He returned to their bunk, still a bit in shock. Vik glanced up from his keyboard. “So?”

Tom hesitated, debating what to say for a long moment, remembering Vik’s words: There is no neural processor in the world that can interface with just any machine at will.

But he’d done it. He knew now for sure that he’d done it.

But whatever it was that he’d done, it was too much for some tiny skirmish in the Spire. He wasn’t even sure what it was that he’d done yet.

Tom shook his head. “You were right. I guess I imagined it.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TOM AND VIK binge-downloaded the night’s homework and then tried to walk out the door of their bunk. Neither of them made it. They collapsed in a stupor on the floor. Tom roused only when Vik cried, “Wake up! We missed Calisthenics!”

Tom jolted to his feet, feeling stupid and strange. He fell behind when Vik rushed off to Math class. Flashes of the night’s homework kept plaguing him, appearing before his eyes, confusing him, drawing his attention to irrelevant facts his processor hadn’t yet sorted out. It took him a full minute to remember how to press the button to summon the elevator.

When he finally made it inside, he found Karl Marsters already in there. The two boys froze, shocked for a full second.

Like that, Tom’s brain snapped into gear. He tore back his sleeve to bare his forearm keyboard and frantically typed. He heard Karl doing the same thing.

“Aha!” Karl cried.

Tom launched Walk Only Right as Karl launched Exorcist.

Exorcist had been floating around ever since Alec Tarsus wrote it, so Tom opened his mouth to taunt him, “You couldn’t come up with your own?” even though Vik had practically rewritten all his code for Walk Only Right. But creepy Latin-sounding words spouted out instead.

“Gotcha,” Karl exulted, but he wasn’t laughing for long. When he tried to step out of the elevator, he turned right. When he tried to go left, he went right. He bellowed and tried to change direction, and he turned right again.

Tom had planned to say, “Don’t get too dizzy” to rub it in a bit, but instead heard himself shriek, “I’ll spit on your grave!” He covered his mouth and left Karl turning in endless circles in the middle of the elevator.

He arrived at the Lafayette Room several minutes late. Vik glanced up as Tom slid onto the bench next to him. “Have your head on straight yet?”

“Oladae holovii inuladus,” Tom answered.

“Ooh. Got Exorcisted, huh?”

Out of habit, Tom tried to say yes. Instead, he shrieked, “I’ll eat your soul!”

At the front of the room, Dr. Lichtenstein jerked, startled by the noise. Vik muffled his laughter, and Tom just covered his mouth to stop it from chanting more pseudo-Latin or homicidal phrases.

“The program’s all compiled. We’re on for taking down the Evil Wench tonight?” Vik said in a low voice.

Tom nodded, hand still over his mouth.

“Are you sure? That was a reluctant nod. I’ll really feel a lot more confident if I hear you say yes or no. Just say it out loud for me.”

Tom glared at him, knowing he just wanted him to Exorcist a little more, and gave him a nonverbal reply. It only required one finger, too.

NIGHT CAME, AND Tom and Vik made their first move: they tricked Yuri into getting locked in the Census Chamber so he couldn’t stop them. Then they began stalking Wyatt like stealthy hunters. The Evil Wench settled in the arboretum, probably to read the way she did sometimes. They waited until the last five minutes of the war games to spring their trap, just so she wouldn’t have a chance to strike back.

At 1855, Tom gave Vik a thumbs-up. “It’s time. I’m going in, Doctor.”

Tom was the decoy. In a minute, Vik would pop out of the shadows and unleash their devastating program, a combination of Exorcist, Nigel Harrison, Walk Only Right, Secret Indian Ninja Attack, and of course, Frequent Noisome Farts.

“Good luck, Doctor.”

“You, too, Doctor.” He waited for Vik to slip away, then began whistling and strode forward toward Wyatt.

He made sure to give a cry of startled horror when he came upon her, sitting by a fern and reading a book. She closed her novel and raised her keyboard.

“Wait, wait.” Tom raised his hands, and ducked behind one of the plants. “I didn’t even realize you were here.”

Wyatt held her distance as he emerged from behind the leafy canopy. “You didn’t?”

“No, I only came here to hide out the last minutes of the war games.” Tom shoved his hands in his pockets. “Can we play it cool?”

Wyatt lowered her arm. “You’re tired of fighting all the time?”

“Oh, yeah. Always being on guard against attacks … It’s exhausting.” Tom saw Vik sneaking out from behind her and fought his smile.

Wyatt’s brow furrowed. “Can you tell me something, Tom? Something important?”

Tom hesitated, didn’t give Vik the signal yet. “What?”

“I just really need to know—how stupid do you think I am?”

“Uh, what?”

“How stupid? Just tell me. On a scale of one to ten.”

“Is ten very stupid or very smart?”

“You love fighting. You’d do it all the time if you could. The way I figure it, you’re probably just distracting me so Vik can sneak up behind me and send me a virus.”

Vik froze in place behind her. Tom felt a thrill of foreboding. They’d blocked Vik’s GPS signal from the Spire’s tracking system. Obviously not well enough.

“Of course”—Wyatt set her book aside—“what you didn’t realize was that I lured you here for our final showdown.”

Vik mouthed the words disbelievingly as Tom said them: “A final showdown?”

This was not going to plan. It was supposed to be their ambush of her, not her ambush of them.

Wyatt nodded grimly. “You see, Tom, when you stumbled right into my fiendish scheme, I knew you’d try to go out by facing me. I counted on it. In fact, I even instigated the circumstances that drew you here. I know you’re wondering how I did all this, so I’ll explain in detail.” She’d barely launched into her detailed explanation when disaster struck.

Time is 1900. War games are now concluded.

Tom didn’t believe the ping in his brain. He stood there, in shock.

Vik stumbled forward. “What—what …”

When Tom looked at Wyatt again, he realized she was grinning ear to ear. “I got you guys.”

“You did not,” Tom protested. “You were about to spring a diabolical trap. You said so. You ran out of time.”

“You really thought I lured you here? Wow. No. Yuri warned me over net-send that you guys had trapped him in the Census Chamber, so I figured you were coming for me next. I didn’t even have a decent program ready, so I decided to talk to you until the time ended.”

“Wait, what?” Tom said. “We squandered our ultimate program?”

“Pretty much. You know what this calls for?” Wyatt raised her arms up and held her hands on either side of her head, fingers bent like monster claws.

“A bear attack?” Vik guessed.

Wyatt dropped her hands. “I’m gloating.”