The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga) (12 page)

Other Guilders were gathering behind him and picking up their fallen member. While behind us a row of people had lined up and I figured they were Impossible Engineers. This was going wrong quickly.

I tried to figure a way out of this before it exploded. “You’re no fool. You must have heard that the truces are in danger. It wouldn’t look good for even a small argument to get blown out of proportion, now would it?”

“Maybe you should keep your boyfriend on a leash.” He smirked at me.

My annoyance fast approached anger. Even when I was trying to help, he couldn’t help but tweak me. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Right,” he laughed and his eyes ran up and down me, “keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.”

Slade stepped forward and I placed my hand on his chest stopping him in his tracks, but it didn’t stop his mouth.

“Don’t talk to her like that, Nightshade!”

“I think I made the lovebirds angry.” Nightshade laughed and the other Guilders joined in.

Thankfully, I felt his power diminish and he slid his key back into his jeans pocket. Slade’s pressed more firmly against my hand, his chest rock-hard, and I pushed back urging him to stay put.

“Are we done here?” I asked.

“Sure, I didn’t realize this was some lovers’ quarrel.”

He stared at me for a moment, then turned and joined the group of Guilders that had formed behind him. They laughed and slapped him on the back as if praising him. He nodded and grinned and then he suddenly gave a quick backward glance in my direction. The blonde girl raced passed me to his side, slipped her arm around his and they disappeared into the crowd.

I spun on Slade. “What the hell was that?”

“Nothing, Nightshade and I don’t get along that’s all?”

“I know he’s a jerk but you can’t let him get to you.” Slade’s eyes were focused on the Guilders and I reached up, grabbed his chin none too gently and forced him to look at me.

He smiled. “Are you okay?”

Relieved that his usual smiling-self had returned, I smiled back. “I’m fine.”

“Thanks,” Edgar interrupted and I stepped away from Slade.

Edgar slapped his shoulder and I saw him watch me from the corner of his eye as they chatted. I keep reminding myself that I have no time for a relationship right now... no time for Slade. I needed to focus on finding out who the man in black was and how it might all link back to my mom.

Michael Slade would just have to wait... yeah, right.

Chapter 12

Status: I Engineer Impossibly.

Before leaving school Mrs. Flint caught me in the hall and informed me I would be apprenticing with the Impossible Engineers for the next few weeks. I think the Universe has a sick sense of humor. Here I am trying to avoid complications with Slade and yet I keep getting pushed toward him.

I found Val waiting for me where I last saw her about a block from the school. Her frantic waving made her look like she was trying to flag down a passing jet. I gave a short wave that seemed to placate her as the windmill arm movements ended and she waited with just an embarrassingly large grin.

“How was it?” She drew the words out to make them last much longer than they were meant to.

“Nice.”

“Nice? Nice is all you’ve got to say?” she said her voice growing increasingly louder.

“Well.” What to tell her and what to hold back? “I met my homeroom teacher and found out the first subject I’d be specializing in.”

“Really, what is it?”

“Engineering.”

“Wow, see that’s why I am so surprised I didn’t get into the Academy. I’ve already taken some engineering courses.”

I listened half-heartedly as Val rolled off a list of classes and qualifications for yet another reason why she should have been accepted to Paladin Academy. Though I must admit she no longer acted as if I shouldn’t have gotten in, just that she should have as well.

“So did they give you a book list or anything?”

As I readjusted my bag on my shoulder I realized I hadn’t really gotten any info on what I would be doing with the Impossible Engineers. “No, not yet.”

“Well I’m sure the instructor will give you a list. Oh, maybe I can read some of them after you’re done,” she said eagerly.

Not likely
, I thought to myself. I doubt the Engineers would want a regular person playing around with their knowledge.
Regular person
. It wasn’t that long ago that I believed myself a
regular person
and now... I wasn’t quite sure what I was.

“Yeah maybe,” I managed a weak smile. “So how was your day?”

Val immediately launched into a long and very detailed explanation. She pointed out numerous times that she was in all advanced classes of course. She rattled on nonstop; allowing me no more than two words the whole walk home.

