Max Quick

by Mark Jeffrey

  Casey was standing on water.

  Which was impossible . . . unless you happened to be free in the Pocket.

  Uh-oh.

  But that wasn’t all: She was sinking. Water was not perfectly solid in the Pocket. Oh, it would stay time-frozen if undisturbed. Max had seen the ocean back in Starland do that much. And you could walk on it if you moved quickly.

  But if you stood in one place too long . . . you would sink.

  Already, the slushy, time-slow water was up to her knees.

  If one of these guys noticed—!

  Another man arrived in a blur. He pointed to the Serps and said something.

  Wait a sec. Had that guy just . . . whooshed?

  Of course grown-ups could whoosh. Max kicked himself inwardly. In his mind’s eye, he’d pictured Ian, Casey, and himself cornered by adults several times. And each time, they’d simply whooshed away. No problem.

  Now, Max realized that they were in a lot more danger than he’d anticipated.

  One of the golden figures turned and addressed the children. “I am your captor, Mafdet. Slaves have your fathers and mothers been, and slaves you shall be again.”

  He pulled the chain and barked something. The kids groaned. Mafdet and the four-hundred-odd Serpents and Mermaids vanished in a giant whoosh-blur.

  The two gold-clad figures loitered for a moment. Then one whooshed after Mafdet. The other was about to follow.

  But then . . . he seemed to sense something was amiss.

  Suspicion clouded his gaze.

  Max held his breath.

  The man took a few steps toward the tunnel. Then, something crystallized in his mind. He whirled toward the pond and fixed his gaze directly on Casey.

  Max winced.

  But then, the man laughed to himself.

  What?

  Max looked toward Casey. She was no longer standing on water. Now, she stood in a paddleboat. She must have made the switch when the man’s back was turned!

  But then: disaster.

  Casey sneezed.

  The man reacted immediately, whooshing forward with such startling speed that he seemed to simply materialize in front of Casey.

  He grabbed her by the throat.

  She screamed.

  Both vanished in a whoosh-blur.

  Max’s face went white with horror. It had all happened so fast! He was stunned, rooted to the spot.

  This was his fault.

  How had he let Casey get caught?

  “Max!” Ian whisper-shouted in his face. “Max! We’ve got to go! C’mon!”

  Ian pushed Max forward and together they whooshed after Casey.

  At the far edge of the Great Lawn, Max and Ian came upon a monstrous Sky Chamber. Smaller crafts buzzed like bees around this great glowing hive. Still more Sky Chambers were parked elsewhere along the Lawn. Centurions in golden armor milled about everywhere. And then Max saw kids of every description performing menial labor: some carried baskets of laundry, others were serving food and drink, and still others carried boxes from one place to another.

  Ian pointed up. “Max! Watch it!”

  Numbly, Max followed Ian’s finger. Overhead was what looked like a boiling cloud. It flashed with turbulence until something fell out of the bottom that looked like a giant golden bell with jewels set into it. It headed right toward them.

  A gush of fear licked Max’s stomach. Had this thing spotted them? If it had, they were done for. They wouldn’t be able to help Casey at all. Guilt and despair choked Max.

  The golden bell landed on the Great Lawn. As it came to rest, the jewels purred and throbbed evenly, like it was breathing.

  A round doorway opened.

  First came what appeared to be a guard detail. Cen-turions, dressed in the same style of extremely reflective golden armor they had seen earlier, formed a protective circle.

  When they were in place, a striking woman appeared in the doorway.

  She was harshly beautiful with dark, lustrous hair. Her clothing appeared regal, yet ancient in style, like something Cleopatra might have worn.

  One of her eyes was pure black, but the other eye was an orb of pure, solid gold. She had emphasized this false golden eye with dark black makeup.

  She admired her reflection in the shined walls of the passageway, her lips pursed and her eyebrows arched.

  Then something startling happened.

  Three kids carrying laundry baskets happened to pass nearby. One of them muttered a joke; the sound of their laughter tinkled through the air for a brief instant and the woman’s face changed, contorting with savage rage. Her good eye seethed like a black flame.

