SPARKS

It’s early in the morning when my teammates and I leave for Piedmont Coliseum. We’ve barely reached the college square when Ander starts bouncing on his toes. “Does everyone know what they’re doing?”

“Yes,” says Mare. “We’re going to walk into the practice room, and when we see Gregor, we’re going to jump on top of him, grab his legs, and twist them over his head.”

“Mare!” Jillian scolds.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot that’s not the real plan—just my plan.”

“Mare,” I say.

“I’m just kidding.”

We march into the building and down the hallway. Ander’s talking even faster than we’re walking. “We’re going to go in there and act normal. When Seraphina tells us to rehearse, we’re going to run through our performance like we always do. Got it?”

“Got it,” I say. “Then, when it comes time to play the videos on the Ancestor App, we’ll play the recording of Gregor’s phone conversation instead.”

“That’s when I’m going to ask Gregor to come up for a closer look,” says Mare. “I’ll say, ‘Gregor, do you recognize that voice? Well, you should. It’s you and Principal Bermuda talking, isn’t it? Isn’t it?’ I’ll point my finger at him too.”

“He won’t be able to deny it,” says Ander.

“No,” says Jax. “It’s clearly his voice and his phone number.”

“And then we watch the fireworks,” says Mare. “Seraphina will get all fired up at what he did and tell him that she’s reporting him or whatever. It’s going to be great.”

“Well, let’s hurry up,” I say. “I want to get this over with.”

The hallways are crowded with kids from other teams walking to their own rehearsals. My stomach flutters as we approach our practice room, 1026.

Seraphina stands in the doorway. “Hi, guys, come on in. I have more information about the competition this weekend.”

Our Circle Spinner, costumes, and other props are piled against the back wall. The other side of the room looks like a mini theater with a bunch of theater seats. Gregor is sitting in the front row. His spiky hair is flattened down. “Hello, everyone.”

“Hi,” we say, but none of us looks him in the eye.

“So,” says Seraphina, “We found out yesterday that thirty-two teams scored enough points to get into the Finals.”

“That’s better than all fifty,” I say.

Ander nods. “Not bad odds.”

Seraphina laughs. “Not as bad as they could have been.”

“What about Witch Girl’s team? Did Michigan make it?” Ander asks.

Seraphina looks on her list. “Yes, they did. I don’t know their score but they’re in.”

“Ick,” says Mare. “Figures.”

“What about Pennsylvania?” I ask. “They’re the ones with the green cat suits. We saw them in the Prep Room.”

“Yes, they’re in too, but don’t worry about the other teams. You’ll have your hands full practicing your own solution for the Finals and finishing up some details. We also know there will be an Opening Ceremony to kick off the competition. It will include a procession of each team. You’ll walk in, along with all the other teams, dressed in costumes or shirts that represent your state.”

“Where we do we get the costumes?” asks Jillian.

“We still need to work on that.”

I bite my pinky nail. Then I remember I don’t bite my nails anymore.

“Should we set up our Circle Spinner now?” asks Jax.

“Sure,” says Seraphina. “Let’s get to work.”

Ander looks at me, and we head to the back wall so we can put the Circle Spinner in place. My heart beats into my throat. I don’t know if I can do this. I’ve never accused anyone of anything before—especially not a grown up.

“Wait just one moment,” says Gregor. “Please come back over here. I’d like to say something first.” He motions for us to sit down. I’m not sure what’s going on, but we do as he asks and sit cross legged on the carpet. Gregor presses his hands together standing before us like a giant. He’s probably going to squash us like bugs. Right here on the floor. Splat. That’ll be the end of us and Seraphina will never know what he did.

“Jax, Ander, Kia, Mare, Jillian, I would like to speak to you before we make final preparations for the National Finals.” He’s talking so slowly, my heart thumps with his every word. “It is important for me to tell you something.” He looks down at his shoes and then back at us. “I was the person who destroyed your Ghost Gallery.”

Ander and I look at each other. Seraphina’s hand flies up to her mouth.

“I apologize for my actions. I am not proud of what I’ve done.”

Seraphina makes a strange face. “What are you talking about?”

“It was me. I did it.”

Seraphina’s eyes are wild. “It was you?” She covers her face with her hands, but then takes them away. “Why? Why would you do that to them?”

