This Book Is Not Good For You (19 page)

What had Dr. L said? That Yo-Yoji must have samurai in his blood. Could it be Yo-Yoji’s samurai ancestor standing in front of him? It made no sense. And yet this person most clearly was not Yo-Yoji. Yo-Yoji didn’t even speak Japanese.

“I’m sorry, Yo-Yoji, or whoever you are. I don’t understand.”

Max-Ernest scratched his head in consternation. How to respond? Then—of course! He reached into his pants pocket (he was still wearing them under his tunic) and pulled out what looked like a small handheld game player.

“OK, Yo-Yoji, now say that again!”

It was unclear whether or not Yo-Yoji understood. Nevertheless he obliged:

The translation was instant.

WHO IS MY MASTER? WHAT IS MY TASK?

Max-Ernest grinned as Yo-Yoji’s words appeared on the screen in his hand. (This was the Ultra-Decoder II, Max-Ernest secret decoding device that happened to contain thousands of languages in its memory. He and Pietro had added the voice recognition software earlier that summer.) It was like having his own private subtitles watching a Japanese movie.

Now what to say?

Max-Ernest thought about it for a moment, then shrugged: it was a worth a try.

I AM YOUR MASTER. YOUR TASK IS TO RESCUE OUR FRIEND CASS.

As soon as Max-Ernest had typed the words a clear brisk voice emitted from the Decoder:

The trouble was: it was a woman’s voice.

Yo-Yoji looked at Max-Ernest in confusion.

Blushing, Max-Ernest made the necessary adjustments on the Decoder, and had it repeat the words, now in a male voice.

This time, Yo-Yoji nodded in recognition and bowed all the way until his nose was touching the ground.

MASTER-SAN, MY SWORD IS YOUR SWORD. MY SPIRIT IS YOUR SPIRIT. I SHALL DO AS YOU SAY.

Max-Ernest nodded, and typed his response.

VERY GOOD, SAMURAI-SAN. CASS IS IN THE ANIMAL CAGES. WE MUST FIND THE OLD ZOO.

After the Decoder had translated Max-Ernest’s words into Japanese, Yo-Yoji bowed again. Then he proceeded to start slicing his way through the rainforest, blazing a trail back toward the Midnight Sun.

Max-Ernest followed in disbelief. It was like he was playing some kind of video game and Yo-Yoji was his samurai avatar.

End of Chapter 30.

?

Continued from page 312.

—a battle cry in an old samurai movie.

Daisy stood up, her face clouding with fury. “Go!” she ordered, releasing the mamba to the ground.

Faster than you would have thought possible, the mamba made a beeline through the grass. It bobbed up and down, in and out of view, as if riding across a series of invisible waves.

Watching its progress, Cass’s ears turned cold.

The snake’s target: Yo-Yoji and Max-Ernest.

“Watch out!” Cass yelled. “The snake’s coming!”

“Too late for that!” Daisy sneered.

Running after Yo-Yoji, Max-Ernest typed furiously on his Decoder.

KILL THE SNAKE

Yo-Yoji charged forward, his sword-stick thrust out in front of him. But before he reached the snake, Max-Ernest, conscience-stricken, typed again.

NO. WAIT. KILLING BAD. TAME THE SNAKE.

Yo-Yoji stopped short.

YES, MASTER.

By this time, the snake was only a foot away from them. It reared its head like an angry cobra, its tongue darting in and out between its long fangs.

Before the snake could strike, Yo-Yoji placed the hilt-end of the stick between his teeth and pointed the other end at the snake’s head. Moving with unexpected smoothness and fluidity, he lowered himself to the ground. Then, his belly in the grass, he stretched his arms backward against his sides and raised his chest upward—matching the snake’s posture. *

And he hissssssssssed.

Confused, the mamba slowed to a stop and stared at Yo-Yoji. Never blinking, Yo-Yoji stared back—one snake to another.

They communed for a moment, hissssssssssssing in unison. Until, in a hushed, sibilant voice, his teeth still gripping his sword-stick, Yo-Yoji recited another haiku.

Translated by Max-Ernest’s Decoder, it went as follows:

HE NEEDS NOT HIS FANGS.

AWAY THE MAMBA SLITHERS

AT ONE WITH THE GRASS

When he’d finished the haiku, Yo-Yoji bowed to the mamba and fell silent.

Darting out its tongue one last time, the mamba bowed to Yo-Yoji, and then took off across the grass, heading for the rainforest.

Daisy shrieked in dismay—“No!”—and started running after the only creature that she’d ever loved. “Peaches! Come back!”

“Stop her!” yelled Cass from inside her cell.

Max-Ernest snapped into action—typing.

STOP HER!

Yo-Yoji nodded in acknowledgment, then leaped in front of Daisy, blocking her way with his stick.

“Get out of my way, punk!” she shouted.

Daisy tried to brush the sword-stick aside—tearing the palm of her glove as she did so.

“Aaah! My hand!”

She staggered backward, staring at her palm.

The stick had not drawn blood. It had done something worse. It had revealed her hand.

