Hi! I'm glad everyone enjoyed the last chapter. Now, we come to another favorite of mine. Why is this one a favorite of mine? Well, if you look at the cast list, you'll see it features my favorite voice actor.
Read and review!
Chapter Thirty-Six
Soul Collector
Oceanside Middle School-10:45 AM
Recently awarded a California Distinguished School award, Oceanside Middle School was well known for its superlative athletics program, as its athletes liked to boast.
Zachary Williams, eleven year-old star of the school's basketball team stood in the middle of the crowded hallway, bragging about his latest game to group of awed students.
"So," he said excitedly. "There's three seconds left on the clock, and swoosh!"
He made a gesture identical to the one basketball players made when scoring.
"Right through the net. It was totally awesome, man. Then-"
Zachary's grandstanding was interrupted by the deep smooth voice echoing through the air in the hallways above them.
"Zachary Williams," the voice of the principal announced. "Please report to the principal's office."
"Ooh," the other students groaned. "Busted!"
"Hey, no problemo," Zachary said, confident. "The principal probably wants to put a statue of me in the gym."
Sure of himself, he walked down the hallway to the principal's office, whistling contentedly.
As he shut the office door behind him, no one else saw what happened. No one even looked through the window of the door.
But passersby could have sworn they heard a scream of terror and see a brief flash of red light coming from the office.
No one seemed to pay it any attention, but afterwards, when the puff of smoke from the resulting flash dissipated, Zachary walked out the door, looking less energetic than he was five minutes ago. Not only that, he walked much slower than he did normally and his eyes looked very tired.
But still, it all went unnoticed.
Beverly Hills High School-12:23 PM
In another California school, Sean Warren stood in line at the school cafeteria, peering over Sam's shoulder, and carefully examining the flyer she clutched in her hands.
"Check it out!" she said excitedly, holding up for Sean, Alex, and Clover to see. "The first annual Beverly Hills Youth Spirit Awards is looking for contestants who typify youthful enthusiasm, ambition, and optimism."
Her friends smiled with approval.
"That is so you, Sammy!" Clover said eagerly.
"Yeah," Sean agreed happily. But his mood turned sour when he saw what was being served. "But I wish I could be a little more optimistic about what they're serving for lunch today."
"Fiber, riboflavin, and vitamins!" Mrs. Muckle, the school's elderly lunch lady exclaimed as she dumped a scoop of an unattractive brown casserole onto Sean's tray. "Everything developing kids need to grow fit and healthy!"
Sean's face grimaced as he fought to keep his breakfast in his stomach.
Really wish I'd brought my own lunch today, he thought to himself.
"I'm starting to think 'fit and healthy' is overrated, Mrs. Muckle," Alex said, sharing Sean's sentiments.
But Sam's spirits were still high as she continued to look at the flyer. It didn't last long before a hand snatched the flyer from her.
"Please tell me you're not thinking of entering the contest that I'm going to win," Mandy said rudely.
Sean and Sam glared at Mandy in hate, as well as at Caitlin and Dominique who entered at her side.
"I have just as much chance as you, Mandy," Sam argued.
But Mandy didn't appear to be rattled.
"FYI, this award goes to someone who best exhibits youthfulness." She pointed at the last word on the flyer for emphasis.
"You're better suited to enter the senior Olympics!"
Sam growled in frustration.
"Please, Mandy!" Alex retorted. "Sam's got twice as much youthful- youth as you."
"Whatever," Mandy said dismissively. "I'm just trying to save her from total embarrassment. After all, she's the one with gray hair."
Sean's eyes widened in confusion as he examined Sam's hair carefully.
"What are you talking about?" he asked Mandy spitefully. "Sam doesn't have gray hair."
"Oh, really? Then what do you call this?"
Mandy held up a single strand dangling from the left side of Sam's hair. It glowed silver in the light of the cafeteria.
Sam's face froze in horror.
"Of course," Mandy continued. "If you get one, you're sure to get another and another."
"Yeah, right!" Sam said, swatting Mandy's hand away. However, Sean could still tell she was in the grip of fear, judging by the way she faltered out of the cafeteria.
"But I'm just going to go check anyway."
Her friends followed her out as Alex snatched the flyer away from Mandy.
Opening her locker door, Sam quickly dug out a small mirror and hung it on the inside.
Gazing at her reflection, she found the hair Mandy pointed out. To her despair, Mandy had been telling the truth for once.
"Come on, Sam," Sean said, trying to cheer her up. "It's not that bad. I mean, a little gray hair is distinguishing."
He turned to Alex and Clover.
"Right, girls?" he added, hoping to get them to agree with him.
"Totally!" Clover said quickly. "I mean, what's the big deal? It's just one gray hair."
But then she turned to Alex and quickly whispered, "I can't believe I just said that."
"You're right," Sam said, gripping the hair tightly. "I'll just get rid of it."
"Don't pluck it!" Clover warned. "Five more will grow in its place!"
"I thought you said it was no big deal," Sean pointed out.
"One hair is no big deal; five is an irreversible trend!"
"But I don't even want one gray hair!" Sam cried, as Sean placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Oh, now see what you've done, Clover?" Alex admonished. "You better tell her about our surprise."
Sean looked at Clover questioningly.
"Are you sure?" he asked. He knew about this surprise in advance, but he expected that they would tell her at the end of the day.
Before Sam could ask what it was, Clover pulled four red strips of paper out of her purse.
"This will cheer you up," Clover added happily.
"Front row seats to the Happy Fun Fellas concert on Friday night!" Alex exclaimed.
Sam's mood instantly brightened.
"How did you get those?!" she asked excitedly. "That concert's been sold out for weeks!"
"Yeah," Sean concurred, crossing his arms. "You never said how you got those at the last minute."
"Oh, it was easy," Clover said. "The manager of the arena has a cousin who lives next door to a guy who's best friends with a man who married a childhood classmate of the mother of a guy I know from the football team."
