“Too much homework,” he says. “STEM fair. Math sets. French vocabulary test.” Vocabulary test? Really? “But we’ll take the cake.” He grabs two plates and a large hunk of cake, eliciting violent protests from Bart, who believes he is the rightful owner of at least half of what is left. Jin fends off his little brother and we head to the studio out back. I shake off my bad attitude. It’s time to read the missing pages.
Taking seats on opposite sides of the long table, we smooth the crumpled papers flat. They aren’t numbered and getting them into some coherent order takes time. Jin can’t read my father’s terrible handwriting and keeps putting the puzzle together the wrong way. By this point, the cake is mostly gone, which makes me sad.
Finally, we are ready to read. “Hurry up,” Jin says. “I’m dying to know who the Shadow is. And the Task Force.”
My stomach tightens around the cake. Jin makes it sound like a really good book or a show on television. But it’s not. It’s real life. He drums his fingers on the table. “Any day now, Lola.”
Okay. Deep breath. Here we go.
“ ‘The Shadow has thrown countless resources at finding the stone, but the Task Force is limited. However, I’ll do whatever it takes. The Shadow is sure to use the stone for evil, attempting world domination of the unwilling, including Lola. I can’t let that happen. I must find the stone and protect it with my life. Nothing else matters.’ ”
I pause. This does not sound good. This sounds dangerous. “He’s talking about the stone again,” Jin says. “The one you say doesn’t exist.”
I hold up my hands, confused. “It doesn’t. The Stone of Istenanya is a story, a folktale. Not real.”
“Like Cinderella?”
“Not exactly,” I reply. “Well, not at all. Istenanya is a Hungarian goddess. She liked the mortals, you know, how gods sometimes do in mythology.”
“Although it never works out well for the mortals,” Jin points out. “Like the Greek gods. They were always turning the humans into trees and boars and stuff.”
He’s right. Never make friends with a god or goddess unless you are comfortable with transformation into a barnyard animal. “Istenanya believed that humans had good intentions,” I explain, “but they struggled to do the right thing. The earth was a hot mess. War, death, disease. At least that’s the way my mother used to tell the story.”
“That sounds awful,” Jin says. “What happened?”
“Well, the goddess searches far and wide and finds a good human.”
“Someone who isn’t a jerk?”
“Yeah. Probably someone with empathy and compassion and all that sort of stuff.”
Jin nods. “Go on.”
“So anyway, Istenanya finds this good human with compassion and empathy and gifts this person a stone, an emerald-green magic rock to be exact. It allows the good human to influence the thoughts of other people.”
“Like mind control?” There is one bite of cake left on Jin’s plate. I eye it. He slides it toward me.
“Sort of,” I say, spraying cake crumbs all over the table. “Do you have any milk? A glass of milk would be good right now.”
“Finish the story and I’ll get you a glass of milk. You said mind control.”
“Istenanya figured one good person able to influence others could create a domino effect of goodness. Or something like that. And then things on earth would improve.”
“Well, do they?”
“Not exactly,” I whisper.
“Not exactly?” Jin jumps to his feet, upturning the cake plate, which crashes to the floor.
“You need to calm down,” I say. “It’s only a story.”
Jin points at the notebook. “It sure doesn’t sound like your dad thought so.”
“Milk?” I ask.
“Finish,” Jin replies.
Boy, he’s tough. “Okay, where was I? Right. Along comes the underworld god Ördög, who’s a real beast, you know, bad hair, stinky breath, rotten teeth, warts, dirty fingernails, the works.”
“Ördög is ugly. I get it. Go on.”
“So Ördög steals the stone. He’s dead set against giving the puny stupid humans a leg up. He thinks they are weak and should be left to destroy each other if that’s what they want. They are not worthy of the godly power of the stone and Ördög intends to prove this to Istenanya, who he thinks is a hopelessly optimistic goddess. When Istenanya is off, I don’t know, bathing in a babbling brook with her nymphs or whatever, Ördög imbues the stone with dark powers, turning Istenanya’s experiment on its head. Now any mortal who possesses it can lead others to acts of great treachery and evil. It’s like having a posse of zombies at the ready, to act out your worst impulses. He makes it so the stone seduces you into believing it’s working for you when really it’s biding its time before it can use you to perpetrate evil.”
