The Boy Who Knew Everything (23 page)

“Max, where did it bite you?”

Max gurgled, sucking in a long, thin breath. With what seemed like a great effort he turned his head so that he could look at Conrad.

“The egg?” he croaked.

“Forget the egg.” Conrad waved his hand dismissively. “You were bitten.”

“I—” Max began.

“What?”

Max seemed to fade away and then blinked a few times. Conrad grabbed him and shook him.

“Tell me where you were bitten?”

“I—”

Conrad waited but Max's body went limp and his eyes closed. Laying him on the ground, Conrad got up and looked around to see what might be on hand. Besides the water and some flower bushes there was nothing of use.

He clenched his fists in frustration. “Darn it all!”

Silence settled and Conrad stamped his foot, kicking at the dirt. First his father had been shot and snatched away from right in front of him, and now this! It was too much.

“Stop!”
Conrad yelled at the mountain. His echo taunted him.

“I don't know what your problem is,” said Max calmly.

Conrad spun around. Max's eyes were open and he suddenly looked as fresh as a daisy.

“Seriously, I'm the one who's out an egg. I'm the one who should be screaming like an idiot.” Max sat up. “Like, dude, you should'a grabbed it. I'll never get another one now.”

Conrad stared at Max in disbelief.

“I'm not saying I'm mad, but they only lay eggs once every hundred years, and it's a total buzzkill trying to find 'em. So it's not your fault but…” Max dusted himself off and hopped up on his feet. “It's kinda your fault. Next time you could maybe like help out a little bit more.”

Conrad eyed Max closely. “I just saw that spider bite you.”

“Chill. I'm fine.”

“I see that you're fine. But how?”

“It's no big deal.”

Conrad wasn't buying it. “Do you have an immunity?”

“Oh yeah, you're the new kid. Genius, right?” Max smirked. “Alright, genius, figure it out. I'll give you three guesses.”

“Is everything a game to you?”

“Do you always ask this many questions?”

“No. I'm rarely around someone who knows more than I do.” Conrad wasn't bragging, simply stating a fact.

Max rubbed his hands together. “Let's see what you got.”

Conrad eyed him and decided to go with it. “If you had an immunity to spider bites, you would have told me when I asked. If you'd had antivenom, I would have seen you administer it, so I'll rule that out. You've made this into a game because you think that I won't guess. So it's something unexpected, something most people wouldn't think of.”

“Very good. And your questions are?”

“I don't need three questions, I only need one. Do you have a self-healing ability?”

Max shook his head, his eyes feverishly bright with anticipation.

“Then,” concluded Conrad, “you must be immortal.”

Max clapped appreciatively like he was watching a magic show. “Dude, you rock!”

“So, it's true? You're immortal?”

“Let's just say I haven't bit the dust yet.”

“Wow!” Conrad's eyes lost focus as he considered Max. He swayed ever so slightly, and stepping back, he stumbled on a rock that sent him tumbling to the ground.

 

CHAPTER

32

The round gray rock that Conrad sat on was no rock at all but a miniature elephant that had achieved a very deep, very happy sleep when Conrad unceremoniously thudded on his back.

“Errrrr—” the elephant trumped angrily, jumping to his feet and tossing Conrad to the ground.

Several other rock elephants awoke and sounded in sympathy. Then the group of them huffily charged off into the night, leaving Conrad with a sore behind in the dirt. He regarded Max speculatively. “And how long have you been around?”

“I'm not a real big numbers guy.” Max would have happily left it at that, but it was clear that Conrad was going to keep at him until he came up with something more substantial. “You know, it was like way, way back when—well, before the Romans and Greeks and there weren't any cities and things were really simple.”

“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 all 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.