appearing from nowhere.
"We're raising money at school," Kira answered.
"Be careful," Hayley cautioned.
"We are. Don't worry," Trent assured her. Just then Jason walked in. He saw the envelope and the money lying on the table. He pulled his wallet from his jacket and tossed some bills into the mix. Kira noticed a couple hundred dollar bills.
"I'd empty out my bank account if I thought it would help," Jason sighed. Hayley gave him a sympathetic look.
"We're going to get him out of there," she said. Just then Trent seemed remember something important because he went fishing through his bag.
"I almost forgot. My dad wrote me a check this morning," he said and flashed it around; $40,000.
"Well that's going to go a long way," Hayley said, smiling.
"So what do we do now? We can't just show up with all of this money. It's not even close to the amount," Conner called.
"Well it might be enough to make a good faith payment," Hayley stated.
They grew silent for a while. Trent compiled the cash and his father's check and put it back in the envelope. They weren't sure what to say or do. They knew Hayley or Jason would have to bring the bail money. Finally Trent handed the envelope to Hayley.
"You should probably take it," he said.
"I really wish I could remember what they don't want me to remember," Kira grumbled for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Well it was the spell that made you forget," Ethan reminded her.
"Maybe there's a way we can reverse the effects," Trent suggested.
"How? I don't think Mesagog would be too keen on letting her remember," Conner remarked.
"No…but we could try and build something that could restore her memory," Trent answered. Conner and Ethan looked at him as if he had three heads.
"I'm serious. Hayley…you build stuff all the time. Could this be done?" he asked.
"I suppose…I mean I've never tried anything like that. And we would need Tommy's help," Hayley answered.
"What do you mean?" Kira asked. Jason seemed to be catching on.
"Find a way to take what happened from his point of you and give it to you," he said, looking at Trent to make sure that was the idea they were going for.
"Ok…that just sounds way too creepy," Kira said, looking uneasy.
"If we can show you what happened, then maybe we can find a way to take the blame off of Dr. O," Ethan said, liking the idea.
"I think my dad could help build it," Trent voiced, hoping his father could indeed help them without freaking out and becoming Mesagog. He hoped that he wouldn't have to tell his friends another of his secrets.
"Let's get started then," Hayley said.