Jin has stopped breathing. He stares at me. “Did you say a zombie posse?” he whispers.
“Of course, like any fairy tale, there are tons of variations. They probably don’t all have a zombie posse. Anyway, by the time Istenanya realizes what’s happened, it’s too late. The humans have the evil stone and they begin to do awful things, more awful than what they’ve been doing already. So, Istenanya appears among the mortals in disguise, steals back the stone, and hides it away for eternity. It’s the least she can do after Ördög makes a total mess of things.”
Jin considers this. “But if the stone were real,” he says slowly, “it could be dangerous.”
“Well, yeah. If it were real, it could pretty much end the world as we know it. Everyone would just be running around committing murder and mayhem and cutting in line and stealing and cheating and whatever. Just one person can poison the well.”
Jin looks alarmed. “This is bad.”
“But the stone isn’t real!” I shout. “Didn’t you hear anything I said? Istenanya is a fairy tale. There is no stone.” There can’t be.
Because a real stone could be real trouble.
CHAPTER 18 CRAZY OR CRAZY? TAKE YOUR PICK.
THE MOOD IN THE LITTLE studio darkens. Jin frowns. I continue to read. Dad talks about how the Task Force mobilized him so quickly he barely had time to sort out his affairs, but the safety of the world was at stake. He had no option but to park me with Irma and find the stone. It’s the only way to keep it safe. From what he writes, it’s clear he thinks he’s close to success.
For the record, I am not interested in saving the world. No way. I’m in it to find my father and get back to my life. By the last page of notes, Dad has traipsed all over Eastern Europe looking for an artifact that is not supposed to exist. He bounces from excited to despairing back to worried sick, where he is in the last written paragraphs.
“ ‘The elders here in this tiny town warn me off the stone. They speak of a dark power that preys on people who are desperate, using their deepest desires against them. A white-haired man described how the stone’s power hugs a person, clings to them, until it achieves its purpose and proves Ördög’s point. Humanity is weak. It is not worthy of a goddess’s help. They speak of how the stone chooses a person and whispers to them, like a shiver, as if a spirit is floating nearby. The stone calls out to its intended, a voice in the fog, dim, quiet, but persistent, insistent. It tells you it can help you, that it can make you whole if only you let it show you how. It then leads you on to great evil. Or this is what they say.
“ ‘From the stories the elders weave, I’ve pieced together a rudimentary map of the stone’s possible location. There is a mountain and a river, a tree and a cave. I recognize one of the references, a great old pine on a mountain path not terribly far from here. I believe I am the sole possessor of this knowledge, so I go tonight, still hopeful. Of course, who knows what will happen?
“ ‘It’s important that if I am lost, there is no record of what I’m doing here. This notebook will be in the mail to San Francisco by the time I leave. My greatest hope is to reunite with it, and Lola, in a few weeks’ time.’
”
My eyes water a little bit. There must be dust on the pages. This is not what I wanted to read. Is it possible Star and Fish were telling some part of the truth? Sure, they lied about the flash flood and all of that, but that’s not the point. Maybe Dad went into the woods and never came out. But where? Which river? What mountains? I sigh, loud and deep.
“Why are you so droopy?” Jin demands. “We are hunting a magic stone! I have never done anything remotely this amazing in my entire life! We are so on this.” He pulls out a notepad and a pencil. “Let’s recap. Your father works for the secret Task Force, which sounds cool even if we have no idea what it is. He thinks the fairy-tale stone is real and he knows where it is. There’s a bad guy named the Shadow who plans to use it to take over the world, specifics not included. Dad mails that notebook back here for safekeeping. Is that about it?”
