(Jenny's POV)
The clock's just struck and it's one o'clock. Lunchtime. I tell Lola and Grace that I'm going to the toilets to freshen up and I'll meet them in the canteen. But really, I needed to find a quiet spot to call Zeke so he can tell me what there is to know about Lily. After a few minutes of looking, I come across the school's theatre, where four students and their teacher are exiting the room. I hide behind a wide concrete beam so they don't see me. After I hear the door shut, I glance quickly around the theatre. Empty. I open my communicator and call Zeke.
"Oh, hi, Jen," he says. "How's Britannia High?"
"Hard," I reply in my normal voice. "I thought being a student was hard, but not as hard as being a Britannia High student. Did you know that the students have to take a full academic course load while participating in conservatory-style arts concentration? So, not only do the students have to work on their dancing/singing/acting, but they have to work on the national curriculum. Unbelievable! Anyway, what did you get on Lily Rubin?"
"Well, after hacking into the school's system and reading on Lily's reports, it seems that Miss Rubin 'has a good brain and is a high achiever in the curriculum but lacks focus in the arts'."
"So, Lily is the school's star pupil when it comes to subjects like Maths, English and Science et cetera, but she sucks in performing arts?" Zeke nods. "So why is she here if she can't sing, dance or act?"
"Because of this." A picture of a middle-aged, brown-haired, brown-eyed woman appears on the screen. "This is Amber Rubin – Lily's mother. Amber was a former dancer and stage actress who starred in a number of West End musicals. Then, in 2002, Amber had to have both of her legs amputated as a result of an accident in which a drunk driver rammed into her. She now uses prosthetic limbs and a crutch to allow personal mobility, but her musical theatrical career is well and truly over."
"So, Amber wants Lily to live out her dream by enrolling her into Britannia High, so she'll be a West End star. But Amber must know that Lily doesn't have the performing arts skills that she has. I mean you should have heard Lily in Music this morning. She was great. No, not great – excellent. She sounded like SuBo from Britain's Got Talent. Then, in Dance class, just before lunch, while everyone was dancing with grace to a simple acro dance routine, Lily was abysmal! While doing a twirl, her arm catches someone on the shoulder and another on the chest. Then she lands on teacher's foot as she does a handspring, possibly crippling her. Grace is right – something strange is going on with Lily."
"Grace?"
"One of Lily's classmates. She was telling me and her friend Lola that two weeks ago, Lily was crap at performing arts and now she's suddenly a sensation –"
I stop when I hear a door being pulled open.
"Jen – what's wrong?" says Zeke.
I raise a finger to my lips. "Shhhh," I whisper. "There's someone else in here."
I peek out from behind the pillar in time to see a figure step into the theatre. I gasp a little when I see who it is – Lily. She's making her way down the centre aisle, to the stage, with someone – who's unconscious – over her shoulder in a fireman's lift. It's Cami! Lily walks up on to the stage and stands in the middle of it. She stamps hard on the stage. I hear a clanking sound. Then a grinding sound. Then a groaning sound.
Slowly, Lily and the unconscious Cami disappear into the stage.
"Whoa," I whisper in amazement. I leave my hiding place behind the pillar and make my way to the stage. When I get there, I spot a big, square hole in the middle of the stage – but the hole is closed by a platform. "A trapdoor," I murmur.
"Jen! What's going on?"
Shoot, I forgot that Zeke was still on the line.
"Sorry, Zeke," I say, looking down at the screen of my communicator. "I think I may have found the secret hiding place of the missing students. They're under the stage. I'm going in. I'll see you soon."
"OK, see ya. Good luck."
After I hang up, I search for the switch that Lily used to lower herself and Cami down into the stage.
A small peg on the stage floor catches my eye.
I step on the peg and jump on the trapdoor.
I hear a clanking sound. Then a rumbling. Then a grinding.
The square section of the floor begins to lower itself.
The clanking grows louder. The square platform shakes beneath me as I slide down. Down, down – until the stage disappears, and I'm surrounded by darkness. But not for long.
"Activate torch," I say into the communicator. A beam of light from my communicator washes over the walls as I sink lower and lower under the stage.
I expect the platform to come to a stop just beneath the stage.
But, to my surprise, the platform keeps dropping.
And it picks up speed as it slides farther and farther down.
I wonder how far down this thing goes…
"Ohh!" I cry out as the platform finally hits the bottom with a hard thud!
I'm thrown to the floor.
I scramble to my feet quickly.
I raise my eyes to the theatre ceiling. It's a small, square glow in the far distance. It seems to be miles and miles above me.
