The Academy: Book 2 (51 page)

SILENCE! Teddy is dead.

Asa felt crazy. He had to stifle a bout of laughter, thinking,
I want to put a corpse in jail! He’ll be bones in a box!
In his odd, frantic state, Asa found this very funny. Still, he continued along. The hallway led into the smallest room yet. It smelled of fresh paint, and there was an open paint can on the ground, with a drying brush lying next to it. Asa had suspected that Teddy made the paint by crushing up berries, or in a similar manner and was surprised to see that Teddy had obtained this industrial can.
I wonder if he has gone out into the real world and come back. Is he using this to fill the stone buckets that I saw in the main room?

Like the room with the fireplace, this one was covered in complex mathematical equations that Asa couldn’t begin to understand. In the middle of the room there was a stone model that Asa recognized instantly as the spear gun portion of Flying Class. There was a small, stone spear gun locked into a wall that faced a large open space with a target. There were marks on the ground in front of the target; Asa guessed that these represented failed attempts. Asa recalled Teddy saying that he would figure out how Asa could hit the target and be rewarded with the new mutation.
I had no idea he was working this hard.

Though the room was interesting, it was a dead end, so Asa backtracked into the main room. It may have been his imagination, but Teddy appeared to have moved while Asa was in the spear gun room. Asa moved further from the enormous fireplace and then walked into the next hallway.

He ran between multiple stone doorways before arriving in a large, open area that displayed more of Teddy’s carvings. The entire room was made to look like a jungle; it was one more example of Teddy’s manic work obsessions. Where there had once been solid rock, Teddy had sculpted out a cave, leaving stone trees with bark indentions and stone vines with stone flowers climbing up the trunks. There was sharp stone grass, stone birds perched atop stone branches, and a stone tiger showing stone teeth. Two monkey statues were sitting in the grass, and one of them was picking flees out of the other’s hair. Teddy had made a statue of himself sitting in the grass, watching the two statue monkeys. The statue of Teddy was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, not an Academy suit. There was also a man standing next to Teddy, looking down approvingly. He wore a t-shirt with an Atlanta Braves logo on it. His smooth stone arms were crossed and he was smiling.

Asa guessed that this was Teddy’s father.

There was an actual stream beside the far wall. It came in through a low, dark tunnel on the right and ran out a tunnel on the left. Asa moved deeper into the room, gazing around the carved bushes and had decided to leave after seeing that there was no door.

He turned when something caught his eye. He flicked his attention back to the stream and saw a live bass move through the cold water—shimmering green scales, a whipping tail, and an open pink mouth. The fish disappeared through the left tunnel without a problem, whi
ch made Asa raise his eyebrows.

If the bass can leave through that tunnel, then so can we.

Leaving by way of underground stream wasn’t his preferred option, but there wasn’t time to investigate the other rooms. Asa wasn’t sure how the suicide pill was interacting with the other drugs in Teddy’s system—
maybe they are counterbalancing each other?—
but he did know that Teddy’s half-awake state wouldn’t last forever. He was either going to die or wake up, and Asa wanted to get him to Conway’s cabin before either of those things happened.

Asa hurried back down the hallway and into the main room. Teddy was still in the spot that Asa had seen him in last time, but now he was on his stomach. His breathing was louder now, raspy. His lips were shut, and it appeared as though Teddy was breathing through the gaping hole in the left side of his mouth where a Multiplier had taken out some of his cheek.

Asa approached slowly and looked down on his breathing friend. Teddy’s fingers twitched and startled Asa, his heart drumming in his chest. “Teddy?” he said. Teddy shifted, and Asa screamed and fell backwards. Sweat gathered on his forehead. He watched Teddy, who remained still except for breaths. He was no longer twitching, and was not shifting anymore.
Did I imagine him twitching?
“Teddy?” Asa asked again.

Teddy
gave no indication that he had heard.

What if he’s trying to lull me into false safety?

You’re being crazy! He’s not trying to do anything, he’s knocked out.

Asa was reluctant to touch Teddy, but if he was going to move him, there was no sense in waiting. He bent down and picked Teddy up. He was lighter than Asa anticipated and he carried him like a baby past the fireplace and into the hallway that led to the rock jungle. They moved past the statues of the monkeys. Teddy’s head bobbled uncontrolled and Asa was uncomfortably aware that if Teddy awoke he would only have to sit up to sink his teeth into Asa’s neck.

The stream continued to trickle along from the right side of the room to the left side of the room. Asa stared at it, thinking
what if Teddy put a fence in there to catch things? What if we get stuck and can’t swim back against the current?

Teddy sat up and gasped, pupil-dilated eyes wide and rimmed with Salvaserum. The marks from where he had cut his cheeks opened further and blood began to run out.

Asa screamed, spun, and fell. For a moment, both he and the Multiplier were flailing through the air. He saw Teddy’s face change into a bloodthirsty smile, and he reached for Asa. The two of them splashed into the water. The smooth stream was running faster than Asa thought, and within one second he was swept out of the room and was traveling fast down a dark, underwater tunnel. Teddy was no longer in Asa’s arms and was floating separately.

The stream was running downwards, curving left and right and then taking sharp
, falling angles that made Asa’s stomach churn. Asa tried to open his eyes and orient himself, but it was impossible. He was slammed against rocky protrusions and turned so often that he didn’t know which way was up or down. Finally, he covered his head with his hands, trying to avoid any trauma to his skull.

