The Boy Who Knew Everything

by Victoria Forester

  Once again Piper felt her hair rise and skin tingle but this time she rolled in the air and changed direction wildly, just avoiding another direct hit by a thick bolt of lightning.

  “Ugh.” Max grimaced, pounding his fist against Mother Mountain. “Strike again. Strike again.”

  In the valley below Piper, a surge of hot lava from a volcanic minefield burst upward, striking her full force.

  “Ahhh!” she screamed.

  The boom of thunder rocked her next and she prepared for the telltale signs of lightning. Below her volcanic lava bursts erupted and she had to make split-second dodges to avoid them.

  Max leaned forward in anticipation, rubbing his hands. “Come on, come on,” he cheered. “Gimme a direct hit.”

  CRACK!

  Piper rolled to her left and a moment later a dagger of lightning was behind her, hitting her left foot.

  CRACK!

  No time to react this time. Piper was momentarily jolted but was able to shake it off.

  BOOM! went the thunder.

  Piper was tired. She rolled away from a bolt of lightning sluggishly.

  BOOM!

  Even after her skin started to prickle, Piper didn’t swerve. The rain was punishing her and the darkness suffocated her. Piper was now halfway across the valley, but the entrance to the tunnel might as well have been solar systems away.

  Lightning sliced through her thigh.

  “A direct hit.” Max jumped to his feet, his two hands rising into the air in triumph.

  “Give her another whack,” Max shouted to the sky. “One more’ll do it.”

  Piper started counting numbers in her head. Ten times two is twenty. Twenty divided by two …

  BOOM!

  Lightning sliced to her right, and then right in front of her. Her shoulder was hit and the now familiar jolt of electricity bounced through her fragile system.

  Twenty divided by two … I don’t know that one, Conrad. How do I do that?

  CRACK!

  The sound was so loud and so close that Piper lost her hearing altogether.

  A lightning strike directly in her path made Piper pull up and stop. Suddenly she was disoriented. Looking this way and that, she completely forgot what she was doing. She shook her head several times.

  It’s raining, Conrad. I want to go home.

  Piper waited for Conrad to answer her but he didn’t.

  Conrad, I don’t know what to do. Where do I go …

  Piper didn’t hear the boom, didn’t see the light. She was hit directly through her back.

  Max yelped with joy and watched as Piper remained still in the air for a moment and then fell down toward a pool of lava below.

  “Adios, Piper McCloud.” Max toasted her with an invisible glass. “You flew well but not well enough. You tried hard but not hard enough. I win. Again. ’Cause I’m a winner. And all that you and Conrad learned will die with you.” He bowed to her as the adrenaline that had been pounding through his body began to fizzle and die. Without him realizing it his foot began tapping of its own accord, restless for new adventure. Max found himself considering how the waves off the coast of Morocco would be something to see at this time of year.…

  Piper felt nothing as she fell. Her body was in so much pain, a switch was flicked inside her brain that allowed her to feel peaceful nothingness. The rolling clouds, the lightning and thunder were all around her and a part of her now. The heat rising up to meet her as she fell was comforting and she wasn’t aware that it was burning her skin. It was a quiet and painless drifting away.

  CHAPTER

  45

  “Piper is falling!” Kimber screamed frantically.

  They could all see quite plainly that Piper was falling from where they stood on the cliff, but still Kimber yelled it, such was the state of her panic.

  The whole group of them had returned to their perch overlooking the valley the day before and had sat listlessly, gazing toward the mountain. All hope that Letitia Hellion would fly them across the valley was entirely abandoned; indeed the only thing Letitia had done since leaving Area 63 was rock back and forth and mutter nonsense to herself.

  “I’m coming, Sarah. Hold out your hand,” she’d gibber feverishly as though seeing her little sister in front of her. “I won’t let you fall.”

