“Before the Mayan calendar?”
“Sure. I’d been kicking around for a while before that.”
“So, you’re talking about four thousand B.C.?”
“Sounds about right. Give or take a hundred here or there.”
“You’ve lived all these years and…” Conrad mused aloud, as though the elephant-rock incident hadn’t happened. He struggled to come to terms with the nature of Max’s life and existence. “Well … what exactly have you been doing with your time?”
“Having fun.”
“Fun?”
“Yeah, it’s great.” Max affably settled himself in the dirt next to Conrad. “I’ve got stories that’d make your toes curl. Like the time I swam with fifty-foot blue whales. And there was this other time I had a chariot race with Nero. He’s a sore loser, lemme tell you. Anyway, that’s all there is to life—fun. It’s the only thing worth doing. I figured that out pretty quick. You see, most people think life is serious. W-R-O-N-G. That’s why I made up the golden rules of fun.”
“The golden rules of fun?”
“Sure, they’re key. Rule one, always have your next fun thing planned. That’s huge; you gotta keep your momentum going. Rule two, never repeat yourself. Boredom is a big buzzkill. And three, kick out all the unfun. Like all the Outsiders are pretty unfun ’cause they die so easily. It sucks.”
“I believe they think that sucks too.”
“Oh.” Max shrugged as though he’d never thought of it that way. Dawn was already breaking and the sky in the east held the glow of the coming sun. Max impatiently got to his feet. “Good talking to you, but I’ve gotta check out this tsunami that’s going to hit South America. It’ll be awesome.”
Max threw his bag over his shoulder and began to walk. Conrad immediately followed behind him.
“How do you know that’s going to happen?”
“’Cause of the energy globe.”
“What’s the energy globe?”
“In the Knowledge Center, dude.” Max snorted in surprise. “Haven’t you seen the Knowledge Center yet?”
“No; AnnA hasn’t taken us there.” Conrad fumbled in his pocket, pulling out the bloodstone. “Max, have you ever seen one of these in your travels?”
Max looked quickly and shrugged. “Sure, I’ve seen lots of rocks.”
“No, but this one is different. Look!” Conrad shoved the rock in Max’s hand and dodged in front of him to block his path. “See. It’s not a naturally forming rock. It’s something that had to be engineered. I’m trying to find out about it. It’s important.”
“Huh.” Distracted, Max batted away some bright red butterflies that were humming a lively tune and handed the rock back to Conrad. “Sorry, dude, but you’re asking the wrong guy. I’m not into rocks and I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Do you know where my father is?” Conrad tried not to sound desperate, but failed miserably.
“Just ’cause I’ve lived a long time doesn’t mean I’m like omniscient or something. Who’s your father? Is he an Outsider? I don’t really pay attention to Outsider stuff.”
“His name is Harrington. President Conrad Harrington.”
Max let out a low whistle. “Your father’s the president? What’s that like?”
“Not so good. But that’s not the point. I’m looking for him.”
“It takes talent to lose the President of the United States. Sorry, dude, can’t help you with that one.”
“But he’s not the only one. My friends were taken too and it has something to do with this rock. I need a way to find more information. I need … help.”
Max kept on walking. Conrad floundered for a way to grab Max’s attention, because his current strategy wasn’t working. Obviously, he was going to have to start talking a language that Max would understand.
“Hey, no problem, dude.” Conrad shrugged. “If you have somewhere to be, then I’ll catch you later. Just didn’t want you to miss out on the fun.”
This time Conrad turned away and Max was the one to stop.
“What kind of fun?” Max was intrigued.
“Well, it’s a mystery, isn’t it? A mystery that needs to be solved. Who knows what answers I might find. It could be exciting and dangerous and … fun.” Conrad walked away. “But you have to go. I don’t want to keep you.”
Conrad held his breath and silently counted backward from ten. When he reached seven Max was by his side.
“I’ve never solved a mystery before. Lemme see that rock again?”
Conrad casually handed it to him.
