LOKI

THE ENTIRE morning period, I was thinking about what kind of bomber would go through the trouble of dropping some hints about his terrifying plot. There's no need for that person to make an effort of using lemon juice to hide his message, cutting sheets of paper into pieces and scattering them around the campus. That's an unnecessary and dumb move. He could have let the bomb explode at his discretion. But no. I felt like he was asking to be caught.

They're probably so bored, they wanted to see a commotion before they press that button. What a spawn of the devil! But if that's the case, I would understand their thirst for the thrill and craving for personal satisfaction. He wanted to be creative. He wanted to be eviler.

If I were the bomber, I would have done things differently. I wouldn't have left a clue on what's about to happen. I'd set the timer at noon or set off the bomb once there are more students within the range of explosion and watch the chaos that ensues.

Because they didn't think the way that I did, they made a serious blunder. They're a fool! If they intended to challenge us to stop the bomb from going off, then they got it. I'm taking up that challenge and I'm gonna win.

While I wanted to unmask who's behind this threat, I didn't have much time to check the surveillance footage and see who was throwing away those pieces of paper. I could come after that person once I thwart their plan.

As the clock inched toward eleven-thirty in the morning, Rhea and I met in the clubroom. I arrived here a minute before she did.

"Kumusta ang morning classes n'yo?" That's the first question she threw the second she saw me seated in my favorite spot. "Hindi ka naman siguro nag-cut ng classes, 'no?"

"Of course not," I answered. "I made a promise, remember?"

Throughout the morning period, I was in my classroom. I stayed there, but my mind was elsewhere. I promised to attend my classes, but I didn't say I was gonna listen. I couldn't even remember what our instructors taught during the lectures.

"Good!" She smiled at me as she settled herself into a chair. "Have you figured out kung saan posibleng itinago ang bomba?"

I tossed the piece of paper where the secret message was revealed on the table. "The hints didn't explicitly say anything about the location. But I found some of their choice of words peculiar."

"Choice of words?" She smoothened the paper on the tabletop.

I leaned forward and drew an imaginary line under a word with my index finger. "He used the word 'electrifying'. If I were the bomber, I would have used a more apt term, like today's gonna be blasting or burning! So why choose electrifying? There must be a reason why."

"Now that you mentioned it, pati ang word na 'projection,' parang weird, 'no?" Rhea pointed at that word. "Hindi naman sa pinapangunahan natin ang bomber, pero pwede siyang gumamit ng mas simpleng words. You might be right. May dahilan kung bakit ito ang mga salitang pinili niya."

"There's only one explanation I can think of: These specifically chosen words are actual hints." I stood, placing my hands palm-down on the table and staring down the riddle. "They gave us the time limit, but they didn't give us any clue about location. If they wanna challenge us, they wouldn't send an incomplete hint. We can assume that everything we need to know is here."

"So the location might be related to electrifying and projection?" Rhea asked as she stroke her chin. "Ano bang pumapasok sa isip natin kapag naririnig ang dalawang word na 'yan?"

"Electrifying. Electric. Current. Power. Voltage." I enumerated all the related words that I could think of. It felt like listing down the synonyms of that word.

"Projection. Project? Projector?" Rhea did the same, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Our eyes widened and our gazes locked as an idea dawned on us. Our lips parted slightly at the same time.

"AVR!" we exclaimed in unison and pointed at each other.

Rhea clapped her hands together. "May isang lugar dito sa campus na may acronym na AVR. The Audio-Visual Room! That explains kung bakit nabanggit ang salitang projection. Close ito sa word na projector na isa sa mga equipment doon."

"As for the electrifying part, there's also an electronic device that shares the same acronym," I added. "Automatic voltage regulator. Used to maintain a constant voltage level to a piece of electrical equipment."

Rhea checked the clock display on her phone. It's only eleven-forty. We still have twenty minutes to find the bomb and defuse it. Thankfully the audio-visual room was only a floor away. We wouldn't be wasting so much time skipping down the stairs and shuffling down the hallway.

Every second counted, so we immediately left the clubroom and went to the second floor. We ran past some rooms until we reached our destination. Some chit-chatting students stood outside the AVR. Their carefree faces looked kinda familiar. Weren't some of them our recent clients?

"Just stay here, okay?" Rhea told the crowd outside the AVR. They got curious as to why we were running down the hallway. We didn't have enough time to explain the situation to them. The less they know, the better.

Rhea yanked the door open and let herself in. I followed behind.

A cold breeze from the air conditioner greeted me as I entered the silent room. The seats were all vacant. Shouldn't a section be holding their media-related class here around this time? Given the danger, this arrangement was preferable. If worse comes to worst, no one's gonna get hurt when the bomb here explodes.

"Remember your promise, ah?" Rhea turned to me, her braided hair swirled around her left shoulder. "Once you find the bomb, you will call the campus police and ask for help."

"Yes, I will." She needed not to remind me. I have not forgotten. My memory's still as sharp as a blade honed on a whetstone.

I stood on the platform and studied the layout of the entire room. Eight rows with eight seats each. Sixty-four seats in total. Divided by a center aisle.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" Rhea glanced at her phone now and then. No matter how many times she checked the clock, time wouldn't go slow or fast. "Or are you gonna help me search for the bomb in every corner of this room?"

Let me think of a faster way to locate the bomb. We shouldn't blindly turn everything in this room upside down. I looked at the clue again and my eyes landed on the postscript.

P.S. Look for the white king before you.

King? Why would the bomber write a monarchy reference here? No, maybe not. It could also be a reference to the chess game. There's a white king among the pieces there.

