Max swung down from the ceiling fan and landed on the bed, his heart pounding. He tore off the fencing mask and goggles.
“How did you know the keys were in his pocket?” said Sasha.
“Lucky guess,” said Max. “And it worked—look at them!”
The people around the pile of clothes were celebrating—and that wasn’t all. You could see others from all over the room heading toward the clothes, drawn by Max’s message. The different colors were finally mixing—Red and Green and Blue, together as one.
“The Greens tried to attack, but the mask protected me!” said Max. “Now they’ve all made peace—the war’s over!”
Sasha was reading the words on Max’s whiteboard. “ ‘The Great One’? What does that mean?”
Max shrugged. “Oh, that. Slight confusion—they think I’m their god or something.”
Sasha’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Their god?!”
“I know—it’s perfect!” said Max. “Now they’ll finally do whatever we tell them!”
Sasha looked uncomfortable. “I thought you said we were going to be honest.”
“I am being honest!” said Max. “We are going to take them away, aren’t we? I can tell them the whole truth once we get them to paradise!”
“Paradise?”
“Well, almost,” Max explained. “Come on, I’ll show you!”
He leapt out the window and scrambled back down the gutter. It was all Sasha could do to keep up with Max as they ran through the bushes and into Mr. Darrow’s vegetable patch.
“I can’t believe we didn’t think of it before—the potting shed!”
Max threw open the door and ran inside.
“It’s perfect! It’s big enough to fit all the people, it’s warm and dry, and best of all, no one ever comes here! All it needs is a little clean.”
Max swept his arm across the tables, sending tools and pots clattering to the floor. Sasha watched with concern. Max was breaking things and hadn’t even noticed. Sasha tried waving his arms to get his attention, but Max didn’t notice that either. He grabbed Max’s arm.
“Max, are you sure about this? You said we had to do everything perfectly or it could go wrong. Don’t you think lying to all those people—telling them you’re their god—might be a mistake?”
Max shook his head. “We stopped them from fighting each other, and now we’re giving them a place they can live in safety for the rest of their lives! Surely one lie has got to be worth all that?”
Sasha fumbled. “I…I suppose.”
Max started collecting all the trays and lining them up on the tables.
“This is our final chance to save them. All we have to do is scoop the people into a couple of trays, bring them here and we’re done! Mr. Darrow’s world is safe, King Luke can protect the people for us and, best of all, Mr. Pitt will never find out!”
“You’re sure?”
Max clapped a hand on Sasha’s back.
“Sasha, I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”
Mr. Pitt stood at the entrance to the Pitt Building.
“My—my school.”
The freshly painted foyer walls were covered in crayon smears. The beautiful X-shaped walkway was strewn with lost-and-found items. Someone had set off all the fire extinguishers.
The Pitt Building had been sabotaged.
The foreman had called Mr. Pitt when he was halfway to town, garbling something about the school being under attack. Mr. Pitt had turned the car round and sped back as fast as he could, but he was already too late. The grounds were covered in library books, footballs and Hula-Hoops. It was like a bomb had gone off.
Whoever had done it had worked fast, and in a group.
“Uuuurrrrrugh.”
Mr. Pitt shrieked and leapt backward, into an ornamental fern. The groan had come from a pile of rags on the reception desk. Mr. Pitt prodded the pile. It groaned again.
“Who’s in there?” he cried. “Show yourself!”
The pile of rags was a five-year-old girl wearing every costume from the drama department. Her eyes were dazed and swollen and her mouth stained green. On her front was a badge that said 5 TODAY.
“Candy,” Joy moaned. “So much candy…”
“Mr. Pitt!”
He spun round. The foreman was standing at the door, his eyes wide with panic. “Come quick!”
Mr. Pitt wedged Joy under one arm like a rugby ball and followed the foreman outside. The grounds were in chaos. The school’s annual supply of toilet paper was wrapped round every tree in sight, and the builders were chasing the rest of the Sparkle Pony Summer Club across the playing fields. The girls were in a sugar-induced frenzy. They’d raided the power tools locker and were brandishing drills and sanders, gibbering in tongues.
Mr. Pitt was speechless. The governors would be here in a matter of hours. He held Joy at arm’s length like a bad dog and shook her.
“How—how did this happen? Where are Max and Sasha?!”
Joy pointed with a shaking hand. “Boardinghouse…top floor…”
Mr. Pitt looked up. There, clambering down the side of the boardinghouse and running into the bushes, were Max and Sasha. He looked at the window they’d just climbed out of. Mr. Darrow’s bedroom.
The veins on his forehead pinged like buttons bursting on a shirt.
“DARROOOOW!”
Of course—it all made sense now. Pitt had foolishly thought he was rid of Mr. Darrow. The man had been a thorn in his side ever since he came to St. Goliath’s…and now Max and Sasha were trying to continue his legacy, right under his nose! That was why Max had returned to school so early—so he could humiliate Mr. Pitt in front of the governors! So he could destroy his plans for greatness at the last second!
Mr. Pitt knew exactly what he had to do now. He should have done it when he first had the chance. Stamp out every scrap of Mr. Darrow’s memory, once and for all.
Mr. Pitt turned to the boardinghouse, and ran.