In the end, the staff of the school decided the hideous stench that had driven the rabbits away had been an act of nature, probably caused by the bunnies eating so much ruffiage. For a while Gavin had feared Head Chef Arduino would turn them in, but the man remained mum on what he'd witnessed, perhaps knowing that he'd implicated himself in the bombing with his simple nod just before Gavin had lit the fuse.
It was a shame, thought Gavin, that he couldn't take credit for ridding the school of the sudden and unexpected swarm of rabbits. Of course, he actually was free to take the credit, but doing so would also implicate him as the cause of the horrifying stench that had seeped into every nook and cranny of St. Hibbard's and was stubbornly refusing to be washed away. Since this made everyone miserable for a number of weeks, he and Jupiter (and Egbert) had wisely decided to remain mute on their contribution.
For the next few days, life at St. Hibbard's Very Special Academy returned to normal. Or, at least, as normal as a school featuring dozens of children armed with odd, largely-harmless superpowers could be. Classes were had. Food was eaten. Life moved on.
One of the most enduring signs of life moving on were the pranks. Since most of the students' abilities were closer to party tricks than actual superpowers, they tended to use them as such. Thus Mag Tillerson, aka Levitatus, used his ability to levitate small objects to lift the toupee off the head of the Health Teacher, Mr. Bob, and make it spin around to the amusement of the class. And Kaylie Freya, back in school now that her concussion had healed, used her ability to make other people's eye glow in the dark, to do just that to Mrs. Ackachack when she lowered the lights to show the class a powerpoint presentation.
Business as usual.
Left unspoken by all was the tension created by the fact that the students of St. Hibbard's had one classmate planted in the front yard and another stuffed in a cold storage locker in the kitchen.
Just over a week after the rabbit fiasco, Gavin was walking through a back hall on his way to Mr. Choi's chem class when he heard a strange noise in the gloom of the corridor. He stopped and looked around, not able to see much past the deep shadows of the hallway. It suddenly occurred to him that there weren't any other students around him that he could see. This was strange. Normally, at least a few other kids followed this path between classes. Yet today, there was nobody.
He heard the noise again, and cocked his head, trying to pinpoint the source. It sounded like the soft meow of a cat. As far as Gavin knew, there were no cats at St. Hibbard's, so hearing one seemed remarkably out-of-place. He paused and listened and was rewarded with a third meow. It sounded small and either afraid or hungry. Or, if it was a stray, possibly both.
It seemed to be coming from up ahead and down a side corridor that led to the rarely-used upstairs balcony of the auditorium. Curious, he followed the sound, more and more convinced as to what he was hearing. It was now quite clear and most definitely a small cat. Or a big cat with a really high-pitched voice.
He reached the intersection and peered down the corridor leading to the auditorium. It appeared empty, though the corners were lost in the shadows. He took a step forward, then froze, wary.
"Hello?" he asked the darkness.
He was answered by yet another meow. This time it was easy to tell where it was coming from--the auditorium balcony. Had some stray found its way inside the school? He didn't see how that was possible, the way the gates were controlled and with Mr. Unger's constant patrols of the school grounds. Yet there was no mistaking that sound.
With a mental shrug, Gavin traversed the hallway and pulled open the door leading to the balcony.
"Hello?" he asked before stepping inside. "Kitty?"
Another meow, off to the left. He entered the balcony and turned to search for the poor kitten when the door slammed shut behind him. He whirled about to find Mitchell Warner standing there with Jason Cottle and Flynn Decker standing behind him.
"Meow," said Mitchell, sounding nothing like a cat.
"What's going on?" asked Gavin, suddenly alert. Coming across Mitchell and his goons in the hallway was bad enough, but getting trapped in the balcony with them? This was not going to be good.
"What's going on is we're going to have a nice little chat," answered Mitchell. He then lifted his head and called to someone behind Gavin. "You can go now. Debt paid."
"Thank you," mumbled a small girl Gavin didn't recognise who hurried past him and quickly left the scene.
"She's got a great ability, don't you think?" asked Mitchell. "She can impersonate baby animals. I mean perfectly impersonate them, to where the animals themselves would be fooled."
Jason and Flynn moved to block the door, arms crossed, eyes glued to Gavin and the entertainment they apparently thought was about to take place.
"What do you want, Mitchell?"
"Mitchell?" The bully stepped toward Gavin, obviously relishing his prey's nervousness. "No. You don't get to call me Mitchell. You will call me The Emerald Laser!" He pointed his finger and a bright green light shot out of his eyes directly at Gavin. Instinctively, Gavin ducked and covered his face, but, of course, the beam was nothing but harmless light.