  Sitting on the hard rocks of the cliff hour after long hour with nothing to do and no hope of reaching Piper and Conrad, the kids were driven to distraction listening to Letitia moan and beg. As another day came mercifully to an end Smitty unexpectedly jumped to his feet and rushed forward, pointing to the mountain with great excitement. “Piper! I see Piper.”

  Immediately they all snapped upward, rushed to Smitty’s side, and squinted to see where he pointed. It didn’t take long before they were able to see Piper too.

  “I see her now. Look, she’s over there!”

  “Can Piper see us? Does she know we’re here?”

  “Is Conrad with her?”

  And their first glimpse of Piper had caused such an eruption of gladness that a cheer spontaneously burst from their throats. But no sooner had they started to celebrate than there was rain and thunder and their excitement turned to concern.

  “Why is Piper flying in this storm?”

  “Did you hear that thunder? She needs to get out of the sky.”

  And then when the lightning struck Piper again and again all became horror. Althea covered her eyes with shaking hands, and Nalen and Ahmed tried to draw the storm away, only to find that its power was beyond their reach, while Smitty, who could see in agonizing detail what the others could not, wept bitter tears.

  “STOP!” Kimber yelled at the storm.

  Myrtle grasped Jasper’s arm, crying, “We have to save her!” Which, of course, Jasper agreed with but had no immediate solution to achieve.

  Wet, helpless, and defeated, the entire group watched as Piper McCloud was struck by one last bolt of lightning and hung in the air without moving. For a heartbeat some of them felt hope, but that hope was fleeting—Piper fell from the sky.

  CHAPTER

  46

  Letitia kept her hand outstretched and ready, waiting in a state of hyperalertness for Sarah to take it. Sarah was falling and she knew that if she closed the gap and found her, grasped hold of her tiny fingers and held them tight, she would finally stop her from hitting the ground.…

  Sometimes when she was looking for Sarah a strange face would suddenly flash before her eyes, a child or someone who looked like her brother Jeston. It was fleeting and confusing but thankfully passed quickly. Once she imagined that she was sitting with a group of children on a cliff overlooking a valley, but the dream evaporated as fast as it came.

  But then there was lightning and thunder and it was terribly, terribly loud: louder even than Sarah’s screams for help. The noise caused the dream of the cliff to grow more sharply in focus and it was then that she realized a whole group of children were right there with her. They were begging her and pointing to the sky. It was very confusing.

  “Save her,” one of the children screamed.

  She reached out her hand farther. Can they see Sarah? Can they help her?

  “She’s struck by lightning!” one of the children yelled, and her voice had agony in it. It was the agony that made her listen because it was a feeling she knew well and made sense to her; made her want to hear more.

  “We have to do something!” shouted another.

  “Look! Piper’s falling!”

  She looked and saw what the boy saw—a girl was falling … and it was Sarah! My Sarah.

  At last she had found her and could save her.

  Without hesitation she leaped off the cliff and flew like an arrow. Her body was stiff and sore, her muscles weak and unprepared, but her spirit full to bursting.

  The storm was raging around her, thunder and lightning to her left and right and in front of her.

  The girl was falling fast, tumbling through the air. Letitia reached out her tired arms an
d they tingled with hopeful longing to hold her.

  “Sarah!” she called. “I’m coming.”

  Fiery liquid shot up from below, splattering her limbs and burning her flesh. To avoid further injury she would have to pull up and carefully navigate her way through it, but there was no time for such maneuvers.

  With a last burst of energy she plunged through a lava spray, came out the other side, and at long last grabbed the girl, plucking her from the air and encircling her with her arms.

  “Sarah, my Sarah.”

  Tears clouded her vision and a burst of wind carried them upward to safety.

  “You’re safe. I’ve got you.” She breathed in the girl’s scent, touched her hair, feeling her sweetness and reveling in her wholeness. At long last, she had saved her and they were released from the endless cycle of reaching and falling.

  For the first time in her life she felt forgiven and free. Letitia Hellion had found peace.

