Masterminds

The point of view shifts to Amber. She’s preparing her study list for the day and flashes back to a recent conversation at school, during which Randy broke the news that he was leaving town. He’s being sent away to live with his grandparents in Colorado because they need his help. Amber feels sorry for Randy even though she doesn’t like him. She can’t imagine living anywhere but Serenity, where everything is perfect. The farthest she ever hopes to travel is 70 miles away to the university in Taos, when she’s old enough. For now, Amber is busy working on an art mural with her best friend, Tori, for the upcoming Serenity Day festivities.

Amber’s mother is also her schoolteacher, so it’s important for Amber to set a good example for her classmates. In thinking about her peaceful town, Amber’s mind drifts back to an incident four months earlier involving some out-of-town tree trimmers. One of the men had a copy of USA Today that he gave to Amber. It contained a word she didn’t know: “murder.” When she asked about it at dinner, her parents were shocked. Now, she wants to show the paper to Tori, but it has gone missing.

The focus now turns to Malik. He’s the class troublemaker, and his burning ambition is to move to New York City when he grows up. Malik is scornful of the peaceful and boring life in Serenity, where his father is the town physician. He’s frequently followed around by a smaller boy named Hector, who idolizes him. While Malik likes Hector’s hero worship, he’s sometimes mean to his protégé. He once accidentally almost got Hector killed in a skateboard accident involving a truck from the Plastics Works. The two boys were close enough to the truck when it backed up to notice that its cargo of traffic cones is dusty, which made Malik wonder about the company.

When Eli finally gets released from the hospital, Randy seems distant. His parents now treat Eli as if they don’t like him for some reason. On the day that Randy leaves, he promises to write to Eli and says that it’ll be their new challenge. Eli doesn’t understand what Randy is hinting at. Without his friend, Eli feels rootless at school, where he’s picked to replace Randy on the water polo team. His coach, Mrs. Delaney, is a newcomer to town. She relocated because she married one of the Purple People Eaters. When Eli asks about her husband, Mrs. Delaney says that the information is classified for national security reasons.

The story now switches to Hector. He’s smaller than the other kids his age and likes to follow Malik around: “The main similarity between Malik and me is we don’t love Serenity that much, and everybody else thinks it’s the best place on earth” (56). Hector’s mother is a manager at the factory, and his father is the only repair person in town. Hector doesn’t get much affection from his parents, but he knows that they care because of an incident that happened when he was three years old. A diamondback rattlesnake crawled into the yard, and his dad leapt in to protect him. Afterward, his mother said it was because Hector is “valuable” (62).

Tori now takes up the story. She’s Amber’s best friend and one day hopes to be an artist. Tori thinks she can see things that other people miss. One evening, she notices Eli walking down the street, looking forlorn. She goes out to meet him, and he complains that Randy never wrote. He suspects that a secret message might be hidden for him somewhere in town. The two kids climb the treehouse in Randy’s backyard, where Eli finds a boomerang. This gives him the idea to look in the pool filter for Randy’s message. Sure enough, a letter sealed inside a plastic bag is waiting for him. In the letter, Randy writes that he was sent away because of what happened to Eli outside of town. He notes that some kids, including Eli, are special, but he isn’t: “I guess this is the only goodbye we’re ever going to have. Protect yourself, Eli. There’s something screwy going on in that town” (77). Tori is convinced that Randy left the note as a prank, but Eli isn’t so sure.