“You guys have sports here? I thought this school was all work, no play.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Work is play when you do what you love. And, depending on your job, play is work. This school is for the best of the best—in every field. The next LeBron James, Tom Brady, Serena Williams… you’ll find them here too.”
“Come on…”
“I mean it.”
“How do you put together a team with only twenty-five kids in the school? You telling me you have five LeBrons in the house?”
“No. I’m just making a point using names you’re likely to recognize. Mainly we focus on individual sports. Esteban over there is training for the Olympics.” The boy shed his warm-up suit and got up on the rings, where he quickly moved into the iron cross position. The kid must have been nine years old and he looked like he could bend steel bars with his hands. Joey could see his muscle definition from across the room. His hyperfocus on gymnastics must have started in preschool.
“Personally, I think it’s a waste of space. I wanted to use this room to build a particle accelerator like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.”
“Yeah, right.” Joey laughed. He actually knew what that was. He remembered his science teacher had once told the class about a massive machine that smashed subatomic particles together in an effort to literally unlock the secrets of the universe. Joey didn’t have the first clue how it worked or why, but it had stuck in his memory because it sounded like something a supervillain would build in a secret volcano base. Janelle wasn’t laughing. Once again Joey’s eyes went to her EVIL GENIUS pin. “For real?”
Janelle just shrugged. Sure she was for real. Why not?
Joey looked at her. “A supercollider?” he repeated in disbelief. “Like the one in Switzerland? Doesn’t that thing go on for miles?”
“I solved for that. I had a design that could fit in this room without sacrificing power or productivity. Why does it have to be so big when the particles are so small? They should have given me the space. There are more important things in life than winning gold medals. I’m talking major questions we can answer. Are there parallel dimensions out there? Can we detect them? What can we learn about dark matter, which, by the way, appears to account for twenty-seven percent of the mass energy of the universe? Real-life science-fiction, Joey. The school was going to work with me to find a place for the project, but I made a mistake.”
Joey shook his head. Keeping up with Janelle wasn’t easy. “You don’t want to make any mistakes with something like that. My old science teacher said there was an outside chance it could create a black hole that would swallow up the whole world.”
“A microscopic black hole,” Janelle corrected. “And that was my mistake—telling the school about that. It’s more like an infinitesimal chance. Statistically insignificant. The nerds at CERN didn’t suck the world into a black hole, did they?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Exactly. Any black holes would have shrunk away to nothing in twenty-four hours—if they even lasted that long.”
“So much for not stifling inquisitive young minds,” Joey said, trying to sympathize but secretly agreeing with the school that some limits were a good thing.
Janelle’s phone beeped again. She looked at it and furrowed her brow.
“Everything okay?” Joey asked.
Janelle typed at the screen with her thumbs, then pocketed the phone again. “Everything’s fine. Let’s talk about you. What are you going to study here?”
“I don’t know. They haven’t told me.”
“They haven’t? Most kids show up knowing exactly what they want to do.”
“Not me.”
“What did your PMAP say?”
“I, uh… didn’t get it back yet.” Joey decided not to go into detail about the strange alternative test he’d taken in place of the PMAP. He felt silly trying to explain it. Exactly how was Mr. Gray supposed to come up with a job recommendation by watching him perform magic tricks? Joey had no idea. He added it to the growing list of things that defied explanation.
“Forget the PMAP, then,” Janelle told him. “What do you say?” She sat down on the bleachers and tapped the seat next to her. “Tell me about yourself. What are you into? If you could study anything in the world—and you can, by the way—what would it be?”
“I don’t know,” Joey lied.
“Don’t do that. Really think about it. What do you want to get good at? What do you want to learn? Tell me.”
Joey grimaced. Only one subject came to mind, but it wasn’t something they taught at Exemplar Academy. “What if I told you I want to learn magic?”
“I’d tell you, join the club.”
“Huh?”
“What do you think I do here every day? What do you think Suhash is doing in his lab? Magic is just science people don’t understand yet. What’s your brand of magic?”
