Rebel Genius

by Michael Dante DiMartino

  The anatomical drawings switched to a symbol: a six-pointed star inside a hexagon. Crisscrossed lines created a smaller star and hexagon inside the larger shapes and connected the center points of a number of circles. Giacomo counted thirteen circles in all.

  The picture changed again. The thick black outline of a cube appeared, the hexagon-star’s faded image still visible behind it. Several more images followed, showing the different shapes that could be drawn from the blueprint of the original symbol.

  Then a familiar shape appeared—the mandorla. As Giacomo stared at its lines, they began to waver and vibrate. Then his head pounded. His vision blurred. The temperature inside the box plunged to freezing and Giacomo shivered uncontrollably. Streams of color shot out of the mandorla’s eye, slamming into him like a tempest. Deafening low booms rattled his bones and shook skin from muscle.

  Giacomo kicked the door over and over, trying to break his way out, but it refused to yield. Yellows, reds, and blues swirled around him, obscuring the walls of the box. The force of the winds picked him up and spun him.

  He was back in the Wellspring.

  Mico whipped past, caught in the storm’s grip. Giacomo reached out, but each time his fingers nearly wrapped around Mico, the wind whirled them again, and they drifted farther apart.

  Another wave of color crashed over him, and Giacomo lost sight of Mico altogether. The cold developed into searing heat. Fearing he’d be lost in the Wellspring forever, Giacomo frantically tried to figure out a way to escape. But fighting the storm only made it worse. The deafening bangs transformed into a loud, droning buzz. Giacomo could barely think. His senses overwhelmed, he tried to focus on a peaceful image. Something that could ground him amid the madness.

  He pictured his hideout in Virenzia’s sewers, then his comfortable room in Baldassare’s villa, and finally Pietro’s studio. None of the places offered any relief. Then the image of the Cave of Alessio popped into his mind. He could hear the gentle rush of the river, touch the rough bark of the ancient tree, and feel the cool mist from the waterfall.

  Gradually, the wind died down and the temperature evened out. The loud drone transformed into the sound of rushing water. When Giacomo opened his eyes, his feet were on the ground, and he was pushed up against the gnarled tree. He was panting and sweaty, but otherwise all right. Mico lay across a branch, feathers askew, chirping woozily.

  It had worked! He’d tamed the Wellspring, at least for the moment. The storm dwindled into a fog of color, like a painter’s smeared palette.

  Once the immediate danger passed, the shock of what just happened sunk in—somehow the duke’s bizarre box hadn’t only opened the Wellspring; it had physically transported Giacomo somewhere else. But he wasn’t yet sure if the Cave of Alessio was real, or another Wellspring-induced vision.

  He took a step, but jumped back when he noticed the baby creature had come through with him. It crawled around, touching whatever was in its path, uttering weird wheezing sounds. Its behavior reminded him of a curious child, eager to explore its new surroundings. When it came upon a pile of rocks, the creature stuffed one into its mouth and ate it, crunching it between its sharp teeth. Then it splashed through the river and disappeared into the bushes on the opposite shore.

  Giacomo walked along a path toward the waterfall, wondering if the duke had used his invention to access the Wellspring too. The scars on his face seemed to suggest so.

  As the question rattled around in his head, he arrived at the mouth of the cave. He touched the damp, slick rocks. The cave sure felt real. He peered in, hoping to see the Compass, but the space was empty, leaving him discouraged. Did I make a mistake? Am I leading everyone astray? He’d barely formed the thought when a blue light shimmered, revealing the Compass floating inside the suspended octahedron. As he let the relief sink in, his fingers tingled with warmth.

  But before he could take a closer look, a Genius’s screech filled the skies. The call was much too loud and deep to be Mico’s. Giacomo looked up. Out of the colored fog emerged an enormous silver-feathered Genius.

  Giacomo pulled Mico close and hid behind a large boulder near the cave’s entrance.

  The Genius landed next to the tree. Giacomo spotted three figures sitting on the creature. The man on the neck dismounted first. His wavy black hair hung over his ears and down to his angular jaw, which was covered in a close-cropped beard. A long white cloak flowed off his broad shoulders. In his right hand he carried a tall staff with a diamond set atop its handle. Giacomo noticed the empty space on the Genius’s crown where the diamond should’ve been. Giacomo shuddered, realizing the man had to be Ugalino. The man patted the Genius’s feathers. “Wait here, Ciro.”