I raise my communicator/torch and sweep it around slowly. I'm in the middle of a large, empty chamber. It tunnels out in two directions. The tunnel probably stretches all the way under the school. Maybe even farther. Maybe it goes under the entire block!
I keep my light down on the ground as I step into a long tunnel, to see where I'm going. I take a few steps and then stop to listen.
Silence.
I carry on walking, following the tunnel from one curve, then another.
The floor becomes soft and muddy. The air grows cooler.
I hear a soft, chittering sound in the distance. God, I hope it's not bats.
Suddenly, the tunnel ends, and I find myself at a low doorway. I step up to the door, my communicator/torch beaming over it.
I reach out and push the door. It creaks open. I wince – hoping that Lily or her mother didn't hear it. I peep inside and my eyes widen at what I see.
A room. And not just any room – a room that has the missing students. The ten students are kept in cages like they're wild animals, looking worn-out and somnolent. The only pieces of furniture in the cage with them are a folding chair, a beat-up sofa with one of the cushions missing, blankets and a small, unmade bed against the wall. Empty boxes of cereal, small bowls and five large bottles of water are beside the bed. The students are all huddled together on the sofa and the floor, blankets over their shoulders.
"Put her on the chair!" a woman's voice instructs – presumably Amber Rubin.
I deactivate the torch and activate the cloaking device. As quietly as I can be, I carefully ease myself into the room. Inside, I see two big, black chairs in the middle of the room – their backs to each other. Attached to the chairs are black open face helmets with a red snap-on visor. Lily places Cami, who's still unconscious, in one of the chairs and straps her wrists and ankles. Lily lowers the helmet onto Cami's head; the visor is over Cami's closed eyes and nods to her mother that everything is secure.
"Good," says Amber. "Now your turn."
Lily sits on the opposite chair, her back to Cami. Lily straps her ankles and Amber straps Lily's wrists. Just as Amber lowers the helmet onto Lily's head, I can see a flash of misery in Lily's eyes. She didn't want to do this – she was roped in by her mother! After Amber fits the helmet, she walks over to a table against the far wall, where there two laptops connected to each other and to the black chairs standing on it and starts to type.
Suddenly, I heard a low, humming sound. It takes me ten seconds to realize that it's coming from the machine. I quietly creep over to Amber and the laptops to find out what she's doing to Cami and Lily. I look at the monitor of the laptops. They're both show the same thing – a scan of someone's brains. The brains of Cami and Lily! The laptop showing Cami's brain is on the right, while Lily's brain scan is on the left. Amber seems to be more focused on Cami's brain than Lily's, examining her thoughts and memories. What is she looking for?
Just then, Amber gasps softly. "There you are," she whispers. She starts to tap with rapid movement. Then she presses 'Enter' on her laptop keyboard and watches with glee as bits of Cami's mind is transferred into Lily's brain.
I turn to Cami – her body is shaking and her hands are twitching. Then I look to Lily – she hands gripping the armrests of the chair as her body shakes and trembles.
Turning back to the laptops, I see that the last reminding pieces of Cami's mind are transfer to Lily's brain. When the transfer is finishes, the chairs stop humming and the bodies stop shaking. Amber uses her crutch to support herself as she gets up and goes to Lily, unstrapping her wrists. Weak as she is, Lily unstraps her ankles and starts to stand up – only for her to slump against Amber, holding herself up by putting an arm around Amber's shoulder.
"Easy now," says Amber. "You OK?"
"Ye… Yeah. I guess," Lily murmurs. She draws back from her mother, her legs a little shaky.
"Well, let's see you perform."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Well, I don't know! Anything!"
Amber steps back to give Lily room, then motions her to proceed with the move. Lily does a standing tuck – legs together, with knees fully bent and drawn to her chest. Then she does a full turn of her body on the point of the ball of her foot three times and she finally, finishes with a side split.
Amber claps her hands in delight, while my mouth drops open. So, that's why Lily is so great in performing arts – the minds of best students in Britannia High are transferred into her brain!
"Excellent! With these new gymnastic abilities, you'll be the best dancer in Britannia High," says Amber. "Right, come on; let's get this one in the cage."
By 'this one', she means Cami. Lily goes to Cami and unstraps her wrists and ankles. Cami moans as Lily picks her up from the chair and supports her, taking her in the cage and laying her on the bed. When Lily comes out, Amber closes the gate to the cage and locks it.
"Um… Mum?" Lily says nervously.
"Yes?" says Amber, placing the key of the cage in her bag.