  “How darest you laugh!” she howled. “Animals, laughing! It is an insult! Your dirty tongues will sting like never before ere this day is ended!”

  Centurions flew to her side. Her finger jabbed at the children and they turned white with horror.

  The children begged for mercy. But the woman just watched with grim satisfaction as they were hauled off.

  When he heard her voice, Max’s eyes bulged with recognition.

  “Ian! That’s Jadeth! That’s the woman Siren was talking to in the Whispering Stone!”

  A centurion appeared. He held Casey gruffly by one arm.

  Casey! Max mouthed.

  “My Queen,” the man said. “I found this one wandering. She was alone.”

  Jadeth looked Casey up and down. “Didst thou,” she purred, her mood switching at the drop of a hat. “One of the prettier ones, I must admit.”

  Casey looked up, confused.

  Jadeth held Casey’s chin in her hand. “What is thy name?”

  “Casey,” she replied.

  “Casey,” Jadeth repeated, rearranging Casey’s hair. “Thou could be so much more beautiful. I could help.”

  Casey looked up at Jadeth with a mixture of fear and admiration.

  “Do—do you really think so?” she replied.

  Max and Ian both started. What?

  Casey, what are you doing? Max shouted in his mind.

  Jadeth spoke over her shoulder. “Thank you, centurion. Thou may depart.”

  As the centurion bowed and did so, another man approached. He was older and wore a flowing red robe. His face was round and cherubic.

  “Jadeth,” the man croaked with a voice like boulders rubbing together. She turned.

  “Philomen,” she gushed with a gooey voice. She reached out for his hands, but he drew away as if he detested physical contact. She seemed to sense her mistake—and then pretended it never happened.

  “Look!” Jadeth said. Her one inky eye indicated Casey. “A pet. What dost thou think?”

  “I would not know, my Queen. I prefer to gaze upon the monuments of Nibiru.” His empty gaze swept over Cleopatra’s Needle, an Egyptian obelisk set just off the Great Lawn.

  Jadeth tsked at him. “I will never truly understand thee, Philomen.” She smiled, drinking this in for a moment and then said, “I also do not understand why these human children are not affected by the Jewel of Time!”

  “The Jewel is attuned to time as it moves on Nibiru,” Philomen explained. “Therefore, these human children who are unaffected must have something of Nibiru in them. It is the only explanation.”

  Jadeth looked like someone had just socked her in the gut. “Impossible! Any news of the Pendant?”

  Philomen nodded. “Yes, there is some news.”

  “Oh, do tell me!” said Jadeth.

  “I shall do better than that. I shall let Siren tell you himself.”

  At that, Casey cringed and Jadeth’s mood darkened as well. “Thou has brought him here? That talking animal?”

  Philomen nodded slightly.

  Jadeth snorted in disgust. “Bah! I no longer believe him. He promised us the Pendant! For five long years we have been looking, with no result. Seven billion human slaves! He promised!”

  “Five years?” Max whispered. “Wait. Did she just say five years?”

  Ian nodded. “Makes sense. It
’s only been days for you, a whole year for me and the Serps, and five years in New York. The Pocket is the strongest here, so even more time has passed for them than for us.”

  The sound of throat clearing was suddenly nearby.

  Siren.

  “Your pardon, my Queen,” Siren said with a thick accent. “I was asked to come for a . . . visit.”

  “Perhaps . . . ,” Philomen said calmly. “Perhaps we should hear what Mr. Siren has to say.”

  Then Siren caught sight of Casey and something like surprise played across his face. There was an uncomfortable silence as he calculated what her presence there might mean. But he had bigger worries at present: Jadeth watched him expectantly.

  “Ah. Well. As you know, the Pendant was forged in antiquity by Enki. Your father, Enlil, feared a human rebellion. He—”

  “My father feared nothing, swine!”

  Siren bowed tactfully. “As a precaution, then. Enlil commanded his brother Enki to create the Pendant, a device capable of removing the free will of any being. Enki obeyed—but hid it somewhere on Earth. This was approximately six thousand years ago by our calendars.”