Her old, hard, calloused hand. As for the other members of the Midnight Sun, it was the one part of her body that told the truth.

“Get the keys!” yelled Cass.

GET THE KEYS! Max-Ernest typed.

While Daisy’s attention was still fixated on her hand, Max-Ernest pointed to the ring of keys hanging from her waist.

In a single motion, Yo-Yoji sliced the key ring off Daisy’s belt loop and caught it before it dropped to the ground.

Clutching her hand and wailing like a wounded animal, Daisy staggered after the snake. “Pea-ches!”

Yo-Yoji bowed low before Max-Ernest, offering the key ring as if it were a precious treasure, plundered in battle.

WHAT IS MY NEXT TASK, MASTER?

But by the time Yo-Yoji looked up, Max-Ernest was already running toward the animal cages.

Hand trembling, he unlocked Cass’s cage.

She grabbed the keys from him, along with her backpack. “Mom, I’m coming!”

End of Chapter 31.

Cass buried her face in her mother’s shoulder. The smells were comforting—coffee, bran muffins, printer ink, and not the slightest hint of chocolate.

“I missed you so much,” said Cass.

“Well, I’m right here,” said her mom. “Thank goodness you’re all right… I have so much to tell you. I’ve been thinking, if you really want to find your birth parents, I’ll help. It’s not fair to let my fears get in the way.”

Cass extracted herself from the long hug. “Thanks. But can we talk about that later?”

Her mother nodded. “You’re right. First things first. You wouldn’t believe what’s going on here! There are child slaves, chocolate monkeys… I have to get to a phone!”

If she only knew, Cass thought. Part of her wanted to try to explain where they really were and what was really happening. But there were certain things mothers were just not meant to hear.

“I know, Mom. We have to get you out of here.”

“Get me out of here? I have to get you out of here! I know it might not seem like it right now, but I’m the grown-up—you’re my child.”

“Hi, Mel,” said Max-Ernest, stepping forward. Yo-Yoji stood next to him, bowing to Cass’s mother.

“Max-Ernest? Yoji? You’re here, too?” She had been so excited to see her daughter she hadn’t noticed them when they’d sprung her from her cell.

“Yoji? Are you speaking Japanese…?” She looked at him in confusion.

“He says, ‘It’s an honor to meet you, ma’am,’” said Max-Ernest, glancing down at his Decoder, which in fact said,

I THROW MYSELF AT YOUR FEET, MY QUEEN. FOR I AM JUST A LOWLY SNAKE.

“That’s very nice, but we’ve met many times…”

“I’ll explain later,” said Cass quickly. “Now, can you just wait for us here for a minute?”

“What are you talking about? You better not be thinking of going somewhere without me,” said Cass’s mother, indignant. “The only way I’m letting you out of my sight is if you lock me up again.”

“Please. There’s something I have to do,” said Cass.

“What?”

“I can’t tell you, Mom. But I promise, if you do what I say now, I’ll do what you say for the rest of my life.”

“Ha. That’ll be the day.” Mel turned to Simone. “What’s going on here? I know my daughter. She’s always up to something… Simone, if you know anything, you need to tell me.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” said Simone, smiling apologetically. “My English…”

“Max-Ernest, Yo-Yoji, you guys are coming with me,” said Cass, ignoring her mother. “Simone, you, too. I need your help.”

Before her mother could stop her, she was striding away with her friends in tow.

As Mel watched in mute frustration, the quetzal emerged from the rainforest and followed the kids from above, flapping his tail in the wind.

The Tuning Fork.

As far as Cass was concerned, she couldn’t leave Wild World without it. She was responsible for giving it to Hugo and she had to get it back. It was too powerful, too awful an object to leave in the hands of the Midnight Sun.

It was also, Max-Ernest had explained, the key to restoring Yo-Yoji to his old self. Max-Ernest had watched Dr. L and Hugo use the Tuning Fork to create the antidote to the Palet d’Or; that was how they brought Cass back. If he wasn’t fed the antidote, Yo-Yoji might live the rest of his years as a samurai!

“Not that I would mind,” said Max-Ernest, struggling to keep up with her. “I mean, I’ve never been anybody’s master before, and it’s kind of convenient to have somebody to boss around like that. You think I could have him fight all the bullies at school?”

“You’ll have to have him fight me if you don’t help me find the Tuning Fork right now,” said Cass.

“OK, OK… where’d Yo-Yoji go, anyway?”

Simone pointed. “He is in the grass.”

The others turned—

“Oh, no,” said Cass. “Do you think he thinks he’s a snake now?”

Yo-Yoji was on his belly, slithering toward the rainforest.

“I dunno, maybe he hypnotized himself when he was hypnotizing the mamba…?”

“You better go give him his orders. Simone and I are going to go free some kids. Then I’m going to look for the Tuning Fork… I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

Before Max-Ernest could argue, Cass was on her way. At this rate, it would be a while before he could ask her about what he’d heard.

About the Secret.

Shaking his head, he started walking after Yo-Yoji while typing,

COME BACK. YOU’RE NOT A SNAKE.