Young Writers Society

After school, Carrie raced straight to Mrs. Johns’s room.

Of course, since kids were still swimming and pushing through the halls, the biology teacher was outside her room, scanning the halls with her infrared camera.

“Hey Mrs. Johns,” Carrie said, just loud enough to be heard over screaming high schoolers.

“Good afternoon, Carrie.”

“So, what’s up?”

The teacher didn’t answer. But it wasn’t long before she gasped in surprise. “Carrie,” she started, following someone with her camera view, “Do you know any short, skinny African American boys?”

“Um, why?”

“I just saw someone who wasn’t cold this morning, but certainly is now.”

“If you’ve been looking at everyone with that heat camera, how do you know he’s Black?”

“Facial structure. Now tell me if you know any short, skinny-”

Carrie jumped to please the teacher. “I do, I do! I know one guy who matches that description.”

“Name?”

“Dieter. I can’t pronounce his last name.”

The teacher hmphed and lowered her camera to stare accusingly at Carrie. “He’s your friend, right? How can you not know how to pronounce his last name?”

“He’s more like a friend of a friend.”

“Fine. But you know why I’m asking, right?”

“I know,” Carrie groaned, “You need all the information you can get to keep Earth safe.”

“Good. Now that we’re clear on that, I suppose I’ll tell you what I already know.” She cleared her throat and assumed a knowledgeable air. “First, the cold spot is on campus.”

“Uh-huh,” Carrie said. That much had been obvious.

“Second, only select people come in contact with it. Since I don’t know their names, I haven’t been able to research them. If only I could keep you around all day, but alas, I can’t.”

Carrie was tempted to giggle.

“Third, I have only ever seen students with this cold temperature. No matter where else I look, or which teachers I look at, only students have been affected.”

Carrie wanted to say something in agreement, just so she could say something. But instead, she offered help. “Uh, if you have descriptions, I might be able to identify the people with the cold temperature.”

Mrs. Johns turned in surprise. “I highly doubt you know every student in the school. There’s no way you could pick out faces from the infrared pictures.”

What had Noel said earlier that day? It was something about her also being involved in this low body temperature thing. That would probably come in handy.

“At least let me try,” Carrie said.

The teacher conceded and showed Carrie the faces.

So Noel was right.

“That’s Lillian Kartal.”

“I already knew about her.”

“That’s Dieter, but you obviously knew that one.”

“Yes.” Mrs. Johns switched to the next picture.

“That’s Noel Finnard,” Carrie said. Huh, so Noel was right this morning.

Next one.

“Doug Li.”

Next.

“And that’s Theodore Wong.”

“Hmm. You seem to be acquainted with all of them. How intriguing.”

Carrie looked down in thought. That was weird, actually. She glanced back at Mrs. Johns, but for some reason, she didn’t want to say that Theo had telepathy. “I-I think one of the students has the cold spot in their bodies.”

“Why is that?”

“Well,” Carrie started. Should I tell her? No, I probably shouldn’t say anything about that without Noel or Theo’s permission. “You know, if it had been in a non-living thing, wouldn’t the cold stuff have spread already? There’s probably some sort of inhibitor from a human or something.”

“A stunning observation, Carrie,” Mrs. Johns said, “I suppose I’ll have to draw it out then.”

Dieter did not come to school the next day.

***

Yvette was concerned. No, she was beyond that. She was worried.

The first one gone had been Dieter, last Thursday. Next, Doug had disappeared Monday. It was Wednesday now. Lillian was absent, and neither of the two boys had come back.

Upon questioning, she found little. This wasn’t middle school, where the English teacher knew everything about everyone. And none of the three absentees had been online during their time away.

She asked Noel in the band locker room that afternoon.

The girl shook her head. “I talked to Dieter’s little sister yesterday, and she said he was supposed to be at some in-school retreat. Now I’ve got his whole family worried because I told her that Dieter hadn’t come to school since last week.”

“Oh my.”

Noel hoisted up her French Horn. “I’ll let you know if I find anything else, but I’ve got a bus to catch right now. See you later.”

Yvette watched Noel leave before heading to Mrs. Johns’s room to spy before her meeting with Mr. Wills.

But it wasn't long before the man himself arrived. He wasn't happy to see her there. A furious scowl on his face, Mr. Wills lunged for Yvette. She sprawled backwards to avoid him, but the man caught her foot and reeled her in. He pulled her upside down and she screamed from the shock.

Hands around her neck, Mr. Wills bustled into the biology room. "Hello Mrs. Johns," he said, "I've brought in a little eavesdropper."