39

NEAR the base of the stairs, Niemand was banging with a hammer on a solid metallic door embedded in the lava wall. Bitsy sat near him on the stone floor, consulting a stack of papers. They barely looked up as Max, Alex, Kristin, and Brandon loomed over them.

“Don’t just stand there like the bathroom queue at Harrods,” he shouted, over the noise of a small waterfall. “Help us.”

They were all on a ridge, overlooking an underground grotto with vertical walls that stretched farther than he could see. The ceiling glowed with eerie green moss light, but the lagoon below was a deep, clear blue. Neon-bright fish wriggled slightly beneath the surface, disappearing into the froth beneath the waterfall, which began just below the rock ceiling and cascaded into the pool below.

But Max’s eye was drawn to a giant boulder just beyond the waterfall, wedged against the wall and carved into the face of a wise, smiling man. “Is that sculpture who I think it is?” Max asked.

“It looks like my great-great-great-grandfather as a much younger man.” Kristin choked back a tear and turned to Niemand. “He had made his peace with whatever happened here. And you murdered him.”

“So sorry,” Niemand replied. “That was the smallest targeted explosive we manufacture, far less powerful than a grenade. Not much one can do about shoddy construction, I suppose. Ah well, look at it this way. The old man had a good, long ride. We should all be so lucky.”

Kristin let out a scream and ran for Niemand. But she stopped when Bitsy lifted out a palmful of black pellets—the same ones that had taken down the hut. “These hurt,” she said.

As Kristin stepped back, her fists were clenched. “Now then,” Niemand said cheerily, “I know you’re eager to learn why we’re here and how you can help. Because like it or not, you are working for me now.”

Alex let out a laugh.

“Amusing?” Niemand replied. “Then go. Turn around and go. All is forgiven, no questions asked. I take it you have an alternative way home. Bitsy and I will miss your charming company.”

Max looked at Alex. All four of them shifted uncomfortably.

Niemand smiled. “Well then, welcome to the Gastonian Grotto—catchy name, eh? Discovered by the Vernes, uncle and nephew. Although the island is surrounded by the green sea, this water is connected to a different source. It penetrates deeper into the Earth.”

“This was what Verne wanted,” Max said. “A way to get the serum distributed to the world.”

“Verne should have died after Gaston shot him,” Bitsy explained, “but for the serum. For the latter part of his life, Verne committed himself to making more of it. He wanted this universal cure for sickness to be available to the world.”

“But Verne limped for the rest of his life after he was shot,” Max said. “And Gaston was committed to an institution.”

“The limp was a pretense,” Bitsy said. “If Verne walked effortlessly, people would want to know why. It would arouse suspicion before he could succeed in his mission. He also struggled with great guilt. It seemed he had used all the serum on his leg, leaving none for his dear, demented nephew. His research led him to seek out Saknussemm. After many visits to the so-called center of the Earth, they discovered that the serum, when added to water of a certain salinity, would propagate. So they planned to pour it into the vast green sea, thinking it connected under the continents and would carry the healing to the whole world.”

“The thing was,” Bitsy said, “the great sea was a closed system. It connects to nothing. So Verne refrained from doing anything with it.”

“So the sea down here is just . . . water?” Alex asked.

Bitsy nodded. “Saknussemm claims it is entirely free of the serum.”

“Life was dangerous for Verne in this place, with so many of these evolutionary mutations prancing around,” Niemand went on. “Cavemen and flying monkeys and such. Naturally there were fights. Some of the serum got into the hands of these creatures. Many of them possessed rudimentary intelligence, thank goodness. Saknussemm believes they still use some of it to benefit their sick.”

“They do,” Alex said. “They gave it to Brandon.”

“Bully for Brandon,” Niemand said. “Well, needless to say, they began to discover the side effects. The serum slowed the body’s aging mechanism—it destroyed the marker that signals the end of life. In curing disease, the curious side effect was eternal life. Which, as you can see, is a curse so hideous that Saknussemm decided to hide here forever. Verne and Saknussemm grew reluctant to propagate the serum.”

“Even after, at long last, they did find the channel to the great connecting sea,” Bitsy added. “The passage that would indeed take the serum into the world’s water system. And it is here.”

“Here in this grotto?” Max said.

Bitsy nodded. “But there was one slight problem. That.” She pointed across the lagoon toward the carved boulder. “It was a shapeless rock back then. According to the notes left in the Hetzel documents, the rock shuts off the passage downward into the great connecting water source. The channel is bone-dry. Somehow the rock has stayed put despite eons of volcanic explosions, shifting plates, the actions of geysers all around, the forming of an underground sea.”