I raised my eyes and stared at the seats. Wait a minute. Why does this arrangement look familiar? Eight rows with eight seats each. Sixty-four seats in total.

"Hey, Loki?"

My mind painted the seats alternately in black and white until they looked like squares on a chessboard.

I jumped from the platform and dashed to the fourth seat from the right of the first row. "No need to search every corner of this room. I know where the bomb is."

She gave me a confused look. "How?"

I knelt before the seat and my hand started searching underneath. "Remember the postscript part on the clue? Look for the white king before you. I thought the king was referring to chess. The AVR has sixty-four seats, similar to the number of squares on a chessboard."

Her concerned face lit up. "So kailangan nating i-compare ang seating arrangement dito sa isang chessboard at hanapin kung saan ilalagay ang king! The before you part in the message must be referring to the first row of seats that we see from where we stand, right? Kaya ba may kinakapa ka riyan?"

I nodded. My hand felt something hard. Something rectangular. I tried pulling it out, but I felt something sticky. Some tape must be securing it tightly. "When playing the white piece, you always put your king on the fifth square to the right on the backline. The white king is always placed in the black square."

With one strong pull, I retrieved the rectangular object on the underside of the seat. I smirked as my eyes scanned it. The appearance was similar to the ones I saw in movies.

But my smirk instantly faded when I saw the numbers counting down on the display screen. Uh-oh.

Rhea went near me, but I held a palm up to her. She shouldn't come any closer. "Stay exactly where you are."

"B-But why?" she asked.

I heaved a long sigh before showing her the numbers on the display screen that might spell doom for us. "Me pulling the bomb from the seat might have triggered the countdown to start."

"What?" She leaned closer to get a clear view. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the countdown timer. "A-Ano pang hinihintay mo? Dapat mo nang tawagin ang campus police! We need instructions to defuse the bomb!"

"Less than one minute left. Fifty seconds to be exact, according to the timer." I delicately opened the small box and noticed some wires in red, blue, and yellow. A cellular phone was also attached to a smaller box that probably contained the explosives.

Whoever's gonna tell me to have a blast on my birthday, this was exactly it. Literally and figuratively. My body might get blasted in about forty-five seconds.

I thought it might come to this, so I took out the pair of scissors that I brought. Forty seconds left. My hands were trembling. I couldn't stop them from shaking. I haven't tried defusing a bomb before.

"Run as far as you can from this room," I said, looking at her over my shoulder. "Tell the students outside to do the same. Go now! There's no time to waste!"

"Paano ka naman? Iiwan na lang kita rito?" Rhea shook her head. "No way! I won't leave you behind!"

"Gusto mo bang sabay tayong mamatay rito?" My voice was slightly raised. Sorry, I was losing my cool. "Lagi mo akong sinesermonan na ganito, ganyan. It's my turn now. Leave me now. Save yourself, and the others."

"No, I won't," she insisted. How stubborn! This was already a life-and-death situation. She shouldn't argue with me anymore. "Aalis lang ako rito kung kasama kitang aalis. If you can't do anything about that bomb, why don't you just leave it there?"

"I wanna try my luck today." I smiled, playing with the scissors in my hand. "There are only three wires here. If one of them is the key to stopping this bomb from exploding, I have a thirty-three percent chance of getting it right. Not bad, right?"

"Enough with you testing your luck!" She got closer to me and started pulling my arm. "This isn't like a game na kapag may nangyaring masama sa 'yo, pwede kang mag-respawn at umulit na sumubok. Leave that thing here and let's go!"

"If I don't push my luck, this thing can deal more damage!" I tried to hold on to the bomb, careful not to drop it. "We don't know the radius of the explosion, so it's best to run away from here as far as you can!"

"If you push your luck and you cut the wrong wire, the damage will still be the same!" She was pulling me with all of her strength. Why couldn't she just let me go?

Oh, crap. Only twenty seconds left!

"Very well, if you don't wanna leave me alone, let's go up in flames together." I was only kidding, but I realized a second later that was a bad joke at an inappropriate time. I pulled back my arm, making her fall on me. "Oh, sorry about that. Ang kulit mo kasi!"

"Let's see if Lady Luck will smile upon you," Rhea said. "Ang kulit mo rin kasi. Sabi nang iwan mo na lang diyan ang bombang 'yan. We have no choice but to trust your instinct."

I took one deep breath. Fifteen seconds left. My choice would be crucial. In the movies, they mostly cut the red wire. While fiction may be different from reality, the bomber might have thought the same.

Ten seconds left.

I carefully placed the red wire between the blades of the scissors. Rhea and I exchanged glances. If I'm unlucky today, this could be the last time we'd be seeing each other.

Once again, I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. Rhea closed her eyes. I shut mine too.

Cut.

What followed next was nothing but silence. I kept on holding my breath. There might be a delay in the explosion.

Another second went by, but nothing still happened. I don't feel my body going up in flames. I didn't hear any loud boom.

Did I cut the correct wire?

"Buhay pa ba tayo?" Rhea asked.

"We've probably dodged the bullet, or in this case, the explosion." I opened my eyes and looked around the room. We were still here in the AVR. Did we stop it?

"Oh, God, no," I muttered under my breath as I looked down at the bomb display. The timer kept on counting down! Three seconds left! Did I mess it up?

"What happened?" Rhea asked, opening her eyes.

"Keep them closed!" I covered her eyes with my hands so she wouldn't see.

Three.

Two.

One.

I closed my eyes too.

q.e.d.

Happy 5th publishing anniversary to #ProjectLOKI!

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