His reaction brought forth a cruel laugh from all three assailants. Gavin sighed and straightened up. "Your power's pretty useless, Mitchell."
"I said call me Emerald Laser!" Mitchell stepped forward and punched Gavin in the gut. He doubled over in pain and dropped into one of the seats. Mitchell's goons laughed and cheered their leader on.
"Fine. Your power's pretty useless, Emerald Laser." Gavin gritted his teeth as he spoke, trying not to show the pain in his voce. Just his luck to be attacked by a bully who chooses not to punch him in the face.
"Maybe so, but my eyes are in perfect working order, and I saw what you did!"
Confused, Gavin took a breath to collect himself, then looked up at his tormentor. "What did I do?" he asked, wondering if his little stink bomb episode had been observed after all.
"You attacked the school with an army of rabbit," came the reply.
This was so ludicrous, Gavin couldn't help but chuckle through his nose. Mitchell closed in on him, threateningly. "Laugh all you want, but I saw you in Boot Camp. You and your disgusting roommate having so much fun shooting that trash all over the room!"
"We're practicing!" Gavin felt the need to defend himself. What he and Stanford were doing had practical applications, as opposed to Mitchell's fake spoon-bending trick.
"You shot Samantha!"
"I sneezed!"
Now it was Mitchell's turn to laugh (and Jason and Flynn's turn to cackle and guffaw, respectively). "You wanted to create chaos! Those bunnies were your fault!"
"Yeah!" called out Jason, who, Gavin noted, was actually the one that had created the bunnies. "Your fault!"
"Are you mental?" asked Gavin, upset. "Even if I did aim for Samantha and hope she'd screw up Jason's trick, how was I supposed to know he'd pull rabbits out of that hat? I mean, come on! He doesn't even know what he's going to do when he uses his ability!"
"You knew it would be something!" Mitchell kicked at Gavin's shin, while Flynn circled behind the prisoner and grabbed his arms. "And it got me thinking. Where were you when Begonia Zahn got turned into ice?"
This was such an unexpected question, it took Gavin a moment to come up with an answer. "I wheeled her to the kitchen with you, idiot!"
"That was AFTER she got turned into ice, Squishy Face!" Mitchell was riled up now, feeling as though he had his prey on the run. "Where were you before then? When she was actually attacked?"
"I was in Boot Camp!"
"You took a break," offered Flynn. "You left Boot Camp for a while."
"Just long enough to go attack poor Begonia!" accused Mitchell.
"That's a lie!" Gavin saw the situation quickly turning into a disaster. "I didn't attack that girl! I don't even know her!"
"Did you know Aurelia Limpit?" asked Flynn. "You were still hiding out in the field alone when she was attacked, weren't you?"
"I was hiding from the jerks from Thumbledown! They're the ones who've been attacking our friends!"
"They didn't set the bunnies loose!" cried Jason, getting into the act.
"No!" Gavin turned and pointed a finger. "You did!"
That earned another punch in the gut from Mitchell, and Gavin was knocked to the floor, crashing down between the rows of seats.
"I've got my eyes on you, Squishy," taunted Mitchell. "The only reason I'm not hauling you in to Mrs. Gruber is that I can't prove anything. But I'm on to you. You step out of line, I'll be all over you like butter on toast!"
Gavin wasn't quite sure what the metaphor was supposed to mean, but he didn't ask. Mitchell gave him one more kick and then he stormed out of the balcony, Jason and Flynn close behind.
Gavin lay on the floor a moment more, wincing in pain. He'd gotten so used to being punched in the face without feeling any pain, he'd forgotten what true pain actually felt like. He gingerly touched his ribs and knew one or more were bruised, if not broken. Mitchell may have had a stupid ability, but he made up for it with a strong kick.
Pushing himself off the ground and climbing into one of the chairs, Gavin thought the matter through. If Mitchell had seen him sneeze and fire trash at Samantha, it was a good bet other people had as well. And if they hadn't, Mitchell would be sure to let them know. Top that with the true fact that he didn't have an alibi for when either Begonia or Aurelia had been attacked, and he could see things getting out of hand real quick. The last thing he wanted was to become suspect number one in the attacks. Mainly because that would make the entire school hate him, but also because he knew he wasn't responsible and so any focus on him was attention not being spent on finding the true culprit.
Life for Gavin at St. Hibbard's was about to become a lot less pleasant.
And a lot more dangerous.