Niemand turned toward the metal door. “Behind this is a healthy stash of good, old-fashioned trinitrotoluene. Also known as TNT. It was gathered over time, stored in this locker. And, of course, it was never used. Until now.”

Kristin looked at him with disgust. “That’s your plan—to turn people into living skeletons?”

“To heal people,” Niemand scoffed. “The way Max’s dear mother was healed. It’s the twenty-first century, dear girl. My scientists will have this serum analyzed on a molecular level in no time. They will make the necessary adjustments. People will discover the disastrous side effect of the serum. They will demand a way to control it—and I will have the answer. I can see a customization of life span. Want to live ninety years, a hundred fifty? Your choice! So you see, children, we cannot let hesitation block progress. Climate is changing. Our days on the Earth are numbered. We need twenty-first-century solutions.”

“Work is already underway for alternate environments,” Bitsy added brightly. “Beautiful enclosed underwater Niemand Cities. We believe all of humanity will be clamoring to live in them.”

“Think of the possibilities,” Niemand said. “Contests for entry, sponsorships, tiered membership fees! At platinum level, our premiere offer, choose your length of life!”

“That,” Brandon said, “is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard.”

“And who would rule over this empire?” Alex asked. “King Spencer?”

“It does have a ring, I must admit,” Niemand said.

Niemand drew back with his hammer and smacked the door again, hard. It clanged hollowly, and he let out a gasp of pain. “Gaaaaah, they knew how to make them then,” he said, shaking out the pain from his hand.

“Papa, we can destroy the rock with our own explosives,” Bitsy said.

Niemand gave a dubious glance toward the sculpted rock. “Our little stash doesn’t carry much firepower.”

“We have enough,” Bitsy said. “We’ll plant them strategically. It should weaken the rock. If it doesn’t work, then we try to get the TNT.”

“You are nothing if not practical, my dear,” Niemand grunted. He raised an eyebrow at Max, Alex, Brandon, and Kristin. “You four work on the door, just in case. And don’t even think of trying to stop us.”

“We’re not working for you,” Brandon said.

As Brandon moved toward him, Niemand pulled a small gun from his pocket. “This is an open-carry grotto. Now do as I say, or this time you’ll really be dead.”

Niemand tossed one of his pellets toward the door, underhanded. It landed about four feet in front of it and exploded. Max jumped, nearly dropping over the ledge. For a moment the grotto was filled with smoke. From inside the door, Max could hear something fall.

But when the air cleared, the door looked exactly the same, except for a small, black dent.

“Are you nuts?” Brandon said.

“Papa,” Bitsy said. “There’s TNT inside!”

Niemand smiled. “I am a ballistics expert, my dear. That was enough power to shock, not damage a door like that. But as I’m sure you can imagine, small as they may seem, our explosives still will have a very bad effect on any human being who decides not to be a team member.”

“Snaefellsjökull is a seismically unstable area, Mr. Niemand,” Kristin said. “Using that, that . . . whatever it is, would not be wise.”

Grumbling, Niemand took his daughter’s hand. Max watched them scurry to the other side of the grotto, climbing over rocks and scrub brush to get to the sculpted rock. “Get to work!” Niemand shouted.

Max turned. He could see Alex, Brandon, and Kristin staring at the door’s handle, which Max had been hiding from Niemand’s sight. It had bent from the impact of the explosives. But there was no keyhole underneath it, only a deeply indented pattern:

“Lásabrjótur,” Kristin whispered, clutching the talisman that hung around her neck.

Max nodded. “The lock breaker, right?” he whispered back. “It allows the bearer to open any lock without needing a key.”

“Should we open it?” Brandon asked.

“Absolutely not,” Alex replied. “Throw the talisman away, Kristin. We can’t let Niemand get at these explosives.”

Kristin nodded. They all looked over their shoulders toward the Niemands. Carefully Kristin lifted the chain from her neck.

“Use it,” a low, guttural voice hissed.

She stopped cold. “Brandon? That’s not funny.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Brandon replied.

Max shook his head and looked at Alex. Her face was a great big no too. Together they turned toward the door. “Is someone . . . ?” Alex said

“Use it now!” the raspy voice continued from behind the door. “Come, come, stop wasting time. There’s not much oxygen in here. I don’t know how much longer I have . . .”

The four kids exchanged a glance. Brandon gulped hard. “Should we do it?”

“Are you kidding?” Kristin said. “It sounds like a trap.”

“We’re already in a trap,” Alex pointed out.

“Please hurry . . .” the voice groaned.

“Who are you?” Max asked, but there was no response. “We have to help him!”

“Let’s do it,” Alex agreed. “Really, what do we have to lose . . .”

Shaking, Kristin took the talisman from around her neck, inserted it into the plate, and twisted it hard.

The lock clicked, and the door swung open.