Joey smiled to himself. Janelle didn’t get it. The people at Exemplar Academy liked to think they were doing the impossible, but they didn’t understand the meaning of the word. He imagined Janelle’s response if he told her he wanted to study real magic. She would probably understand that as well as he understood quantum physics. “I honestly couldn’t tell you,” he said quite truthfully.
Janelle was persistent. “You have to have some idea. How else are you going to change the world?” she asked, quoting the school motto.
Joey chuckled. “Good one.”
Janelle didn’t crack a smile. “I’m serious. Don’t you want a better world than the one the grown-ups keep messing up for us? I read this morning that we had an oil spill on Earth Day! How wrong is that?”
“Pretty wrong,” Joey replied, a little sad that he wasn’t more surprised by the news.
“What are you going to do about it?”
Joey stared at her. “What am I going to do?” At first he thought Janelle was messing with him. Then he remembered she had thought building a particle collider in the gymnasium was a good idea. Janelle was clearly a type A, go-big-or-go-home kind of person—perfect for this school, unlike himself. “Look, Janelle,” Joey began. “I’m sure you’re going to take what you learn here and go create some kind of clean, alternative energy that transforms society one day. You could be the next Stephen Hawking—in fact, you probably are—but that’s you. Not me. I’m not going to change the world. I shouldn’t even be here.”
Janelle leaned back, reevaluating Joey. “I see how it is.… You weren’t being humble before. You don’t believe in yourself.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“It kind of is, but that’s okay. I told you, I’m not judging. Back in the day I was worried about coming here too. Why don’t you talk to Jules about it? She’s not just the dean; she’s also our school counselor.”
“I don’t need counseling.”
“There’s nothing wrong with talking to somebody if you’re having a problem, Joey. You should—”
“I’m not having a problem. I believe in myself plenty. I’m just being realistic, that’s all.”
“Define realistic,” Janelle said. “Better yet, redefine it. That’s what I did. Before I came here I had all kinds of ideas in my head that I was afraid to say out loud. They weren’t realistic. They weren’t possible. People wouldn’t let me try. What I didn’t understand was, people like us… we get to decide what’s possible. You’ll see. If you want to make magic, you’ve got to believe in yourself. It’s a prerequisite.”
Joey straightened up with a start. “Who told you that?”
“I don’t know if anyone ever told me,” Janelle said. “Maybe I heard someone say it in a movie one time. Or maybe I put it together for myself just being around this place.” She thought for a second, then got up off the bleachers. “Let me show you what I mean.” Janelle led Joey out of the gym and into the hall. Once she was satisfied the coast was clear, she took her phone back out. “That supercollider they told me I couldn’t build? I did
it anyway.”
Joey’s eyes bugged. “What?”
“I miniaturized everything and set it up in the basement. It’s running right now.”
She turned the screen toward Joey. He saw a webcam image of what he assumed was a homemade particle accelerator, but he had to take Janelle’s word for it. To him it was just a ring of metal tubing the size of a Frisbee, attached to a mini-generator and circuit board with a tangle of wires and a series of flashing lights. The table it was on vibrated as the device emitted a steady hum.
“This is what you’ve been doing on your phone? I thought you were texting someone.”
“No. I’m looking for Higgs boson particles,” Janelle said with a smile. “Been doing it all morning.” She swiped to another app, opening a program she used to monitor the experiment. There were numbers running, energy wavelengths spiking, and power levels pulsating, none of which Joey understood.
“That’s incredible.”
“I know, right?” Janelle’s phone pinged again, and a notification flashed on the screen in red. “Hmm.” She frowned and tapped a few buttons. “That’s interesting.”
Before Joey could ask if it was interesting good or interesting bad, they were interrupted by Janelle’s phone again. Joey had a hunch it would be the latter because of the sound it made when the alarm went off. This wasn’t the soft chime of a notification. Janelle’s phone was blowing up. “Okay, this is a little embarrassing.” She fiddled with the screen, trying to fix the problem, whatever it was. Another series of beeps came out of the phone, and Janelle made a concerned face. “That’s not good.”
