Making the Grade (The Model Spy #2)

Chapter 19 - Loose Ends

I hung back after Fred's class. The students had shuffled slowly out of the room, their feet dragging and their heads hung limply; the hour and a half history class having turned them into zombies. When the last zombie passed through the door, I approached Fred's desk and asked him what had been bugging me since that morning at breakfast.

"How did you know Jayden started the fire? How did you know he was even there, if he ran away?" I asked. Maybe Fred was the one hacking into my gadgets, watching from Max's computer. But why?

"I was hoping you would be able to explain this very occurrence to me," Fred said. He opened his laptop and pressed a button before turning the computer so that its screen faced me. A video began playing.

"She isn't that ugly."

I gripped the edge of Fred's desk. I was watching what I saw last night with my own very eyes, during the moments before the fire.

"Come back."

I saw the hand lunge for me. Then the candle wobbled and fell.

I squirmed uncomfortably, remembering the way the boys leered at me.

The picture spun around, following my eyes as they scanned the room in a desperate attempt to find something to extinguish the fire.

Then screams.

"Not again. Let's get out of here," Jayden had said.

The picture in the video was becoming clouded from the smoke and growing flames. My eyes were focused towards the door, as I contemplated escape.

"Not you!"

Jayden's face took up the entire picture. I was in too much of a fright at the time to realize just how horrified Jayden looked, how insane he appeared. His eyes were fiery, his nostrils flared, his tongue jutting out from his clenched teeth, like a snake's.

Suddenly, I could almost smell the smoke . I was transported back to the burning building. I could feel Jayden's grip on me. It was so silly. I knew that I had survived, though barely. Yet I watched the video with such anxious suspense that I almost wasn't sure if I would see myself make it out alive. Turn the video off, turn it off, I thought.

As if someone had heard me, the picture darkened, yet I remained transfixed on the black screen.

"It was emailed to me early this morning," Fred said quietly.

"Whoever did so is on our side." Max glanced from Fred to me. "It isn't the first time this has happened," he told Fred, rather cautiously. "Someone has been hacking into my computer, sending us classified files. That's how we found Emily, the girl who went into hiding."

"So this video wasn't from either of you?" Fred held his head in his hands. He suddenly appeared agitated.

"This help...it is a good thing, isn't it?" I asked, aware of the fear slowly creeping over Fred. "I mean, why would someone help us if they meant harm?"

"I'm afraid," Fred said slowly, "that it may be Pillington watching us. He may be helping us just to show that he can solve the case without even being there, to highlight our ignorance."

"Or maybe this person is helping us just to help us," I said, though I knew it sounded ridiculous as soon as it left my mouth. I should've known better, all of the years I had of being a spy. No one ever went out of the way to help just for the sake of helping. There was always something deeper, a catch.

"This video is enough to arrest Jayden on attempted murder," Max reasoned.

"And so is this." I gave Max my phone, with the recorded conversation. "Listen to it. I've got to get to class."