“Yeah,” I say, deflated. “But we have no idea where he was. Or if he found the stone. Or what happened next.” Any of those bits of information would have put us ahead, but basically, we know nothing more than we did before, which means that for all our effort, we’ve gotten nowhere. I am right back at the beginning, desperately trying to find a way to Europe, where I will wander around cluelessly looking for my father.
“Your attitude is terrible,” Jin chastises. “There are a number of possibilities. Maybe your dad found the stone and is in hiding from the Shadow. Maybe he’s been holed up somewhere for eight months and doesn’t have access to a phone. Or maybe his hiding place is in the middle of the ocean? Or the jungle? Or the desert? I’ll tell you one thing. I always thought our world had magical powers. I just figured we were too stupid to figure out what they were and how to use them. So, this is cool. But also, not. Because we all know what happens when uncontrollable magic is unleashed on the world.”
We do? A panicky little flutter lodges in my chest. I always have at least a vague idea of my next move. But right now I draw a complete blank. I have no idea what to do next.
CHAPTER 19 HANNAH KNOWS EVERYTHING.
THE NEXT DAY HANNAH WAITS by my locker. I don’t have time for her. I’m busy planning the theft of an albino penguin. I was sure the notebook was the key to finding my father, but now that I’ve had time to process how wrong that was, I’m ready to move on. The only way to find my father is to get out there in the world and start looking. The albino penguin will surely secure me the resources required to do just that. Today’s goal is to figure out how to fence a penguin. How hard can it be?
“Excuse me,” I say, shoving past Hannah. “I need my social studies homework.”
“We need to talk,” she says flatly. “I want in.”
“Into what?” I’d be happy to push her into a toilet, if that’s what she means. But alas, I don’t think it is.
“The hunt for the magic stone,” she hisses. “The one from the pages.”
“The pages you stole from me,” I remind her.
“I had no choice,” she says, as if I am to blame. “I want in on the search for the Ishy whatever it is. You don’t think I’m going to just let you two go off and make a potentially magical electromagnetic pulse generator, do you? No way. And just so we’re clear, I can make your life miserable if you don’t cooperate.”
“It’s called the Stone of Istenanya,” I reply. “And it has nothing to do with the STEM fair!”
“You say that.”
Exasperated, I throw up my hands. “Let’s just say, hypothetically, that there is a hunt going on. Why would I let you in on it? You stole my pages!”
“Because otherwise I tell the Jelly what you guys were up to at Bay Area Mini Storage,” she says bluntly.
She’s trying to blackmail me. I can’t believe it. “Go ahead. You have no proof.” It would be her word against ours, and while I realize I have no credibility, Jin has plenty. I’m 80 percent sure he would emerge victorious.
“Don’t I?” She pulls out a phone, not as sleek and new as Jin’s but decent enough to show a video clip of Jin and me cutting into the fence at Bay Area Mini Storage.
“You did not,” I hiss.
“I did. And there is no way I let you two dorks go on a quest for the magical stone of whoever without me.”
But here’s the thing. If there is no hunt for a magical stone, there is nothing for her to join! Her blackmail is useless.
“Fine,” I say. “You’re in.”
She takes a step back. “Really?”
“Really. I don’t want to get Jin in trouble with that video.”
Her eyes flash with concern. “I kind of thought you’d push back more. You know, negotiate.”
I shrug. “I know when I’m beat.”
“This is weird.” She narrows her gaze, suspicious.
“I have to go to class.”
“You promise, right?”
“Yup.” I hold up my fingers to show none of them are crossed. “Can you move?”
“Really promise?”
“What do you want from me?” I shout, making her jump. “A blood oath? I promise. Okay? I get it. I remember. Now can you please move? I’m late.”
Finally, she smiles and steps aside. “Excellent.”
After classes, we head to the cafeteria for milkshakes before Jin’s fencing practice and my return to the library for further penguin liberation research. Redwood Academy might be run by the Jelly, but the food is excellent. Misty fog settles over the campus like it does most afternoons. I button up my ugly red cardigan, but it doesn’t help.
“Something happened,” I say as we walk.
“I know! I heard that Bradley farted in Spanish class and Mathilda passed out from the stink. Gross.”
