“I’ve been thinking about it all night,” Nancy said when she met Krish and Pete at school the next morning. “Whatever is going on at Hilltop House, it’s dangerous. People need to know about it. We should tell Miss Wan. She can put it in the newspaper and—”
“What?” Pete said. He couldn’t believe Nancy’s suggestion. “She’ll say we’re making it up.”
“She’ll believe us,” Nancy argued as she locked her bike in the bike rack. “I know she will. You saw her mug. It says ‘I Want to Believe’. Like on our poster in Area 51. She’s one of us.”
“One of us?” Pete scoffed at the idea of it.
“I’m with Nancy on this,” Krish said. “People need to know.”
Outvoted, Pete gave in. They went to see Miss Wan before form time.
Miss Wan sat quietly sipping her tea while Nancy explained what had happened the night before. Miss Wan asked a few questions, but mostly she just nodded and stared out of the window at the strange pink clouds rippling across the dark sky.
When Nancy finished, Miss Wan leaned forward. She put both elbows on her desk and said, “I’m afraid this whole thing about carnivorous plants sounds a bit unbelievable.”
“I told you,” Pete grumbled. “No one ever believes us.”
“I want to believe you,” Miss Wan said. “But you have no proof. I can’t put this in the newspaper – not even a local one like the Crooked Oak Chronicle. A journalist needs solid proof before they break a story.”
“Come on,” Pete said, picking up his school bag. “I knew this was a waste of time.”
“However,” Miss Wan continued, “I did some digging of my own.”
Pete stopped.
“I wasn’t always an English teacher, you know?” Miss Wan said. “I trained in journalism. I even worked for a big newspaper once. I uncovered some important stories.”
“Really?” Krish said, impressed. “So how come you’re an English teacher at Crooked Oak Academy?”
“Life takes unexpected turns,” Miss Wan said with a smile. “But I still have contacts, so I’ve done some investigation. Everything I told you about the Spencer Institute is true. They have been bio-engineering sustainable crops and plants for bio-fuels. But they have just signed a contract with a company called BioMesa.”
“We’ve heard of them,” Nancy said, glancing at Pete and Krish.
“The contract is something to do with bio-weapons,” Miss Wan continued. “It mentions Variant 42 – also called V42. I thought it was some kind of virus, but … you’re telling me it’s a plant?”
“Yeah,” Krish said. “The Spencer Institute must have teamed up with BioMesa to make some kind of bio-weapon. A mutant carnivorous plant.”
“Cool,” said Pete.
“It isn’t cool,” Krish told him. “They’re dangerous. We think V42 already escaped once, and they had to clear up the mess. What if they escape again? What if they have seeds and start growing everywhere?”
“So what do we do?” Nancy asked.
“There’s something I haven’t told you,” Miss Wan said. “The contract between the Spencer Institute and BioMesa is a government contract.”
“The government is involved?” Nancy gasped.
“Yes,” Miss Wan said, her face serious. “So we need to be very careful. Don’t go anywhere near Hilltop and don’t tell anyone what you’ve seen. I have to think about this.”