  “Get to the point,” Jadeth growled.

  “Stopped time has allowed us to explore the world unhindered. We have entered many secret places. We have learned that the Pendant is mentioned in several ancient human texts. Three Akkadian tablets speak of it. There is an Egyptian account, which also mentions a certain ‘Pyramid of the Arches.’ Herodotus and a Roman historian named Josephus speak of it briefly.

  “But the actual hiding place itself eludes us. In a scroll fragment we have, it quotes Enki as saying:

  “‘Perfectly did I hide it. Even if I should reveal the exact spot where it is hidden, still, they would find only air and dust.’

  “And in another:

  “‘Only when it is time for it to be found, can it be found. And even then, only those who are meant to find it, can find it.’

  “How such a thing could be achieved, I do not yet know. But this means something of great import.”

  Jadeth grew impatient.

  “Nothing can be hidden perfectly!” She pouted for a moment and then said, “A long time hast thou been looking. Long and long . . . and long again. If thou doest not soon produce the Pendant, thou shall not have eternal life. Instead, thy life will be forfeit!”

  Siren opened his mouth to speak, but Philomen interrupted. “But he is getting closer, my Queen. We are now absolutely certain that it is here, hidden on Earth. These ancient texts prove it.”

  Jadeth paced like a caged animal. “Yes, but how to find it? It is hidden amidst seven billion humans, Philomen. Seven billion! Humans have overrun this world like a plague. And they are getting stronger. Although they cannot yet challenge Nibiru, it may not be long before they can.

  “That,” she spat, “is why we have every right to use the Pendant to remove their free will. With the Pendant, we shall have seven billions slaves. And with that army, we shall return to Nibiru and claim the Throne. For a Queen am I!”

  Jadeth turned, and with a self-satisfied smile, headed back for her golden bell. Philomen followed, smiling beatifically to himself.

  Somehow, Jadeth had forgotten all about Casey.

  But Siren had not. As soon as Jadeth’s back was to him, Siren’s ghoulish white hands lashed out for her shoulders. He pulled her face close to his.

  Intensely, Siren whispered one word:

  “Run!”

  Savagely, he turned her around, pointing her away from the ship. Casey didn’t argue. She whooshed away, out of Central Park and into the street beyond.

  As soon as they were out of earshot Max said, “That’s it. We’re out of here. That woman is nuts.”

  Ian nodded in agreement. “I’m with you.”

  “We’ve got to find Casey,” Max said. “Then we’re leaving New York. This is way more than we can handle on our own.”

  “But what about Mr. E?” Ian asked. “I thought we were going to try and find him?”

  “No,” Max said bitterly. “We need a new plan.”

  They moved slowly toward the street Casey had whooshed down, zipping from one bush to the next. Then they came upon a clump of fifty centurions, huddled up about something.

  To their dismay, they saw that there was no way around them.

  “We don’t have time for this,” whispered Max.

  “Casey could be miles away in just a few minutes,” Ian replied.

  “We’re going to have to jump,” Max said.

  Ian stared at him incredulously. “What?”

  “Jump,” Max repeated. “As in, jump over them.”

  “For the record, you are nuts. Utterly. And completely. Nuts.”

  Watching to be sure no one else was looking, Max whisper-shouted, “Now!” and he and Ian started running. On Max’s signal, they both pushed off against the ground as hard as they could. And sailed into the air. Max prayed the centurions would not look up . . . and that they would not break their necks.

  The jump carried them well over the trees and into a street beyond Central Park. Then the pavement was coming up at them, fast, too fast!

  “Kick against the street!” Ian said to him. “Trust me, kick!”

  The ground arrived all too soon and Max did as Ian instructed: He kicked the blacktop as hard as he could, which sent him tumbling down the road with Ian.

  But when they came to a stop they were uninjured.

  “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction—even in the Pocket,” Ian said with a smile on his face.

  Max was unamused.

  When they found Casey several blocks away, she was eating a hot dog.