  Accompanying Ugalino was a huge, white, muscular figure with four arms and four legs—the Tulpa.

  Surprisingly, there was a third person with them as well—a skinny, curly-haired boy. The Tulpa picked him up off the Genius’s back and shoved him toward Ugalino. As the boy raised his head, Giacomo was shocked to see Enzio’s frightened face.

  I’m definitely not imagining this, Giacomo thought. If he hadn’t been sure before, he was now. This must all be happening in the real world, Giacomo surmised, feeling his chest tighten. But if that was true, it meant Ugalino must have been at Baldassare’s villa. Had something terrible happened to Enzio’s parents and Pietro? It also meant the entire mission was a failure. Ugalino had beaten them to the Creator’s Compass.

  11

  A TRICK OF THE EYE

  Zanobius pulled Enzio from Ciro’s back and pushed him toward Ugalino, relieved to finally be at their destination.

  For over a week, they’d spent much of their time soaring west above Zizzola. Knowing the Compass was within his grasp, Ugalino abandoned his usual caution and they traveled both night and day. They probably would have gotten to the cave sooner if not for all the breaks. Maybe it was the extra passenger, but Ciro’s strength had seemed to fade from flying for extended stretches over the long distances. So they were forced to land several times a day to give the Genius time to rest. Zanobius wondered if the Genius’s weakness might be due to the fact that its source of power—its diamond—was on Ugalino’s staff, not in its crown.

  The thought had struck him when he witnessed Pietro’s Genius in action. It seemed fully capable of handling itself, almost independent. Ciro was the opposite—reliant on Ugalino’s instructions, directionless without him. Just like Zanobius.

  “The Compass should be in the cave behind the waterfall,” Enzio said.

  Zanobius could hear Ugalino behind them as they trudged up a narrow path that passed the falls. Water misted over them. As they got closer, Zanobius noticed a blue light pulsating from within the cave.

  “See, I told you,” Enzio said as they walked in.

  Swiftly, Ugalino marched past, heading straight for the Compass. It was as large as the one Zanobius had seen in Duke Oberto’s painting, its two golden legs nearly the length of his own. It floated inside an octahedral casing that lit up the cave and cast shadows on the damp walls.

  As he stepped closer, Zanobius thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. For a moment, it looked like the Compass and the blue shell around it had vanished. But a step later, it reappeared. He stopped and leaned left and right, noticing that the Compass was only visible at certain angles.

  Ugalino also realized something was amiss. He circled to the opposite side and reached out. His hand easily passed through both the outer shell and the Compass.

  “It’s a mirage!” Ugalino marched toward Enzio, raising his staff. “I warned you what would happen if you lied to me!”

  Grab him.

  Zanobius took Enzio by the shoulders.

  “I told you the truth!” Enzio shook with fear. He seemed just as surprised that the Compass wasn’t there.

  “Was this one of Pietro’s illusions?” Ugalino asked. “Did he really think he could fool me with a simple trick of light?”

  “No, he thought it was here,” Enzio said
. “Everyone did.”

  Drown him, Ugalino commanded. I want him to suffer.

  But as Zanobius pushed Enzio toward the falls, he was surprised to find a part of him wanted to resist. The boy hadn’t deliberately deceived them and didn’t deserve this punishment, a rebellious voice told him. Zanobius had a vague notion that he’d felt this way before. In his mind, he saw the hazy silhouette of a woman. And a child …

  What are you waiting for? Ugalino shouted in his head.

  And as quickly as the thoughts formed, they were gone. Zanobius shoved the boy’s head into the rushing water.

  Enzio flailed, desperate to escape, but Zanobius didn’t budge. Only Ugalino’s command could save the boy’s life now.

  Out of nowhere, a rock slammed against the back of Zanobius’s head. It wasn’t painful, but it startled him enough that he turned, pulling Enzio out of the water.

  “Where’d that come from?” Ugalino looked around in confusion.

