When Max and Koana returned home that evening, they went back to reading up homework a bit in the library. Max refusing to keep reading about history books while Koana basically rolled around on the floor bored as usual.
"Listen, how on earth are you supposed to pass this class if you never actually do any studying?" Max pointed out for her clueless friend, casually flipping a page in her book while side glancing at her. Koana looked up and over her from the floor,
"I don't know how on earth you can still think the world isn't going to end in the next few months. I mean what if everybody just explodes the day before the exam. All that brain power for nothing!"
Max's expression didn't look amused, "Stop joking about that, you know people have actually died."
Koana looked away from her, clearly a little ashamed of her dark humor. "Okay, sorry." She gets up from where she lay and huffs it over to the kitchen. Max clicks her tongue once before going back to reading, brushing her curls away from her face and tucking it behind her ear.
"Since I'm going to actually do some heavy reading, I"m getting the only important thing that helps me think." Koana said loudly from where she was at in front of the fridge. Max tilted her eyes up a bit to see what her friend had gotten. Immediately brightening at the sight of the tall glass in her hand. "Infamous choco-milk! One for you, one for me eh?"
Max eagerly grabbed the glass like a little kid and started drinking, before long taking a small gasp of satisfied air. "Ah yeah. Thank you."
"Mhm." Koana replied with her own mouth chugging the drink in her hand.
About an hour later, Max rubbed her eyes and closed her chemistry book. She felt like getting up and stretching a bit after, taking a break. Koana was looking deep into her book and taking small notes on the side, and highlighting.
Walking around the many shelves full of books in the massive library her parents built inside the home when they bought the property many years ago before she was born; She took a glance at the books she had read. The ones she read twice, or three times, or even the ones she had no interest in and basically scanned the pictures for important information. Back when she was desperate to prove her knowledge to her parents. Luckily she grew from that, now she knows she has no point in trying to be smarter than her parents or anybody else for that matter. One common sense point for Max.
Sighing, she blew a piece of free hair from her eyes and grabbed one of the books she had only looked at pictures from.
Maybe if I read the words, something will come out of it.
Hard thinking there Max, you're passing school for this reason alone.
Rolling her eyes at herself, she grabbed the book hastily and ended up flinging it across her shoulder and onto the floor behind her.
With wide eyes, Max followed where it landed, before looking over to Koana who jumped.
"Jeez, what did that book ever do to you?" She accused, furrowing her brows.
"Sorry, I was in aggressive thinking mode." Max bent down to pick up the book and dusted it off, hopefully it wasn't a very important one to where he father will notice damage to it. She checked it's bindings and cover thoroughly.
"I noticed." Koana replied, "While I have your attention though help me with question seventeen?"
Max kept dusting off the book and checking it before standing up again. "Yeah sure."
"It asks to differentiate between mixtures and pure substances from matter. But I always get the two mixed up. Substances are the particles right?" Koana scratches behind her ear with her pen.
"Yeah kind of. But substances are more like one particle, while the mixture is of several particles put together." Max replied effortlessly. "Particles that compose a pure substance can be individual atoms or a group of atoms joined together."
"Right I guess that makes sense." Koana stared blankly at her paper.
Max was about to put the book back when something shined right in her eye almost blinding her. "Ah what the-" She twitched away before carefully looking back. Koana seemed undisturbed by her voice, she was chewing on her pen now in deep thought.
"Okay right but here's the thing, what if it's a trick question?" She babbled, "What if it's asking what do particles do in matter?"
"That makes no sense." Max deadpanned, slowly looking back into the hole where the weird light came from.
"Ugh, gimme some credit. My brain hurts." Koana plopped her head on the book.
Max peeked through the back of the shelf and moved several other books away, noticing the shiny glimmer was growing and coming out of the cracks behind the wood. Looking more curious than anything, Max touched around the wood to see if there was maybe a button or handle to open it.
After a few tries, something clicked and the wood panel popped open, releasing a puff of dust right into Max's face. Coughing and waving it away, Max looked back to see no more glimmer showing, only a book.
"When did this contraption get here?" Max mumbled to herself, to which Koana heard.
