Home > The Chaos Curse (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #3)(20)

The Chaos Curse (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #3)(20)
Author: Sayantani DasGupta

“What about Laplace’s demon?” Now Ned was standing up, and the entire auditorium was looking at him.

“Holy detention slips,” Jovi mumbled. “Not-by-the-Hair-of-My-Cheni-Chen-Chen is going to roast him for dinner.”

I would have thought so too, but the weird thing was, our normally no-disruptions-on-my-watch principal just kind of smiled as Ned continued to interrupt our guest.

On the other hand, Shady Sadie was the one starting to look uncomfortable. “You mean Laplace’s 1814 theory of an intellect who exists outside the universe and therefore can see and understand all?” The scientist laughed a little awkwardly. “That’s a bit of an old-fashioned idea, wouldn’t you say?”

“No, no, I wouldn’t say!” said Ned, practically shouting now. Since Principal Chen seemed willing to let him say and do whatever he wanted, it was Dr. Dixon who stepped over to his aisle—gesturing over other kids’ heads for him to sit down. “Young man, I think that’s enough for now. I appreciate you’re interested in the subject—”

But the science teacher was cut off by our still weirdly smiling principal. “My dear Dr. Dixon!” the Chenmeister admonished. “Don’t be such a fuddy-duddy! Remember we reward intellectual passion here at Alexander Hamilton Middle School!” Her newly curly hair boinged around her head as she talked.

Now I was big-time getting the oogly-booglies. This was way the total opposite of how Principal Chen would normally act. There was also something weird going on with this Ned kid, especially with his talk about an all-knowing demon who could see everything going on in the universe. What kind of a spell did he have over our principal? I felt nervously for my quiver and bow, only to realize I wasn’t wearing them. Oh no! They must still be stuck in the frozen tree in Jovi’s yard!

In the meantime, Ned seemed to be gearing up for a fight. “The universe needs someone who can see all, bring order to all, kill the chaos, and make everything predictable. Bring all these scattered stories and dimensions and realities into one. But I don’t think someone like that should be called a demon; I think someone like that should be considered a god!”

He said these last words with so much force, I could swear I heard lightning outside. And now Principal Chen was standing up too, her curly hair all fringing out around her. But she didn’t look angry at Ned; rather, she looked happy. Oh, this was really, really not good. I bent down and quickly lifted Tiktiki One out of my backpack and whispered some instructions. The lizard scuttled away under the auditorium seats.

As I straightened up, something drew my eyes to the stage. It was Sadie, who seemed to be looking straight at me as she said, “There cannot be light without darkness.”

I shivered. The merchant of shadows, Chhaya Devi, had said this phrase about light and darkness to Neel and me once, and it had become the organizing principle of my life, as I’d struggled to keep the light and dark forces of my existence in balance.

Sadie didn’t break eye contact with me but continued, “There cannot be singularity without multiplicity. There cannot be creation without chaos.”

Ned made a sound, deep in his throat. His handsome face was so furious, I thought he was going to yell again. Principal Chen too was starting to look murderous.

But at that exact moment, the fire alarm went off and all was pandemonium.

 

 

Ever seen one of those Godzilla movies where the whole town runs around screaming their heads off because a giant man-eating lizard is on the loose? Well, you could have mistaken our middle school auditorium for the set of one of those movies right then. The fire alarm system set off the overhead sprinklers, which sprayed water all over everything, transforming the auditorium into a bad imitation of an indoor water park. But what made it even worse was all the super-shrill, super-earsplitting alarm noises, combined with all the yelling, and of course all the pushing and shoving. And I’m just talking about the teachers here.

“Who is the juvenile delinquent who set off the alarm?” yelled P-to-the-Chen, water streaming down her face and then bouncing off her planet-shaped belly. Her hair now seemed to be standing out from her face as if in a halo, and her tongue flickered a little weirdly out of her mouth. “You’re going to wish for detention when I’m done with you! The rest of you, get immediately to your fire stations! Some decorum, please! You’re embarrassing yourselves!”

She might as well have been speaking in a different language, or from a different membrane dimension, because no one listened to her. Tiny sixth and seventh graders were falling over in the aisles and getting trampled on by giant eighth graders. Teachers were pushing to get in front of students. Kendrick Johnson body-slammed Theresa Ozuah, in response to which Theresa Ozuah clocked him with her giant Hello Kitty book bag.

“Man down!” Kendrick yelled as he fell to the already-soggy auditorium floor.

Mademoiselle Morrow, the French teacher and fencing coach, held off some kids trying to barrel over Kendrick’s fallen form, and helped him up. “S’il vous plaît! Keep your eyes on the prize, team!”

But the shrieking and yelling just got louder, and the pandemonium more pandemonious. I turned around just in time to see Shady Sadie the Science Lady being rushed offstage, her intense eyes shining behind her glasses like beacons in the chaotic, sprinkler-induced storm.

“Calmly, students! This is probably nothing, just an unfortunate accident,” Dr. Dixon called from the door, where he was trying to organize kids into a single-file line.

“Who did this? I want names, ranks, and serial numbers!” P. Chenny was shrieking again from the front of the room. Her face was all twisted, and even though she was otherwise soaked, her hair now stood out straight from her head. Wow, that must be one really fancy perm. “Suspension and expulsion are too good for the criminals who did this! You’re going straight to juvie! You hear me? Straight to reform school! Do not pass go! Do not collect your diploma!”

“Come on, Kiran!” Jovi was holding out her hand as my row filed out, pushing and shoving, toward the door.

“I’ll be right there!” I called as she was swept away by the tide of panicky students.

In the confusion, no one saw me bend down to pick up the gecko that scuttled back toward me from under the rows of chairs. “Thanks, little dude. Good job pulling that fire alarm.”

The lizard flickered its tongue at me in what I can only assume was a you’re welcome.

All right. Now that the auditorium was on its way to becoming empty, for the next part of my plan. I wasn’t about to follow my classmates out of the auditorium. Four months ago, I would have convinced myself this was all coincidence and that if I just kept my head down, and acted in ways that were unnoticeable, everything would spontaneously fix itself and all would be fine. Now I knew better. I wasn’t the kind of person anymore who waited for bad situations to get better, hoping someone else would take charge. I was the kind of person who stepped up, fixed things, and made them right. Which is why I’d had Tiktiki One pull the alarm. There was clearly something strange going on here, and I had to get to the bottom of it. I needed to talk to Shady Sadie one-on-one and get her to explain to me this stuff about the multiverse, chaos, and demons. I knew it had something to do with everything that was going on. I just didn’t get how yet.

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