Max Stone and the Lost Star of Zirdon

M
AX
S
TONE

AND THE
L
OST
S
TAR OF
Z
IRDON

To Grandad Tony

To Jane for showing us the magic in the world & to Jack for his energy and ideas. We had great help with the editing from Angela & Aaron, thanks again guys…

Follow Max and his adventures on:

        
www.facebook.com/MaxStoneAdventures

     @MaxZirdon

Front cover design by PROVIZ
www.proviz.ie

© 2013 D
ECLAN
C
LARKE
& L
IAM
C
LARKE

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems—without the prior written permission of the authors.

ISBNS

EPUB: 978-1-78237-237-0

MOBI: 978-1-78237-238-7

PDF: 978-1-78237-239-4

ePublished by O
RIGINAL
W
RITING
L
TD
., Dublin, 2013.

CHAPTERS

CHAPTER ONE

SUMMER HOLIDAYS

The bell rang for the last time.

School was out and summer lay ahead for Max Stone - a summer full of mystery and adventure. And best of all for Max and his friends, no homework for the whole summer long!

‘That's it class, enjoy your summer' called Mr Stevenson, the sixth class teacher. The classroom erupted into happy chaos and smiling children celebrated the last day of school by throwing their books in the air and bursting out the door into the warm summer afternoon.

‘So Max' said Mia over the noise ‘what's up for your summer, got anything planned?'

‘Sure thing' Max smiled, ‘tomorrow I'm off to my Gran's house in Kerry. How about you?'

Mia's face lit up ‘Horse camp for two weeks' she said ‘and then I get to work in the stables for the rest of the summer.'

‘Cool' he said and just then Michael came up behind Max, whooping with excitement ‘

‘We're freeeeeee!!!' he clapped Max's shoulder.

As they all went home, Max thought he was going to miss his friends for the summer but he was happy that they would all be moving on to the same secondary school next year.

The next morning Max's mom dropped him off at the bus station.

‘Now you're sure you'll be all right?' she asked for about the tenth time. ‘You can wait and come down with us next week if you'd prefer?'

‘Aw, come on Mom, I'll be fine. I'm thirteen now.' Max groaned ‘I mean Gran will be waiting at the other end to pick me up, so no worries eh?'

‘You won't be lonely down in Kerry all by yourself, without us I mean?

‘No chance, Mom there's tons of cool stuff to do down there, besides the Walshes will be down and me and Ben will have lots to do.'

The Walshes always went down to Kerry for summer holidays too and they stayed in a little holiday cottage just across the road from the huge old house his gran lived in. Max and Ben always spent their summers exploring the woods and getting into all sorts of mischief.

‘Ben and I' she corrected him as she smiled and tussled his black hair.

‘All right then.' She hugged him for the twentieth time and asked him ‘are you sure you packed everything?'

‘Yep,' he said tapping his rucksack, ‘I've packed everything, Mom.' His sling-shot was packed and so was his book. And he had at least one clean pair of everything, and after that well who cares?'

Max sat up on his bus seat and tucked into his snack of apple juice, crisps and a Mars bar. He finished his snack in a few minutes and soon drifted off to sleep. He had learned that the best way to pass a long journey was to snooze it away.

When the bus finally pulled into the station he could see his Gran standing there, waiting and waving. She wore one of her big wide hats and a brightly coloured dress and looked the picture of summer.

‘Hi Max' she rushed over and hugged him.

‘Hi Gran' he called as he leapt off the bus.

‘So how was the trip?

‘Great thanks, I slept for a while and it helped pass the time'

‘And how are your Mom and Dad? Well, I hope?' his Gran asked

‘Ah yea they're great, told me to say they were asking for you.'

‘So what shall we do on your first night? How about we head into town for pizza - my treat'

‘Sounds great' said Max

They left her little old Ford Fiesta in the bus station car park and wandered down town to the local pizza restaurant.

Max loved ‘
Fredo's Pizza House'
; it was one of the best places in town to eat. They served awesome garlic bread and really spicy pepperoni on their pizza.

When they got to the restaurant, Fredo came out to the door to welcome them.

‘Ah Max Stone, so glad to see you back in our little town. It really is like summer has finally arrived.'

‘Hi Fredo' Max smiled, his tummy rumbled at the smells in the little restaurant. A warm smell of garlic bread wafted from the ovens and mingled with the rich scent of freshly cooked pizza. Max looked around and the place was as neat as ever with red and white check table cloths and a small vase of fresh flowers in the centre of each table.

‘Hi Fredo' his Gran added.

‘I have the best seat in the house just for you, come in come in!' Fredo said with a flourish.