Sean, Sam, and Alex tried to wrap their heads around that many connections, but got confused after the word "cousin".
"I just flirted with him and he got the tickets for me," Clover finished.
"Wow," Sam said, impressed. "I guess it really is who you know."
But Sean and Alex were still totally lost.
"I'm sorry," Sean spoke up, getting over the headache from Clover's explanation. "Could you say the first part again? I'll be up all night trying to figure that out!"
"Anyway," Clover went on as if Sean hadn't said anything. "We can't go to the concert if you're going to be crying about your hair, can we?"
"I guess not," Sam conceded. "Thanks, Clover."
That was when the space behind Sam's locker opened up, sucking the four in through a vortex of wind and down the same metallic chute they had been sliding down on a regular basis for some time.
After a long scream in the dark, the ride ended on the fuchsia cushion in Jerry's office.
Jerry himself was standing in front of them, a warm smile on his face.
"So glad you could breeze through, spies," he greeted.
"As if we had a choice," Sean said dryly.
Jerry snapped his fingers, turning on the massive screen behind him.
"Let's cut to the chase."
The screen showed two middle school aged girls on a basketball course, and one of them appeared to be doing very poorly.
"Oceanside Middle School is known for its superior athletic programs. Their teams have won state championships for years. But suddenly, the teams are losing all their games."
The image changed to a boy in a track uniform, who was very much moving at a snail's pace, not even trying to jump over the hurdle.
"Wow," Clover said in shock as she dusted herself off. "They don't look like they could win a knitting championship."
Jerry turned off the screen just as it showed a feeble looking football player being tackled by dozens of stronger players.
"I want you four to go undercover and investigate this strange shift in the student body of Oceanside."
He pointed to each spy in order as he gave them their assignments.
"Sam, you'll pose as a history teacher. Sean, you'll go undercover as a teacher's aide. Alex, you'll be a gymnastics coach. And Clover, you'll be a lunch lady."
But Clover was appalled by that idea.
"As if!" she complained. "Try again, Jer!"
Jerry thought carefully.
"I suppose you could always go undercover as a janitor or trigonometry teacher," he suggested.
That appeared to change Clover's mind.
"On second thought, where's my hairnet?"
Jerry pressed a button his desk, opening it up to reveal the equipment he was prepared to give them on the mission.
"Now, on to the gadgets. Hoop Earring Communicators, Expandable Cable Bungee Belts, Velcro Band 3D Analyzer Wristwatch."
He demonstrated the ability of that one on Alex, who giggled in delight.
"That tickles!" she exclaimed.
"And finally, DNA Scanner Sunglasses, a Butterfly Laser Emitting Pendant, and a Multi Purpose Army Knife."
Sean and Sam raised an eyebrow at such a mundane looking gadget.
"You never know," Jerry quickly added.
He threw the knife to Sam who caught it.
"Jerry," Alex said. "How long will this job take? We're going to a Happy Fun Fellas concert on Friday night."
"Well, then, I guess we better get you started immediately," Jerry answered and he snapped his fingers again.
The floor opened up beneath the spies, causing them to fall into a purple rollercoaster car, which took off faster than a bullet.
Oceanside Middle School-9:06 AM
According to what Jerry had told them, Oceanside wasn't too far away from Beverly Hills. It was located in Malibu, to be exact.
Adjusting the tie to his dark gray suit, Sean surveyed his new surroundings. He hadn't been inside a middle school since he left Beverly Vista. But from what he could see, the school seemed perfectly normal.
Well, other than the fact that one boy fell asleep on his way to his next class.
Weird, Sean thought. I've heard of falling asleep in class, but on the way to class?
"This is ridiculous," Clover complained, fidgeting with her hairnet.
"Tell me about it," Sean agreed with her, or so he thought. "I mean, what is this a middle school or a senior center?"
"Uh, actually, Sean, I was taking about this."
Clover gestured down her entire body... more specifically, her lunch lady disguise.
"Who'd ever believe that I could pass as a lunch lady?"
One boy walked up to her, tugging on her apron.
"Hey, lunch lady," he said. "What's on the menu today?"
Appalled, Clover turned to him and growled, sending him screaming down the hallway.
"Well, there's one kid with enough energy to run at least," Sean commented, silently scolding Clover.
"Come on," Sam instructed. "Let's take our undercover positions before the rest of the kids show up."
The others nodded, but Clover did so reluctantly.
Alex looked around the gym.
According to the schedule she'd been given, she was supposed to be coaching the girls' basketball team.
She would have preferred soccer, having grown up with a passion for it. But she knew enough about basketball to know how to coach it.
Well, how to pretend to coach it anyway.
It didn't seem to make much of a difference anyway, as the girls were moving so lethargically, that if not for their height and youthful appearances, you'd almost mistake them for being decades older.
One girl barely even made an effort to shoot the ball through the basket.
The ball landed at Alex's feet as she looked down in bewilderment.
Remembering the DNA Scanner Sunglasses in her back pocket, an idea formed in her mind.
She blew her whistle, signalling an end to practice for the day.
"Okay, team!" she called out. "That was really... slow."
She clapped her hands.
"Let's hit the showers!"
The girls stepped behind the shower stalls of the locker room as Alex stood behind a wall, waiting for an appropriate amount of time to pass.
But waiting was never one of Alex's strongest suits.
"Alright, everybody out," she announced after a few minutes.
"But we just started," one girl protested politely.
"It's not like you worked up a sweat out there," Alex said bluntly.
As the girls exited the showers and went to dry off and redress, Alex knelt by the shower drain, putting on her DNA Scanner Sunglasses.
Locking in on a strand of hair that got wedged in the drain, she scanned it quickly but carefully.
"Wow!" she exclaimed to herself. "Their DNA has been changed. It's like they have the genetic traits of someone in their eighties!"
