Jade Evergreen and the Perils of Polybius - Chapter One Preview

Portland, Oregon - 1981

If it hadn’t been for the whispered rumors about unexplained student absences, this would have been a pretty normal week at school for Jade Everly. Not that she really even knew what “normal” meant anymore.

Those rumors mostly came from the long game of telephone that spread when students missed a shift at their after-school job, or suddenly couldn't find their friend to hang out on the weekend. The truth seemed hazy, just out of her grasp. The stories might have been coincidental, but Jade had seen too many weird coincidences blow up into trouble. Her brain itched trying to figure it out.

She distractedly brushed back her wavy red hair from the glasses in front of her green eyes. The sound of chalk on the blackboard scraped and squeaked as she sat in her freshman algebra class at Cleveland High, a slightly run-down old school in southeast Portland. The not-terribly-electrifying Mr. Dormer was rambling on about the quadratic formula; math had never been her strongest subject, so her mind drifted back to the mystery. The rumors never seemed to focus on the same school, but did that mean they were just tall tales being spread from neighborhood to neighborhood? Or was it a symptom of a much larger problem than anybody realized?

Mr. Dormer paused to call on somebody to answer a question and Jade bounced back to reality. Thankfully, he passed her over. She let out a small sigh of relief, grateful that she was still mostly anonymous in class despite everything that had changed for her.

It had been three months since that weird song came to her from somewhere both within and without her. The song called her “Jade Evergreen,” and transformed her into a magical hero … and a girl, which had been even more unexpected. Not that she was complaining. It had been something she’d always wanted, but it had presented some new challenges. Her parents, crunchy granola hippies who embraced her new self as best they knew how, had moved from Eugene to Portland over summer break. They’d changed their whole lives, just to give her a fresh start as a girl.

Of course, no sooner had she settled in did the weirdness really begin.

Strange monsters, haunted objects … it was like they were drawn to her presence. Was this what normal was now? A fresh mystery every week? She’d grown up fantasizing about being a heroic girl detective, like her fictional idol Beverly Turtledove, but she’d never imagined it would actually come true, in a roundabout sort of way.

She even had a sidekick, just like Beverly did, but she wished hers was less of a pain in the butt.

At the next desk sat Catherine Chase, an energetic brunette tomboy and by far the most persistent member of the school newspaper staff. Not long after Jade had moved to Portland, Catherine had witnessed her fighting a haunted deck of tarot cards that escaped from a curio shop on Hawthorne Boulevard. Catherine had confronted her about it the next day, when she realized they were in the same math class.

Panicked, Jade had begged her to keep the secrets to herself; Jade’s life was already full of problems and challenges, and she had no idea how the rest of the school would react to her being a magical girl and a transsexual. Catherine had agreed, on the condition that she get to come along on all of Jade’s magical girl adventures to fuel her reporting.

Jade’s secret life would be a lot easier if Catherine weren’t there, but she also had to admit that it kept school from being too lonely. So, begrudgingly, Jade went along with it.

At last, the lunch bell rang. With one final snap of chalk returning to the metal rail at the bottom of the blackboard, Mr. Dormer finally entered his wrap-up as the class gathered their things.

“Alright, make sure you read through chapter four in the textbook. Hear that? Chapter four. Four. It will be on the next exam. No excuses. I don’t know how they did things in your middle schools, but you’re high school freshmen now. Be prepared. Class dismissed!”

Jade pushed her glasses up, stood, and slipped her textbook into her backpack. She was careful not to damage her copy of Vivian Temple’s newest Beverly Turtledove novel, The Case of the Cursed Ring, as it sat in the depths of her bag. She hefted the bag onto her shoulder, and Catherine was by her side in an instant, looking like she had something to say and might burst if she didn’t get it out.

“I got news,” Catherine said, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Yeah, I can tell,” Jade said. “Is it about the absent st—”

“Not here,” Catherine said as she took hold of Jade’s arm and tugged her toward the classroom door. “We gotta get somewhere private. This is heavy stuff.”

Jade followed Catherine as she led her out of the classroom and down the hall to the empty home economics room and locked the door behind them.

“Alright, what’s got you so worked up?” Jade asked.

“It’s the absences,” Catherine said.

“So they’re real.”

“They’re real alright—and bigger than we knew!”

Jade frowned. “Like, how much bigger?’

“Like way bigger! I’ve been doing some digging.” Catherine grinned as she spoke. “You know, sneaking in and reading teacher’s notes and school records. It’s my job as a member of the paper!”

“It’s going to get you in trouble one day.” Jade shook her head. “So what did you find?”

“Just in the last week, there’s been that kid on the football team that stopped coming to class. The girl over at Grover High who was on the debate team. And that guy here with the older brother with the Camaro!”

“Tommy Deagan.”

“Yeah! They all just stopped comin’ to class, and I’m pretty sure they’re all connected.”

“Connected how?”

Catherine leaned in conspiratorially close. “They’re sick or something, and all got the same symptoms. Like somethin’ scrambled their brains, Jade! They’re all starin’ off into space, mumbling a bunch, actin’ like they all wanna get up and go somewhere.”

“You really have been busy,” Jade said.

“Well, yeah, I’m the best there is,” Catherine smiled. “Anyway, guess what. There’s another case. Just happened today! I saw the note from Ms. Powell’s English Lit class.”

Jade nodded. That would explain why neither of them knew about it. She and Catherine were both in the Advanced English Lit class. “Ms. Powell’s class? Who was it?”

“Mike Cedan,” Catherine continued. “Said he just started talkin’ weird and they took him to the nurse’s office. And he’s still there!”

“Okay,” Jade said. “So I should investigate there. And I’m guessing you just have to come along.”

“Well, yeah,” Catherine said. “You’re the local magical hero, ain’t you? And we do have a deal. You give me big scoops, and I keep those big secrets for you. Nobody’s gotta know you’re a magical girl, in more ways than one.”

“Yeah,” Jade sighed. “We do have a deal.”

“Atta girl,” Catherine said. “You let me in on that possessed deck of cards, and that time you kicked those slime monsters’ butts. You know I’m good for it! I can handle it. So, what do you say? Time to get to the bottom of another creepy Portland mystery?”

Jade frowned. Random monsters and haunted objects were one thing, but this was something altogether more serious. There were real students involved, and they might be in danger. The thought made her uneasy, but she also knew that nobody else in Portland could handle that danger like she could.

“Okay, yeah,” Jade said with a nod. “Whatever’s going on, we’ll get to the bottom of it. Jade Evergreen is on the case!”