by Mark Young
“Well, I know exactly who he is,” Mimi said with certainty. “Dr. Flubitus approached my parents about using the newest invention designed by Crowninshield Corporation: a human cloning device. Of course they refused, so he’s probably here to try to get to my parents through me!”
Newton thought about this. Mimi was always bragging, and she was a very suspicious person. She probably still thought that Newton was a spy trying to steal her family’s secrets. So, her suspicions might be true, he realized, but something was still not right.
“Why wouldn’t your parents sell him the device?” Newton asked.
“It’s still in the prototype phase,” Mimi replied. “They didn’t even know how Flubitus found out about it. He asked for early access—probably so he could steal the technology and sell copies of it!”
“Ha!” Theremin laughed. “Copies of a cloning device. Funny.”
Shelly motioned to Newton and he scooted his chair closer to her. Theremin leaned in to listen too.
“Mimi’s story is interesting, but it doesn’t explain why Flubitus was following you,” she whispered. “We should talk about this.”
Newton nodded. “Yeah.”
“Let’s meet in my lab after class,” she suggested.
For the rest of the class, Dr. Flubitus rummaged through his papers and muttered to himself while his students whispered, doodled, and napped. Finally, he gave a shout.
“Eureka!” he cried as he held a sheet aloft. “The basic mathematical principles of dimensional transportation. Number one—”
Ding!
The end-of-class bell rang, and the classroom door opened as everyone jumped up from their seats.
“We’ll have a test about today’s class on Thursday!” Dr. Flubitus called out, as everyone streamed from the classroom. “Or is the next class on Friday? Hmm. Well, be prepared for a pop quiz, sometime around Thursday-ish, but I’m just not certain. The universe and time are a mystery, indeed!”
Shelly, Newton, and Theremin made their way to the building’s basement, to Shelly’s animal rescue lab.
“Hello, Shelly! Hello, Shelly!” said a flying miniature dinosaur that squawked like a parrot and had robotic wings. It flew over to Shelly and landed on her shoulder.
“Hello, Wingold,” she said, smiling. “You’re looking good today.”
“Looking good!” Wingold repeated.
Shelley walked up to a glass tank and picked up a jar next to it. Then she lifted the lid of the tank and started sprinkling in the contents of the jar—what looked like bugs to Newton.
“Here you go, Kermie. It’s soy cricket time!” Shelly said.
The inhabitant of the tank, a frog with two springs for back legs, hopped up to the imitation crickets and gobbled them up.
“See? Those cruelty-free crickets are tasty, aren’t they?” Shelly asked the frog. Then she motioned for Theremin and Newton to join her at the small round table in the center of the lab.
“Okay, let’s talk about Flubitus,” Shelly said.
“WAIT!” Newton cried as he jumped up and ran to the door. He quickly scanned the hall, then closed the door and locked it.
“For all we know, he’s still following me,” Newton said, sitting back down.
“Newton, are you sure that Flubitus has been following you and not all of us?” Shelly asked. “One time he did follow you and Higgy, right?”
Newton thought about it. “Yes, but other times I was by myself,” he replied. “So, I’m pretty sure it’s me he’s after. I’ve got a . . . gut feeling.”
“So, what does he want with Newton?” Theremin asked.
Shelly shrugged. “I’m not sure. If Mimi is telling the truth about the cloning machine, then I don’t understand why Flubitus would be following Newton instead of Mimi.”
“I’ll give her a lie detector test,” Theremin offered, rubbing his metallic hands together. “Father recently upgraded my extendible truth sensors.”
“I don’t think Mimi would let you do that,” Newton said.
“Not in a million millenniums,” Shelly said with a thoughtful frown. “Maybe we should tell Mumtaz about this.”
“Forget Mumtaz,” Theremin said. “Let’s just march right up to Flubitus and ask him why he’s following Newton!”
Newton hesitated. “I . . . I don’t know. I’m pretty sure that Flubitus is the guy who’s been following me. But what if it’s just a coincidence that Theremin caught him on camera? Maybe we need to know more first.”
