The hired waiters served us small slices of fatty, overdone roast beef for our second course. As we started to eat, there was a flurry of activity up at the front of the dining room. “Your attention, please!” We all looked up to see our headmaster, Hilde Magnusdottir, standing up at the front of the huge room, under the giant mounted head of the Munopian Mammoth Elephant. She wore her white leather jacket, britches, and high boots. Her thick, snow-white hair hung in long braids down her back and her Explorer’s vest, tight over her tall, thin frame, was covered with loops and pulls that I knew turned into ice picks and climbing equipment. She had made her name scaling the frozen ice walls of the Newly Discovered Lands north of her native Iceland. Everyone, even the students, called her Maggie.
“Quiet, everyone,” she called. “Welcome to all of the parents and special guests who have joined us for the traditional Final Exam Expedition Kickoff dinner. As you know, the dinner is a beloved ritual of the training year here at the Academy.
“Now, I am happy to announce that we have two very special guests tonight, Mr. Francis Foley, the Director of the Bureau of Newly Discovered Lands, and Mr. R. Delorme Mountmorris, a well-known historian and advisor to BNDL. Welcome, gentlemen.”
They gazed out at us, Foley looking angry as usual in his black BNDL uniform, Mr. Mountmorris smiling devilishly, his shiny suit and top hat a sparkly blood red. Foley was very thin, with small eyes that shifted back and forth when he spoke, and a too-wide mouth of very white teeth.
I hated him. I’d hated Foley ever since the day he’d come to tell us that Dad had disappeared on an expedition in Fazia, ever since he’d seized Dad’s maps and chased us across the country, ever since he’d killed the one person who could tell us something about why Dad had left the mysterious map for us. I hated him for that and a lot of other reasons besides.
If it was possible, I hated Mr. Mountmorris even more. We had gone to him to ask about Dad’s map of Arizona and he had told us that it might show the location of a fabled treasure in gold. He had acted pleased to meet us and to show us his collections of artifacts and specimens from all over the world. He’d made us feel like we could trust him, and then he’d betrayed us, telling Foley and Leo Nackley about the map and trying to get it away from us so the government could find the gold.
Most of all, I hated him because he held our futures in his hands. We were only at the Academy because he’d said we could be, and I knew he could send us away any time he wanted to. And now he was the only person who’d be able to tell me about Gianni Girafalco. And yet there was no way I could ask him.
“Security seems a little tight, don’t you think, considering we’re in the mountains and about a thousand miles from civilization?” I said to the others. “Look at all those agents.” There were ten of them, dressed identically in their black BNDL uniforms, the red patches on their jackets identifying them as agents of the Bureau. They were watching all of us carefully, standing close to Foley and Mountmorris.
Raleigh lowered his voice. “You heard about the bomb in New York last week, didn’t you? Some people say that Foley was the target. They think it was East Simerian terrorists.”
Sukey lowered her voice too. “When Delilah came back from Mooristan, she came up for a visit and told me that people think there’s going to be a major uprising in Simeria. War, maybe. If I were Foley, I’d be nervous too.” “Look who else is here,” M.K. whispered. “Isn’t that . . .?”
“Dolly Frost,” I said, finishing her thought. I met the reporter’s eyes, then looked away when she recognized me. She was the exploration correspondent for the Times, and I knew she had questions about what had happened in Arizona, too.
“As you all know,” Maggie went on from the front of the room, “you will all soon be submitting your Final Exam Expedition proposals for our consideration. The Final Exam Expeditions constitute 50 percent of your grade for the entire year and are the most important work you will do here at the Academy. Your proposals will be read and evaluated by the faculty, and ten will be chosen—the ten best plans. Those expeditions will be carried out during the spring term. You may make suggestions about the crew members you want for your expeditions, based upon your needs, but the final choice will be up to the faculty. Now Mr. Foley and Mr. Mountmorris would like to address you. But before they do, I have a very special announcement.”
She looked out at the crowd in the Longhouse, the enormous head of the Munopian Mammoth Elephant scowling down at her from above, and hesitated before saying, “Earlier today, President Hildreth announced that he has named Mr. Francis Foley as the new Director of the Agency to Defend the Realm, and has asked Mr. R. Delorme Mountmorris to take over as the director of the Bureau of Newly Discovered Lands. We are greatly honored to have both of these talented and patriotic men with us today.”
There was a low murmur in the Longhouse as everyone took in the news and then stood to applaud. I thought for a moment about staying seated but changed my mind. There were too many agents. I happened to look over at Leo Nackley during the long round of applause and was surprised to find him scowling and barely clapping his hands.
“Director of ADR,” Raleigh said with a whistle. “Foley’s moving up in the world, huh?”