"Well – I –" Lily seems lost for words.
"Spit it out," Amber says impatiently.
"What's gonna happen to these students, now that I have their abilities?" Lily stammers. "The cage is nearly full and there's no room for any more students."
"Huh. Didn't really think this through." Amber looks at the caged students, deep in thought. Then, an evil smile spreads around her mouth as she says, "We'll leave them to rot."
"What?!"
My thoughts exactly.
"You heard me," says Amber. "Now that you have the triple threat abilities you should inherited from me, we don't need to steal any more abilities from the other students. So, we'll leave these students to rot here under Britannia High… forever!"
"Bu-But people are already asking questions about why I'm suddenly so good," says Lily.
"We'll just say that you had private tutoring."
"But what do we say when they start asking about Shannon, Muffy and the others?"
"Well, I don't know – lie, for God's sake! Honestly! I should've transferred an intellectual mind in that thick head of yours."
Lily flinches. Amber's words buzz in the air, sharp as stings.
"Oh Lily. I didn't mean to say that." Amber reaches over and gives Lily a big hug. For a second Lily looks like she might cry. "I'm such a cow for saying it. Oh come on, don't go all moody on me. Look, how about we go for lunch, Lily Pad? My treat. Then after school, we'll figure a way to sort this mess out. OK?"
Lily forces a smile and nods as Amber takes Lily's arm and steers her out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"Deactivate cloaking device," I say. As my body becomes visible once more, the students in the cage gasp and stare at me in horror.
"Who… who are you?" a tall, black-haired girl asks, looking nervous and pale.
"It's OK," I say reassuringly in my Geordie accent, walking up to the girl. "I'm a friend. I'm here to save you. I'm Je… er, I mean, I'm Simone Connors. What's your name?"
"Shannon Carter."
"Do you remember how you got here?"
"Last Tuesday – after school – I was in the dance studio, practising a tap dance routine, when I felt a bite in my neck and I blacked out. Next thing I remember was my body shaking, like I was being electrocuted. I must have slept the day away because when I woke up, I was in this cage, watching in horror as Lily and her mum were giving Muffy the same treatment as they did to me. The same happened to all the others." Shannon gives a big sniff as tears rolls down her cheeks. "And now that Lily has her new talents, her and her mum are gonna leave us down here to rot!"
"Now that is not gonna happen. I'm gonna get you out of here and at the same time, get Lily and Amber to reverse what they did to you, Muffy and the others."
Just then, the door opens, and Lily and Amber walk in the room.
"How can you forget my bag, you…?" Amber gasps when she sees me. "An intruder!" She turns to Lily. "I thought I told you to make sure that no-one was in the theatre, you stupid girl!" she hisses.
"But I did, Mum!" says Lily.
"Alright, Amber, let's make a deal," I say. "How about you release these students, reverse what you did to them and I'm sure MI9 will give you and Lily community service… or at least one year in prison."
"Never!" she says. "My Lillian was meant to have my talents. She was meant to have my award-winning singing, dancing and acting skills. Instead, she inherits her father's writing talents."
"But if Lily wants to be a writer, then you should let her be that. Not force her into something she doesn't want to do – like enrolling her to Britannia High or having her kidnap the students so you can steal their talents. Before you lowered the helmet onto Lily, I saw the flash of misery that she had in her eyes."
"That's enough! My little Lillian is going to be the star of Britannia High with her new talents as well as a brilliant West End musical actress. And there's nothing you can do to stop that."
"I had a feeling you were gonna say that." I get into a martial arts stance.
Amber smiles smugly. "Are you that ignorant enough to beat up a disabled woman or are you that stupid enough not to notice that there's one of you and two of me? Either way, my Lily Pad will take you down."
"Huh?!" says Lily, looking surprised.
"Yes. While examining that Cami girl's brain, I noticed that she has martial arts skills as well as gymnastics skills – so I added that ability to your mind. So how about showing our troublemaker your new kung fu abilities."
"But… but, but Mum…!"
"Oh, don't argue with me, child, just do it!"
I can see tears welling up in behind Lily's glasses as she gets into a martial arts stance. Amber steps aside, so she doesn't get in the way.
"I'm sorry," Lily mouths, a tear rolling down her cheek.
She tries to do a straight punch to my face, but I use my inside forearm to block the inside forearm of Lily's, pushing the punch outward, leaving us facing each other.
"Lily, you don't have to do this," I say, pushing her back.
"Yes, I do. I need to please my mum," she says, trying to do another straight punch to my face, but this time, I use my outside forearm to block the outside forearm of Lily's, pushing the punch outward, leaving me slightly to the side of the strike causing it to miss.