“See the way the light travels through it and how dense it is? Whoever engineered this had a plan for it.”
“It just looks like a rock to me.” Max tried to see the fun in it and was sorely disappointed.
“It’s a clue,” Conrad corrected him. “They’ve been left in key places on the Outside, and finding the connection is when things will get fun.”
“Hmm.” Max looked at the sky and back at the rock. “Hold it. I just had an idea. Like I know exactly where you can figure all this out, dude. It just came to me like bam.”
“Really?” Conrad waited hopefully.
“Sure. Like I already said, the Knowledge Center.” Max pointed to the corner of the top tier. “You can find anything in that place: books, artifacts, anything really. If you’re into that sort of stuff I guess it’s okay.”
Conrad was intrigued.
“It’s all about the Outsiders, but most Chosen Ones aren’t really interested so no one goes in there much. A kid like you would totally dig it, and I bet we can find out about this rock if it was on the Outside.”
Conrad’s heart began to race as he considered the possibilities. “Sounds like fun. Let’s go!”
CHAPTER
33
The Knowledge Center was tucked away at the top of the plateau. It was a massive cavernous chamber lined with shelves, in the center of which stood long tables holding strange and amazing contraptions.
“Just like I said.” Max waved his arm. “You can find anything in here.”
Conrad’s eyes went wide; all around the walls were ancient books thickly stacked against one another, and parchment and papyrus scrolls were tightly rolled up in bins. There were artifacts of every kind from every era; a bow and arrow was perched next to the first Apple computer beside which was a dinosaur bone. There was a gramophone, an axe from the Paleolithic Period, a hammer used by a blacksmith in the 1700s, and a pair of Cleopatra’s goblets. The unmistakable work of Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall hung next to unknown artists with superior skill. Statues of Caesars sat next to a golden Buddha underneath a glowing Virgin Mary. Fragments of rocks with ancient cave paintings were stacked five deep.
The place was part museum, part library, and part treasure trove. It was like nothing Conrad had ever seen, and indeed, if there was any place that could have captured and excited his hungry brain, this was it.
In the center of the chamber, rows of tables held the strangest artifacts. The first thing that caught Conrad’s eye was a large spinning globe of the earth. It was composed of particles of light and certain areas glowed. Conrad stepped closer to study it.
“That gizmo tracks the energy patterns around the earth,” Max explained. “Any major stuff goes down like an earthquake or a volcano and it’ll light up like Vegas, baby.”
“Unbelievable.”
“But wait, you gotta see this, too. This is a complete record of history.” In a rather grand fashion, Max pointed to a tree stump about the size of a stool. “Of course, you’ve got everything that you’d expect to find on the internet, but I haveta say, the internet is way lame. Don’t get me wrong, I like stupid cat videos as much as the next guy, but if you’re looking for the hardcore stuff you might as well just shoot yourself in the head ’cause you’re gonna find zilch. I’m not even exaggerating. There’s at least a hundred times as much info that’s been tossed or burned or whatever and no one even knows about it. Taa-daaa. We’ve got it a
ll here for you. So let your fingers do the walking.”
After such a grandiose introduction the stump seemed less than impressive. It was withered but the roots delved into the mountain. Conrad approached it cautiously, delicately touching the rings. He turned suddenly to Max with a shocked look on his face.
“Is this the tree of knowledge? You cut down the tree of knowledge?”
“As if. Naw, the Outsiders chopped this baby down. I saved what was left and brought it here.” Max’s jaw took on a hard line. “You know, the Outsiders’ll never understand. That’s why we had to take off and not be around them anymore.” Shaking away his dark mood, Max waved Conrad to the stump. “Sit, sit.”
As soon as Conrad’s flesh connected with the tree he suddenly saw a huge green leafy canopy above him as though the tree was intact once again.
“Give this baby a spin. You’ve got every word ever written down under this hood ready to go. C’mon, say a name and watch what happens.”
“Aristotle Stagiritis, son of Nicomachus.”