The minute the next bell rang, Sam stood up from the teacher's desk as Sean took his position at her left hand side.
"Okay, class!" Sam said, melding into her teacher role a little too perfectly. "Today we're going to learn about the Cold War. We need a volunteer to be the Soviet Union."
After a few seconds of seeing no hands in the air, and few more of snoring from the students, Sean facepalmed.
"Okay, this isn't working," he said. "Looks like we're gonna have to volunteer someone ourselves."
Sam raised an eyebrow questioningly as Sean scanned the room, singling out one boy who still looked full of energy.
"How about you?" Sean suggested to the boy, looking at his name on the roll call sheet. "Uh, Theodore, was it?"
"Oh, wonderful!" Theodore exclaimed, standing up. "May I say it is indeed an honor and a privilege to participate in such a lively classroom endeavor, for it is often said-"
Theodore was apparently smart for his age, based on the way he spoke. But neither Sam nor Sean had the time for flattery.
"Bravo!" Sam said, clapping her hands, hoping to cut this short. "You go!"
Then she shoved Theodore over to the blackboard before looking at the rest of the room.
"Stand over there. We're gonna need some satellite nations."
Sean and Sam got to work escorting more fatigued looking students to their places beside Theodore.
"Here," Sam said to a very drained girl. "You be Yugoslavia."
Sean directed a similarly lethargic boy up as well.
"You can be Czechoslovakia," he said to the boy.
"Actually," Sam added quickly, having a better idea. "Everybody come up here and face the blackboard."
"But why?" Theodore questioned.
Sean grit his teeth nervously.
"Because... you're the Berlin Wall!" he offered, Sam nodding in agreement.
"Alright," she said. "Everybody close your eyes to simulate nighttime."
For two of the kids, this was no problem. But one was still wide awake.
"You too, Theodore."
"But I'm the Soviet Union," Theodore protested, confused.
"You're taking a nap," Sean said bluntly.
With the students eyes closed, Sean lowered his left sleeve, aiming the wristwatch he'd received from Jerry at them.
Since the others were too tired to notice or even care, no one said a word as Sean's watch scanned the three students.
After a moment, the scan was complete and Sean could barely contain his shock at what he saw.
"Damn," he said softly. "That's weird."
"What is it?" Sam whispered.
"According to this, their glandular functions are slowing down. And their mental alertness is dangerously low. And they have small contusions on all their foreheads."
"What about their energy and vitality levels?"
Sean looked at the screen again.
"Huh. Not as bad as they could be."
That was when one girl fell asleep and slumped downward to the floor.
Sam glared at Sean.
"Okay, maybe I was wrong about that," he admitted.
In the cafeteria, Clover wasn't enjoying her cover as lunch lady, but nonetheless made sure not to scare anymore students. Not that it would matter anyway, since most of them didn't appear to have enough adrenaline to be scared at all.
And that was the least weird thing about this school, as she quickly found out.
"What will you have?" she asked a girl who came up to her.
"Prunes, please," the girl responded tiredly.
Clover was shocked. She'd never heard of a twelve year old wanting prunes. Actually, scratch that. She'd never heard of anyone wanting prunes.
"How about some ice cream or cake?" she offered.
"No, I'd better stick with the prunes," the girl declined.
Astonished, Clover placed a small plate of the dried plums on the younger girl's tray and gestured for her to move away.
What kind of school even serves prunes, anyway? she thought.
"How about you?" she asked a boy who came up next in line.
"Prunes also, please," the boy said, sounding just as feeble as the girl who came before him. "And if you have anything else that's easy to chew, that would be great."
"Easy to chew?" Clover asked in disbelief. "You've got a head full of strong teeth."
"Yeah," the boy scoffed. "Those were the days."
As if to prove Clover wrong, one of the boy's front teeth fell out of his mouth and into the glass of water on his tray.
Disgusted, Clover placed a much larger plate of prunes onto the boy's tray.
About an hour after lunch, the spies met in the middle of the school hallway, which was mercifully empty, to discuss their next move.
"Okay," Alex began. "Is it me, or are these kids about as lively as sloths?"
"Yeah," Clover agreed. "It's like they've all had liposuction or something."
"Only they're more sluggish than usual," Sean added.
"We've got to figure out who's behind all this," Sam said, earning nods from the other three.
That was when a janitor came up behind them, wheeling a cart with a mop, bucket, and two bottles of cleaning solution through the halls.
"Damn kids," he grumbled loud enough for the spies to hear. "Leave nothing but messes everywhere they go, snot-nosed good for nothings."
"Okay," Sean said, staring after the janitor. "I think we just found our number one suspect."
Alex gasped and pointed off to a female teacher further away from them, who had her hand placed on a student's forehead.
"Look!" she shouted. "That teacher's turning a kid into a zombie!"
Moving fast, Sam swiped the mop from the janitor.
"Hey!" he protested.
But it did him no good, as Sam was already shoving the mop's wet bristles into the teacher's face, knocking her into a row of lockers.
"Oh no, you don't," Sam said triumphantly.
"What do you think you're doing?!" the teacher asked sternly.
"Stopping you from stealing this innocent student's youth!" Alex answered furiously.
The teacher looked confused for a moment before narrowing her eyes at the four and then turning back to the boy they "saved" from her.
"I was only showing the lad that he got an A+ on his science test."
The boy turned around excitedly.
"I never got an A+ before," he said happily. "Gosh, thanks Mrs. Killaher."
As the boy went back to class, the janitor came up behind Sam and snatched his mop out of her hand.
Sean and Alex knelt down to pick up the very offended teacher.
"We are so sorry," Sean said sincerely as Alex dusted off Mrs. Killaher's sleeves.
She looked at the four with suspicion.
"I don't recall seeing you at this school before," she said.