  Zanobius scanned the cave. A few feet away, the image of a boy with shaggy hair appeared for a split second, then vanished. Was it another illusion, like the Compass?

  “I see someone! Right there!” Zanobius pointed where he’d last spotted the boy. Distracted, he dropped Enzio, who gasped for air.

  Ugalino came to his side and the two of them stalked their invisible prey.

  “There he is!” Ugalino fired a quick blast from his staff. But the shaggy-haired boy disappeared again and the dagger of light missed, cracking the cave wall instead. He kept appearing in quick flashes—there for a split second, then gone. “Is that the boy you told us about?” Ugalino asked Enzio. “The one who located the Compass?”

  There was no answer, only a loud splash. Zanobius and his master spun toward the falls, but Enzio was gone. They’d only turned their backs for a moment, but it was long enough for Enzio to escape.

  “Bring him back!” Ugalino shouted. “I’ll keep looking for the other boy.”

  Zanobius jumped through the waterfall and emerged outside, drenched. He glanced around, but Enzio was nowhere in sight. Rumbling came from behind. He turned just as a boulder crashed down the slope and onto his head. He reeled, but regained his balance. Above the falls, Enzio scrambled away, kicking rocks loose as he climbed. Zanobius knocked aside the falling rocks and went after him.

  Like a startled roach, Enzio zigzagged up the rock face, but Zanobius was faster, using his limbs like a spider to propel himself up the cliff side.

  Enzio dove behind a large boulder and used both legs to dislodge it. The rock crunched and crashed its way down the hill. It slammed into Zanobius, knocking him back several feet. But it wasn’t enough to stop him.

  Zanobius made one last lunge up the hill and clutched Enzio’s ankle. With his free leg, Enzio smashed his foot into Zanobius’s face over and over. Annoyed, Zanobius yanked Enzio’s leg, pulling him down. With his two front arms, he pinned the boy’s shoulders to the rocks; his two back arms restrained his legs.

  “Stop running!” Zanobius called out.

  “Stop trying to kill me!” Enzio shot back.

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You were about to drown me!”

  Zanobius fell silent. His thoughts felt mixed up.

  “Ugalino ordered me to kill you,” Zanobius tried to explain. “I … I didn’t want to.”

  “I didn’t hear him say anything,” Enzio replied.

  Zanobius didn’t want to elaborate on how he could hear Ugalino’s voice in his mind. The boy was already unhinged enough as it was.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Enzio continued. “Ugalino’s not here now, so how about you let me go?”

  The rebellious voice returned and Zanobius found himself seriously considering Enzio’s request. He could turn his back and give Enzio time to escape, then tell Ugalino that the boy had outsmarted him and gotten away. Zanobius shook off the thought—his master would know he was lying.

  “Ugalino is my creator,” Zanobius said. “I have to obey him.”

  “Even if that means killing someone innocent like me?”

  Zanobius nodded gravely. He couldn’t defy Ugalino, even if he questioned his master’s orders. He lifted Enzio to his feet. “I have to take you back now. He’ll wonder why I’ve been gone so long.”

  “The Compass isn’t here. He doesn’t have any use for me. What do you think is going to happen to me once we go back down there?”

  Zanobius felt his grip loosen around Enzio’s arms. It would be the simplest thing to let him go. But Ugalino’s voice seared into his head.

  The other boy is gone. Bring Enzio here. Now.

  Zanobius’s hands tightened again. He dragged Enzio down the rocky slope and back into the cave, where Ugalino gazed at the false Compass.

  He listened for his master’s order to finish off Enzio. He didn’t hear one.

  Ugalino faced Enzio. “There was another boy here, with long, shaggy hair. Tell me about him.”

  “Giacomo?” Enzio sounded surprised. “He was in the cave?” He looked around, but there was no sign of the boy now.

  “Why did your friend believe the Compass would be found here?”

  “First off, he’s not my friend,” Enzio replied. “He just lived in my house and ate my food.”

  Ugalino scowled. “Don’t act cute or I’ll have Zanobius shove you under the waterfall again.”

