Chapter 30 - Teenagers Pretending To Be Diabolical Masterminds

Art by YinYangMyriad 

A few days went by, and slowly but surely, Harper adjusted to her new life. I visited the castle every day to see her, and before long, she was watching YouTube videos with Percy, helping Vanessa feed the Jersey Devils, and discussing the state of modern literature with Terry. She became a part of life at the castle, and I looked forward to seeing her every time I arrived at the castle in Skystead.

That weekend, as Vanessa, Percy, Harper, and I watched some brainless action movie, Terry barged into the room. "Can I please talk to you for a few minutes?" he said.

"Maybe later, Terry," Vanessa said. "Percy, could you change this to a better movie?"

"Probably," Percy said. "I just need to get my notepad and the Reality Pen, and both of those things are in the office." He ran out of the room and into the office, while Vanessa sank back into her chair.

"I think it would be better if we talk now," Terry said.

"What did you want to talk about?" Harper asked.

"It's about the Academy," Terry said.

"Please don't tell me that you want to overthrow the Academy again," Vanessa said. "I'm already working on a plan that's better than the last one."

Percy re-entered the room with the Reality Pen and a notepad and asked, "So what movie do you guys want to watch?"

"Percy, now is not the time," Vanessa said.

"You were the one who told me to change the movie!" Percy exclaimed.

"How about The Fault In Our Stars?" I suggested.

"That works," Percy said. He wrote something with the Reality Pen, and the movie suddenly changed to The Fault In Our Stars.

Harper laughed and said to me, "You're still obsessed with John Green?"

"Of course," I said, smiling.

"Some things never change," Harper concluded.

"None of you are paying any attention," Terry said. "I want to have a meeting."

"Can we wait until after the movie is done?" I asked.

"Can we have a meeting and then watch the movie?" Terry asked.

"If you insist," I said reluctantly.

Terry sat down in front of the TV and said, "I'm thinking of attacking the Academy again."

"I called it!" Vanessa exclaimed. "Terry, that's an awful idea. Let me take care of the Academy. You already have enough to worry about."

"If we go with your plan, then the Academy will never be destroyed," Terry said. "We need to take action now."

I wanted to stay out of this, but something within me told me that I needed to get involved. "Don't you remember how this turned out last time?" I said.

"Yes," Terry said. "We'll do a better job this time."

"How?" I asked him. Our problem last time was that we didn't know where the Academy was, and we were no closer to solving that particular problem.

"I don't like this idea at all," Harper said. "You guys don't need to destroy the Academy. It's good for society."

"Let's agree to disagree, Harper," Vanessa said.

"You don't get it," Harper said. "Most of the people in the Academy are kids like us."

"I'm not a kid anymore," Vanessa said. "Neither is Percy, if we want to get technical."

"She does have a point though," I said. "How are we going to attack the Academy without hurting the innocent students that live there?"

"Jay, you said that you got some more information on your grandfather, right?" Vanessa said. "That might be able to help us."

"What does your grandfather have to do with this?" Harper asked me.

I didn't want to explain what Mr. Russell had done, but it seemed necessary. "My maternal grandfather is funding the Academy," I said. I paused for a few seconds, and in a soft voice, I added, "He also killed my mother."

"Wait, what?" Vanessa said.

"Wow, your family is even more messed up than mine," Percy said.

"I'm so sorry, Jay," Harper said. She gave me a quick hug, and we went back to discussing the destruction of the Academy.

"If we can somehow get rid of Mr. Russell, we could cut off the Academy's funding," Vanessa noted. "That could be an effective method, especially since he's not a superhuman, but how are we going to do it?"

"Couldn't we just go after him when he's at work?" Terry suggested.

"Jay might be able to do that, but the rest of us would have a hard time getting into his office," Vanessa said.

"I don't want to kill my own grandfather, no matter what terrible things he did," I said. I didn't have the guts to murder Mr. Russell.

"You don't have to kill him," Vanessa said. "Just get him arrested for something."

"He's not doing anything wrong now, and I can't prove that he killed my mother," I said.

"Maybe there's proof in the Academy's files," Percy said.

"Percy, that's probably the first good idea that you've come up with this year," Vanessa said. "I'm impressed."

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" Percy asked.

Vanessa shrugged and said, "We'll have to attack the Academy on a day when Mr. Russell is visiting. Percy, could you go figure out when Mr. Russell is going to the Academy?"

"Sure," Percy said. He left the room, and the rest of us continued to plan the attack.

"Wait a second," I said. "We still haven't solved our original problem. How are we going to know where the Academy is?"

"We'll need someone who's involved with the Academy to tell us," Vanessa said. "It's the only way."

"That will never happen," Terry said.

