“Oh, Dr. Canto and Dr. Sagas! They’re halves of you!” cried Lucy, hugging Noah.
“Indeed, Miss Modest,” continued Mr. Bell. “The team lived and worked in Istanbul, at Suleiman’s palace. In the years that they worked on their invention, families bloomed. Once there were families, there were more concerns. How do they keep the children safe? Rumors of their work reached the ears of thieves and now there was more at stake. It was at this time that…Yes, Miss Modest?” Lucy was waving her hand.
“But what about us?” she asked, throwing a glance at Jasper, who had tried to stop her from interrupting Mr. Bell again. “What about us when we were their children?”
Noah turned. “Wha—”
“Of course, my dear,” said Mr. Bell. “Suleiman quickly realized that the children of the great scientists were, themselves, rather remarkable scientists. He built a small laboratory for them. This, too, was well-hidden. Still, the parents feared that nothing they could do would keep the children safe. It was not safe to keep them locked up in the laboratory and it was not safe to let them run free on the estate.”
“Why not?” asked Lucy, who, on behalf of her long-ago ancestors, suddenly felt grumpy and left out.
“Because it was not just protection from thieves that worried the scientists. The power of the engine was greater than anything ever seen. It was proving difficult to control. As strange as it sounds, they soon discovered that any object—a shoe or a glass or even a living creature—that contained even the smallest traces of lead or iron would undergo an alchemical change when it came into physical contact with the engine.”
“Alchemical change?” Wallace asked. “You mean it turned the lead into gold?”
“Yes, Master Banneker,” said Mr. Bell. “Gold.”
“A machine with the Midas touch?” Noah marveled.
“And Suleiman worried that bad people were going to steal it,” said Wallace.
“Well, Master Banneker,” said Mr. Bell, “the theft of gold was not their real concern. In fact, turning lead into gold was not something they intended to happen. What was of greater concern was the energy the engine seemed to be creating. The scientists and Suleiman agreed that the children needed to be both safe from the machine and safe from the outside world.”
“Simply moving people out of the way does not mean you will protect them,” grumbled Faye.
“You are absolutely right, Miss Vigyanveta,” agreed Mr. Bell. “Suleiman began to put measures in place to protect the children, but it was not easy. It was then that the children themselves began to document their own scientific work. The young scientists formed their own collective, their own guild—”
“That’s us!” cried Lucy. “That’s our guild.”
“And ours,” said Dr. Banneker, smiling at Miss Brett.
“And that of our parents,” said Dr. Tobias Modest. “And theirs.”
“And theirs And theirs And theirs And theirs,” added Lucy, knowingly.
“As you might guess,” said Mr. Bell, “the Young Inventors Guild became a force of its own. The inventions of the children also needed protection. However, there was a tradition to allow the guild to find its own life, to allow each generation the opportunity to create and discover its own membership. In other words, parents were not to tell their children about it. In that sense, each generation reinvents the guild on its own.”
“As we did,” said Faye.
“Mommy, do you remember anything from when you were me?” asked Lucy.
“I remember finding the strange green leather Young Inventors Guild hidden in the empty room at the palace in Solemano. We all began to keep our sketches in there until—”
“Until they disappeared?” asked Faye, thinking of her own missing plans.
“Yes,” said Ariana, “and then we realized it was the mysterious men in black who were taking them. “
“And it has been the Modests,” said Dr. Tobias Modest, “who have been the keepers of that Young Inventors Guild journal.”
“What do you mean we’ve been the keepers of the journal?” asked Jasper.
“As guardians of the journal, we have made sure it is available to be found and that anything important within is protected,” said Dr. Tobias Modest.
Lucy tapped her chin in thought. “So we’re the ones in charge of our missing things.”
“All the families have participated in guarding our legacy,” said Dr. Vigyanveta. “You know the chamber you have always hated, my little marmello? That was built by our ancestors to spot signs of danger from shifts in polar magnetism. Such a shift would be the first indication that it is time to bring Il Magna together. We are the watchmen.”
