8 a.m.
The next morning.
I was still in the courtyard, jammies on my body, flip-flops on my feet, and thermal goggles on my forehead.
I had hid in the bushes all night, waiting to see if those kids without heat signatures would show up again. They did not.
I saw Noah and Penny walking, so I hissed at them from the bushes.
“Psst!”
Penny stopped and looked around like she wasn’t sure if she was hearing things.
“Pssssssst!”
“Ben?” Penny said, walking toward the bush. “Is that you?”
“Yes! Come here!”
“Dude, what the heck?” Noah said. “You weren’t in bed when I woke up this morning. Have you been out here all night?”
I nodded.
“Why?”
“There’s something huge happening here, guys,” I whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” Penny said.
“Because! He could be listening!”
Penny paused. “Who’s ‘he’?”
“Headmaster Kepler,” I said. “I saw him last night! He walked out of his secret lair and—”
“Whoa, what?” Noah said. “He has a secret lair?”
“Yes! I was in the woods last night, and—”
“You were in the woods after dark?” Noah said.
“Yes, because I was following a kid who—”
“There was someone else out here, too?”
“Yes!” I shouted. I took a deep breath and unloaded everything on my friends at superspeed.
When I finished, Noah and Penny just stared.
“What?” Penny said, confused.
“Worm-eaters?” Noah said. “Kepler coming out of a secret lair in the forest? Did you sleep at all last night?”
I shook my bloodshot eyes and rubbed my head. “No.”
“I thought you fixed that by crying yourself to sleep,” Penny said.
My wide eyes darted at Noah. “Dude!”
Penny shrugged. “He didn’t tell me. I can hear you through the hole in my floor.”
Noah nodded and pointed to Penny.
“Whatever!” I said. “Something bad is happening here!”
Noah looked at the other students in the courtyard. “If something bad was happening, I think we’d be able to see it.”
“That’s just it,” I said, tripping out of the bush. “Nobody’s looking for it! Everyone’s too busy with themselves and their own powers to notice the kids who aren’t using their powers!”
Penny and Noah shared a glance. It was subtle, but it was there.
“This is a big deal!” I said. “Why aren’t you guys saying anything?”
“Because you sound bonkersville,” Penny said.
Just then, some random boy walked up and joined us. He gave me a half smile, which I politely returned. He was a bit taller than me, with a thin face and messy blond hair.
Noah smiled back. Penny waved. It was a little weird that someone new decided to stand with us, but whatever.
We were quiet, looking back and forth at each other, unsure about the new kid.
“Who’re you?” I asked, trying to be polite.
“Jordan,” he answered.
“Whoa!” I said. “You figured out how to control your power! We can totally see your face!”
“Yeah,” Penny said. “You’re not as ugly as I thought you’d be. Congrats.”
But Jordan didn’t show the excitement I thought he would. “Yeah. Sure. Whatever.”
His face was hard to read, but then again, it was the first time I had ever seen it.
He had blue eyes and pale skin. Like, sick pale. And he looked sweaty. No … he looked clammy. And there was a hint of worms in the air.
My stomach sunk. Slowly, I brought my hands up and stretched them over my head. “Hey, what’s that?” I said, pointing across the courtyard.
My friends all looked away at the same time. While they were distracted, I pulled the thermal goggles over my eyes.
Penny and Noah’s heat signatures were normal, with shades of red and yellow.
But Jordan was different.…
Jordan had no heat signature at all.
I laughed nervously as I took off the thermal goggles and let them hang from my neck. “Ha, ha! You guys are so funny with your heat signatures.… Warm bodies! Warm bodies all around!”
Noah cocked an eye. “You need some sleep.”
I grabbed Noah’s and Penny’s shirtsleeves and pulled them away from Jordan. “Welp, we gotta get to class. See ya, dude!”
Jordan didn’t care, or if he did, I couldn’t tell. He just blinked at us as we walked off.
“Hey,” Penny said, pulling her arm free. “You’re hurting me!”
“What’re you doing?” Noah said. “Why can’t Jordan come with us?”
“Remember when I said I saw those kids without heat signatures?” I asked.
“Uh, yup,” Penny said. “You only told us, like, twenty seconds ago.”
“Right!” I said. “Jordan’s been staying in our dorm all year. I’ve seen his heat signature before with these goggles.”
“So?” Noah asked.
“So Jordan didn’t have one just now!” I explained. “He was like the rest of those worm-eaters! Walking dead bodies!”
Noah shook his head. “He’s not dead. He was just talking to us. If he was a zombie, he’d look like this.…”
“I don’t know what’s going on with Jordan and the rest of the sick kids,” I said, “but I know that Kepler’s behind it. He’s gotta be! He was in the woods last night when I saw the rest of those creepy cold kids!”
“Gimme those things, Braver,” Penny said, grabbing the goggles that were strung around my neck. She pressed them against her eyes and looked back at Jordan.
“Kepler … is an evil supervillain,” I said confidently.
“Do you have to say ‘evil’ before ‘supervillain’?” Penny asked. “Isn’t ‘supervillain’ enough?”
“Fine,” I said. “Kepler … is a supervillain … And he’s evil.”