Monday with a Mad Genius Read Online Free Page A

another.
    Jack looked back at the fresco. The helmets of the warriors were melting down over their furious faces.
    “AHHH!” cried Leonardo with a look of horror. “Kill the fires! Kill the fires!”

T he panic of the battle scene seemed to spread through the big room. Leonardo’s apprentices looked around wildly, as if they didn’t know what to do.
    “Water from the fountain!” Leonardo roared. “Hurry!” He ran out of the room. His apprentices rushed after him.
    “We have to help, too!” Jack said to Annie. They took off after the others, following them down the stairs to the courtyard.
    The apprentices were filling buckets withwater from the fountain. “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” Leonardo shouted.
    Jack and Annie grabbed two of the full buckets and clumsily followed the others back up thestairs. “This is like—like Edo!” Jack said to Annie, remembering their recent trip to old Japan.

    “Yeah,” said Annie, “except that was a
city
on fire. This is just paint melting.”
    True
, thought Jack. But Leonardo was acting like it was a matter of life and death.
    Inside the hall, Leonardo and the apprentices carried the buckets up the ladder. They splashed water over the flames in the two iron pots. But it was too late. The helmets and faces and swords of the fighting men had become a messy blur of streaks and blotches. The painting was ruined.
    Leonardo stared for a long moment at the wall. Then he climbed down the ladder and walked away. When he got to the door, Zorro shouted, “Master, wait!” But Leonardo kept walking.
    “We have to follow him,” Annie said to Jack.
    “He seems really upset,” said Jack.
    “I know,” said Annie. “But we have to do what the rhyme says—‘
Help the genius all day long.
’”
    “But what if he doesn’t want our help anymore?” said Jack.
    “Look! He forgot his basket, with all his stuff in it,” said Annie. “We can take it to him.”
    “Okay. Good,” said Jack.
    Annie picked up Leonardo’s basket filled with feathers, flowers, cheese, and a loaf of bread. Jack grabbed his own bag and they hurried out of the council hall. When they got to the entrance of the palace, they saw Leonardo striding across the square.
    “Leonardo!” Annie yelled.
    Leonardo didn’t look back. He disappeared down a narrow lane.
    “Quick!” said Jack.
    Jack and Annie took off across the square. When they got to the lane, they saw Leonardo at the far end.
    “Leonardo, wait!” Annie shouted.
    But Leonardo didn’t wait. He kept going and rounded a corner.
    Annie and Jack ran faster. When they turned the corner, they looked right and left. Kids were playing in the street. Two women were leaningout of windows talking to each other. But there was no sign of Leonardo.
    “Excuse me,” Annie called to the women. “Have you seen Leonardo da Vinci?”
    “Oh, yes, he just got home!” one woman said.
    “He lives just over there!” said her neighbor. She pointed to a narrow building across the street.
    “Thank you!” said Annie. She and Jack walked quickly to the building. A stone arch opened onto a wide pathway. They walked under the arch and down the pathway to a sunny cobblestone courtyard. A big white horse was tied to a cart. Chickens pecked the dirt between the warm stones.
    “Hi, guys,” Annie said to the horse and chickens.
    Jack pointed to an open doorway across the yard. “He’s in there. I hear him,” he said.
    Annie and Jack moved quietly across the courtyard. They stopped outside a window.
    Leonardo was pacing up and down inside. His cap and cloak were on the floor. His hair was wild.
    “I’ll leave Florence—that’s what I’ll do,” Leonardo said to himself. “I shall go to Rome! Or back to Milan!”
    Jack turned to Annie. “We shouldn’t bother him,” he whispered. “If
I
felt that bad, I wouldn’t want people to bother me.”
    “Not
bother
,” said Annie. “
Help.
If I felt that bad, I’d want people to
help
me. Come on, at least we can give