“What do you mean, ‘bring Il Magna together’?” asked Faye, but she was ignored.
“And it has been our responsibility to keep a map of things,” said Dr. Cantos-Sagas. “With your mother’s travels, it was a natural job for me. Never a bother, though Raj and I would stay in close contact, preparing for the coming together of Il Magna.”
“What does that mean?” asked Faye again.
“And we have been, shall I say, the guardians of external chemistry,” said Dr. Banneker. “Never really thought about it. We were charged with, well, keeping an eye on the charges. Everyone would send us samples of water and soil from different parts of the earth to be sure that Il Magna wasn’t causing a disturbance that we hadn’t noticed. Each family keeps an eye on things until it is time to come together again.”
“What do you mean by come together?” asked Faye, now frustrated.
“An explanation will come, Miss Vigyanveta,” said Mr. Bell.
“So,” said Faye, her frustration rising,” Suleiman invented a machine that could destroy the world? And then? Why hasn’t someone figured out a way to stop it?”
“For some of us,” said Dr. Banneker, “it has been a life’s work. But we cannot stop it, only control it.”
“For Suleiman,” Mr. Bell continued, “the creation led to betrayal and heartbreak and murder.”
“Murder?” Jasper asked.
Wallace gulped.
“Yes, it is a long tale full of sorrow,” said Mr. Bell. “You can read about it—”
“On your secret shelf?” asked Lucy, knowing she was right. “The shelf of The Archivist.”
“Indeed, Miss Modest,” said Mr. Bell. “But I shall tell you now that Roxalene, Suleiman’s wife, fell victim to her own pride. She was led by a man Suleiman called The Nefarious Kor—”
“—who was Roxalene’s advisor,” said Jasper, remembering what Lucy had found.
“Ah, yes, Master Modest,” said Mr. Bell. “The Nefarious Kor. Suleiman never trusted his wife’s advisor. The sultan and his wife, their story is one of, well, not only of love—”
“How lovely,” said Lucy.
“—but of horrible things,” continued Mr. Bell.
“How horrible!” cried Lucy.
“And you said murder. Who was murdered? What happened?” Wallace adjusted his glasses, which promptly slid back down to the tip of his nose.
“Suleiman had a son, Mustafa, from before he knew Roxalene. He loved his son dearly. Like his father, Mustafa was a poet. The boy searched for the good in everyone.” Mr. Bell paused and looked long at Noah. Noah found it hard to meet the little man’s eyes. “Though Roxalene loved the poet king, she was hungry for power. She suddenly saw Mustafa, Suleiman’s favorite son and heir to the throne, as a threat. As her advisor, Kor, was praised by Suleiman’s vizier—”
“Rüstem Pasha Opuković!” cried Lucy. “He’s the other half of the two of them that came and told Roxalene to employ the advisor, ‘Kor.’ Komar Romak! That’s what we think!”
Mr. Bell smiled darkly. “Rustem and Kor together, indeed. Komar Romak had stepped into the court of Suleiman. And with his own vizier supporting Kor, Suleiman found himself in danger.”
“I knew it,” said Lucy, who was on the edge of her seat, clinging to her mother’s skirt in one hand and Miss Brett’s in
the other. “I knew Kor was a Komar Romak. They just squished the name together so no one could see it.”
“You know quite a lot, Miss Modest,” said Mr. Bell. “Suleiman was so consumed with Il Magna, he did not see the evil in his own midst until it was too late. Suleiman was careful to keep his secret, but Kor constantly pushed Roxalene to ask her husband about his plans. Betrayal was in the air.”
Noah wriggled in has seat. He was not ready for a tale of betrayal. It hit too close to home. The future was not something he cared to consider.
“But Kor was going to do something awful,” cried Lucy. “He could steal everything!”
“What you say is true, Miss Modest,” said Mr. Bell. “As you will read in my notes, Suleiman was heartbroken that he could no longer trust his own wife with Kor at her side.”
“But it’s not fair! Couldn’t Roxalene see that he was Komar Romak?” Lucy was very upset.