"Wait it's a contraption? What the heck kind of lab was that?"
"No you dummy, look!" Max pointed in front of her and watched as Koana lifted her head from her book. She gasped and shot to her feet, coming over.
"Yo where did this come from?!" She peeked inside and quickly grabbed the book, pulling it out and placing it on the table. "Jeez, this is heavy!"
Landing it on the table with a huge thunk, Max and her leaned over it and examined it with curiosity. "Slow down, what if it's super delicate?" Max warned.
Koana's eyes widened, "Wow, this looks ancient! Lemme get some cleaner and wipe this dirt and grime off."
Bolting away to the kitchen, Max tried swiping away the dust with the handy duster right under the table. The book was big, but not too large to where it was awkward to hold. It seemed like the color was maybe a reddish-brown. It had something bumpy all over the front and sides, like it was decorated in a fancy design. When Max tried to open it however, it wouldn't budge.
Prying it from the front and back, using all her strength even, the book wouldn't open. Huffing and putting it back down, Max furrowed her brows. "What in the world...."
Koana came rushing back and started wiping away the dirt off the front. Using a special cleaner for much older and sensitive books, her and Max worked together to fix it up a little. Once they were almost done, they started seeing the beautiful color it originally was when it was made.
"Woah..." Max almost gasped, looking at the deep hue of red and gold all over the book in intricate designs. The gold was swirled in vines up and down the sides, branching out to just barely touch the insignia in the middle. Max ran her fingers over the middle as she followed the gold vines, feeling as it was raised up from the book and not flat like a picture.
Koana was doing the same, and even tried opening the book herself. "It won't budge." She grunted, giving up like Max did. "You think it aged so much it stuck together or something? I've heard of books doing that right?"
Max shook her head, "Yeah but this book barely looks as if it aged a day."
"But it was all dirty and gross." Koana pointed out, confused.
"Just because something is dirty and gross doesn't mean it's old KoKo." Max couldn't help but laugh.
Koana nodded looking away at nothing, "Fair point."
"Hmm." Max looked on it some more. "This is boggles. I have no idea why we can't open it, nor can I even tell where it came from. Not even the language I mean there's no title."
Koana rubbed her chin, "Should we ask your parents?"
Max gave her a pointed look, "No."
Koana dropped her hand, "I wasn't suggesting you can't figure it out."
"I know you weren't. But we don't need to involve them they're probably extremely busy right now."
"Max, what if it's a simple answer like it came from your nutcase of an uncle."
Max gave her another look for that comment, which was partially true. She ran a hand through her hair and thought on it. Koana was probably right, maybe it came from a family member. But why hide it in some contraption? From the looks of it it can't even be opened so why the heck bother.
Who would give this to her parents first of all, family friend maybe? If that's the case it could be just about anyone, around the world.
Sighing, she tried to think harder.
Koana's phone rang, and she walked over to answer it. "Hello? Oh hey mom. Yeah just hanging around with Max, studying chem."
Max flipped the book over to see if anything was on the backside of the book, following the intricate designs. Maybe a weird button on the book too? Longshot, but honestly with the way things are right now, people are starting to believe anything. Magic book? Not entirely out of her mind.
"Oh really? Grandpa told you he took a walk? Far fetched don't you think? What? You know he lies mom."
Koana walked up the small set of three stairs as she talked while Max kept trying to find some way to open the book. Lifting it in the air she felt like it wasn't as heavy as Koana said, but then again her friend was more leg muscle than any other. Upper body strength was not either of their forte's.
"Ah yeah sure, tell Gramps thanks for the early birthday present. Uh huh. K mom. Yeah. Love you too, bye. Yes I know. Oh my god mom I'm gonna hang up. Yes thank you. Alright bye." Koana turned around after she hung up and walked back over to Max. "Any progress?"
Max hummed in disagreement, "What did your grandpa get you by the way?"
"I don't know, some old family journal. He said it should help with my history since I study it so much because of you." Koana shook her head. "Poor man, he doesn't realize we're studying chemistry to save the world."
Max gave her a dry side look.