“I am ashamed of my actions.”

“Ashamed of your actions? You should be ashamed of your actions! What is wrong with you?”

Gregor doesn’t look up. “I wanted them to win.”

None of us says a word—not even Mare.

“That’s unbelievable. Unbelievable! Winning is not the most important thing! These kids worked so hard for so many weeks. How could you wreck their whole project? What did you do, sneak out to the shed in the middle of the night and take a hammer to it?”

Gregor cringes at her words.

Mare stands up and glares at him. “We already figured it out, you know.”

Seraphina turns around. “What? You knew?”

“We figured it out last night,” says Ander. “With the Ancestor App. But we don’t know why you did it.”

Gregor sits down next to Seraphina.

“Well,” she says. “We’re waiting.”

“I didn’t mean for it to happen exactly.”

“So it was an accident?” Mare asks.

Gregor runs his hands through his hair and walks over to the Circle Spinner. “Ander, could you please set up the Ancestor App? You should see this first hand.”

Ander slowly pulls the Circle Spinner away from the wall. The rest of us shift in our places. He presses the air buttons on the screen. The swirl spins against the Golden Light Bulb, and then the screen turns into a blank canvas of blue.

“Can you find the phone call I received around 9:00 p.m. on July 21st?”

Ander pushes more buttons, his fingers bending and poking into the air.

A link appears as the swirl disappears. Ander presses it and a transcript of the phone call pops onto the screen.

“You should be able to find a video attached to this call.”

“Where?” Ander asks. “Oh, there.” He selects a square box marked “Visual.”

“I imagine this will be a video I took and the recording of the call I received from your principal.”

“Their principal? Why were you talking to him?” Seraphina asks.

“That’s who he was talking to when he admitted to destroying our Ghost Gallery. That’s how we knew,” Mare says with a smirk.

“Principal Bermuda had been calling me throughout the summer, insisting that I provide him with progress reports of the team.”

“Why?”

“According to Principal Bermuda, our New York team is a very big deal in the town of Crimson Heights.”

“Yes, of course,” she says. “That’s their home.”

“He demanded to know how the team’s solution was coming along. He ordered me to take videos to show him their progress.”

“What does that have to do with you destroying their Ghost Gallery?”

Gregor takes a deep breath. “May I?” he asks Ander.

Ander steps aside and Gregor pushes start on the video. Our Ghost Gallery appears as Gregor’s voice speaks:

“Principal Bermuda, I present to you, my team’s Ghost Gallery.”

Silence follows as the video shows our Ghost Gallery at all angles. It looks so good—and sturdy. I feel sick looking at it like that, knowing what happened to it.

“This is the team’s main prop for their play about where people go after they die. It also acts as the movable object required in their task. It will start in the first position, turn three times and ultimately end up at the original position. You can see the gallery of choices, the coffin, the cremator oven, and the spaceship as well.” The video shows all sides of the Ghost Gallery as Gregor turns the crank.

Principal Bermuda shouts on the recording. “That’s what these smarty pants kids have created?”

“Yes, sir.”

“There must be something more.”

“Yes, there are costumes, a script, and an original language.”

“You promised me these kids would invent something incredible. You promised me you’d get these kids to the Global Championships. This isn’t good enough to get them to the county fair competition. Crimson will be the joke of the country.”

“Principal Bermuda, we don’t know what the other teams have prepared. It doesn’t matter what we think of their solution. It matters what the judges deem to be the best and most creative solutions.”

“And you think this could be the best? Don’t be ridiculous! I will be the laughing stock of Crimson Heights. We have not one kid but five in this competition. We have been all over the news. This town, this whole state is expecting great things from them!”

“Sir, this is their solution, not—”

“You haven’t delivered what you promised. What kind of preceptor are you?”

“What would you have me do? I cannot influence their solution in any way.”

“Then you will find a way to make them rethink their solution.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You will make them see this solution is a piece of junk.”

“I don’t know if I can—”

“You will do it. In fact, you will turn their solution into a piece of junk.”

“Principal Bermuda, I can’t do anything to their solution.”

“You can and you will. I want you to break it apart. Smash it into a million tiny pieces—force them to start over.”

“Start over? The competition is a week and a half away!”