I push her back again. "But why? I've seen how she treats you." I raise my hands to block Lily's roundhouse kick.
"I know my mum can be rough around the edges, but she's like that because I'm hopeless."
Lily tries to throw a punch to my chest, but I do a block and palm strike simultaneously.
"But… but you're not hopeless," I say. "Amber said that you inherited your dad's writing talents, so you must be brilliant at writing – stories, songs, poems. You could maybe write for a musical instead of acting in one – be the next Andrew Lloyd Webber."
"But Mum says that writing doesn't make you a star – acting, singing and dancing does!"
"Well, you mum is wrong. J.K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer are both writers. Their books have sold millions of copies worldwide and they've been turned into movies. They didn't need Fame-esque talents to get them where they are now. Fame and fortune doesn't have to be about getting your name up in lights – it's about hard work, determination and basically enjoying what you love!"
As I say it, Lily performs a low crescent kick on my ribs. I use this opportunity to grab her right leg (the leg she used to kick me) and use my left leg to kick the back of her left leg, causing her to fall flat on her back.
Amber gasps. "No!" she cries.
Lily sits up, groaning in pain.
"Here." I reach my hand out.
Lily looks up at me. Then she smiles and takes my hand, and I haul her upright. As Lily dusts herself off, Amber marches up to Lily. She's incandescent with fury, her dark eyes sparking up fire, her halo of brown hair almost standing on end.
"You clumsy great oaf!" she says, launching her attack. "How did you manage to get defeated by this… this… girl?!" Very ultra-crushing… not! "The reason why I took that Cami girl's karate abilities and gave them to you is because if anyone questions your new-found talents and threatens to tell the head teacher, you can give them a smack-down! Instead, you had your arse handed to you on a plate by this troublemaker…" Amber glares at me. "…who turned your new skills against you? I mean really, can't you do anything right, you lazy, got-for-nothing…?"
"Oh Mum, will you please shut the fuck up?!" Lily snaps.
Amber looks shocked. "Excuse me?"
"Ever since you lost your legs, you went from a caring and loving mum to a bitter and mean old woman, hell-bent on making me a West End star, when you know full well that I completely and utterly suck at singing, dancing and acting. I tried to tell you a million times but you refuse to listen. The only reason why I came to Britannia High is because I thought that maybe – maybe – a tiny part of me might have the famous Laurence Olivier-award-winning talents that you have. But when my reports about me lacking the arts came in, you decided to concoct this insane plan of stealing the talents from the students of Britannia High by bizarrely purchasing a mind uploading machine that you got from eBay that some crazy organization called SKUL were selling and tranquilizer darts to knock the students out. Simone is right – fame and fortune is not about having my name up in lights. It's about being creative in what you love – whether it's singing, acting, dancing or what I inherited from Dad – writing. But it's obvious that you care more about fame than you do about me and what I want. Mum, I'm sorry that I'm saying this, but you… are a snob."
Amber's mouth falls open. I don't think anyone, not even Lily, has ever talked back to her before.
"Why, you ungrateful, selfish little cow," she says. "I'll teach you to talk back at me…"
"You'll have to get past me," I say, stepping in front of Lily.
Amber shrugs. "Very well."
She's about to grab me, when suddenly, a light blue bubble catches Amber and traps her inside. I stare at Amber trapped in the sphere, unable to move, with my mouth wide open and my eyes bulging as though I've seen a ghost.
Lily gives me a nudge.
"Look!" she says, pointing to the door.
I glance at Lily's direction. It's Jon. He's standing in the doorway, holding some sort-of hand held bazooka. There's smoke coming out of the barrel.
"Are you OK?" he asks, lowering the gun.
I nod. "Yeah. We're fine."
"How did you know we were down here?" Lily asks.
Jon steps from the doorway, entering the room, pulling out his mobile phone from the back of his jeans.
"GPS app," he replies. "When Cami didn't come back from the toilets, I used my phone to track her. I followed the signal to the theatre and heard the trapdoor moving. I hopped on the platform and came down here and followed the signal to here."
"And the bazooka?" I ask.
Jon blinks. After a slight pause he says, "My uncle got me this from Japan."
"Right," I say slowly. "Look, thanks for saving us. We better call the police and tell them what's happening…"
"This is MI9!" says a male voice.
Five men in heavy body armour burst into the room, their guns pointing at me, Lily, Jon, the students in the cage and the bubble that holds Amber. The MI9 SWAT team!
