Ben stood with Jill and Robert in the hall outside Mrs. Hinman’s room.
“These are the names of the seven new kids, and also the number of the phone I gave each one. I’ll put it all in a text to you as soon as I can.”
Joey Slade 3
Luke Barton 6
Gabe Dalton 5
Marin Jacoby 1
Jennie Arling 2
Carolynn Eliot 4
Ben watched Jill. As she read over his list, she made a shape with her mouth, the one he hated. It meant something harsh was coming.
She said, “Well . . . all this sounded good last night, but look at this list. I mean, we just recruited a bunch of kids who we barely know, who are completely untested, and who might be totally unreliable.”
“Okay, think about it this way,” Robert said. “If only one of these kids turns out to be useful, then we’ve grown our in-school forces by thirty-three percent. If two are helpful, then we are sixty-six percent stronger than before, and if three are good, then that’s a one hundred percent increase in our numbers. Plus, the Glennley guys don’t know about them, so every newbie is extra valuable. The possible upside is way better than any possible downside. I mean, even if they all went running to Lyman, or crying to their mommies, it wouldn’t matter. They don’t actually know anything—none of the details. So it’s win, win, win—is how I see it.”
“Absolutely,” Ben said. “Except I’m still not sure how much help any of them are going to be with what we’ve got to do after school today, with getting where we need to go. Because we know Lyman and Wally are gonna be on super-high alert.”
Before Jill or Robert could reply, the warning bell clanged—two minutes to get all the way to the gym for sixth-period P.E.
Instinctively, all three of them turned and dashed for the staircase.
As he trotted down the steps, Ben tried to answer his own question. He wasn’t feeling good about today’s objective.
The weekend had been a near disaster—almost game over. Lyman and Wally had broken a water pipe in a third-floor washroom on Saturday afternoon—a trick that had almost scuttled the rest of the school year, which was only three days. If that attack had succeeded, it would have been the end of Oakes School for sure. The place would have been so badly damaged by the flooding that it probably would have been condemned by the town building department. At the very least, that flood would have kept the Keepers from searching for the last two safeguards. As of this moment, they still had a fighting chance, still had access to the building. But these last three days were crucial.
I hope Captain Oakes knew what he was doing!
It wasn’t the first time Ben had thought that.
Yes, Captain Oakes had left things hidden around the school, safeguards he hoped would help to preserve the place if someone ever wanted to tear it down and use the oceanfront land for a different purpose. And, yes, the safeguards they’d found were significant: a remarkable addition to the captain’s will; a trust fund worth more than eighty million dollars; and then, just last week, some antique Freemasonry gear that had guaranteed them the help of the Grand Master of the Edgeport Masonic lodge—who turned out to be Jill’s dad.
Which was weird—especially weird, since this had made Jill feel like she had to let her mom in on the secret too. And then Ben had told both his parents about the Keepers. So now they had tons of people helping them—but the grown-ups could only help outside the school. Inside, it was all up to them—which is why they’d decided to get more kids involved. Based on how hard it had been to discover the first three safeguards, locating two more in just a few days was going to be tough.
Robert had wanted to skip right to the fifth clue, the final safeguard. . . . The three of them had a big argument about that.
And I shut Gerritt down—because the captain was on my side . . . and Jill, too.
Captain Oakes and his original Keepers had left specific instructions about finding each safeguard in order, and not messing with any safeguard that wasn’t needed. Plus, on the copper plate where the list of clues was written, there had been a special warning: Seek the final safeguard ONLY IF YOU MUST—for once it is found, our school will change forever. And the large iron key they’d found in the same place? Almost the same words were scratched into the metal: USE ONLY IF YOU MUST.
As Ben passed the second-floor doorway and kept charging down the stairs, he couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was falling apart. Even if they did manage to find the last two safeguards, would anything stop the Glennley Group? So far, nothing had worked—not even an eighty-eight million-dollar trust fund. And this heat wave? It seemed to make it harder to do everything, including think. The stairwell was like a sauna.
I really hope Captain Oakes knew what he was doing!
Because it felt like the school was sinking. The Glennley warship was closing in, starting to turn into the wind, getting ready to fire a dozen cannons all at once, a full broadside.
And what were the Keepers doing? Not much.
Was Jill right about those seven new kids—were they going to be any use at all? This really wasn’t the time for bumbling recruits. This was when they needed battle-tested veterans. Now was the time for the heavy guns, for some real power, for—
Ben slammed to a stop, and Jill and Robert plowed into him, almost pinning him to the wall of the first-floor landing.
“Pratt, you idiot!”
That was Gerritt, and before Jill could add anything, Ben said, “Guys, let’s cut gym class! Wally’s there, or maybe Lyman, waiting for us—we know that. So, we’re gonna skip!”
Robert looked at Ben like he’d just suggested that they all put on gorilla suits and go rob a bank. “That’s insane! The teachers’ll figure it out, that we cut class!”
“So?” said Ben. “What’s more important—the survival of the school, or a little attendance problem?”
Robert was not happy with that answer. But he said, “So . . . like, where would we hide?”
“We’re not just gonna hide—we’ve got more recruiting to do.”
Jill glared at him, her face red from the heat and exertion. “No—not until we see if the other new ones are any help! We are not recruiting more kids!”
Ben grinned as he started back up the stairs. “Who said anything about kids?”