“Then you better work quickly.”

“I won’t do it.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re in your final year as preceptor, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you haven’t had a team reach the Global Championships yet have you?”

“No, I have not.”

“Well, what happens to you if this team doesn’t make it either?”

“I’ll go back to my home to live with my father and look for a job.”

“And your father will be disappointed in you?”

“Success is very important to my father.”

“I see. What if your team does get to the Global Championships?”

“I’ll have my choice of positions here at Piedmont University in the Piedmont Inventors Prep School. I could be a Teacher or a Researcher or a Developer.”

“And which would you choose?”

“I would choose to be a Researcher or maybe a Developer, a person who assists the children in the development of their inventions.”

“Ah, so it seems to me that you would rather stay there at Piedmont University?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Well, Gregor, that’s not going to happen if you don’t do something to ensure that your team makes it to the Global Championships.”

“But I can’t destroy their set.”

“Then I will see to it that your father is aware that you are failing miserably as a preceptor. Keep in mind that I am on the Board of Educators. You know how important education is to our citizens. I have a lot of influence over who gets jobs throughout the state.”

“So if I don’t destroy their set, I may never get a good job?”

“You catch on fast. Now place the camera where I can see what’s in the room . . . Do it! Okay, slower. Zoom in on that spot in the corner. What are those long poles against that back wall?”

“Those are old shovels and rakes.”

“Perfect! Now take those and get to work.”

“I can’t take a shovel to their set and—”

“Do it now or I call your father. I’m sure he’d like a progress report too.”

“No! Please don’t call my father. I’ll do it—just let me hang up the phone.”

“No. I want you to record the whole thing. I’m not sure I trust you to do as I say.”

The video stays focused on the Ghost Gallery. Gregor walks into the picture carrying a giant shovel.

“Stop it!” I scream. “Turn it off! I don’t want to see this!”

Seraphina stands up. “Stop the video. Stop it right now!”

Ander jumps up and stops the video.

I wipe away the tears from my face. Jillian is crying too. Neither of us can watch our hard work get destroyed.

Gregor turns away from the Circle Spinner and sits down in the theater seat with his head in his hands.

Seraphina sits next to him. “I don’t know what to say.”

We don’t say anything either. Principal Bermuda is an evil man.

“You don’t have to say anything. Please just know that I am sorry for what I did.” He stands up and walks to the door. “I will leave your team alone to rehearse. I don’t know if Andora will assign you another preceptor, Seraphina. I’m sorry to leave you with all the work. Good luck to all of you at the National Finals.”

Seraphina looks at our team.

“Wait!” I say.

“Gregor, hold on,” says Ander. “Don’t go.”

“You don’t have much time to practice. You should get to work.”

“Gregor, I don’t know if you should tell Andora,” he says.

Mare stands up. “Are you kidding me? If he doesn’t tell her, I will. She needs to know what Principal Bermuda did. He forced Gregor to do it!”

Gregor shoves his hands into his pockets. “Mare, I should have stood up to him. I was a coward.”

“I would have been afraid of him too,” she says.

“Me too,” says Ander.

“Gregor,” says Jax. “I think what you did was awful.”

Gregor swallows hard and the Adam’s apple in his neck moves.

“But I don’t blame you anymore. I don’t know if I could have stood up to him either. He’s a principal, and a principal should be a good man. A good man would never force you to do that to us.”

Seraphina puts her arm around Jax.

“I don’t blame you either,” says Jillian.

“None of us do,” I say.

“This competition is supposed to be a celebration of intelligence and creativity, the ability to solve problems and to make situations brighter. You have made this situation brighter for me by giving me your forgiveness. You have risen to the challenge of this camp given an obstacle that you never should have faced. I’m sorry more than I can say for putting that obstacle in your way, but this competition is a celebration of character as well. I did not display good character when I gave in to Principal Bermuda’s threats. If there’s one last thing I can teach you at camp, it’s that we must always stand up for what’s right. I will go to Andora and tell her what has happened.

“If I am not back for rehearsals tomorrow morning, you’ll know that I have been removed as your preceptor. In the event that happens, please work hard for Seraphina. She has many details to attend to in the next few days. But also remember to have fun. I had forgotten the importance of it. That’s when you will do your best in the National Finals.”