"You never know," I said. I wanted to be optimistic about our plans, but something told me that they would go wrong. What would happen if we failed? Surely, we couldn't be much worse off than we already were.

Vanessa turned to Harper and asked, "Do you happen to know where the Academy is?"

"No," Harper said. "The Academy only reveals its location to its employees and its adult superheroes. I don't know any more than you do."

"Do you know anyone who might know the Academy's location?" Vanessa asked.

"No," Harper said.

"Vanessa, she hasn't been at the Academy for three years," I said. "Harper won't help you."

"She's the best thing that we have right now," Vanessa said. "None of you know anything about the Academy."

"Jay and I escaped from the Academy, but I only have vague memories of that," Terry said.

"Me too," I said.

All of a sudden, Percy walked back into the room. "I hacked the Academy website, and it turns out that Thomas Russell is doing a routine visit in two days."

"Great, but that's not helpful at all unless we can figure out where the Academy is," Vanessa said.

"I might be able to help with that," Percy said. He grabbed his notepad and the Reality Pen again and started to write.

"What are you writing?" Harper asked.

"Tell us where the Academy is," Percy answered. However, as soon as he got to the first "A" in the sentence, the pen ran out of ink. Percy cursed under his breath and then started to write again. This time, the pen ran out of ink before he was even done writing the first word. "I was going to tell us to teleport us into the Academy, but clearly, that's not going to work either," Percy said.

"Does anyone have any better ideas?" Vanessa asked.

"I could just ask Declan," Percy said. "He is one of the Academy's superheroes, after all."

"Are you serious, Percy?" Vanessa said. "Declan won't help us."

"We won't know that until we ask him," Percy said.

"He seems pretty loyal to the Academy," Vanessa said.

"He fought us back at the Rose Valley Hospital," I noted.

"Maybe we can change his mind," Percy said.

"I doubt it," I said.

"What are we talking about exactly?" Harper said.

"Harper, do you remember Captain Fedora from the Academy?" I asked.

"Of course," Harper said. "He wasn't the sort of guy that you forget easily."

"Percy thinks that he can get him to tell us the location of the Academy," I said.

"That's ridiculous," Harper said. "If he's anything like that kid at the Academy, he won't tell you anything. The Academy's done nothing but benefit him."

I had to agree with Harper, but Percy just wouldn't listen to us. "Declan will help us," he insisted. "I'll find a way to make him tell us where the Academy is. I'm his boyfriend, after all."

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "You seem to have this romantic notion going through your head that Declan will do whatever you want him to just because you happen to be dating him," she said. "I hate to break it to you, Percy, but no healthy relationship works like that."

"It's different," Percy said. "I could use my superpowers on him."

"You said earlier that your powers don't work on Declan," I said.

"Maybe I just need to try again," Percy said.

"I am not letting you control your boyfriend's mind!" Vanessa exclaimed. "You can ask Declan, but if he says no, I just want you to accept it."

"Fine, Vanessa," Percy said as he started writing on the notepad with the Reality Pen again. "I'll invite Declan to come to the castle tomorrow." He finished writing, tore the page off of the notepad, and folded it into a paper airplane. Percy then let the paper airplane go, and it flew out of an open window and towards the city, as if it had a mind of its own.

"That was so cool, Percy," Harper said.

"Thank you," Percy replied.

"I'm still a little bit worried about this plan," Harper said. "Are we sure this is the right thing to do?"

"Yes," Vanessa said simply. "The Academy has abused us superhumans for too long."

"Harper, everything's going to fine," I said. "The world is going to be better once the Academy is gone."

"How do you know that?" Harper said. "How do you know that the Academy's not the one keeping the peace?"

"Millions of suffering superhumans is not peace," Vanessa said.

"What if there's a way to reform the Academy somehow?" Harper suggested.

"The Academy has always been reluctant to change," Terry said. "They've been doing the exact same thing for decades. The only way that they will change is if we make them."

"If Declan tells us where the Academy is, which I seriously doubt, then we'll have to act," Vanessa said. "Harper, I want you to help us, but if you won't, then I don't know what sort of a place there will be for you in the world after the Academy is gone."

"I want to help you too," Harper said. "I just want to know that what we're doing is right."

"It is right," I said.

Harper paused for a few seconds and then said, "I'll help you guys."

"Great," Vanessa said. "We're glad to have you on our team."

The five of us chatted for a little bit longer, but I worried that somehow, something would go wrong. If Declan didn't tell us where the Academy was, which was likely, then we wouldn't be able to attack the Academy anyways. All of this planning would be for nothing.

Already, I was certain that all of our plans were useless, but I wasn't exactly in a position to complain. We were about to destroy the institution that had caused all of my troubles so many years ago.