by Mark Young
“I wanted to stay and listen through the door, but the drones carried me back here,” Higgy said. He was sitting on the bottom bunk, with no clothes on his body which was made of green protoplasm. Higgy had recently decided to stop hiding his gooey self in layers of clothes and bandages, which is why they had gotten in trouble in London.
“Like always, Mumtaz didn’t tell me anything,” Newton lied. “She said it was just a coincidence that her name is an anagram of Zoumba Summit.”
Odifin wheeled up to him. “And you believe her?” he asked, his voice crackling from the speaker attached to the jar of liquid that held him.
Newton shrugged. “I don’t know. But she made it pretty clear that there’s no point in asking any more questions. All we really know is that the future of the school depends on me and Shelly. We’re going to have to wait for the future to get answers.”
“That’s not fair!” yelled Theremin. The robot’s eyes flashed red. “We need answers. You need answers! I say we go to her office and demand them.”
“Yeah,” agreed Rotwang. Messy black hair hung down over his eyes, as usual.
Newton held up his hands. “No!” he yelled, and his friends all looked at him, surprised. Newton hardly ever yelled. “We’ve wasted too much time searching for answers that we’re never going to get. I just want to have a normal life.”
“But don’t you want to find your family?” Shelly asked.
“No,” Newton said, and it was easy to sound convincing, now that he knew he didn’t have one. “No, not anymore. I have you guys. That’s enough.”
Shelly hugged him again. “That’s so sweet, Newton.”
“I’ll always be your bro, bro,” Theremin said. “But are you sure you don’t want to keep looking?”
“I’m sure,” Newton said, and he looked at his friends, one by one. “Let’s just put all this behind us, okay?”
“Okay,” everyone answered, although Shelly was avoiding Newton’s gaze.
“Isn’t there some big event coming up?” Newton asked. “Let’s just have fun doing whatever that is.”
“As a matter of fact, Founder’s Day is coming up,” Odifin replied. “It’s a big celebration honoring the founding of Franken-Sci High.”
“See, that sounds like fun!” Newton said. “So let’s all get ready for Founder’s Day and try to forget all about the future and that other stuff for now. Okay?”
Shelly frowned. “Okaaaaay,” she said slowly. “I need to go check on my animals in the basement. See you all at dinner?”
“Certainly!” Higgy said. “In fact, I might head to the cafeteria right now for a snack. All this excitement has made me hungry.”
“Since when have you needed excitement to make you hungry?” Theremin teased. “You’re always hungry!”
Higgy patted his green belly, which jiggled. “I need a lot of energy to keep this protoplasm in top form.”
“I’ll go with you, Higgy,” said Rotwang. Over six-feet-tall and skinny as a test tube, Rotwang could eat more than anyone not made of green goo.
“I suppose I’ll join you,” Odifin said. “I can people-watch while you eat.”
Theremin turned to Newton. “What do you say, bro? Want to maybe play some laser hockey?”
Newton yawned. “Not right now. I’m kind of tired from London and everything. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Sure, bro,” Theremin said, and the room emptied out. He climbed up onto his top bunk and let out a long breath. He hated lying to his friends, but at least they would all be safe now. And he could wait a few decades to find out why the professors had created him, right?
Bing! The tablet in his sweatshirt pocket made a notification noise, and Newton took it out. A holographic envelope projected from the screen, and Newton touched his finger to the seal. The words popped out and hung in the air in front of him.
NEWTON,
YOU ARE INVITED TO A TOUR OF CROWNINSHIELD INDUSTRIES NEXT SATURDAY AT 10 AM. A PORTAL PASS WILL BE PROVIDED FOR YOU.
MIMI CROWNINSHIELD
Newton stared at the invitation. Mimi had always puzzled him. He’d seen her be super mean to Shelly, but she’d been polite to Newton and seemed interested in him. He had no idea why she wanted to invite him to her family’s company headquarters, but it would give him something to do besides worry about the future. He pressed the YES button on the hologram, and holographic confetti popped out. Then the hologram disappeared.
Mimi, what are you up to now? Newton wondered.
* * *
“Mimi, what are you up to now?” Shelly asked Mimi the next day in the hallway, after Newton had told her about Mimi’s invitation.
Mimi’s blue eyes widened, making her look like an innocent angel. “Why on earth would I have something up my sleeve?” she asked. “My family’s company is preparing some very special surprises for the Founder’s Day celebration, and Newton is my friend, so I thought he’d like to see him. He didn’t get to go on the tour with the freshman class like everyone else did this summer.”
Shelly frowned. “Seriously? I’m supposed to believe that you have no ulterior motives for this nice gesture?”
Mimi sighed. “Shelly, I know you and I haven’t always gotten along, but you have to admit that I’ve never done anything bad to Newton, right?”
“Well…” Shelly’s voice trailed off.
“Anyway, Newton already said he wants to come,” Mimi pointed out. “And when he comes back, I’m sure he’ll tell you he had a great time.”
“Hmpf!” was all Shelly could respond, and she turned on her heel and walked away, her crocheted snake scarf flapping behind her.
Mimi grinned. “So trusting, Shelly,” she whispered. “So trusting…”
* * *
The week passed by quickly, and Newton was surprised at how normal everything felt compared to everything that had happened since he came to the school. Well, normal by Franken-Sci High standards.