Fredo, a very friendly man from Venice in Italy, wore a clean white apron over his rather large belly. He had jet black hair and a neatly trimmed moustache.

Fredo pulled out the chair for Max's Gran and she sat down.

‘Thank you Fredo' she said. ‘I don't think we have any need of menus.' She looked over to Max and asked ‘what do you think Max, going to have your usual?'

‘Sure thing' he beamed

They each ordered a full size pepperoni pizza, cooked extra crispy, and a side order of garlic bread. Because it was a special occasion they each ordered a soda.

Fredo smiled ‘A great choice, now relax while we get your order for you.'

As they waited for the food to arrive his Gran took on a serious sort of look for a moment and said ‘I'm afraid I have a little bad news for you, Max'

‘Oh, what's that? he asked

‘Ben and his family might not be down for at least another week, it seems. I got a call from his mom just this morning. She said to say she was awfully sorry. Sounded like Ben was pretty disappointed about it'

‘Aw no' he groaned. ‘How come?'

‘Something to do with his dad having to do another job before they finish up for the summer, but they hope to be down by next Monday.

This wasn't what Max had planned at all. He had hoped that he and Ben would learn to sail his Granddad's old sailing boat, and well he had lots of plans for them this week.

Fredo soon arrived at the table balancing plates of steaming hot food. ‘Here we go, two freshly cooked thin based pepperoni pizzas, cooked extra crispy and a side order of garlic bread'.

‘Thanks Fredo', he and his Gran said at the same time.

Max took a bite of the delicious pepperoni pizza, the pepperoni's extra spice kicking in and he smiled. ‘Thanks Gran and it really is ok that Ben won't be down for another few days, there's always a lot to do around here.'

Once they finished dinner, they thanked Fredo and drove back to his Gran's house. The road from the town soon opened out to the countryside and they were surrounded by mountains, forests and babbling streams. It only took about 15 minutes but to Max it felt like they entered another world. A world of adventure and fun.

Once Max caught sight of his Gran's huge old mansion he had a familiar rush of excitement. It was just about ten miles outside of town but it could have been anywhere in the whole world.

‘Wow' he said. ‘The place is looking great, Gran'

‘Thanks Max, Peter Robinson from the village helped me to paint it up last month. The house was a huge towering mansion set into a very old orchard. The trees were coming into fruit and he instantly recognised the ancient apple tree, the cherries and the plums.

The house gleamed behind the trees and towered proudly high above them. It was fully three stories high a high attic that even had its own window to the outside. He and his Granddad Arthur had counted all the rooms in the house two summers ago. There had been 42 in total, 43 if you counted the attic.

Max felt a pang of sadness sad when he thought of his Granddad Arthur. It had been almost two years since they got ‘
that'
call at home. Max remembered it well. His Mom had been in the kitchen when they heard Granddad Arthur had returned injured from one of his epic adventures. This time his Granddad had been hunting in deep Africa and he had come back with a mysterious wound. He had been at home for a day or so when he began to feel unwell. The injury had begun to look fierce and angry. His Gran rushed him to hospital and the doctors did everything they could. But they had never seen a gash like it before. He had been too weak to tell them which animal had inflicted the deep jagged cut to his side.

The whole family rushed down to Kerry. But by the time they got there, Granddad Arthur had passed away peacefully in his sleep.

His Gran, now beside him in the little car, looked at Max's glum face ‘Are you thinking of Granddad Arthur, Max?'

He stirred from his memories, ‘Oh sorry, Gran, yes I guess I was, I miss him awfully you know.'

‘Oh, so do I Max, but wait until you come inside and you'll know he never went very far away.

They pulled the little green car right up outside the front door and stepped out onto the gravel drive.

Inside the place was wonderful. In the evening sun the large hallway opened out brightly in welcome. On the walls hung the familiar tapestries and rugs collected over the years of adventures and hunting trips. Just on the left hung an enormous painting of a tiger leaping in mid air, and to the right a painting from China showed a peaceful Zen Tree. And the smells were wonderfully familiar, a mix of burning turf from the stove in the kitchen and exotic spices brought back from places far away.

Max looked to his Gran with a wide smile ‘Great to be back Gran.'

‘And it's lovely to have you to stay Max, the old house needs a youngster like you to explore its mysteries.'

‘I'll go and put the kettle on, shall I? What would you like, a hot chocolate before bed, maybe?'

‘Ah yea, that would be great, thanks Gran'

‘Why don't you go on up and get settled into your room'. Gran disappeared down the hall and took the few short steps that led to the downstairs kitchen. It was from here that the smells of turf fire and cooking spices wafted.

‘Sure thing Gran' and with that Max bounded up the two flights of stairs to his bedroom for the summer.