That is gross. “No. Not that.” I bring him up to speed on the Hannah blackmail video situation. He stops abruptly. His jaw drops open.
“You promised she could hunt for the rock with us?” he asks, aghast. Oddly, he seems less concerned with her turning us in to the Jelly than he does with a meaningless partnership. Which is irritating because I thought I played that one perfectly.
“We’re hunting penguins,” I remind him, “not rocks! I mean, not hunting, but you know what I mean.”
Jin glares at me. “You underestimate Hannah at your own risk.”
“It’s not going to make any difference,” I say crossly. “There’s no quest.” Before our argument can escalate, our path to the cafeteria is blocked by a woman in an outfit that was possibly barfed up by a rainbow. Her lipstick is bright red.
“Lola Benko,” she purrs. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
For some reason, this doesn’t feel like a good thing.
CHAPTER 20 LIPSTICK
THE LADY WITH THE BRIGHT red lipstick seems vaguely familiar, but I can’t figure out why. She wears dark sunglasses, her blond-and-purple streaked hair pulled back into a bun that stretches the skin on her face so tight, I swear I can see her skull. Her purple Converse sneakers match the color in her hair.
“Do you two know each other?” Jin looks from me to her and back again.
“In a way,” Lipstick says. What the heck does that mean? Confused, I keep my mouth shut and wait for her to explain. “I work for an individual who wants the same thing you want. And my employer, for better or for worse, always gets what he wants.”
Oh, this does not sound good. Jin nudges me with his elbow, but I’m afraid to even look at him.
“My employer’s message for you, Lola Benko, is simple.” Lipstick’s face does not move when she talks, on account of the supertight bun. “You have forty-eight hours to produce the stone.”
“Huh?”
“The stone,” she repeats. “Don’t play dumb with me. We know that you know that we know that you know where the stone is.” Hold on. Who knows what exactly? “Bring it to us or you will never see your father again. Do you understand?”
Her words swirl around in my head like a tornado. My lips flap in the breeze, any response stuck fast in my throat. Jin hip-checks me. “Lola,” he hisses
. “Say something.”
“He’s alive?” I finally manage to whisper. My heart pounds wildly against my ribs. I think I might faint.
“For now,” Lipstick says curtly. “What happens next depends on you. If you tell anyone, consequences. If you don’t produce the stone, consequences. If you try to pull a fast one, consequences.”
“But I don’t know where the stone is,” I blurt. Clearly, my father found it and hid it and they think he told me where. But that stone might as well be a needle in a haystack with the haystack on Mars. “It could be anywhere!”
“That’s a tired old line, kid,” she replies with a sharp laugh. “Do you get what I’m saying or not?”
“I get it,” I murmur. “Stone. Father. Consequences.”
“Wow,” whispers Jin. “This is getting seriously complicated.”
“Once you have the stone, call me.” Lipstick hands over an ordinary business card with a number on it. Nowhere on that card does it say “evil henchman” or “villain.” And then she’s gone, just like that.
I grab Jin by the shoulders. “My father is alive!”
He looks grave. “But I think he’s been captured by the Shadow.”
This is all too much. I start to cry. And Jin freaks out because I’m standing there weeping like a baby and we’re not even friends. My father is alive! And now I have confirmation. But more important, how do I find the stone? This Shadow guy doesn’t sound like a reasonable person at all. My emotions whiplash until I start to wobble. Jin loops his arm through mine to keep me steady.
“You were right.” Jin hands me a crumpled tissue that probably has snot on it. “Honestly, when we first met, I thought you might be a little, you know, not thinking straight about your dad, but you were right.” This just makes me cry harder. “Oh jeez, that was the wrong thing to say. Sorry. Ugh. Here, have more tissues.”
He turns the pockets of his uniform jacket inside out and dumps the contents on the sidewalk—tissues, a pencil stub, a few sticky notes, two sticks of gum. He quickly gathers up the tissues and stuffs them in my hands. “Maybe gum will help?”
Lola Benko, Treasure Hunter Page 8
