‘Chemistry,’ Professor Utterby said, ‘is the basis of existence.’
Jessie sat at the back of the science lab, not really paying attention. Her head felt like it was full of bricks this morning. She’d slept badly last night, dreaming of storm clouds and giant dogs again, and she’d filled another two pages of her sketchbook in her sleep. Instead of random lines, she’d drawn a tree standing in a field, slashes of rain cutting across the page.
Her phone buzzed in her bag. She sneaked a look – a message from Mum: Sorry I didn’t answer this morning. In a meeting. I’ll call tonight. Love you xxx.
At the front of the class, Professor Utterby began connecting up a Bunsen burner and clearing space around it. Jessie put her phone away and nudged David.
‘I know what it is. The professors aren’t criminals. They’re witnesses to a crime and they’re in hiding. Your aunt is protecting them to make sure the real criminals don’t find them.’
David pretended to be writing. Jessie grabbed his pen. ‘Don’t ignore me.’
‘Keep your voice down,’ David muttered.
‘Or what? Professor Utterby will hear us?’
David took his pen back. ‘Everyone will hear you if you carry on like that. No, they’re not witnesses in hiding. Be quiet.’
Professor Utterby took a marker pen out of his pocket. ‘Once people talked about the four elements,’ he said. ‘Air, earth, water and fire. Now we know there are many more – one hundred and three at the last count. Everything is made of chemical elements. This table, your books, your pens and pencils – in fact, all of you – are made of chemicals. Once you can identify those chemicals you can start to control them, and that means you can control anything.’
He drew a star around the burner in five confident strokes on the desk.
‘What’s that for?’ a dark-haired girl asked. Prisha, Jessie remembered.
Professor Utterby snapped the cap back on the pen. ‘A precaution. If you go to university, you’ll learn a lot of advanced science like this.’
It didn’t look like science. Jessie sat forward, watching as Professor Utterby lit the burner and laid out jars, packets and bottles in a careful semi-circle around it.
‘We’ll begin with the common elements,’ he said, opening a packet. He had everyone’s attention now. ‘Watch closely, please. This is what happens when you add sea salt to flame.’ He looked up, his gaze sweeping the class. ‘Needless to say, do not try any of these experiments at home. Higher elemental chemistry is very dangerous and has unpredictable results. Especially when you use fire.’
He sprinkled a few white crystals over the burner. The flame turned yellow for a few seconds, fizzled and settled.
Was that supposed to happen?
A grumble of disappointment ran around the classroom.
‘Boring,’ Professor Utterby announced. ‘Sea and flame are not natural friends. They’re not exactly enemies, but they prefer to ignore each other if they can get away with it. Put them together and they’ll nod to each other as they pass, but that’s all the reaction you’ll see.’ He opened a second packet. ‘Now, this is also common salt, but this time it is mountain salt, not sea salt. Water is weak, always sloshing about in tides and using up its energy, but mountains have stood since this country first took shape. Soaking up the energy of the earth – the changing seasons, the passing storms. And, as everyone knows, mountains love fire. Their shape, leaping into the sky, mimics the leap of flame. And have you noticed how lightning always aims for high places? Lightning is fire contained, and fire always seeks out the places of power.’
Prisha raised her hand. ‘Sir, are you sure this is on the chemistry syllabus?’
Professor Utterby paused, eyebrows in mid-raise. ‘As William Shakespeare said, there are more things in heaven and earth than you can dream about. You’d do well to remember that and maintain an open mind. Open minds let the most information in.’
He poured a few crystals of mountain salt into his palm and tilted his hand for the class to see. The grains looked exactly the same as the sea salt.
‘Observe,’ Professor Utterby said. He adjusted the burner and cast the salt into the flame.
Bang!
The explosion shot flame up to the ceiling. All the windows rattled. Jessie ducked and several people shouted in alarm.
‘That is the power of the mountains,’ Professor Utterby said with a satisfied smile.
Jessie rubbed her eyes, blinking away purple after-images of the burner.
Professor Utterby picked up a jar that appeared to be empty. ‘Now let us see what happens when we mix fire with invisible nitrate.’
This was definitely not on any chemistry syllabus.
The class piled out of the lab to break, chattering noisily.
‘Did you see when he put potassium into water?’ Prisha said.
Jessie paused. ‘He didn’t use potassium. Or water. He threw salt into a flame and it nearly set fire to the classroom.’
Prisha blinked at her. ‘It was potassium. I wrote it down.’ She flicked through her exercise book, frowning at the blank pages. ‘I must have forgotten. Never mind.’
She wandered on.
Jessie turned to see David staring at her. ‘What?’ she asked.
‘Nothing.’ But he kept staring at her. ‘You remember what happened in class, don’t you?’
‘Of course I remember,’ Jessie said. ‘We’ve only just come out.’
She knew what he meant, though. Everyone else seemed to think it was an ordinary chemistry lesson – she and David were the only ones to remember it properly.
‘How did Professor Utterby do that?’ she asked. She remembered the other day when he’d ordered her to go outside and she’d started to obey without thinking. ‘Is it hypnosis or something?’
‘You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,’ David said.
‘I might do. I believe lots of things.’
‘No you don’t. The bigger question is, why didn’t it work on you?’
‘Given that I don’t know what any of this is about, I have no idea. How about magic? The professors are evil magicians and your aunt is the magic police come to arrest them.’
David gave her an odd look. Jessie laughed. ‘Come on, tell me the truth. Are you being deliberately weird just to annoy me?’
‘I’m never deliberately weird – it just happens.’ He gave a half-smile, then pushed his hands in his pockets and frowned. ‘You said you wanted to help – did you mean it?’
Jessie returned his smile. ‘Yes, of course. What do you need?’
David pulled her further down the corridor, glancing about. ‘You were right, partly,’ he said quietly. ‘My aunt is investigating the professors. I can’t tell you why, but I need to get into their staffroom after school and look around. If you come with me, I think we might get away with it.’
Yes, because two people breaking in is far less noticeable than one. Dad would kill her if he found out. On the other hand, she had offered to help, and she had to admit this was more exciting than her school in London had ever been. She slung her bag firmly over her shoulder. After that non-chemistry class, she’d like to know what the professors’ room looked like.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘When do you want to do it?’