"Um," Alex stated, looking for an excuse. "That's because we're part of the school district's substitute gym teacher, history teacher, teacher's aide, lunch lady program."
The janitor and teacher blinked, unsure of what they had just heard.
"Gotta go," Alex said quickly. And the quartet ducked behind a corner in the hallway, unaware of the security camera above them
"That was too close," Clover admitted.
"Yeah," Sean agreed. "We should probably split up, so we'll attract less attention."
He looked at his watch.
"There's a pep rally in about an hour. Let's meet up then."
They split into two teams, with Clover and Alex forming the first and Sean and Sam taking up the second.
As they rounded a corner, they didn't see a shorter figure in their way until he bumped into Sam.
When Sam backed away, she was relieved to see it was only Theodore, who was carrying a stack of papers and to Sean's shock, a bouquet of yellow roses.
"Here's the copies you needed," he said, handing Sam the papers. "All coalated and alphabetized."
Then he held up the bouquet.
"I also got you these to brighten up your room," he added with a smile.
Sean felt a pang in his stomach. Jealousy, perhaps?
Oh, yeah. Real mature, Sean, he chided himself. Get worked up over an eleven-year old.
"Thank you, Theodore," Sam said, taking the flowers and papers. "They're beautiful. You're a nice kid."
"Um," Sean uttered, snapping out of his thoughts. "Why don't you go outside and play?"
"I would, but my friends are so boring," Theodore explained. "They just sit around and talk about their aches and pains. Don't you have anything else that needs to be done?"
"Okay," Sam said, thinking before looking to Sean for help.
Instantly, he thought of a solution.
Sean held out another pile of papers to Theodore.
"How about distributing these memos to all the classrooms?" he suggested.
"Great!" Theodore exclaimed, taking them. "Thanks!"
Theodore walked away from the pair as Sean smiled at Sam.
She took notice of this, apparently.
"What?" she asked.
"Oh," Sean replied, his face getting redder and redder. "Nothing. It's just you're... really good with kids, you know that?"
He looked away so he didn't notice a similar blush on Sam's cheeks.
"Um..." she fumbled, her mouth suddenly going dry. "Thanks."
"You'd make a great mom one day," Sean said without thinking.
He clapped his hand over his mouth when he realized the implications of what he just said.
You're so stupid, Sean! he cursed himself. She's already worried about having gray hair. Besides, she may not even want kids. Will she?
Then something else went through his mind. The scenario that would be required in order for her to have kids.
And with that single thought, his face went completely crimson, but luckily his face was turned. And he didn't see Sam's face was in a similar state... and that she was having similar thoughts regarding him.
Theodore walked through the hallway eagerly at first. But at the first sound of footsteps, he faltered.
He looked back, but to his confusion, no one was behind him.
At first, he thought he might have imagined it, so he walked a little more slowly.
When he heard the footsteps again, however, he was prompted to look back a second time. And what he saw terrified him.
A tall figure was looming over him in an eerily predatory fashion. He couldn't see his attacker's face, though, for it was obscured by the red light of the gem they were holding.
Either way, dropping the memos Sam and Sean had handed him, he made a beeline for the first unoccupied room he could find: the chemistry lab.
Dashing inside, he closed the door, listening. Hearing the footsteps just outside the door was his cue to hide in a cabinet below one of the benches.
When the door opened, Theodore could only cringe in fear at what was going to happen, as the red light filtered in through the slots of the cabinet.
Inevitably, his pursuer opened the cabinet door. After a brief scream of fright, Theodore ran to another bench, picked up beaker after beaker, and threw them at his unknown assailant.
But it didn't seem to do any good as the figure only drew closer to him.
"No!" he shouted, as the figure held up the stone to his face. "Please! Don't!"
Outside, no one heard his screams, nor did anyone see the flash of red light leaking out from the door.
The spies took their place in the crowded gym, where a temporary stage had been set up.
"Ooh!" Alex cooed excitedly. "A pep rally! I love these school events. They're so full of energy!"
"Thus, the term 'pep rally'," Clover said.
Sam and Sean turned only for a moment to see Theodore trudging along behind them. Compared to how he was earlier, they couldn't help but notice he seemed more... sluggish.
"Theodore, what's the matter?" Sam asked, worried. But he didn't appear to hear her.
"Okay, girls," Sean said, sharing Sam's concern. "This is really serious. Let's spread out and look for anyone suspicious."
The girls nodded in agreement.
As the principal, a sturdily built, brown haired, middle aged man named John Smith took the stand on the stage, the spies took their positions at different sections of the gym.
"As you all know," Smith said into the microphone in a smooth, deep voice. "This weekend is Oceanside Junior High School's last game of the season. So, let's all give a rousing cheer to the football team."
With a gesture of Smith's hand, the red curtain behind him parted to reveal eleven boys standing under a sign that displayed the school's logo. Like practically everyone in the room, the football team looked incredibly weak and tired.
As confetti fell from the ceiling, the students cheered softly and unenthusiastically and their applause could barely be heard at all.
"This is no pep rally," Sean heard Alex say through his earring communicator. "It's a pep funeral!"
"Yeah," Sean agreed. "My grandma has more life in her than these kids do."
"What's weirder," Clover added. "Is that Principal Smith doesn't notice that the kids are acting so strangely."
"He either doesn't notice," Sam observed. "Or he doesn't care."
She looked at the principal from behind the cover of the stage curtain. Indeed, Smith didn't seem to be too concerned that at least 80% of his students were acting like they'd aged a hundred years.
"Maybe that's because he knows why they're acting that way."
Sean pulled out his wallet phone.
"Let's see what Jerry can tell us about this guy," he said, opening it.
The screen on the wallet lit up to reveal Jerry sitting behind his desk.
"Jerry, it's Sean. I think we're on to something. Can you do some research on Oceanside's principal? His name is John Smith."
"Certainly," Jerry responded. "Here you go."