  “Okay, okay,” Enzio said. “Look, I don’t know much about him. He showed up at my house a few weeks ago. He claimed he had just gotten his Genius, which is kind of weird for a kid who’s twelve, right? But that’s not even the strangest part. The reason I thought the Compass was in this cave is because Giacomo saw it here when he looked into the Wellspring.”

  “Impossible,” Ugalino said.

  The Wellspring? Was that a place? Zanobius had never heard of it. But his master’s stunned reaction told him what he needed to know—Giacomo was powerful, much more powerful than Ugalino had expected.

  Stay with him, his master instructed. Don’t let him out of this cave. I’ll be back soon.

  Ugalino marched out.

  “Where are you going?” Zanobius asked. His master didn’t answer.

  Ugalino climbed onto Ciro and took off into the sky, leaving Zanobius alone with Enzio.

  Zanobius pointed to the back wall of the cave. “Sit over there. And don’t move.”

  Enzio muttered an exhausted “Fine.” He shuffled away without a fight.

  Zanobius stood sentinel at the mouth of the cave and tried to listen in on his master’s distant thoughts, hoping to hear what he was plotting. Instead, the rebellious voice spoke again, asking him a simple question.

  How long can you go on living like this?

  12

  THE CAMERA OBSCURA

  Giacomo crouched behind the bushes, watching the Tulpa stand guard at the mouth of the cave, Enzio his prisoner. Clad only in a skirt of red fabric, the muscular, round-faced Tulpa appeared incredibly lifelike. It had extra arms and legs, skin like alabaster, and short, curly hair as pale as snow, but it moved and talked and had expressions, just like a human.

  While studying the beautiful markings emblazoned on its torso, Giacomo was struck by the fact that they were identical to the six-pointed star pattern he’d seen projected on the wall of the duke’s mysterious contraption.

  Giacomo struggled to understand what was happening. Somehow, the Wellspring had transported him to the Cave of Alessio, where he could see Ugalino and his Tulpa. But the even stranger part was that they were able to catch glimpses of him. Like the mandorla circles, it seemed as if the Wellspring and the real world overlapped and Giacomo had been able to pop between them, though he had no idea how he had done it.

  The good news was the Compass in the cave wasn’t real and Ugalino hadn’t been able to take it. The bad news was the Compass in the cave wasn’t real and they would have to begin their search all over again. But the more pressing problem was Enzio.

  Giacomo tried to figure out how to sneak
past Zanobius and save Enzio without being spotted again, but before Giacomo could make a move, colors began to swirl around him, obscuring the tree, the waterfall, and the Tulpa. The pounding returned and the heat flooded back. He braced himself as he and Mico were sucked away into the Wellspring’s vortex. First, he felt the blistering pain, like his flesh was peeling away. Next came a suffocating pressure, like being pressed between two slabs of marble. His pounding heart slammed against his chest. He tried to inhale, but his lungs wouldn’t fill; he tried to scream, but he couldn’t make a sound. Even though Giacomo had been through this before, he knew he could never get used to it.

  In an instant, the pain eased and Giacomo was back inside the locked box. The light in the glass portal was now gone.

  Savino’s muffled voice came through the wall. “Okay, the machine is off now!”

  “Giacomo! Giacomo!” Milena shouted.

  He fell to his knees, too weak to respond. Mico wound dizzy circles around him, then dropped into his cupped hands, exhausted. Giacomo heard a metal scrape. The door swung open, revealing Milena, her face full of worry.

  “Are you okay?” she said, kneeling next to him. “You disappeared upstairs. We found the secret passage and figured you came down here. But why?”

  “Ugalino…” Giacomo managed to whisper. “His Tulpa … I saw them…”

  “Where? Here in the castle?”

  “No. At the Cave of Alessio.”

  Milena stared back skeptically. Savino poked his head through the doorway. “Uh, what did he just say?”

  Giacomo sat up, beginning to feel like himself again. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but you have to believe me.” He proceeded to tell them how he’d followed the cries of a baby to the box, was locked in, saw the mandorla projected on the wall, and got sucked into the Wellspring, which took him to the cave, where he saw Ugalino and the Tulpa, who almost drowned Enzio. As he heard himself saying it all out loud, it did sound pretty far-fetched.