Dangerous Minds (Knight and Moon 2)

“For one thing, volcanoes formed from mantle plumes are generally much larger. As you probably know, mantle plumes originate at the center of the earth. They begin as a relatively narrow pipe at the core and expand into a giant mushroom head by the time they approach the earth’s surface. Most of them are massive, up to two thousand kilometers in diameter. One of the biggest and most famous mantle plumes is responsible for creating the entire Hawaiian Islands chain.”

“Woo-wee,” Vernon said. “That’s mighty interesting. I sure would like to take you to dinner tonight and talk some more about eruptions and such.”

The little monk slapped Vernon on the back of the head.

“You got to pardon my grandfather,” Vernon said. “He’s old, and I’m the only one who’s willing to take care of him on account of his disposition.”

Marion looked at Vernon and then at Wayan Bagus. “Your grandfather is an Asian monk?”

“Oh, well, he’s adopted,” Vernon explained, putting his hand on the monk’s shoulder.

Wayan Bagus batted Vernon’s hand away.

“Maybe that’s what happened to my missing island,” Wayan Bagus said to Emerson. “Maybe it collapsed and sunk into the ocean.”

“You’re here about a missing island?” Marion asked. “It’s unlikely. Most mantle plumes form what are called shield volcanoes. They generally create landmasses, not destroy them.”

“Generally?” Riley asked.

Marion pointed to a map on her office wall of Pangaea, the ancient supercontinent that existed before separating into today’s seven continents. “Some people theorize that a mantle plume could cause a massive tectonic uplift, powerful enough to break apart a continent.”

Vernon opened his mouth to say something about powerful uplifts, looked over at Wayan Bagus, and decided it wasn’t worth getting slapped again.

“Is there anything of value in a volcano formed by a mantle plume?” Emerson asked. “Something somebody would want to steal?”

“Not really. Mostly just basalt and silica rock and sulfuric acid gasses. The lava does contain higher than normal amounts of rare earth elements, like osmium.”

“What’s osmium?” Riley asked.

“It’s similar to platinum, and it’s the densest naturally occurring element in existence. It’s worth about four hundred dollars per ounce but would likely cost more to extract than you could sell it for.”

Vernon picked up one of the model volcanoes and examined it. “I made one of these in seventh grade for the science fair.”

“That one’s a scale model of Krakatau,” Marion said. She turned to Emerson. “Mantle plumes also extrude some primordial isotopes from the earth’s core. They’re very rare but not valuable to anybody except an astrophysicist.”

“Why not?” Riley asked.

“It’s mostly just things like rare forms of helium. But primordial elements are materials that existed before the earth was formed. Sort of cosmic leftovers from the big bang. No one has really ever seen the earth’s core, so it’s kind of a clue to the forces of creation.”

Emerson thanked Marion for her time, and everyone trooped out of her office and out of the building.

“Now what?” Vernon asked.

“Now we go back to Washington,” Emerson said.

SEVEN

Emerson emptied the contents of his knapsack onto the table at the Organic Kitchen, a local health food restaurant halfway between George Mason University and Washington, D.C. There were two books about volcanoes, including Plumes: A Journey, three manila folders labeled “Yellowstone,” “Crater Lake,” and “Hawaii Volcanoes National Park,” a yellow notepad, and a replica of Dumbledore’s magic wand from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Riley set her Succulent Summer Smoothie aside, picked up the magic wand, and waved it at Emerson. “Does this work?”

“It reminds me that magic is all around us,” Emerson said. “All you have to do is believe.”

“Believe in what?”

“It doesn’t matter. Santa Claus. The power to cloud someone’s mind. Love.”

“I guess I’d like to believe in those things too,” Riley said.