Wrought Iron, Book 1 of Merlin's Message

Chapter 2 - Extra Credit - Present Day

"Two degrees right," Gavin ordered.

"Two degrees right, then," Mike grinned as he used a tire iron to lever the back of the catapult a bit to the left. The big wooden frame was too heavy to move by hand alone.

Taeko's long raven hair billowed around her like a defiant banner. She held her smartphone and looked around the empty ball field. An early summer sun burned hot in a cloudless sky. A soft breeze, like tepid breath, made waves in the thick turf. Lawnmowers droned in the distance, and the smell of cut grass hung heavy in the air.

"Are you sure this won't go horribly wrong?" she asked.

"Come on, Taeko," Mike cheered, "What could go wrong? We built this contraption to professor Loony's specs. It's working the way it's supposed to. Right, Gavin?"

"Yeah, sure," Gavin replied as he peered through a tripod-mounted scope. "We're launching paint-filled balloons across the campus, over the faculty parking lot, using a two-thousand-year-old design, and as an assignment for the professor every student thinks is a lunatic. So what could possibly go wrong?"

"Hey," Mike scoffed. "We need the extra credit."

Taeko rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't need the extra credit. I'm just doing this as a favor to you two. And it's water-based paint, right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, yeah. Sure," Mike answered. "Now, let's see what a medieval-style catapult can do!"

Gavin held up a hand. "Roman, actually. Okay. We're ready. Taeko? Check-in with Hannah." Hannah was a quarter-mile away by a grassy area they'd picked as the target zone.

"Hannah, we're going to shoot now," Taeko spoke into her phone.

A high voice chirped back, "Okay, go ahead."

Gavin dropped his hand and ordered, "Loose!"

Mike yanked a cord. The long wooden arm snapped forward and slammed into the heavy braking beam. Twenty baseball-sized ballons arced up from the big cup at the end of the arm. The three students watched as the paint-filled projectiles sailed out of sight.

"Incoming!" Taeko sent to Hannah.

A few seconds later, they heard Hannah squeal.

"Ooh! OMG! They landed right on the spot! And the colors are so pretty on the grass! It's like a painting by one of those old guys like pickapizza, or like that!"

"Who actually says 'OMG' out loud?" Mike wondered.

"She does," Taeko snapped. "I think you mean Picasso," she corrected into the phone.

"Yes! Like I said," Hannah's excited voice pipped. "Do it again!"

Gavin picked up a long iron rod. "You heard the lady. Let's load her up."

Using the rod, Gavin started cranking the arm back down. The heavy metal gears clacked and squeaked. The rope, wrapped around an oversized spindle made from a fifty-gallon drum, creaked and groaned with the strain of each turn. Mike filled the two-foot-wide cup with another twenty ballons. Taeko scanned around to see if anyone was coming. Even though they were working at the behest of a professor, she worried that a mishap might still be catastrophic.

A glistening silver I8 Coupe BMW purred into a spot labeled "Dean" in the faculty parking lot. A slender woman in a black dress jacket, silk blouse, and pencil skirt emerged from the icon of social status. A long-haired chihuahua peaked out of a small Gucci purse. Stiletto heels clicked across the asphalt, and students nearby scurried in the opposite direction. Dr. Terri Stone was known on campus as Doctor Terror. Her argus eyes glinted behind black-framed polarized sunglasses.