Dr. Isobel Modest placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “That was all a long time ago, ma chère,” she said. “A very long time—”
“But it isn’t!” cried Lucy. “It’s now and Komar Romak won’t go away and everything gets simply awful!”
“You are right, Miss Modest,” said Mr. Bell, “And the hurt and damage Komar Romak caused then reaches us still, and will continue to do so in the times ahead. Komar Romak rips the innocence from those imbued with it. Komar Romak turns the good into a work of darkness.” With that, Mr. Bell looked directly at Noah. “We must all be strong against such a force. Alone, we are vulnerable, but together we can find strength.”
Noah paled. He tried to turn away, but there was something in Mr. Bell’s eyes that seemed to read the truth. It was as if Mr. Bell could see the mark of Komar Romak upon him.
“In the end, Mustafa was murdered before Suleiman could save him. Roxalene, in her last moments, confessed to Suleiman about her own involvement. But it was too late.”
“All for this horrid engine?” said Faye. “Why can’t we just smash it?”
“We cannot,” said Mr. Bell. “It is unbreakable.”
“But…it can’t be,” said Wallace.
“It is so many things that it simply cannot be,” said Mr. Bell. “But it is. The scientists’ five inventions, the five pieces of the—”
“How do all the pieces fit?” asked Lucy, trying to imagine the answer but finding it difficult.
“Lucy!” Jasper hushed her.
“I want to know,” Lucy mouthed silently at her brother.
“The scientists found that, beyond simply fitting, the pieces had to be put together in a special order. Once they realized this, their notes become confused. Nothing worked as expected. All sorts of strange things began to happen.”
“Um…excuse me!” Lucy was raising her hand again.
“Yes, Miss Modest?” Mr. Bell asked.
“But how did they go together? How did they know? What did they look like? Did it hurt?” Lucy’s head was filled with information that made no sense to her.
Mr. Bell smiled. “I shall explain in due time, Miss Modest.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
THE FIVE GIFTS OF SULEIMAN
OR
THE THREE WINGS,
THE ELEMENT, AND THE KEY
Mr. Bell smiled. “The five pieces went together like this—there was the gyro, the turning sphere, within which the key was centered. The triad of angled fingers, or wings, were held magnetically above the turning sphere. And last was the elemental pivot that connected the three wings.”
Lucy’s hand shot up and Jasper grabbed it. He looked at Faye, Noah, and Wallace, and then turned to Mr. Bell, “We all recognize the poem. The three flat wings. Turning lead into gold. The element. The key. But…how? How are these pieces, these items we each know, a part of…something larger? We don’t understand.”
“I shall try to be clear. Once brought together, the pieces themselves changed. The scientists were baffled. No matter how hard the inventors tried, they could not get the pieces to change back, nor could they stop the growing energy. They built an encasement out of lead to keep the energy from escaping. But, as we know, the engine turns lead into gold. The first thing it changed was its lead protection.”
“A gold encasement would not have protected the engine from anything,” said Faye, “Or, suppose, anything from it.”
“Exactly, Miss Vigyanveta,” said Mr. Bell. “Instead of being excited by their alchemy, the scientists were terrified.”
“Lovely,” said Faye, her voice cracking with anxiety, “so these crazy old inventors built a machine that turned lead into gold and created an unstoppable source of energy that they could not control? How did they know the power was truly growing? That amazing feat does not seem possible. It isn’t possible. Maybe it was just seeming to be more powerful. Maybe…maybe they didn’t know how to dismantle it properly?” Faye found it hard to swallow. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Faye,” Jasper tried to calm her, but he knew she was correct.
“Miss Vigyanveta is right,” said Mr. Bell. “The scientists and the sultan knew that Il Magna was beyond their understanding. They had to do something to protect it from the world and the world from it.”
“So this is what you’ve been protecting—what generations have been protecting?” said Faye. “This is what people have been dying for? What our lives have been ripped apart for? This…this crazy mistake?”
“Yes, Miss Vigyanveta,” said Mr. Bell, as calm as ever.