Every day he licked his locker security panel to identify the flavor so he could open it. The week’s options had been hot licorice, liverwurst, chocolate-covered-mushroom, garlic, and banana-blue-cheese.
Every day he went to class. In Physics of Phys Ed, he swung on ropes over a pit of hybrid shark-crocodiles. In Quantum Emotional Chemistry for Non-Chemistry Students, he worked on a “Beautiful Sadness” formula—the kind of sadness you feel when you watch a movie about a heroic dog or when you see a sunset and are sad that the day is over even though the sky looks beautiful. And in Retro Robotics class, he actually had fun making an old-school mini wind-up robot.
Every day he ate in the cafeteria. He tried new dishes invented by the cafeteria cooks. Peanut butter balls with so much protein in them that they came to life and bounced up and down on their own. A kale salad that tasted like pepperoni pizza. Chicken wings that flew right into his mouth.
Yes, it was a normal week at Franken-Sci High all right, and Newton settled in and began to enjoy himself. Sure, the knowledge that he was a genetically-engineered being was always in the back of his mind, poking at his brain cells, but he pushed it aside.
Then Saturday came, and Newton reported to Ms. Mumtaz’s office at 9:55, five minutes earlier than Mimi had asked him to. He knew Mimi didn’t like lateness. The door was open, and Ms. Mumtaz was sitting at her desk. She stared at Newton through her cat-eye glasses.
“Hello, Newton,” she said. “How’s everything going?”
“Just fine,” he said, staring right back at her. “Everything’s perfectly normal. Like nothing weird ever happened.”
She nodded, bobbing her head like a bird, which wasn’t surprising. With her long, thin, neck and slim, pointy nose, she had always reminded Newton of a bird.
“Glad to hear it,” she said. “I’m glad to see you’ve calmed down, Newton. Nothing to do now but look forward to the future.”
“Sure,” Newton replied, although inside he was thinking: You mean the future that’s going to be a disaster unless I somehow stop it wi
th my freaky powers!
“Good morning, Newton!”
Mimi entered the office, neatly dressed in a denim skirt, sneakers, and a white collared shirt with a blue vest over it. Her blond curls bounced on her shoulders.
“Uh, hi, Mimi,” he greeted her.
Mimi held out a hand to Ms. Mumtaz. “We’re ready for the portal pass, please,” she said.
The Head Mistress handed a paper brochure of the school to Mimi. Mimi opened it all the way into a big square. Then she folded it into smaller and smaller squares. Finally, she folded it diagonally so that the top left and bottom right corners touched.
The tightly-folded brochure began to spin, and floated out of her hands. As it spun faster and faster, it created a rotating column of air. Newton’s wavy hair whipped in front of his eyes. Then the whirling stopped, and a black hole of glowing light appeared where the brochure had been.
“Ladies, first,” Mimi said, and she stepped through the human-size hole and disappeared.
“Have fun, Newton!” Ms. Mumtaz called out, as he stepped through the portal behind Mimi.
Newton blinked. They had emerged into the bright sunlight. The portal closed and Mimi caught the brochure before it hit the ground, and tucked it into her skirt pocket. Then she gestured in front of her.
“Come on! We can take the funicular to the top of the mountain,” she said, and she ran ahead.
Newton looked up and saw a gleaming, white building on top of a tall mountain in front of them. A sign with large, black letters announced: CROWNINSHIELD INDUSTRIES: The Future Is in Our Hands.
Newton wasn’t sure what a funicular was, but he guessed it might be the thing that looked like a white train car that Mimi was running toward. It was rectangular, with large windows on all sides. He followed her inside, where she announced “Main gate!” and the door slid shut behind them. Then the train car made its way on a track, winding toward the top of the mountain.
“I’ve always thought we should put a teleport pad down here—it would be so much faster,” Mimi said. “But mom and dad insist that we keep the mad scientist stuff we do top-secret. To the rest of the world, Crowninshield Industries is just a top company in technological innovation—like the low-emissions auto fuel we’ve been perfecting.” She sighed. “Maybe one day, we won’t have to hide our real genius. But I guess the world isn’t ready for us yet.…”
Continue Reading…
The Good, the Bad, and the Accidentally Evil!
Mark Young
About the Author
© Mark Young
In the “real” world Mark Young makes a living as a multiple Emmy winner who has written and produced the animated TV shows for Netflix, Disney, Nick Jr., ABC, CBS, and NBC. However, in his “inner” world, Mark believes that Franken-Sci High isn’t actually his creation but a real school where budding mad scientists learn how to create synthetic eyeballs, travel to different dimensions, try gravity gum, and design inflatable pets. Mark lives in Southern California with his wife. Between them, they have four amazing kids. More about Mark at MarkYoung.co.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Mark-Young
Simon Spotlight
Simon & Schuster, New York
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This Simon Spotlight paperback edition August 2020
© 2020 Mark Young and The Jim Henson Company
JIM HENSON’S mark & logo, FRANKEN-SCI HIGH mark & logo, characters, and elements are trademarks of The Jim Henson Company. All Rights Reserved.
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON SPOTLIGHT and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].
Designed by Ciara Gay
ISBN 978-1-4814-9143-3 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-9142-6 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-9144-0 (eBook)