At once large volumes of books appeared, hanging from the branches of the tree and all within arm’s reach. Conrad plucked a thick volume entitled Nicomachean Ethics from out of the air and began to thumb through it. “Is this Aristotle’s handwriting?”
“You bet.”
“Incredible,” Conrad breathed.
“It rocks your world, right?” Max waited for Conrad to look up from the book, but Conrad was enthralled. “I got other cool tricks, but those babies are your best bets for tracking this red rock.”
“Mmmmm.” Conrad turned the page of the book, delving deeper, when suddenly a flash of light caught his eye. At the far end of the room a beam of sunlight was reflecting off the surface of a rather strange device. Intrigued, Conrad stepped away from the tree of knowledge to investigate.
“What’s this?” Conrad touched the top of a wooden wand mounted on the wall.
“Uh, I dunno. Lemme think.” Max picked it up and turned it over and then started carelessly throwing it in the air. “Oh yeah, I remember. It’s a water-thingy. It purifies water or something, but I can’t get it to work anymore. Once I was talking to this guy and he told me that all the water is going to like dry up. Wait, what was that dude’s name again? Nost-something.”
“Nostradamus?”
“Whoa, how’d you know that? You’ve got like a gift. Anyway, he said the world was gonna go thirsty and it was gonna happen real sudden. And it’d be bad, too, and throw the whole planet into a dark age, cause without clean water everyone would lose their minds and fight and stuff. So one of the folks up here cooked up this water purifier. It’ll turn sand into clean drinking water. Amazing, right? Except they died and I can’t make heads or tails of it. Too bad ’cause it’d have saved millions of lives. Or maybe billions.”
Suddenly bored, Max tossed the water purifier aside and forgot about it. “Anyway, it’s a cool, fun, party-time up here, right?” Max flung his arms open wide. “Betcha never seen stuff like this.”
Conrad nodded. “It’s impressive.” Turning around and surveying the new domain, he took a deep breath of satisfaction. “Let’s get to work.”
CHAPTER
34
By the time they arrived at Area 63 Jasper was so nervous he could hardly put two words together.
“H-H-Hellion,” he struggled, unable to say more.
“Yes, yes, they’re keeping Letitia in there. We’ll break in and get her out.” J. spoke in his usual no-nonsense manner. He’d led the kids to a thicket of trees under the cover of darkness where they could gather themselves before breaking into the facility.
“And why is this a good idea, again?” Kimber eyed the guard towers and armed security forces lurking within.
“Without my sister there’s no way to fly across that valley. Letitia’s probably the only person alive who can help us figure out how to get to Conrad and Piper.” J. tied a rope around his waist and attached night-vision goggles around his head. “There are seven separate checkpoints, sensors on all walls, some of which are activated by body heat. Violet and Lily will go in first and—”
“We don’t need you to tell us what to do,” Nalen said stiffly.
“We can figure it out ourselves,” Ahmed agreed.
J. noticed how the kids all stood close together, glaring at him. He threw up his hands. “Fine,” he surrendered. “Lead the way.”
If J. was impressed by what he saw over the next ten hair-raising minutes, he managed not to show it. Ahmed and Nalen created lightning, which they directed to hit the main power grid, blowing it out and allowing them a sliver of opportunity to enter the facility before the power transferred over to generators; Smitty located every sensor, and Kimber disabled them with electrical bursts; Lily moved a shrunk-down Violet up to the cameras, and Violet directed them away.
J. took them to Letitia’s room and Daisy broke the door open so that they could silently creep inside.
Letitia Hellion had her back to the door and sat on the side of her bed, looking at the wall in front of her. She’d been fitted into a straitjacket and her arms were tied securely at the back of it. There was a ghostly silence in the room so that their footfalls sounded ominous and clumsy.
When Letitia didn’t move or respond to their arrival the tension mounted.
“Are you sure that’s her?” Violet whispered to J. The mat of black hair looked familiar but nothing about the woman before them was as they remembered her.
“Of course,” J. returned. He cleared his throat and spoke gently. “Letitia, it’s me, Jeston. I’ve come to get you out.”