“I’ll see you later Val,” I said walking up the porch and fishing in my bag for my keys. Val stood at the bottom of the stairs a sour expression on her face and rooted in place.

“Is your dad home?”

“Nope, he’s on tour?”

“So you’re all alone that’s terrible.”

Val and I must have a different version of terrible because mine included a quick dinner followed by vegging out and watching old TV shows the rest of the night.

“No, it’s alright I’ve got some left over Chinese. I’ll be fine.”

“Really? My mom left me some tofu meals for dinner.” She kicked at some loose pebbles on the ground.

My shoulders sagged and I sighed. I knew I was going to regret it but she looked so forlorn. I pushed the key in the lock, turned it and swung the door open. I thought of biting my tongue but another look at Val had me saying, “Why don’t you hang out here till your mom gets home.”

“Oh, that’d be great,” she said already halfway up the stairs and rushing through the door.

I closed it behind us and prepared myself for a long night of Val.

She hung out until after eight when her mom finally called and told her to come home. It hadn’t been as bad as I thought. We ate and talked while watching some old TV shows. I texted with Dad and Edgar, Dad sending me pictures from his latest shows. While Edgar tried to explain some of the contraptions I might be working on with the Impossible Engineers. After Val left I went up to my room and tossed my school bag on the bed while checking my texts one more time. It was getting late and I needed to go to bed but I still hadn’t heard Dad come in yet and I was worried as usual. By midnight I was yawning and trying to keep my eyes open with little success. The last thing I remembered was reading my clock... 1 AM.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm, happy that I hadn’t had any bad dreams. I quickly got ready for school and as I rushed downstairs I peeked into Dad’s room to see him fully dressed and sleeping on his bed. He must have used a portal after his last show so he could sleep at home.

Edgar and I met for the walk to school and the day preceded much as the one before. I found my way to each of my classes and the teachers wasted no time in handing out assignments and of course homework. When the half day bell rang I found myself anxious to begin my new studies with the Impossible Engineers.

“Good luck,” Edgar said as he stuffed his books into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “I can’t wait till you get to come with me to the Mapmakers Union, it’ll be great. You’ll love it.”

“I bet.” Sitting around a table making maps being my favorite pastime? Yeah, right.

“Chloe, I’ll show you the way,” Slade called out as he waved me over to him and a small group of students. “None of you are declared so just pay attention to the instructors and don’t go into any off limits areas.”

Slade lead us through the Academy halls. We moved quickly passing other groups of students their expressions as confused and nervous as ours. Finally, we turned down a corridor I hadn’t seen on Mrs. Flint’s tour and stopped at a set of large metal doors.

Slade stepped up and pulled off three pieces of what appeared to be junk from hooks on the doors. He turned away from us and worked on them for a moment. When he turned back toward us he had a Doorknob in his hands and placed it on the door. The knob and the door glowed green and melded together. The knob turned and the doors swung open of their own accord.

“Remember, only an Engineer can create the knob that opens this door. So if you’re ever late and are still undeclared you won’t be able to get in, understood?”

We all nodded our heads in unison and stepped through into the realm of the Impossible Engineers.

The first thing I noticed was the massive set of gears that reached from the floor all the way to the ceiling. Some were the size of dimes while others were over two stories in height. They all moved and whirred in constant motion. To one side of them was a long line of ovens and blacksmith forges complete with anvils and hammers that kept the room constantly hovering from warm to hot. On the other side were rows upon rows of drafting tables with people sitting hunched over working on diagrams of what I figured must be more crazy contraptions.

“Hello all.”

The booming voice came from behind us and I spun around. A very large man stood right in front of me. His bright blonde hair was a mass of messiness that seemed to fit him and his blue eyes shined as brilliantly as his friendly smile. He pulled off a pair of thick gloves stuffing them into his workman’s belt from which hung a large and heavy looking hammer.

“I’m Mr. Miller, but you can all call me Levi. I’ll be your instructor while you’re training with the Impossible Engineers.”