The research did take a little longer than expected; after all, John Smith was a very common name. But connecting him to Oceanside did narrow the search down considerably.
After a few minutes, the results came out of a printer hidden in Sam's purse.
"It says that Smith was previously a headmaster at Ravenswood Boys School in England," Sam reported. "But it seems he left under mysterious circumstances."
Sean closed his wallet phone.
"Well, looks like we're going on a field trip," he said to the girls.
Ravenswood School-11:45 AM
Founded in 1712, Ravenswood School was about as old as Sean expected it to be. He could tell that even from the way the roof was shaped. But nothing could have prepared him for what he and his friends saw through the skylight upon dropping down on the roof from their helicopter.
In the library below, dozens of students were asleep at their assignments, using their books as pillows.
"Wow," Clover commented. "Looks familiar, huh?"
"Just like the students at Oceanside," Alex agreed.
Down below, the bell rang, announcing lunch. And the perfect cover to investigate the school.
Using their Expandable Cable Bungee Belts, Sam and Sean lowered themselves to the window of what used to be the headmaster's office, but was now apparently empty.
Sean kicked the window in, opening it and allowing him and the girls to flip backwards in.
"Okay," Sean announced as he surveyed the room. "Let's see what we kind find out about Smith."
The office looked perfectly normal complete with office, file cabinet and a long bookcase lined with glass.
Sam opened a drawer on the desk while Sean flipped through a stack of papers left on top. But nothing came up.
"Nothing here," Alex called as she searched through the file cabinet, having similar luck.
However, when Clover came to the bookcase, she was sure she would come across a dead end as well. Until...
"What's this?" she asked. The glass doors protecting already had handles. But these were higher than the one Clover found near the bottom.
Curious, her teammates approached her position, just as confused. Well, they were until she turned the handle.
The section of shelf rotated into the wall, taking the spies with it. Next thing they knew, they were dropped into a stone chute that slid down into a black abyss.
As they screamed in the darkness, the ride came to an end when a painting in an unknown room opened up and let them fall in, first Clover, then Sean, then Sam, and finally Alex.
"That was really unexpected," Clover said, straining under the combined weight of her teammates.
As they got to their feet, the spies looked around the room with intrigue.
Off to the right was a glass dome that held an enormous red gemstone that glowed in the dim light.
"Huh," Sean commented as he examined it. "I wonder what this is?"
"I don't know," Sam said, her eyes wandering to a table behind her. It was cluttered with books. "But maybe something over there can give us an idea."
As Sean and Sam went over to the table, Alex took the opportunity to look at the gem.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed. "If only I had a finger big enough to wear that on a ring!"
Sam looked through one book while Sean gazed over her shoulder, his eyes furrowed in concentration.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Weird," she said, as she continued reading. "This manuscript describes how youth can be extracted from people's souls."
"Hey," Clover said from over by a painting. "This guy looks really familiar."
She pointed to it with her thumb.
In the painting, two men, both wearing old-fashioned clothing were shaking hands. Sean didn't recognize the older man in the painting, but the younger man with brown hair he recognized instantly from his time at Oceanside.
To the left of that was another painting of the same man, wearing even older clothing with a powdered wig.
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "He looks like Principal Smith. Except, why is he in those ancient clothes?"
Sean took the manuscript from Sam and opened it.
"Because Smith is 800 years old!" Sam exclaimed, realizing.
"This is his journal!" Sean elaborated. "There are entries dating back to the 13th century!"
"Somehow Smith must be stealing youth and administering it to himself!" Sam added as Sean continued to flip the pages.
"And somehow that jewel has something to do with it," Sean finished, stopping an illustration of the stone in question.
"You mean Smith literally found a fountain of youth?" Clover asked, unimpressed.
The sound of doors opening told them that their investigation there was finished.
Before them stood two figures they had hoped they'd seen the last of at Oceanside.
"It's the janitor!" Alex exclaimed in shock.
"And the teacher!" Clover added.
"What are you doing here?!" the janitor growled.
"The question is," Sean corrected. "What are you doing here?"
"Getting rid of you brats!" the teacher replied furiously as she leapt to attack them, surprisingly spry for someone her age.
Clover countered by kicking her foot, sending the older woman crashing into a pile of books in the far corner of the room.
The janitor swung his mop at Sean and then Sam. Both dodged in time for Alex to land on him then flip him backward in the same pile of books the teacher was trying to get up from.
Just as the spies gave each other a celebratory high-five, they heard footsteps in another section of the room. And by the sound of it, they were receding.
The janitor and teacher ran out of the room through a small flight of stairs and up into a doorway.
"We can't let them get away!" Sam shouted, and they all took off in pursuit.
Well, almost all of them, anyway.
Her teammates were completely oblivious at the moment, but as Alex brought up the rear, a panel in the wall opened up and pair of strong arms grabbed her, dragging her behind it as it closed.
Meanwhile, Sean, Sam, and Clover arrived in the hallway of the school, not seeing any sign of their quarry.
"Where'd they go?" Sean asked.
"Where'd Alex go?" Clover added onto that question with her own, now taking notice of their friend's absence.
Sam tapped both their shoulders and gestured for them to look out the window.
Outside, the janitor and teacher were climbing the wall of the building with ropes. And the janitor had Alex draped over his shoulder.
"Alex!" all three shouted as they readied their Bungee Belts and kicked open the window.
Firing the belt buckles, they hooked on to the roof, which Sean noticed had a helicopter parked on it.
Swinging to the other side, they propelled up to the roof just in time to see Alex's abductors prepare to board.
Sam leapt at the teacher, tackling her to the ground, but the woman wrestled with her until Sam fell off the roof.
Sean and Clover rushed to the roof, horrified.
"Sam!" Sean shouted, but he didn't have time to worry about her before two hands pushed both him and Clover over the side.
Minutes later, the helicopter took off, leaving three spies dangling from a Union Jack flag fluttering in the wind.
