The Chaos Curse (Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond #3) - Sayantani DasGupta Page 0,32
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.