  “Casey!” Max said as he whooshed up. “Are you all right?”

  She nodded mutely.

  “Siren didn’t hurt you, did he?”

  She shook her head. But Max wasn’t sure.

  Then he was distracted. There was something about a man time-frozen near Casey. He looked familiar.

  And did he just . . . blink?

  No, of course not. It was just frayed nerves. He was being ridiculous.

  Ian spoke to Casey now. “Max and I were talking, and we both think we should get out of here. For now, anyway. It’s just too dangerous here, out in the open, with all the centurions . . .”

  Casey didn’t say anything at first. “Okay,” she said finally. On impulse, Max gave her a hug. She was stiff, and Max wondered if he’d done the right thing. Then she latched on to him, letting out a good cry.

  “Oh . . . this is all so scary! I don’t know what we’re going to do!” she sobbed.

  “I know,” Max said. “But we’re going to be okay. We just need some time to sort things out.”

  “That’s going to be a lot harder than you think,” said a voice.

  A hand grabbed Max by the neck and his stomach turned to icy fear. What was happening?

  A time-frozen man next to Casey suddenly came to life like a mannequin set free by magic.

  He moved.

  He grabbed Casey by the shoulder and pulled her away from Max.

  These men were only pretending to be time-frozen, waiting for us to get close enough . . .

  Ian’s gaze darted between the two large men. No one had caught him yet. He could still run—but that would mean deserting Max and Casey.

  “Ian! Run!” Max yelled. “It’s all up to you now! Go! Go! Go!”

  Clearly not happy with this option, but seeing the logic of it, Ian drew his Serp blade and zipped down the street.

  Max’s head was yanked back. To his dismay, he found himself looking up at the face of the very same man who had grabbed him back at the Starland Museum of Antiquities.

  “Not happy to see me again, I’ll bet,” he said, grinning viciously.

  Ian’s whoosh-blur hadn’t gone more than half a block when a golden whoosh-blur intercepted it.

  Ian cried out in surprise.

  “Ah. Mr. Mafdet. Nice catch,” the man holding Max called
out. “Mr. Siren’s going to want to see these three right away.”

  Chapter 15

  The Singular Eye

  The three kids were guided gruffly down a spacious oval passageway. The inside of the Sky Chamber was every bit as magnificent as the outside. Jewels laid into the walls gave off a shimmering, watery light, and the passageways seemed organic, almost like they were inside a giant beehive.

  In short, everything here spoke of perfection, mastery.

  None of which made Max feel very good at all. It merely underlined how stupid he’d been to lead them here. What had he been thinking? How had things gone so wrong so fast?

  Max surveyed his companions. Casey looked a little pale, but in general seemed to be holding up okay.

  Ian was somewhere between completely fascinated and terrified. He turned to Max and whispered, “If I have to die, this is a really brilliant way to go—but I really, really hope I don’t have to.”

  It was over, though. No one else was free to stop Jadeth and Siren. There was no one left to undo the Pocket.

  Still, Max noticed that their captors were oddly nervous and agitated. Which really made no sense at all: This was their Sky Chamber.

  Right?

  Nevertheless, it felt to Max like they were sneaking around. Several times, the party halted while Mafdet went ahead and checked things out. Then he waved them forward.

  Something odd was going on.

  Finally they came to a hallway that ended in a round alcove. One of their captors stepped onto a small platform and nodded and two large, perfectly round mirrors swung toward him from either side. When they lined up so that his reflection stretched to infinity in either direction, there was a small flash of light—and he was gone.

  Mafdet shoved Max roughly toward the platform. Max turned toward him and glared. “Thou wilt not eye me so,” Mafdet hissed at Max. He nodded toward the platform. “Up there. You as well,” Mafdet said, indicating Ian and Casey.

  The threesome reluctantly stepped up together. In the mirrors, Max saw an infinity of Maxes stretched out before him. When his gaze rose to meet those of his many reflections, the infinite line of Maxes did the same. And at that very instant, he felt a tugging sensation deep in his belly—and he was transported into a wholly different location.