“PICK. Me. Up. Off. The. Floor,” Alex whispered.
Max’s head felt like it would rocket off his neck and into space.
It was him. Max had known it. It was impossible and totally exhilarating. “OK, I got who you were,” Max said to the talking corpse. “But you died. In France. There’s a grave and everything.”
“And in front of it, a statue of a body burssssting out of the ground,” Verne replied with a rattling sound that Max guessed was a laugh. “Sssubtle hint about what had happened to me, n’est-ce pas? I was already in Iceland when they lowered the empty casket.”
“That’s another thing,” Alex said. “You’re speaking English to us.”
“Jules Verne was French,” Brandon said. “Even I know that.”
“Saknussemm and I brought many books to our new home,” Verne said. “We are both rather fluent in German, Greek, Urdu, Hindi, Zulu, Russian, Ssssspanish, Basque, and most of the Scandinavian languages. We hoped, sssomeday, to return. But it was not to happen.”
Max stared at the old man. In his mind, he superimposed the face of the portrait from his family’s living room. It fit him like a mask. “Your clues were awesome,” he said. “Especially Levi Hek. Not to mention The Lost Treasures. And because of you, my mom’s life was saved. And also my friend Evelyn.”
“Ah, thank you, how exciting is the work of Louis Braille!” he said. “And mon Dieu, The Lost Treasures! I trust you found the chest and were duly rewarded? And that inflation has not made the contents worthless?”
Alex smiled. “We did really, really well, thank you. That guy out there with the white streak in his hair, Spencer Niemand? He tried to stop us. He’s descended from your old nemesis Captain Nemo. He’s putting explosives into cracks in the sculpture of Kristin’s great-great-great-grandfather—your pal, Arne Saknussemm. To release the serum into the world’s water supply and then claim credit for curing the world of disease. It’s part of a crazy plan that involves underwater cities and political power—”
“That electric lamp,” Verne said, creaking forward to the stacks of crates. “Do you have more?”
Max and Kristin each pulled flashlights out of their backpacks.
“Voilà.” Verne gestured to the stack nearest the door. “You must move these assssside. But leave the last box. Quickly. Vite! Don’t worry. They are . . . how do you say? Duds. We neutralized the explossssives years ago. When we decided to kill our plan. And banish ourselves to the underworld.”
Brandon was first to move into action. He lifted three crates and moved them to a corner of the room.
As Alex grabbed onto a crate, she smiled at Verne. “That was brave of you, and selfless.”
“Saknussemm was the one who convinced me to kill the project,” Verne said. “He was right. I would not wish thissss on anyone. Nor on a ssssociety that must deal with a population that lingersss forever. Out of gratitude to my colleague, I carved that boulder into his likenesssss.”
Max, Kristin, and Alex cleared out the crates as he spoke, until there was one left. “You told us to leave the last,” Brandon said.
“Yes.” Verne’s head creaked up and down in a nod. “I never thought I’d sssay this, but it is time for the endgame.”
Max and Alex both stared silently, curiously, at the old man. “Endgame?” Max said. “That sounds scary.”
Verne gestured to the remaining box. “Open that,” he said. “It contains a fail-safe. I have not felt the need to use it. Perhaps I have been too sssscared.”
Cautiously Alex and Max leaned over the box and pulled off the lid. Inside, lying diagonally, was a thick metal pipe with a pump handle. “What the heck—?” Max said.
“Lift it out,” Verne said. “And then kick the crate aside, please.”
As Brandon held onto the pipe, Alex moved the crate with her foot. Embedded in the stone floor underneath were three circles of metal, one inside the other. Max knelt and ran his fingers over the cool surface. The outer circle was only about three or four inches in diameter. He was able to squeeze his hand in the center and dig out a layer of cobwebs. Under it was a hole that went deep into the ground.
“It’s a kind of pipe,” Max said.
“A gassssket,” Verne said. “Please insert the pipe into it. And turn clockwise.”
Brandon lifted the pipe over the metal rings and set it down. It fit perfectly. He twisted it into place with a deep click.
“What is this thing?” Max asked.
“A detonator,” Verne said.
“Wait,” Max shot back. “I thought the whole point was not to blow up the boulder.”
“You must trust me,” Verne said. “Use the talisman. Open the door.”
With quivering hands, Kristin inserted the talisman into a slot on the inside of the door and swung it open slowly. Across the lagoon, the sculpted rock was studded with small black explosives. Niemand and Bitsy were dumping the vial of serum into the water below.
“My children, Saknussemm and I anticipated that ssssomeone would do this. People like Niemand always find a way,” Verne said softly. “Luckily, in 1947 we found fissures below this lagoon—long lava tubes that empty straight downward into the depths of the volcano. We have placed explosives—real ones—that will rip it right open. Anything that goes down there will be lost into the molten depths of the Earth forever.”
“You want us to do that?” Alex asked.
“It will destroy the serum,” Verne said. “But listen to me. The water is full of serum molecules now. I am certain your scientists have great capabilities. Take some. Let them study it further. You will have twenty seconds from the time you pull the lever. Unfortunately these fissures also run along a very unsssstable fault line, and you will need to go fast.”
“But—but what about you?” Alex said.
“I have had more than my share of time,” Verne said. “Listen closely. After pulling the lever, you must go immediately. There will be a twenty-sssecond lag before the explosion. Fourteen minutes and twenty-three ssssseconds later, you must be exactly one and a third kilometers to the northwessst. Repeat that to me.”
“Wait . . . what?” Max replied.
“Twenty seconds before explosion. Fourteen minutes and twenty-three seconds later, exactly one and a third kilometers to the northwest,” Alex said.
“Brava,” Verne whispered. “Take my love with you, and Godspeed. Pull!”
Brandon was clutching the lever. He looked at Max and Alex, hesitating. “Ready?”
In response, the room’s door flew open and Spencer Niemand stormed in, vial still in hand. Bitsy was close behind him. “Papa?” she said. “We’re not finished.”
“But they will be,” Niemand said. “What in heaven’s name do you think you’re doing?”