  CHAPTER

  47

  Jasper blew into his hands and they shone white-hot, brighter than the moon. He was ready when Letitia Hellion placed Piper in front of him, pale and burned. He positioned his hands on either side of Piper’s chest, and the light jumped into her, and for a terrible moment she remained motionless until at last she sucked a shallow, painful breath into her lungs.

  Relief rippled through the kids, who were gathered thickly around Piper, closely monitoring the way Jasper healed her battered body again and again until she opened her eyes, looking up at them in confusion.

  Violet threw herself on Piper, hugging her tight. “Oh, Piper, we thought you were dead.”

  J., who hung in the shadows next to his sister, squeezed her hand. “You did it, sis. You saved her!”

  Piper was startled to find herself among her friends and it took long moments to orient herself. She opened her mouth to speak but her throat was hoarse, causing her to heave and cough.

  “Give her room,” Violet ordered, propping Piper up. Myrtle handed Piper a water canteen and after she pulled a long drag she found that she could talk again.

  “How did you get here?” Piper croaked.

  “Long story,” Smitty said, and smiled.

  “We’ve been trying to get across the valley but it’s impossible,” Lily explained. “So we’ve been waiting and waiting.”

  “Oh.” Piper was glad to see them, but her thoughts remained on Conrad and she dreaded sharing that news, particularly with little Aletha, who was curled next to her, staring up at her with large brown eyes. Piper would not allow herself to think of Conrad as being dead—no, that thought was too terrible. Instead, she only considered the possibility that he was gone and gone in such a way that there was a chance that he would come back. It was for this reason she was able to collect herself and think what she must do next, and it was then that Piper suddenly caught sight of Letitia Hellion.

  “What’s Dr. Hellion doing here?” she croaked. The sight of Letitia sent shivers down Piper’s spine and her first instinct was to fly as far away from her as possible.

  “Piper,” Jasper said quietly, “if it wasn’t for Dr. Hellion you would have died. We couldn’t get to you, and she flew out to save you when you were struck by lightning.”

  “Really?” Piper looked from Jasper to Dr. Hellion.

  “Really. You were unconscious, so you don’t remember.” Jasper nodded slowly and seriously. “She saved your life.”

  As this news settled into Piper she felt a tingling in her stomach. “Dr. Hellion saved my life? And she was flying?” Of all the people she had ever met none had held such deep-seated hatred for exceptional abilities as Letitia Hellion.

  Breaking away from the others, Piper walked on unsteady legs to her old foe. Two paces in front of her, Piper inhaled sharply at the sight of the nasty burns that covered much of Letitia’s body. With effort she refocused her eyes and met Letitia’s gaze.

  “Tell me, why … why did you fly, Dr. Hellion?”

  Letitia Hellion searched within herself. “I flew because…” All her delusions had fallen away and reality was laid before her in stark, beautiful lines. She could clearly see that Piper was not Sarah, and yet her happiness was not diminished by that knowledge. “I flew because I can.”

  Piper considered this answer. “If you hadn’t flown I would’ve died.”

  “Yes,” said Letitia with a shaking voice. “It was good—my flying helped.”

  Piper offered Letitia her hand and Letitia placed her trembling fingers on Piper’s small ones.

  “There is a boy named Max, and he has tricked us all into being afraid of our abilities and made other people afraid of them too.”

  “Max?” Letitia let the name settle into her and it opened her mind like a key. “Yes, I remember now. Max. Yes, his name is Max. He was the one who took my memory away.”

  Piper nodded. “He did the same thing to Conrad’s father, and everyone else for that matter.” Piper turned to the others. “Conrad figured out the truth and Max is behind everything. It’s up to us to stop him.” Piper knew, without having to ask, that her friends would stay at her side and fight, no matter where that fight might take them. But they weren’t enough—they would need everyone.

  Piper turned to Letitia. “Will you join us, Dr. Hellion?”