Joey’s eyebrows went up. “What’s not good?”
Janelle blanched as she read the numbers on the screen. She put up a finger. “I’m sorry. Will you excuse me for one second?” Without waiting for an answer, she hustled down the hall to the elevator and hit the call button.
“Is there a problem?” Joey called after her.
“No problem!” she said brightly, hitting the button again.
Joey caught up with her outside the elevator. Her eyes were suddenly frantic. Her cool, confident veneer rattled. “Janelle, should I be worried about a black hole in the basement that could swallow up the known universe?”
“Pssshh.” Janelle smiled, playing it off. “You’re funny.” She hit the down button a third time. “Maybe a little one,” she admitted a second later. She put her fingers close together. “Teeny-tiny,” she stressed. She hit the button a fourth time and stared at the numbers above the door. “I mean, it’s probably nothing. Definitely not big enough to swallow the universe. The building maybe, but I really don’t think… I just need to… I mean, I want to have a look at…” She trailed off and hit the down button over and over. “Come on, come on, come on…” The elevator finally arrived, and Janelle smiled with relief. “There we go! Just wait here, okay?” she said, stepping inside. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere. And whatever you do, don’t tell—”
The elevator doors closed, cutting her off. She was gone.
Joey stared at the elevator doors, grappling with the fact that so far life at Exemplar Academy was almost as out there as anything he’d seen at Redondo’s theater. He thought about what to do next. Running seemed like the most sensible option, but how do you outrun a black hole? (Assuming there was a black hole, and further assuming Janelle couldn’t handle it if there was.) Joey scratched at an itch on the back of his neck, nearly hitting the ceiling when a white dove flew out of his collar.
“KOPECKY!”
Redondo’s voice echoed down the hall as the bird took off, flying in an erratic, confused pattern. Once Joey’s heart resumed beating, adrenaline surged through his body like super-soldier serum.
A little bird will tell you.…
Redondo was calling him back!
For the moment, Joey forgot all about Janelle and the cosmic incident brewing in the basement. The dove flew into the gym, surprising Esteban and his trainer. Joey grabbed his magic key and ran to the nearest door. It was a broom closet. Unsure of how to proceed, he held the key up in front of the doorknob. A keyhole appeared in the wood beneath it, with bright blue light pouring out of the opening. Joey pressed the key into place. He was going to take Janelle’s advice. It was time to redefine reality.
9 Through the Looking Glass
Joey was very happy to step into Redondo’s Off-Broadway realm inside the Majestic for a change. Thanks to his magic key, the Exemplar Academy broom closet door opened directly into the theater lobby, which looked a little brighter than it had the day before. Redondo had apparently replaced some of the bulbs in the chandelier and he had repaired the fallen sconce on the wall. The added light made the faded carpet appear more red than pink. As Joey walked across the lobby floor, it felt thicker and softer beneath his feet. Maybe it was just his imagination, but the plants by the theater door seemed to be “less dead” too. Joey touched a leaf on his way into the main auditorium. It was still brown and wilting, but it was more substantial than he remembered. Joey was sure that the same leaf would have crackled into dust at the slightest touch yesterday.
He wondered if the theater looked any better from the outside, but he wasn’t about to go check. The shadows of the Invisible Hand were still out there. They watched him from the door, talking to each other using screeching noises that sounded almost curious. Joey hurried out of the lobby, eager to leave them behind. When he entered the main house of the theater, it looked as though they were already inside.
Shazad and Leanora were both onstage, tied up from head to toe in thick ropes—the kind sailors might use to secure a ship to a dock. It was as if they were each stuck in the center of a giant knot. Only their heads were visible as they struggled to free themselves. Redondo was nowhere in sight.
“Oh my God!” Joey exclaimed, shocked to find them in such peril. They looked up, equally surprised to see him enter.