A second later, a girl enters the room. She looks an inch shorter than Jon, with tan-coloured skin, long dark hair and all dressed in black. Her face is covered with a balaclava, exposing only her dark brown eyes.
"Lower your guns," the girl orders.
The SWAT team do what she says.
The girl stares at the bubble. "I take it the woman in this bubble is the one responsible for this?"
"Yes," says Lily. "My mum. Amber Rubin. I'm her daughter, Lily. I'm also responsible."
"Right. You two, take Amber away."
The two SWAT officers who had their guns pointed at me and Jon roll the bubble with Amber in it out of the room – the girl and the other three officers move out of the way.
The girl walks up to the cage.
"Don't worry, guys, once we've freed you, I'll reverse what Amber and Lily has done to you," she says. She turns to Lily. "Where's the key?"
"It's in my mum's bag," says Lily. "I'll get it."
Lily gets Amber's bag from under the table. She retrieves the key and opens the cage, releasing the students. Next, the mysterious MI9 girl gets to work on reversing the mind uploading effects, with Lily giving the girl her full co-operation. Fifteen minutes goes by and when the last person – that's Cami – gets her skills back, we exit the room. The SWAT officers stay behind to dismantle the mind uploading chairs and have them destroyed.
We walk down the curving tunnel, with only the MI9 girl's torch guiding us. She raises the light as we see the trapdoor platform come into view. Once there, the MI9 girl guides the first five students onto the platform. She flips a switch on the wall and a loud clanking sound makes me nearly jump out of my skin as the platform rises above our heads, climbing back up to the stage. A few minutes later, the platform comes back down again and the girl sends the next five students onto the platform and out of the tunnel. Finally, it's our turn. Me, Jon, Cami, Lily and the MI9 girl board onto the platform and with a flick of a switch, we start to move.
Up, up. Sliding slowly but steadily.
The square of light above our heads grows larger and brighter as we rise back up to the theatre.
As soon as the platform stops, we step off it, greeted with ten other MI9 agents and SWAT officers who guide us off the stage and out of the theatre, except for Lily. Before I leave the theatre, I watch as an MI9 agent places handcuffs on Lily's wrists. She glances at me and gives me a faint smile. I smile back, but it's strained and I leave the theatre and the school. But not before I'm greeted at the foyer by Lola and Grace.
"Simone, there you are!" says Lola. "Where were you? We've been looking everywhere for you. You said that you needed to freshen up in the toilets and that was nearly an hour ago!"
"We went to check if you were in the theatre, but we got stopped by these Men in Black-esque people, saying that it was off-limits. Five minutes later, we see them rolling out a woman in a bubble. What happened?"
I didn't want to be long and boring as I am exhausted, so I decide to cut a long story short.
"Well, let's just say that the mystery of Lily's new talents and the missing students has been solved," I say.
"I knew it," Grace says triumphantly, snapping her fingers. "I said something was going on. Something right off the wall. She had something to do with those disappearances, didn't she?"
I nod. "Unfortunately, yes. But it was her mum, Amber, who came up with the idea."
Just then, two MI9 agents take Lily out of the school and into a black car.
"Poor Lily. I wonder what's going to happen to her," says Lola, watching the black car drive away.
"I'm sure they'll go easy on her," I say.
"Hm. Hey," says Grace. "Because of what has happened, the head teacher has given everyone the rest of the day off school. How about we go into town and do a bit of window shopping?"
"OK," says Lola, immediately perking up.
"Actually –" I glance down at my watch. It reads 2:05 P.M. I have to go back to St Hope's to give my IT lesson – "I'm gonna go home. I'm completely wiped out with the day I had."
"OK. We'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah, about that. I don't think I'm gonna return to Britannia High tomorrow… or ever."
"What, why?" Grace groans.
"After the day I've had, I feel that a change in career is needed," I lie smoothly.
"Ohh. I'm gonna miss you." Lola reaches out and hugs me tightly. Grace joins in as well.
We pull apart, smiling.
"Be sure you'll come back and visit," says Grace.
"I promise I will," I say.
We say our goodbyes and I leave the school and walk down the road. I round the corner and navigate myself to the back of Britannia High, where there's a car park. It's deserted – there's no-one around. I open my communicator and end my Geordie disguise by changing back into my catsuit, the dark brown wig that I had on goes back to my raven black locks. I activate my cloaking device and become invisible so that no-one sees me when I leave Britannia High and when I land back at St Hope's. Finally, I activate my Rocket Go-go Boots and launch myself into the air, leaving Britannia High behind me and making my way back to St Hope's.