“This crazy legacy of a crazy king?” Faye could not feel Jasper’s hand on her arm or her father’s gentle patting on her shoulder. “How dare he! How dare you! This is…this is so unfair!”
“Indeed it is, Miss Vigyanveta,” said Mr. Bell. “You have been born into a burden without choice.”
“So we are expected to protect this thing, too?” Faye was trying to get herself in check. She turned to Jasper and nodded. Her voice was under control. “If we are a part of this legacy, our lives are now set before us? We have to protect it? That’s our lot in life?”
“Please understand, my little marmello,” said Dr. Rajesh Vigyanveta, “A king, too, has his responsibilities. Yes, it is our honor and our burden to provide the protection. But it is more than that. Our lives are not exclusive to this, but it is a part of us. It is our heritage. It is our lot, as you say, to do the needful. The planet would be destroyed if we failed our duty to do what must be done.”
“What?” Wallace said, his glasses sliding down to the tip of his nose. “What do you mean ‘the planet’?”
“And what is your duty, besides keeping it safe?” asked Jasper. “What ‘must be done’?”
Dr. Gwendolyn nodded. “This is not merely energy, but exponential growth of energy. Somehow the parts equal the whole and, even on their own, they build power that cannot be stopped. If they are allowed to stay apart, they become overcharged. If they are allowed to stay together, they become overcharged. We need to maintain a balance between the two.”
“What?” asked Noah, “You sound like Lucy.”
“Every aspect of Il Magna seems to build energy just by existing at the same time,” said Dr. Banneker. “Even if we separate them, it only buys us time.”
“It may sound like me, but I still don’t understand,” said Lucy.
“I think they are saying that each piece of Il Magna, as well as the pieces together as a whole, continue to generate power,” said Jasper. “That’s why we felt those electrical charges from our bracelets, and from your coin, Wallace, and from Faye’s amulet. Madame Ariana’s necklace, too. These are the pieces of the engine in disguise.”
“Indeed, Master Modest,” said Mr. Bell. “Every generation, we take the hidden pieces and we must rebuild Il Magna. We must feed it—”
“Feed it?” Wallace pushed the glasses up onto the bridge of his nose.
“Yes, Master Banneker, in a way we feed it. Because it perpetually grows in energy, the only way to, in a sense, calm it is to have it
expend its accumulating energy. It uses some energy to make lead into gold. We feed the engine lead until it quiets enough to be dismantled. Then we take it apart, piece by piece, once again.”
“It’s like a bird you have to feed,” said Lucy, “It’s like a strange round phoenix. The pieces are like eggs. You hatch it, you feed it, and it again turns into eggs.”
Faye opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Nothing came out.
“Indeed, Miss Modest, indeed.” Mr. Bell looked at the faces before him.
“Why not just keep it fed all the time?” asked Jasper. “Wouldn’t that keep it calm?”
“There is not enough iron and lead on the planet for that, Master Modest,” explained Mr. Bell. “Constant feeding was attempted at an early point. They tried a bushel of lead daily. It worked for a short time but, quickly, it was not enough. They then tried two bushels once every day, then twice a day. Il Magna kept adjusting to the constant feeding. It needed more and more. There is only one way to maintain Il Magna—by starving it for a generation then feeding it fiercely for a short amount of time, at just the right moment.”
“And we will have to do this every…how many years?” asked Wallace. “And how do we know when it’s time? Has it always been the same amount of time?”
Mr. Bell looked at the boy. “According to the notes from Suleiman, Master Banneker, the first time, it took two years before the scientists observed the pieces sparking energy and becoming restless. They considered that these pieces were demanding to be put back together to feed on lead and iron. They brought them together and took them apart, knowing it must happen again. The second time, it took ten years. Eventually, it took a generation—around thirty years—for the energy to reach its peak before becoming impossible to control. It has remained at a constant thirty years for these last centuries. A full generation.”
“So the parts are equal to the whole,” said Wallace. “They each have power and they want to rebuild.”
The Strange Round Bird: Or the Poet, the King, and the Mysterious Men in Black Page 31
