Chapter 125

Becky drags Anya to class before she can tail the teacher who framed Henry, and the man slips away. With Cecile Hall dismissed early and a hotel farewell party planned for their teacher, Anya announces she will skip the send-off to hunt the real culprit, explaining her certainty as having seen the man behave suspiciously, a story Connie backs up. Bill Watkins then reports that his group noticed a strange stack of papers by one of the schoolhouse entrances, and he joins despite knowing his absence from class will cost him a Tonitrus Bolt, reasoning that saving Henry is worth it. Eight children set out: Anya, Becky, Connie, Damian, Emile, Ewen, George, and Bill, with Donna Schlag and Rahden watching them go.

The schoolhouse is no longer empty. Mr. Armstrong, the rugby club's advisor, bars the door and orders them out, but his thoughts about tightened security and his recognition of the group tell Anya he is tied to the conspiracy. When talk fails, Anya sprints past him and Bill wrestles the big man back so the rest can follow. On the stairs to the third floor waits Gambitz, chess club advisor and the nation's champion grandmaster, who reads Ewen and Emile's coordinated Pawn Storm attack perfectly and trips them with scattered chess pieces before the pair finally swarm and pin him.

The third floor belongs to Dr. Benzene of the Chemistry department, whose perfumed sleeping gas claims George immediately. Becky, accustomed to the scent from her perfumes at home, stays awake; Connie hands her garlic to rouse Anya and Damian plus a wire to bind Benzene, then remains behind to stall him. Only three children reach the fourth floor. As Anya, Becky, and Damian make for the fine arts room, a figure wearing an Imperial Scholar's cape drifts through the air ahead of them, terrifying the other two.

A team of eight students returns to the old schoolhouse to find evidence clearing Henry, with Bill accepting a Tonitrus Bolt as the price of joining.

Anya's mind reading exposes Mr. Armstrong's link to the conspiracy through his thoughts about beefed-up security.

Bill, then Ewen and Emile, then Connie, Becky, and the sleeping George are left behind neutralizing Armstrong, the grandmaster Gambitz, and Dr. Benzene's gas trap.

Anya, Becky, and Damian reach the fourth floor and come face to face with a levitating figure draped in an Imperial Scholar's cape.

Three faculty adversaries debut in this chapter: Mr. Armstrong, Gambitz, and Dr. Benzene.

The chapter's structure and its cover illustration pay homage to the 1978 Bruce Lee film Game of Death, mirroring its tower-climb format in which companions stay behind to fight successive guardians while the protagonist ascends.