Shelly nodded. “We can try to get more information first, sure,” she said. “I mean, Flubitus is so weird he couldn’t possibly be dangerous.”
“Yeah, he’s kind of a goofball,” Theremin agreed.
“So, let’s keep our eyes open and see what we’ve found by the weekend,” Shelly said. “Although, this weekend Newton is supposed to take his portal pass trip.”
“That’s right!” Newton said, suddenly remembering. “And once I get home to my family, I mean—who knows? I might not even come back here.”
Shelly and Theremin were quiet when he said this, and then reality hit Newton, too. If he did find his family this weekend, they might want him to stay with them and go to school wherever they live. He might learn that he was never supposed to come to Franken-Sci High in the first place.
And that meant—Newton might never see Shelly and Theremin again.
The truth suddenly sank in for the three friends.
“If that happens, I’ll miss you,” Shelly said.
“Yeah. Me too,” said Theremin.
“Not as much as I’d miss you guys,” Newton said. “I mean, right now you’re my family.”
“Well, even if you do end up far away, we can still be friends,” Shelly said. “We can send holograph videos to each other.”
“Speak for yourself,” Theremin said. “Computer cameras make my face look fat.”
Newton laughed. “Yeah, you’re right!”
Theremin blinked. “I didn’t mean for you to agree with me.”
“Just kidding,” Newton smiled. “And even if I do find my family, it doesn’t mean we have to stop being friends.”
The strange problem with Professor Flubitus suddenly became unimportant. Newton was going to stay focused on a more important goal: In just a few days, he was going to find out where he came from!
CHAPTER 7
PORTAL PRESSURE!
Over the next few days, Newton could barely contain his excitement about being able to use his portal pass soon.
He thought about the portal during Dark Matter Matters class, and Professor Phlegm gave him ten demerits for not paying attention.
He thought about the portal during his Advanced Emotional Chemistry class, and just couldn’t get his sadness formula to work—all because he was too happy to care.
He thought about the portal during History of Mad Scientists class, which was easy to do because Professor Wagg—who was 115 years old—slept through most of the class, giving his students a lot of free time for extra activities.
He even thought about the portal while he planned a little “surprise” for Theremin, with the help of Higgy.
And then, finally, Saturday morning dawned. Newton sprang out of bed early—so early that he bumped into Woller in the hallway after he was already awake and dressed.
“Ca-wee! Ca-wee!” the winged monster squealed.
“Save it, Woller,” Newton said. “I’m awake and ready to go!”
When he stepped outside, Shelly and Theremin were waiting for him.
“I am so excited!” Newton grinned.
“Yeah, well . . . we’re excited for you too,” Theremin mumbled in a flat voice.
Newton had asked his friends to see him off on his journey, but he hadn’t thought about how it might be hard for Theremin. Dr. Rozika still hadn’t given Theremin permission to go.
“I’m sorry you can’t use your portal pass, Theremin,” Newton said.
“It stinks,” Theremin agreed. “But I guess I
’m happy for you, anyway.”
“Thanks, pal.” Newton smiled weakly.
They made their way to the administrative building.
“So, Mumtaz said she’ll be my chaperone,” Newton said as they walked. “And she’s going to explain how the pass works, too.”
“It’s easy,” Shelly assured him. “You’ve been practicing folding the brochure. And once you have a pass, you’ll get where you’re going in a flash.”
“Does it hurt at all?” Newton asked.
Shelly shook her head. “You won’t feel a thing.”
When they reached the door of the headmistress’s office, Theremin knocked.
“Come in!” Mumtaz instructed.
When they entered, they found the headmistress standing there—or rather, a hologram of the headmistress, flickering next to her desk.
“Good morning, Newton!” she said. “Since I’m going to be your chaperone, I thought I might as well project from my room, instead of my office, so I can stay comfy.”
She lifted up one foot to reveal that she was wearing fuzzy slippers.
“Sure,” Newton said. “So, um, what do I do?”
