Free Unknown by Christopher Smith Page A

room and, struck with an idea, I decided to go with it.  
    They were all staring at me, their smiling mouths and eager eyes waiting to see what would happen next.   Some were taking in every inch of me, wondering about the changes in my body.   I was not the Seth they remembered.   I was changing and they knew it, but since they didn’t fully understand it, their natural inclination was to keep me down.   Hammer away and hammer hard.   Keep me in my place.   Don’t let me rise above.
    But that wasn’t an option anymore.
    I cocked my head at them, glanced over at Jake, who looked as if he was about to have an aneurism, and then crossed my arms just as Jennifer entered the room.   She looked over at me, tried to process the situation, couldn’t.   Surprise was on her face.   “You’re here,” she said.  
    “I am,” I said.   “And you should have seen my entrance.   It was Biblical.”
    “I just told Principal Roberts you’d be late.”
    “Thanks for doing that, but I think I’m right on time.”   I looked around the room and could feel the amulet growing warm against my chest.   I leaned forward and as I did, it was interesting to see that a few leaned back.   In a mere whisper, I said one word to all of them:   “Boo.”
    And with the exception of Alex and Jennifer, every one of them—including Jake, who was wearing a pair of khakis—literally started to piss their pants.

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
     
    In the chaos that unfolded, our homeroom teacher, Mr. Garland, stepped into the room and then stopped just beyond the door as the wetting of twenty-six pairs of underwear got underway.  
    I stepped back and watched the circus erupt.
    Ginny Gibson, certainly one of the most mean-spirited snots to ever enter the world, was up and dancing while urine ran down her legs and pooled in her shoes and beneath her feet.  
    She was wearing a bright orange dress that might have been cute if it weren’t for the dark stain spreading over her crotch.   Watching her, I felt nothing—of all the girls in school, she was one of my chief tormentors and had been since I could remember.   Just moments ago, her laugh was among the loudest when Tyler bashed me over the head with his books.
    And now she was peeing and dancing and screaming, while some of those around her either did the same or remained rooted to their seats.   They were too embarrassed to stand and reveal that their bladders also had let loose.
    I looked over at Jake, who was looking down in disbelief at the front of his pants, now soaked and clinging to his skin.   When he looked up at me, I looked down at his pants and screwed up my face as if it was the most disgusting sight I’d ever seen.   He looked up at me and I just shrugged.
    Mr. Garland, who was in his early thirties, came forward with raised hands.   “Quiet!” he said.   He looked over at Alex, who was standing beside me, and it was clear by how he addressed him that Alex already was being looked upon as a student leader.   “What’s going on, Alex?”
    He shook his head.   “I don’t know what happened.   With the exception of a few of us, everyone just started to wet their pants.”
    “Why?” Garland asked.
    “You’ve got me.   It just happened.”
    And then there was Jake.   “It didn’t just happen.”   He shoved a finger at me.   “It was him.   He did it.”
    I looked at Jake with bemusement.   “You’re saying I have control over your bladders?”
    “That’s right.”
    “Okay, Tyler.   I’m just going to point out the obvious.   That’s just a pocketful of crazy right there.”
    “The hell it is.”
    I presented him to the class with a wave of my hand.   “Everyone, I’d like you to meet the poster child for disillusionment.”   I looked at him.   “It’s obvious you’re not well.   It’s obvious that yesterday’s fall and your uncontrollable fit of crying did something to your head, let alone your nose.   The