Letitia did not respond.
“Letitia?”
“I thought you said she was okay,” Smitty hissed.
J. raised his hand to silence Smitty, his brow furrowed with concern. “I found it, Letitia. It was just like you said, and I can take you there now. I’ve come to get you out.”
Letitia remained like a statue.
The small hairs on the back of J.’s neck stood at attention. “Stay here,” he commanded the kids, and cautiously approached Letitia.
J. was conscious of the way he placed his feet, wanting to ease toward his sister without startling or upsetting her. He had expected her to be excited to see him. What could have happened since he’d been gone?
Coming around the side of her bed, J. kept his eyes fixed on her and what he saw sent shivers down his spine, stopping him in his tracks.
Letitia Hellion’s face was frozen in a position of abject terror; her eyes open and large, her pupils fixed on something only she could see. Her mouth quivered open but made no sound. It looked like she was screaming: a scream only she could hear.
“Letitia!” J. rushed to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Letitia, what is it?”
Letitia Hellion seemed unaware of J. Whatever she was seeing was so terrible she couldn’t move.
J. grabbed for the straitjacket and roughly pulled at it. Now that they could see that Letitia was not a threat, the kids rushed forward to help, and Daisy promptly shredded the jacket off of her.
With her arms free Letitia threw them forward as though reaching for someone. J. tried to take her hands but she reached past him.
“Look!” Smitty pointed at Letitia’s throat.
All eyes focused on a necklace made of twisted gold with a flashing red stone mounted in the center that made the children recoil.
“How did Dr. Hellion get a bloodstone?” Violet breathed in a hushed voice.
J. quickly yanked it from her neck, threw it to the ground, and crushed it beneath his heel. A bright red light exploded from underneath his foot.
Letitia sank into herself like a deflated balloon. Her arms fell and her face slackened but still she did not acknowledge the presence of J. and the kids.
“She’s falling and I can’t reach her,” she babbled in a whisper. “Must save her. Can’t let her fall.”
“Letitia?” J. touched her shoulder. “Letitia, it’s all right
.”
“She’s falling. She’s falling!” Letitia continued to whisper in frantic tones. “No! No!”
J. let his hand drop and rubbed his fingers against his jaw.
“What’s she saying?” Kimber leaned closer to Letitia. “What’s the matter?”
“She thinks she’s back with Sarah. Sarah was our younger sister and Letitia accidentally dropped her while she was flying in a rainstorm.” J. sighed deeply. “It’s her worst nightmare.”
“Dr. H-H-Hellion?” Jasper was by far the most frightened of Letitia, but he also happened to be the most kindhearted of the group, and it pained him to see anyone in such a state. “Dr. Hellion, it’s o-okay.”
Letitia was out of reach of Jasper’s words and so he rubbed his hands together until they glowed and lay them on her. But his healing light seemed to have no effect on her, for better or worse, and she continued her muttering.
“Grab my hand. Hold on,” Letitia panted. “Don’t let go.”
Jasper looked to J. for direction.
“He got to her before we could,” J. growled, “and trapped her inside her worst fears. Probably so she couldn’t help us.”
Smitty looked over his shoulder, scanning the hallway for movement. “He who?”
“Exactly,” J. agreed. “Who? The same who that left these bloodstones at the accident sites and shot Conrad. That who.”
“But what do we do now?” Violet worried. “How will we get across the valley?”
As a beeping siren sounded in the depths of Area 63 the gathered group stood watching a madwoman, lost and muttering.
For once J. had no plan. He sat down next to his sister, defeated.
“It’s n-n-no good staying here.” Jasper’s thin voice quavered. “L-let’s go.”
“What about her?” Lily nodded at Dr. Hellion.
J. looked to Jasper with haunted eyes and for once Jasper made a decision without first thinking what Conrad would do.
“We’ll take her with us,” Jasper said, tossing J. his backpack.
Moments later when the guards stormed the room they found it empty, making Letitia Hellion the first and only prisoner ever to escape Area 63.