CHUM

Chapter 11: Loser

It's not more than a minute after dinner and I'm called into the tiny interview chamber again. Killjoy leads me down the steps, just like last time. He doesn't try to intimidate me like he did before, though I can tell he wants to. It's like he got yelled at by someone with more clout than him. He just waves me down the stairs with the club, his lip pouting out in front of his silver teeth.

Cecil is inside waiting for me. I can only imagine what hot water I'm in now. I sit.

Cecil presses some buttons on his tiny black handheld computer. He seems disinterested. "You solved my riddle today," he says. He gives a faint chuckle. "There was more than one Key Chum, but you were the only one brave enough to break yours and find the four keys! Brilliant! And then you won the Chums for everyone!"

"So you're..." I say. Not mad? I don't finish my sentence. I don't want to give him any ideas. But I'm confused. Does this mean he doesn't want to talk to me about the lab? Killjoy had to recognize me. There's no doubt about that. But if Cecil didn't call me in here to talk about that, then what does he want?

It's strange. Cecil doesn't seem to care about the rules very much. Does he even care about the game at all? Maybe not if he's decided I'm champ.

At least I've been taken off the cross-examination stand. I relax a little. "Yes, I did win all those Chums," I say. "It was easy once I knew how to do it."

"You were brave, to sacrifice your Chum like you did," says Cecil.

The poor little guy. He was just a kid. Couldn't have been more than two years old. "It was worth it; I got more," I say.

Cecil looks up at me intently, his hands gripping the tabletop. "Yes, you did! And you saved everyone else!" he says eagerly. His voice is loud.

I'm taken aback. I didn't expect him to react like that. I don't know what I said. I must have struck some kind of chord. He reaches over and clicks off the camera. The red light goes out.

I sigh and sit back in my chair. It's a relief to have that thing off.

"Levi. Levi," he says his good hand massaging his temples. "That riddle was made by me for you."

Just for me? I'm flattered, I guess.

"Do you know what an allegory is?"

I do. They're like metaphors. I learned about them in English last year. I nod, but I can't tell what he's getting at.

"Levi, sometimes, no matter how painful it is, we have to do things we don't want to do. Tell me, did you want to sacrifice that Chum?" he asks.

I shake my head. Of course I didn't. Its dismembered body's probably still lying there, torn apart by the people who were supposed to protect him.

"So you understand! You know what it means to give up one for the sake of many!" Cecil rips off his glasses. His pale blue eyes are cold, but storming. I'm not sure what he's trying to tell me. "Would you do it again?"

I suddenly feel like there's more to what he's asking. "I think so. If it will save everyone from being thrown to sea." I don't know why I told him that. He's the one who's behind all this anyway.

He cradles his head in his hands. "That is why I must do so too," he says. He whimpers. I think he's sobbing.

Now I know I don't know what's going on. When people get emotional, I don't know what to do. "There, there?" I say. Maybe that's what he's expecting. Something's going on in there inside his adult head, under that slicked black hair — something important that I need to know — and I wish I could put my finger on it.