“What?” he said. “Nothing!”

“Mind if I check?”

Jake was about to protest, but Argus didn’t bother waiting to hear what he had to say. He patted down Jake’s jacket and discovered a knife that sported a four-inch blade in one of his pockets.

There was a low rumble from the crowd of students, as they suddenly realized that, aside from being a bully, Jake MacKinnon was a very dangerous individual, and quite possibly crazy.

“Your idea of a fair fight, MacKinnon?”

Jake looked as if he’d just been caught with his pants down around his ankles. “I forgot that was in there.”

Argus nodded, unconvinced. “Sure you did.”

“It’s not even my knife,” he said. “I’m holding it for a friend of mine.”

Noble just shook his head. “Any more of your friend’s stuff on you?”

Argus continued to search Jake’s clothes. When he was done he looked up at Noble and said, “That’s it!”

“Hey,” one of Jake’s friends cried, pointing at Harlan. “I want to check him.”

“Go ahead,” Harlan said, putting his hands up against the wall.

“Nothing,” said Jake’s pal, patting Harlan down.

“All right then,” Noble said. “Go ahead.”

Harlan looked at Noble and Argus, nodded once, then slipped inside the change room. Jake followed.

“Hey, it’s dark in here,” Jake said.

The change room had no windows and with the two light switches disabled, the room was pitch-black even in the middle of the day. Darkness would make both boys virtually blind, but Harlan’s keen sense of smell would enable him to know where Jake was at all times. Best of all, because Jake wouldn’t be able to see, Harlan was free to adopt any shape he wanted for the fight, and he would be able to deal with Jake in short order.

The crowd in the hallway was silent for the first few seconds, anxious to hear any sound—good or bad—coming from inside the change room. The silence was broken half a minute later when someone screamed, “Hey! Ow!”

Jake’s crew laughed at that, exchanging high fives and slapping each other on the back.

The rest of the crowd slowly followed suit as more and more cries for help emanated from the room.

Argus and Noble however, remained steadfast, not letting even a hint of emotion cross their faces.

“Stop it, please!” someone shouted in a high-pitched voice that was so amplified by the tiled walls of the change room that it was hard to tell whose it was. The cry was followed by a slap and a loud tearing sound.

And then…silence.

The crowd in the hallway held their collective breath as they waited for someone to emerge.

Who would it be?

Jake’s crew acted as if they knew.

But so did Noble and Argus.