"Besides, grandpas like giving away old ancient things to their grandkids to remember them, so I ain't arguing. Better than yelllow bowties." She scoffed and put her hands on her hips.
Max looked confused suddenly, "Why would-" Then she all but dropped the book in shock. "Wait that's genius!"
"Ew yellow bowties? That's a crime against Disney characters you know."
"No you buckethead, what if this book came from my grandpa?" Max slapped her friends arm in excitement.
Koana flinched and rubbed her arm, "Well gee hit the table or something woman."
"No you don't understand, a long time ago I overheard the weirdest conversation between my dad and grandpa over the phone. He said he still had it hidden safe and to not worry about it. For the longest time I tried figuring out what that meant and even asked my dad about it, but he always dodged the question or didn't give me a full answer. This makes so much sense!" Max put her hands in the air while Koana just stared blankly at her.
After a brief and awkward pause Koana caught up to her friends train of thought, her mouth turning agape as she pointed a finger at her. "Oh my god!"
"He was talking about this book!" Max pointed at the book on the table before grabbing and pulling out her phone from her back pocket. "I gotta call him."
Koana stopped her with her hand, "Wait it's like 10pm isn't he asleep?"
Max moved her hand away lightly, "Gosh no, he likes to stay up and watch ghost stories."
Koana gave her a weird look as Max started dialing his number and putting the phone to her ear. "Your family scares me sometimes." She rasped.
"Papa!" Max hollered, a little too excited. "Sorry, I know your ears are sensitive. Anyways can I ask about the book you gave dad a long time ago?" She paused as Koana leaned over the desk to try and listen in.
"Yes I know but I found it anyways and no I cannot open it. Please?"
Koana almost fell over from leaning too much and she caught herself rather clumsily. Max turned to look at her like she was crazy but Koana just waved her off awkwardly.
"Yeah, yeah. It came from where then? Well where as he last seen? Okay. Yeah I got it I won't go there. No I won't. Don't tell dad by the way please. Thank you. I'll let you get back to your program papa, love you. Bye." Max hung up the phone before looking over at Koana who was waiting for the answer.
"So?" Koana implied.
"The book came from my ancestor, it has been passed down for generations." Max told her while Koana nodded listening. "Thing is, my ancestor died mysteriously and the book was given to his brother, so nobody knows exactly where he got it from."
"Well, that's useless, how is this gonna help us open the book?" Koana asked.
Max smiled at her, "My ancestor died in Colorado. If we go to the place he disappeared, we might be able to find some sort of answer yes?"
Koana nodded slightly, "I guess, it's a bit of a long shot though."
"Yeah but it's better than nothing."
"Well how long ago was it?"
Max picked up the book before answering her, "1859."
"Holy mother of pancakes."
"No kidding. My ancestor died during the gold rush. I can do some digging and find out which old mine is near where they said back then. But it's deep in the Rocky Mountains." Max explained, looking far too excited.
Koana was always a bit more wary of these excited moments because unlike her parents, Max dove head into a pool of snakes before figuring out of the snakes were poisonous or not.
Sighing, Koana shook her head before jolting forward again to look at her friend, "Wait a minute didn't you tell your grandpa you weren't gonna go?"
Max made a 'pfft' sound, "Nah I lied."
"Wow, be honest why don't ya." She replied in a dry tone.
"Let's head out tomorrow. Road trip?" Max suggested playfully. Koana smiled brightly,
"Yes! I'm buying the snacks! Black licorice!"
"Absolutely not."
Koana whined, "Awe cmon I'll get other flavors..."
Max shoved her books into her school bag, "You better get like six other snacks to make up for that gross monstrosity."
"It's not gross!"
"It's gross, dude nobody eats that crap." Max walked away with her bag over her shoulder while Koana caught up to her from behind. She punched her shoulder when she did.
"It is not, you just don't appreciate the weird."
"You're weird and I appreciate you." Max smirked.
Koana nodded, "I shall not be offended by that. Thank you."
Max wrapped her arm across Koana's shoulder, "You're so welcome you freak of nature."
"A'ight we gonna fight now." Koana jumped and pulled Max down to the floor while her friend started cracking up laughing.