  “Me?” Letitia Hellion drew her hand away in surprise. After everything she had done to hurt these kids, how could they possibly want anything to do with her? “You want me?”

  “We want everyone, but especially you.” Piper shrugged. “If you’re able to change your mind then there’s hope for everyone else, too.”

  Letitia Hellion inhaled Piper’s sentiment so that it would reach every place in her body. When she was able she nodded her wholehearted agreement. Not long after that Piper related in detail the happenings of the time in Xanthia, and the kids were shocked to learn the truth, overcome with emotion, passionate about the cause, and ready to do as Conrad had asked of them.

  “We should move out.” J., in particular, was ready to get going and had already gathered his backpack and prepared to leave. “Max already has a head start and we don’t want to lose him.”

  “No,” Piper disagreed. “Conrad wants us to take care of something else first.”

  Piper then flew them to Xanthia with Letitia’s help. Once there, Piper did not look at that beautiful place the same way; the truth had changed everything.

  “My son? Where is my son?” were the first words out of Harrington’s blue lips once he had been released from his icy prison and healed by Jasper.

  It nearly broke Piper’s heart to look at Harrington, so striking was the similarity between father and son.

  “I am here for Conrad,” Piper explained to him, valiantly keeping the quaver out of her voice. “Because he can’t be.”

  And then Piper took Harrington deep into Mother Mountain and Starr stopped what she was doing and put down her rock for the last time. She held out her arms to her son and they held each other for so long and with such joy that Mother Mountain herself trembled with their salvation.

  It was with great satisfaction that Harrington broke the bloodstone from around his mother’s neck, and no sooner had the evil thing been crushed than Starr’s gruesome lumps and humps dispersed. As if by magic, Starr returned to her graceful and lithe form, albeit with a few gray hairs and wrinkles.

  Piper was careful to bear witness to every word and feeling because it was such a grand victory: Conrad’s victory—a testament to his smarts and his sacrifice—and no one understood that better than she. The next time she saw him, she promised herself, she would tell him everything.

  * * *

  When the kids returned to Lowland County, much to the delight of Betty and Joe McCloud, not to mention Fido, they had precious little time to rest with Max on the loose and up to no good. After everything that had happened in Xanthia, Max was more desperate than ever to feed off the energy of havoc and mayhem, and the kids had to react quickly to the various emergencies at h
and. First Max staged an international incident designed to ignite a world war and the kids had to rescue hostages and expose key evidence to foil his plans. Next Max showed up in the Middle East with a rare strain of a deadly flu virus and the kids worked as a team to keep it contained. Seemingly there was no end to Max’s devious plans, but no matter how tired or disheartened, the kids battled on and on, yearning daily for the genius of their fallen friend.

  But even in their darkest hours Piper refused to give up and would say confidently, “We’ve been through worse. When Conrad gets back he’ll want to know that we gave nothing less than our best.” To which no one had the heart to suggest to Piper that Conrad would most likely not be coming back—which was what they feared. Not Piper, though.

  “Conrad is our friend,” Piper would remind them. “He wouldn’t leave us. He’ll be back as soon as he can and when he gets here he’ll know exactly what to do—just like old times.” And despite everything the kids would put aside their fears and believe Piper McCloud and rise to the fight with everything they had, exactly as Conrad had trained them to do, and would have wanted.

  CHAPTER

  48

  Bella Lovely was weeding in her mother’s vegetable garden, preparing it for the winter months ahead. It had been a decent harvest that year but there was nothing but dry stalks and wilting plants now. It was Bella’s job to trim away the old to make way for the new growth of the coming spring. She had been working for hours when the sound of birds filled the air, and not just one bird, but hundreds of them. Getting to her feet, Bella scanned the sky, catching sight of an approaching mass of fluttering wings. The flock was flying straight for her and she watched them with curiosity and wonder.

  Cupping her hands over her eyes to cut the glare of the sun, Bella suddenly noticed that the lead bird was no bird at all … it was a girl.