“You have your brochure with you?” Mumtaz asked. Newton nodded and patted his shirt pocket. “Good. Now for your portal pass.”
She raised a holographic remote and pressed a button. A door slid open on the top of her desk and a mechanical hand emerged clutching a small golden card.
Newton’s eyes widened as he stared at the prized portal pass. It shimmered with the Franken-Sci High logo embossed on it.
“Next, you must properly fold the brochure. I’m sure you’ve been practicing?” Mumtaz asked.
“Every day,” Newton smiled.
Newton took a thin pair of gloves from his pants pocket and slipped them on. The key to opening the portal was to fold the metallic brochure in a very complicated way. His grippy fingertips had made it impossible to fold the portal correctly the first few times he’d tried. Only when Shelly had suggested the gloves was he finally able to do it correctly.
Shelly leaned in to Newton. “You’ve got this, Newton!” she whispered.
Newton then took the brochure from his shirt pocket and placed it on Mumtaz’s desk. He opened it fully, into the shape of a big square. Then he bent in each corner so that they met in the middle, making a smaller square. Then he turned it counterclockwise and folded that square in half. And then in half again. Finally, Newton gave the brochure a quarter turn to the right then folded it diagonally so that the top left corner and bottom right corners touched.
Suddenly, the tightly folded brochure began spinning in place, then slowly lifted off the desk. As it swirled faster and faster in front of Newton, it created a rotating column of air that expanded to engulf the desk and Newton. The spinning column scattered the papers on Mumtaz’s desk all around the room.
The swirling column began to blur and then the folded brochure vanished and was replaced by a human-size hole directly in front of Newton. The outline of the hole pulsed with a bright light, but when Newton peered into it, all he could see was black.
Then he heard Mumtaz’s voice.
“Holding the portal pass in your left hand, say where you want to go,” she instructed.
Newton grabbed the pass, gripped it tightly, and took a deep breath.
The moment had come. He had practiced it over and over in his mind for days. And now it was really happening. It was finally time to say . . .
“I want to go home!” Newton cried.
“Jump!” Mumtaz’s holograph said.
Newton jumped into the hole. The blackness engulfed him. His skin tingled. His hair stood on end. He felt weightless, like he was tumbling head over heels in space. Colored lights swirled and twirled around him.
Then . . . whomp! Newton’s feet landed on solid ground. The portal winked out as the folded brochure reappeared, then dropped to the ground. The blackness faded. Newton blinked as his heart pounded. He was home!
As his eyes adjusted, Newton saw the hologram of Mumtaz in front of him—flanked by Shelly and Theremin. Puzzled, he looked down to see the floor of the headmistress’s office. Papers were still scattered all about. He looked around, frantic and disappointed.
“No, NO . . . I’m still here!” he cried. “It didn’t work!”
“Maybe you misfolded?” Theremin asked.
“But I didn’t!” Newton said.
“I saw it, you did fold the brochure correctly,” Mumtaz agreed. “It could just be a glitch. It’s been known to happen.”
“Can he try it again?” Shelly asked.
“Certainly,” Mumtaz said.
Newton picked up the brochure and expertly folded it again. The swirling portal appeared. He held the portal pass firmly in his left hand.
“Take—me—home!” he yelled.
Newton jumped into the portal. He felt the same sensations as before. Then the portal spit him out . . . right back into Mumtaz’s office.
Newton almost felt like crying. “What’s wrong, Ms. Mumtaz?”
“Well, perhaps there’s a problem in Rome,” Mumtaz said.
“Rome?” Newton asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“That’s where you said you wanted to go, isn’t it?” she asked.
Newton shook his head. “No, home. I said I wanted to go home.”
A dark, sad look crossed the headmistress’s face. “Oh, this hologram connection must be bad.” Then she quickly recovered and put on her best smile. “No bother. Glitches do happen, you know,” she said quickly. “Even at Franken-Sci High. Sorry it didn’t work out, Newton. Just leave the portal pass on my desk and I’ll have a look at it Monday. Have a nice weekend!”