Oceanside Middle School-2:13 PM
Since it was Smith's current base of operations, Sam reasoned that Alex had been taken back to Oceanside.
A quick call to Jerry sent a jet to take them back to California, where hopefully they would find her.
Not caring who saw them in their spy uniforms, Sean, Sam, and Clover ran into the school lobby, looking around for their missing friend.
"Where could they have taken Alex?" Sean asked.
"Look!" Clover exclaimed, pointing to a door a few feet away from them.
Alex, once again in her gym teacher disguise, stepped out of the door, looking fatigued and withered.
"Alex!" Sam sighed in relief, as they all rushed over. "Are you alright?"
But Alex didn't answer, instead just walked away with the speed of a tortoise who had taken sleeping pills.
"They drained her youth!" Clover gasped.
"Follow her!" Sean urged, gritting his teeth in determination.
Alex's slow trek throughout the school ended in the gym.
When the spies pushed the doors open, they were shocked to see that room was in complete darkness. And more shockingly, their friend was nowhere in sight.
"Where did she go?" Clover asked, breaking the tomblike silence that had fallen over the place.
But the question had no time to be explored, as the janitor and two other men jumped down from the ceiling, having clung to the gym's climbing ropes.
"Now, we got ya!" the janitor sneered as Sean attempted to deliver a kick to the face of the man closest to him, but he dodged. Sam tried to land a blow of her own, but that was avoided as well, and the much larger man grabbed her from behind.
Sean threw punch after punch at his opponent while Clover avoided mop swings from the janitor, performing a handstand that transitioned into a flip. Soon enough, she landed into the arms of another one of the janitor's friends. Sean prepared to do a leg sweep to the janitor, but didn't count on him grabbing his legs and then picking him up and slinging him over his shoulder.
He hated to admit it, but they certainly captured him and his friend far easier than most criminals had.
"I don't get it," Sam grunted as she struggled against her captor. "Why are you doing Smith's dirty work?"
"Give up, you three," the voice of Principal Smith purred throughout the gym. "There's no escape."
Smith stepped out of the shadows, his face painted with pure smugness.
"I'm not sure how you found out about my little enterprise, but you've made a terrible mistake."
"We know you're stealing these kids' youth," Sean said angrily. "You'll never get away with it."
Smith just chuckled maliciously.
"On the contrary," he returned. "I have for centuries. And this last big score will provide me with enough youth to give me immortality."
"What do you mean, 'last big score?'" Clover asked.
Smith's grin widened.
"I mean the Happy Fun Fellas concert."
While Sean was just as surprised, Sam and Clover took it far more personally than he did.
"You wouldn't dare!" Sam growled.
"If you touch a single hair on their precious heads," Clover threatened. "I swear I'll open a heavy duty can of W.O.O.H.P brand butt whoop on you!"
"And miss one of the largest gatherings of young people in years?" Smith asked rhetorically, laughing. "I think not. Soon, all that youth will be mine!"
Minutes later, the spies were being lifted up to the ceiling by a chandelier-like device that held the climbing ropes of the gym that were now used to bind their wrists.
While Sam, Sean, and Clover struggled against their restraints, Alex just lowered her head, too tired to even move.
Smith turned to his men.
"Open the windows," he instructed.
The huge shutters blocking sunlight from the gym's windows parted, letting early afternoon light drift in, illuminating a bright red gem identical to the one the spies found in England.
"The Jewel of Sumatra," Smith explained. "Quite rare. Only three in the world. And I have them all."
Sean didn't see the point, until he noticed that the light was creeping toward it and them.
"When the sun strikes it, its rays will disperse and pass through you, taking your youth along with it."
Their work finished, Smith and his accomplices turned to leave.
"We've got to get loose before that jewel turns our brains into oatmeal!" Sam exclaimed.
Sean nodded in agreement as he tried and failed to reach the not in the rope holding him up.
"I can't get my hands free!" he grunted in frustration.
"This is awful!" Clover said ruefully. "I'm too young to be old."
"Clover," Sean said irritably. "Could you stop complaining and help us think of a way out of this?!"
Clover sighed.
"Okay. Try swinging back and forth; maybe I can untie your hands."
Sean did so, with Sam following.
When both sets of hands were linked with Clover's Sam stuck her foot behind their backs.
"Okay," she said. "Got you. Now, if I could just cut your ropes."
Out of Sam's heel came the army knife Jerry had given her.
She got to work sawing through the ropes.
"Sam," Sean said, looking at the window. "I hate to rush, but could you hurry? The sun's almost hitting the jewel."
"I'm doing my best," Sam answered.
Sean sighed. "Okay. I have faith in you."
Clover turned to Alex, who had woken up long enough to take notice of what was going on.
"Alex," she said. "Can you give Sam a hand?"
Apparently, Clover didn't trust Sam as much Sean did.
"Okay," Alex replied weakly. "Right after my nap."
And with that, she slumped her head downward again, and began to snore.
Needless to say, Clover had no patience for this.
"Alex, wake up!" she shrieked, just as Sam finished cutting hers and Sean's ropes.
Now free, Sean and Clover nearly fell to the gym floor before catching themselves on Sam's ankles.
"Okay," Sam strained, her entire lower section now feeling heavier due to the combined weight. "Somebody's going to have to go lighter on the ice cream."
"Don't look at me!" Sean defended. "Clover's the one who can't resist binging on it after a breakup!"
"You're one to talk!" Clover argued. "Didn't I catch you-"
But the argument continued no further.
"Uh, guys?" Sam interrupted.
"What?" Sean and Clover asked at the same time.
"You might want to close your eyes."
Sean looked worried.
"Why?"
But they were answered by the sound of a rope snapping, followed by all four plunging to the floor.
"Well, that went well," Sam said, getting to her feet.