One of the other parents at the table leaned in and said, “Leo Nackley doesn’t look very happy. I heard he was up for head of BNDL too.”
Once we were all seated again, Foley stood up, taking a piece of paper out of a pocket of his black jacket and shaking it out.
“It’s always good to be back at the Academy, to see what all of our young Explorers in training are up to.” After a moment of hesitation, he gave a false smile, as though someone had written “grin now” in his notes.
“I am especially pleased to be here today as my mind turns to the defense of our great nation and our allies. Make no mistake: The Indorustan Empire has designs on our lands and resources, and we must do everything in our power to defend ourselves. You young Explorers are an important part of this mission. Our ability to defend ourselves is wholly dependent on our ability to find new resources and riches in our newly discovered lands. This is where your Final Exam Expeditions come in.
“A winning expedition proposal is well researched, well presented, with every eventuality accounted for. In addition, a good expedition proposal focuses on a region that is not only unexplored but that may be of value to the well-being or the security of the United States and its allies.
“I don’t have to tell you how important these expeditions may be to the future of our country,” Foley said. “As you work on your plans, remember that though you may only be Explorers in Training now, your expeditions are very real and may yield discoveries that can improve the lives of your fellow citizens. I am expecting a lot of you. In these troubled times, your country is counting on you. Mr. Mountmorris?”
Mr. Mountmorris hopped over, joining Mr. Foley under the elephant head, and smiled a broad, jowly smile. His egglike eyes glittered, and thin wisps of gray hair sprang up from his shiny scalp. “Hello, students!” he boomed. “What a pleasure, what a truly great pleasure it is to see your happy faces, your happy, happy faces!” He looked around the room, seeming to take in the details of every one of the happy faces in the room. “Mr. Foley is right, you know. These expeditions of yours are of the utmost importance to our country and our allies. And to show you just how important I think they are, I have an exciting announcement to make. As the new director of BNDL, I am putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak. I am offering . . .” He paused. “I am offering $50,000 in gold to the leader of the expedition who makes a find that will most significantly contribute to the security of our country.” A wave of excited murmurs went around the room. “Furthermore—”
I watched Francis Foley’s face as Mr. Mountmorris spoke, and I suddenly saw fear flash across his eyes as we all heard a loud boom from above his head. A second later, there was another explosion, and smoke filled the air. The black-clad agents leapt forward and pushed Mr. Foley and Mr. Mountmorris out of the way just as the Mammoth Elephant head crashed to the ground where they’d been standing. Mr. Mountmorris gave a last, excited grin at the crowd before he disappeared beneath the pile of agents. There was another, smaller boom and then a cloud of smoke rose from the spot on the wall where the elephant head had been hanging.
“Get under the tables!” someone shouted, and we all scrambled for cover, overturning chairs up and down the hall.
“What was it?” Sukey whispered once we were all on the floor. “Did anyone see?” I looked down the row of students and parents crouched on the ground and saw Joyce Kimani protectively shielding some of the younger kids next to me.
“Hey, you’ll be safe right here next to me. I promise I won’t bite,” I heard Jack Foster say to the unfortunate girl taking cover next to him.
“It sounded like an explosion. Foley looked scared,” I told her.
“He should be scared. Those Mammoth tusks would have gone right through him,” Raleigh said, grunting with pain. His IronLegs made him clumsy, and he’d fallen amid the confusion.
It was eerily silent for a few seconds and then we heard the agents shouting for everyone to stay down while they got Foley and Mountmorris out of the room and secured the Longhouse. I peeked out from beneath the table and saw them hurrying out, followed by a few agents, while the rest of the agents huddled around something on the floor in the corner. Dolly Frost was scribbling in a notebook and talking to the agents.
Finally, Maggie told everyone to stand up and walk single file out of the Longhouse. “Slowly, now,” she said. “No pushing. I want you to go straight back to your cabins and go to bed. Guests, we are very sorry for this unfortunate turn of events. It seems that the presence of Mr. Foley and Mr. Mountmorris provoked unpatriotic elements in our society. Have no doubt that the perpetrator will be brought to swift justice.”
We helped Raleigh up and filed out. The remaining agents, including Woolf, watched us carefully, focusing for a moment on the face of each student or visitor as he or she passed by.
“You okay?” I asked Sukey once we were outside. Torches blazed outside the Longhouse as agents directed everyone back to the cabins. In the yellow light, her mouth twisted down with worry.
“Yeah, mostly,” she answered. “But I have a feeling this isn’t the end of this. Things are going to get pretty bad here for a while.” She watched the agents leading people away from the Longhouse. “Be careful, Kit. They can do anything they want now.”