One minute went by like that and Asa began to fear that he would drown. If there were a gate, or
some kind of blockage in the mountain stream, Asa would surely die; it would be impossible for him to swim against such a fast-moving current.

He was thinking this when he felt Teddy’s cold hands wrap around his throat. Instinctively, he shot his own palms out and caught Teddy’s face in his hands. Teddy’s jaw was trembling in the dark—even in the circumstances, he couldn’t control his will to bite. Asa tried to remain strong and keep Teddy at a distance, but he was closing in. Asa screamed underwater as he felt Teddy’s leg wrap around his torso and his gaping jaws move nearer his neck.

Then, they were out of the water and falling.

Asa was gasping, spinning, and Teddy no longer held him. He was falling beside a waterfall. He saw the mountains and dark sky before splashing into the water.

Whatever they had fallen into was deep. The waterfall above pushed Asa thirty feet underwater, where his back made gentle contact with seaweed before he began to swim to the top. He kept his eyes wide, looking for Teddy’s kicking feet in the water above him.

He emerged, gasping again, and then did a quick circle. Teddy was nowhere to be seen. The waterfall was roaring beside him so loud
that he couldn’t hear his own breath.
What if Teddy drowned? Maybe the suicide pill weakened him, and then he hit his head before going into the waterfall.
Asa moved over to the shore and pulled himself out. He felt stupid for carrying Teddy to the stream. He should have left right after Teddy chewed up that pill. He saw that he was at the river that separated Fishie Mountain from Mount Two, and he faced the Arctic jungle.

It’s so dark. Teddy could be hiding anywhere.

Asa looked around, contemplating. The trees made black, jagged outlines against the purple sky. Stars were out, twinkling overhead.

It is possible
that once Teddy had gotten out of the water he ran away.
He did say, after all, that he was waiting until the Winggame Match to…

Asa was tackled and the back of his head smacked hard on the gravel shore, making his vision blurry for a moment. Teddy was atop him, crying more Salvaserum and growling terribly.

Asa was able to drive his fist into Teddy’s face, knocking his head backwards. Teddy was disoriented for a moment, and Asa slid out from underneath him. The two friends got to their feet beneath the starlight. The river beside them reflected the moon.

“Teddy, THINK ABOUT WHO YOU ARE! REMEMBER!”

Teddy’s nose was bleeding and he continued to growl—the noise gurgled through the hole in his mouth. He took a step forward, and then tripped and fell. He caught himself on his hands and then stood up again, wobbly.

The suicide pill is affecting his neurological functioning.

Teddy took two more unsure steps forward, his hands outstretched. Asa planted his foot and kicked Teddy in the face with his heel. There was a sick
crunch
and then Teddy crumpled to the ground where he lay, not moving.

Asa was breathing hard as he looked over his friend. Teddy was completely still and made no more attempts to stand. His nose was bleeding like a faucet. Asa wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and realized that he was still crying.

“I don’t want to touch him,” he groaned. His instincts told him to either run or smash Teddy’s head in with a heavy riverside stone, but he couldn’t bring himself to do either of these things. Trying not to give it much thought, Asa grabbed Teddy by the ankles and began to drag him, first over the stone and then through dark jungle dirt.

A few minutes later, Asa was panting and dropped Teddy’s legs. Teddy was lying in Conway’s garden. Purple and pink lights shone out of Conway’s window and painted the lawn. Asa was sobbing. He wasn’t sure that Teddy was breathing anymore.

“And what the hell is Conway supposed to say?” he groaned to himself.

But since he was already there, he knocked on the door. He was greeted with the familiar growl of Ozzie from inside, and expected to hear Mama’s voice telling the polar bear to “Hush.” Instead it was Conway who did the hushing. A moment later, he had pulled back the curtain on the door and was peaking through the glass on the window at Asa.

His black face was glistening with sweat and the windows were foggy. The curtain closed and then the door opened with a loud creak.

Conway began to speak with his low, rumbling voice. “Asa, what can you be…” He stopped midsentence, looking from Asa’s crying face to Teddy on the ground. “Teddy. Asa!” He couldn’t find the words. He was shirtless, and from his sweaty, lean frame, it was clear that he just been exercising in the basement.

“I need your help,” Asa said.

Conway’s mouth was open. “Has he been bitten?” he whispered.

Asa nodded and watched Conway’s throat contract as he swallowed.

“Is he dead?”

Asa shook his head.

Mama’s slender frame slipped out from behind Conway. She smiled and her eyes rested on Asa as though she could see.

“I need you two to help me. I want to keep Teddy in your jail cell,” Asa said.
It sounds crazy hearing it out loud.

“
What?”
Conway hissed. “You want me to keep a Multiplier in here? Are you crazy?”

“He’s got nowhere else to go. The Academy will kill him if they find…”

“But he’s a Multiplier!” Conway was standing at his full height, looking down at Asa with his brown eyes. The stress he was under could be seen in the lines on his hard jaw. “I’m an Academy graduate—if they catch me housing a Multiplier, they’ll punish me. They might even kill me!”

“He needs your help, though!”

Conway shook his head. “No. Lots of people need my help and I can’t assist them.”

“Well then what do you want to do? Kill him? Call The Boss and tell him what happened? You can’t tell anyone what happened, Conway! Teddy’s been living in an illegal safe room above my dwelling. He’s been hiding out up there. Multipliers came to my dwelling tonight, saying they were running an investigation.
Teddy’s been missing all week and they came looking for him. It was Travis and Derden. I showed them my dwelling and told them Teddy wasn’t there. If they find out the truth, I’ll be in enormous trouble.”