"Yeah," Sean agreed, dusting himself off. "I think that was one of our better escapes."
"Come on!" Clover exclaimed. "We've gotta get to that concert before it's too late!"
Sean and Sam nodded in agreement.
Beverly Hills Auditorium-7:48 PM
By the time the spies burst through the auditorium doors, the concert was already in full swing.
"He could be anywhere," Sean said, helping to carry Alex's limp form inside. "Let's spread out."
"Right," Clover agreed. "I'll check backstage. Alex, why don't you just sit here and enjoy the music?"
Leaving Alex at the back of the room, (and hoping she wouldn't get trampled) Clover snuck behind the stage while Sean and Sam surveyed the crowd in different sections.
Clover crawled up to the backstage door, and prepared to grip the handle.
She didn't get very far, though.
"Whoa!" a voice exclaimed just as she moved the door.
She looked up to see a very tough looking roadie towering over her.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"I have to get back there and save the world!" Clover replied, aware of how crazy that sounded, but she didn't have time to come up with another excuse.
But either way, the roadie wasn't buying it.
"I've heard some good ones in my day, but nobody ever pulled that one on me."
"But you have got-" Clover tried to plea.
"Back you go, missy," he interrupted harshly as he dragged her back out.
Sean, unaware of Clover's situation had no luck in locating Smith so far.
"Any sign of him?" he asked Sam through the Earring Communicator.
"No," Sam's voice echoed in his left ear. "Wait, I think I see him."
Sean's eyes darted around the room, looking for a glimpse of Smith among the cheering fans.
"Where?" he asked.
"Look up."
Following Sam's instructions, Sean turned his gaze to the catwalk above the stage.
Smith stood next to the janitor from Oceanside, his eyes fixed on a giant version of the jewel he'd tried to use on the spies.
Sean looked for the ladder that led up there, quickly finding it.
Sam was there as well, already climbing it with Sean following closely behind.
"Once the circuit is connected," Smith said to himself. "The final assault will begin."
He turned to the janitor, who was in the process of connecting to enormous cables that were undoubtedly linked to the jewel.
"Hurry," Smith ordered just as Sean and Sam arrived on the scene.
"This ought to slow him down," Sam said, squeezing the Butterfly Laser Emitting Pendant.
A blueish white laser came out of the center of the pendant, severing the beam holding the catwalk up, and leaving the janitor dangling from the railing.
Smith, who landed in a much safer position on the overturned catwalk, turned to see the two teens he thought he'd left helpless.
"How did they get loose?!" he asked furiously. "Guess I'll have to finish them off myself!"
Using the cable as a lasso, he roped Sam's ankles and pulled.
San lost her footing and was soon hanging from the railing herself.
Sean, who barely avoided the cable, leapt onto the top part of the railing and took a combat stance.
"Give it up, Smith!" he warned. "You'll never get away with this."
"On the contrary, young man," Smith retorted, holding the two cables in his hands. "I already have."
Confident, Smith connected the two cables, much to Sean's horror.
The spotlights below them redirected their lights to shine on the jewel, and everyone below from the musicians to the fans looked up in bewilderment.
Sean balled up his fist, preparing to deliver a punch to Smith, but the older man caught it, then threw the boy over the side where he gripped the rails, hanging on for dear life along with Sam.
"Well, that could've been better," Sean said. "Could've been worse too."
"How?" Sam asked, not seeing Sean's point of view.
"He could've cut off my hand and said he was my father."
Back on the floor, nearly everyone began to feel as fatigued and weak as Alex now was.
"Yes!" Smith exclaimed gleefully. "That's it! Give me all your precious youth!"
Smith's hair, once thinning was now beginning to expand and length. And it now looked more luxurious. His skin grew less wrinkled and more youthful with each passing second. While his victims were being drained in almost half that time.
Clover, seeing the beams from the gem hurdle toward the audience, ducked.
But she didn't feel any older when the beam hit her.
Daring to look up a little further, she saw that the beam from the jewel was bouncing off the reflective surface on her bracelet.
I knew there was a reason I liked this, she thought.
She looked around.
"I wonder if-"
She cut herself off, eyeing the cymbals on the drums on the stage. Rushing up, she grabbed one just as the drummer was about to hit it.
"Hey!" he protested.
"Sorry!" Clover apologized. "I love your music!"
She quickly placed the cymbal in the path of a stray beam that hit the floor. The beam bounced back upward and hit the jewel.
Seeing this, Smith looked down at the janitor, stomping on his fingers to try and loosen his grip.
"Stop her!" he growled.
Down below, Clover was placing her Compowder in the path of another beam just as the roadie from backstage came running up. When she was certain that the beam was directed back to its source, she ran narrowly avoiding both the roadie and the janitor, who fell on top of the former.
Smith watched the whole scene above, unamused.
"You could have at least fallen on her!" he said, annoyed.
He turned to leave and try to deal with the situation himself, only to find Sam standing in front of him.
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.
He tried to turn the other way, but Sean flipped over to the top, and the two spies boxed him in.
"I have a good idea where you can go," Sean said. "Jail."
Back on the stage, Clover delivered a kick to the teacher from Oceanside while carrying a small mirror.
"Class dismissed!" she said.
Knocking the older woman down, Clover placed the mirror in front of another beam.
Smith had decided not to bother with Sean and focused primarily on Sam.
"Out of my way!" he said as he threw punches at her, which she caught every time.
Taking advantage of Smith's blind spot, Sean delivered a kick to his upper back. But Smith caught his leg and threw him forward, causing him to land on top of Sam.
The two looked up two see that, at some point during the struggle, Smith had managed to swipe Sam's Butterfly Laser Emitting Pendant.
Squeezing it, Smith severed another cable, causing the section of walkway Sean and Sam were on to give way completely.
The two caught themselves using a lighting cable, but Smith was about to disconnect it, which would cause the two to fall.
