Pirates of Underwhere (8 page)

The next day, I didn't know how to feel. I'd never been so confused by trying to do right.

We had frustrated the UnderLord's plan, which was good. But we had lost the Brush to Mr. Wheener, which was bad. I had stood up for the Undies with Zeke and Hector—good. But I got kicked off the Mathletes team before our first match—really bad.

At least one thing brought a smile. After the town meeting, we had passed the phony brush to the two spies. Let them run their high-tech tests on
that
!

All through class that day, Melvin kept smirking at Zeke and me. And this boy had one ugly smirk. Maybe he'd taken the Brush from us, but at least we could be thankful that this monkey brain didn't know about Underwhere.

After school, I went to watch the Mathletes compete. Amir and the others looked so smart in their red team shirts. But someone was missing.

“Mrs. R,” I said, going up to her. “Where's Heather?”

“She's sick,” said Mrs. Ricotta. “We'll have to compete without her.”

“Let Stephanie take her place,” someone said.

I turned around, and there was Zeke.

“She's missed two practices,” said Mrs. Ricotta. “It wouldn't be fair.”

He shook his head. “You don't understand. Steph is a math
freak
. She only missed practice because of
me
, and she just finished an awesome
math project for the Un—uh, unbelievably lucky friends of ours.”

Mrs. R looked at Zeke with a funny expression, but she said, “Okay.”

I didn't wait to hear it twice. After donning a spare T-shirt, I joined the team.

The match went back and forth. We hit our dingers and shouted out our answers. In the end, our team won by a single point.

Afterward, Zeke and I walked home together.

“So,” I said, “what did you think?”

“Nerd city,” he said, raising a shoulder.

I smiled. We turned off Sycamore onto our street.

“You know,” said Zeke. “I never thought I'd say this, but…”

“What? ‘My sister is the smartest and prettiest girl ever'?”

“No, Steph-apotamus,” he said. “That it's
actually good to have a day off from saving the planet.”

Hector and Fitz came running up the sidewalk to meet us.

“Ree-
eeow
, rauw,” Fitz yowled.

“Come quick, you guys!” cried Hector. He looked worried.

I flashed a glance at Zeke. “What is it?”

“Melvin,” said Hector.

Zeke slumped. “What's he done now, stolen the Throne?”

“Worse,” said Hector. “I was out looking for Fitz, and I found him in that construction site.”

“Yes…?” I said.

Hector hustled us up the street. “And you'll never guess who I saw there.”

“Melvin,” said Zeke. “Duh.”

“
Duh
, yourself,” said Hector. “Melvin has gone into Underwhere.”

I stopped cold. “Oh, no.”

“Oh, yes.”

Zeke smiled and shook his head. “So much for that day off.”

Basic math
: One bully, plus a magical land, minus common sense, equals…big trouble.

“Guess we've got another problem to solve,” I said.

Cover art © 2008 by Shane Hillman