“You’re back?” Shazad asked, momentarily pausing his efforts to escape the ropes as Joey ran down the aisle. “I thought after yesterday Redondo would have gotten rid of you.”
“Not yet, he didn’t,” Joey said, joining them onstage. “Lucky for you. Hang on. I’ll get you out of there… somehow,” he added, searching the ropes for a weak point. He didn’t find one. The ropes were moving too much for that. They slithered around Shazad and Leanora like snakes, actively countering their efforts to try and slip out. Joey got too close and nearly got pulled into the massive knot with them. He jumped back just in time. “What do I do?”
“Don’t do anything,” Leanora said. “We’re kind of in the middle of something here.”
“What are you talking about?” Joey asked. “Who did this to you?”
“We did,” she replied. “And we’re going to undo it.”
“What? Where’s Redondo?”
“Not here yet,” Shazad said, squirming in place. “Don’t worry, it’s all part of the show.” His fingers emerged from in between the mess of ropes covering his midsection. “I’ve nearly got my right hand out. It won’t be long now.”
“You haven’t won anything yet,” Leanora said, looking very determined.
“What is this, another competition?” Joey asked. “You did this to yourselves on purpose?”
“Just a little something to pass the time,” Shazad said in a nonchalant voice. “We found the rope backstage. You might want to keep your distance.” But it was too late. Joey gasped as the ropes lashed out at his ankles and climbed up his legs like fast-growing vines. Before he knew it, they had wound their way around his torso and cinched his arms tight.
“What the—hey!”
Joey’s words were cut off as rope lines crept over his shoulders and ran over his mouth, gagging him. He gave a garbled, helpless cry and fell to his knees. The rope made several more passes around him, continuing to grow until it covered nearly every inch of his body.
“I guess Joey’s playing now too,” Leanora said. As she and Shazad worked to extricate themselves from
the enchanted entanglement, they explained that they were conducting their own Houdini-style escape challenge. So far, Shazad was winning. Every time Leanora got a hand free, fresh restraints wrapped around her wrist and tied it back down. Joey couldn’t even get that far. He squirmed around in the ropes, trying to break out, but it was no use. He had zero leverage, and the more he struggled, the tighter the ropes constricted. He might as well have been encased in cement.
“How are you doing that?” Leanora asked Shazad, frustrated as he stretched his right arm up, clearing the ropes around his collar.
“That’s the wrong question,” Shazad said matter-of-factly. “The wrong frame of mind. You can’t worry about what I’m doing, or how far ahead I am. You have to focus what you’re doing. What you can do.” Completely immobile, Joey watched as Shazad got his other arm free and pushed down on the ropes around his neck and shoulders. “If you want to be free, you can’t see yourself as trapped.” He squeezed his way out of his bonds and alighted gracefully on the stage. “That’s all there is to it.” The rope made no move to recapture him, but still, it refused to let Leanora and Joey go. “It’s a magic problem,” Shazad said, crossing the stage to where they were. “It needs a magical solution. You have to visualize the way out, or it won’t be there.” Shazad dove his arm into the shifting mass of ropes. “Keep still.”
Like I have a choice, Joey thought.
Shazad extracted his arm and walked across the stage with a line of rope in tow. He pulled it taut and gave the rope a good hard yank. Just like that, the knot came undone. Leanora and Joey stepped out of the lifeless coils and kicked them off. The ropes fell away and piled up on the stage. “That’s how you untie the un-untieable knot.” Shazad dropped the rope like he was dropping a microphone.
Leanora muttered a grudging thank-you and congratulations. Much like Joey, it appeared that only her pride had been injured, but Joey felt doubly foolish. It was the second time he had rushed onto the stage to rescue someone who didn’t need his help, only to end up being the one who needed saving. “Thanks for showing me the ropes,” he quipped, trying to cover his embarrassment with a little humor. “When I came in here, I was afraid the Invisible Hand had tied you two up.”
Order of the Majestic Page 11