"Don't even think about!" Clover's voice called from off to Smith's right.
All heads turned to see her perched on the ladder, pointing to the jewel, which was now overloaded with energy.
"Your youth sucking days are over!"
Smith looked back at the jewel, his face frozen in horror.
He rushed to try to stop it, but Sam caught his ankle, causing him to trip.
"Not so fast, Smith!" she exclaimed.
Finally, the jewel was stored with more energy than it could contain, and shattered into a thousand tiny shards and the whole room was flooded with blinding white light.
"No!" Smith shouted in anguish.
The band stopped playing almost immediately as soon as the light faded and the smoking remnants of the jewel crashed down from the ceiling.
"Was that part of our show?" one of them asked.
When Sean climbed back up, he saw Sam sifting her fingers through a dark gray dust.
"What happened?" he asked. "Where's Smith?"
"Sean," Sam said, holding up the dust. "I think this is Smith."
She let it fall into his hand.
"He must have gotten so old that he crumbled into dust," Sean said, understanding.
Scooping Smith's remains into a plastic bag, Sean and Sam climbed back down to the audience, who now had their vitality levels restored, including Alex.
"Hey!" she exclaimed as Clover joined her. "I feel like myself again!"
"And not a second too soon," Clover agreed. "I was starting to worry that we'd have to put you into a retirement home."
As soon as Sean and Sam reunited with Clover and Alex, Jerry walked into the room with two other W.O.O.H.P agents.
"Nice work, spies," he said. "What happened to Smith?"
"Well," Sean said awkwardly. "That's kind of hard to explain."
He held up the bag containing the dust that had once been Smith.
"This is all that's left of him."
Jerry took it.
"Well," he said. "I hope we've seen the last of him."
"For his sake, I hope we have too," Clover concurred.
"Okay, guys," Alex said, once again filled with the youthful energy she was well known for. "Let's dance!"
The spies rushed onto the dance floor, dragging Jerry with him. Even though he didn't know what he was doing exactly, Jerry at least did make an effort to enjoy the concert.
Venice Beach-6:15 PM
The next day, Sean and the girls stood before a temporary stage that had been set up on the sand. In all the excitement, they had completely forgotten about the Beverly Hills Youth Spirit Awards until Mandy called Sam to gloat about her imminent victory.
"I'm so glad that's over with!" Alex sighed in relief.
"Yeah," Clover said. "No offense, Alex, but you didn't age too gracefully."
Sean turned to Sam, who was sulking quietly.
"Hey," he said gently. "You okay?"
"No," Sam replied bitterly. "I'm thinking about withdrawing from the youth spirit competition. I mean who would vote for a teenager with gray hair?!"
Sean turned Sam around to face him.
"Sam-" he began to say.
"Wait a second!" Clover exclaimed, as she got a better look at Sam's hair. "Your gray hair is gone!"
Looking at the part of her hair that had just been gray two days ago, Sean could see that it was it's usual, beautiful ginger shade.
"I told you not to pluck it, Sam!" Alex scolded.
"I didn't," Sam defended. "But I did wash my hair."
"Wait," Sean cut in. "Weren't you helping me with an art project the same day you found that hair?"
Sam nodded.
"Yeah."
"Well, I just remembered we were using gray paint. Some of it must have gotten in your hair."
Sam facepalmed.
"So, I'm not getting old and decrepit," she said happily. "I'm just messy!"
"Put a sock in it!" Mandy cut in rudely from Sean's left. "They're just about to name me winner of the competition."
The announcer stood in front of the microphone, pulling a slip of paper out of an envelope.
"And the Youth Spirt award goes too... Mrs. Muckle!"
While the crowd cheered, Sean, Sam, Alex, Clover, and Mandy went slack-jawed in surprise.
"MRS. MUCKLE?!" all five exclaimed in unison.
The cafeteria worker rollerbladed onto the stage happily as the teens in the front frow fell forward in disbelief.
"Mrs. Muckle has 50 years of volunteer work," the announcer said into the microphone. "Leadership in the orphanage, an annual trip to Europe, a series of gourmet cookbooks with all the profits donated to help build that new kindergarten."
Though disappointed that she didn't win, Sam still went over to congratulate Mrs. Muckle. Better to lose to her than Mandy, she supposed.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Muckle," Sam said.
"It's not how old you are," Mrs. Muckle said, sensing Sam's confusion on her winning. "It's how you are being old."
"Come on down, Mrs. Muckle," the announcer called out. "And claim your prize, a brand new wave slicer jet ski!"
On the beach, Sean and the girls watched Mrs. Muckle enjoy her new prize from a distance, riding the Southern Californian surf against the backdrop of the setting sun.
"It's okay, Sam," Alex consoled.
"There's always next year," Sean added.
"Or the year after that," Clover said.
"Or the next 50 years after that!" Sam laughed.
Her friends joined in the laughter until Alex and Clover went home, leaving Sean and Sam alone.
"So, happy you're not turning gray?" Sean asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe," Sam replied. "I don't think I could handle gray hair now! I don't even think I could handle it when I'm 70!"
Sean put a hand on her shoulder.
"Well," he said. "For what it's worth, I think you look good whether you have gray hair or red."
Sam looked at him in surprise.
"And you still got other things going for you."
"Like what?" she asked.
"Well, you're pretty smart, pretty brave, pretty..."
He stopped, unsure of how to phrase that next sentence.
"Pretty..."
That was the only word he could seem to force out of his lips.
"Pretty what?" Sam urged.
"Uh..."
Now aware of the amount of sweat trickling from his forehead, Sean looked at his wrist.
"I've gotta get home!" he said quickly "I'm supposed be back for dinner at 7:00."
He ran away before Sam could point out that he wasn't even wearing a watch.
Hope you loved it. Next chapter is another original chapter, one that takes you back before Sean ever met the girls. Get ready for Sean Warren: The Early Years.