“But—” Newton began, but Mumtaz’s hologram was gone.
Newton sighed. “Now what am I supposed to do?”
Theremin put an arm around him. “Sorry, pal. Looks like both of us are members of the stuck-at-school club!”
“Don’t give up hope!” Shelly pleaded. “With Mumtaz helping you, I bet it’ll get fixed and you’ll be home soon. At least you know where you want to go . . . I can’t decide.”
“I hope you’re right,” Newton said. He reluctantly placed his portal pass on the desk and with a sigh, left the office.
What if I never find out where I’m from? he wondered.
CHAPTER 8
MONSTER ON THE LOOSE
Newton could only stare down at his feet as he, Shelly, and Theremin left Mumtaz’s office.
“Hey, let’s get something to eat,” Shelly suggested. “We were so excited about your portal pass that we forgot breakfast.”
Newton shrugged. “Sure. Whatever.”
When they reached the elevator tube, Newton frowned. “Can we take the stairs? I’m still kinda woozy from the portal.”
“Whatever you want, Newton,” Shelly said.
They made their way up the staircase, a spiral of metal stairs that went from the first to the last floors. Although it was Saturday, there were still students in the halls, heading to study groups, club meetings, or getting a snack in the cafeteria.
“This is easy for me,” Theremin said as they climbed up the twisty stairs. “That’s one of the benefits of being a robot that levitates. No calf muscles.”
Normally Newton would have laughed at his friend, but he couldn’t muster a smile.
When they reached the second-floor landing, a scream shook Newton from his gloomy thoughts.
“MONSTER!”
Newton turned to see Odifin Pinkwad, sloshing around inside his jar, zooming around a corner and then down the hallway toward them on his wheeled table, being pushed by Rotwang. The teenaged assistant looked shaken. They zipped right past the three friends and kept going.
“MONSTERRRRRRRRRR!” Odifin shouted.
“Nice try, but you can’t scare us!” Theremin called after him, then grunted. “That was so silly.”
“What do you mean?” Newton asked. “How do you know he was
just pranking us?”
“Monsters are no big deal around here,” Shelly chuckled. “Nobody at Franken-Sci High is scared of them. Besides, you don’t see anybody else screaming, do you?”
“MONSTER!”
Two more students ran around the corner, frightened. They were followed by a crowd of kids that charged past Newton, Shelly, and Theremin and down the hall.
“Then again . . . ,” Shelly said. “Maybe we should check this out.”
She ran in the opposite direction of the panicked crowd, and Newton and Theremin followed her. When they turned the corner, there was no monster in sight.
“False alarm,” Theremin said.
“Definitely,” Newton agreed.
“Then let’s head up to the cafeteria,” Shelly suggested. “Maybe somebody knows what’s going on.”
They climbed up two more flights of stairs and found a group of frightened kids talking in the cafeteria.
“I saw it! It was terrifying!” one kid was saying.
“Are you talking about a monster?” Shelly asked.
The kid nodded. “It came out of nowhere! It was huge! It had huge fangs!”
“And flame-throwing claws!” another added.
“And a hundred insect legs!’ another kid cried.
Newton looked at Shelly. “That sounds pretty scary.”
“Yeah,” Shelly said as she stared past Newton and Theremin. “And who do we know who likes to make big, scary monsters?”
Newton followed her gaze across the cafeteria. It landed on Tootie, who was sitting by herself and eating a stack of Extreme Pancakes. They approached her.
“Tootie, have you heard about this monster everyone’s talking about?” Shelly asked.
“You bet!” Tootie nodded. “Doesn’t it sound awesome?”
“Come on, you can tell us,” Shelly said. “You created it, right?
Tootie looked at Shelly blankly.
“Did you tinker with a microchip,” Shelly continued, “and turn a tadpole or a bedbug into a hideous beast? And then let it loose?” Shelly asked.
“No way,” Tootie said. “I only wish it was me!”