Slade stepped around the group and walked up to stand beside Levi. Slade was a big guy but next to Mr. Miller he was pint-sized. Miller was just plain huge.

“Now as some of you may know we at Impossible Engineers or IE like to think of ourselves as tinkerers more than anything,” Mr. Miller said as he turned and walked away forcing all of us to practically run to keep up with his long strides.

“We make everything from training doorknobs for the Society to Everything Goggles —
Trademark the Impossible Engineers, trust me the Engineers are very serious about their trademarks
— for the Mapmakers Union and some of the more everyday items that people with particular abilities have come to depend on.”

At that moment a student wearing a jetpack flew passed us with his butt on fire. We all ducked as he zoomed overhead, a trail of smoke and a high-pitched scream trailing in his wake.

“Would someone please tell me who let Morgan into the jetpacks again? I thought we learned our lesson when he played with the Ever-Increasing Stairs,
Trademark, oh you get the idea
.”

Slade and a bunch of other Engineers ran after Morgan grabbing fire extinguishers as they went.

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll fix that jetpack right up,” Levi said with a smile at all the nervous faces.

“What about Morgan?” I asked.

“He’ll be fine once they get a hold of him and put out the fire, Of course, he’ll have to serve two months detention. But I’m sure he’ll be able to sit again at some point.”

“Great,” I mumbled thinking Mr. Miller was a bit crazy.

Mr. Miller stopped beside a desk piled high with papers and started rummaging through the mess.

“Now where did I put that? Ahh here it is.” He lifted up what resembled a joystick handle with a button on the top and clicked it. A massive grinding sound echoed around us and the ground began to shudder. Students grabbed onto each other desperately trying to stop from falling. It didn’t help; we wound up on our butts.

The floor just behind Mr. Miller cracked open and rolled backwards, a wall cranking up in its place. All manner of devices and gadgets hung from various sized hooks that ran the height and width of the wall. And in the middle was an old-fashioned blackboard.

Mr. Miller walked to the board, grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote; Impossible Engineering 101.

“Welcome to the class,” he said with a grin. “Now I know some of you may be familiar with what we do here but for the benefit of those who aren’t, how about a little history.”

As we dusted ourselves off, metal balls rolled off the wall and came to rest behind each of us. No sooner had they stopped then a creaking sound was heard and the balls morphed into chairs.

“Take a seat please. We’ll begin in the simplest of terms. What each of the groups here at the Paladin Academy can do is, in some way, effect space and time, either by traveling through it or being able to manipulate it. We here at the Impossible Engineers are able to create devices that can make such travel easier by bending the laws of nature to suit what we need.”

Mr. Miller walked to the wall and grabbed a jetpack off a hook. It appeared an older model, numerous steam pipes sticking out from its top and tubes angling off its sides. A weather-beaten leather harness stood in place of the newer Kevlar harness models, the ones I was used to stacking at the Arrowhead.

“Let’s take this jetpack as an example. Using our special form of technology the user is able to not only fly but do short controlled bursts through space. Now granted it can only help someone do this that already has abilities but it is a useful thing to have. After all one never knows when one might run into a gremlin or some other type of nasty creature.”

“Could you use it to jump anywhere?” One of the kids yelled out.

“No, nothing like that. You can only use it to jump within your line of sight. So it’s good for a quick getaway. We’re still bound by our own abilities as well. So if you’re not particularly adept at your powers I wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Is it true the engineers built the Paladin Academy?” another student asked.

“We, like most of the other groups, helped build the Academy. But yes you can say we built it. It was the first Impossible Engineers that discovered how to build and live in the multitude of dimensions that connect to our own. This is what enables us to keep ourselves autonomous from the outside world. That and humans strange penchant for not being able to see what’s right in front of their faces.” He chuckled as he replaced the jetpack on the hook.

He turned and motioned for Slade to join him in front of the class. “What we’ll do now is break up into pairs and measure your aptitude for Impossible Engineering. Slade will tell you who you’re partnered with.”