Monday with a Mad Genius Read Online Free

of Leonardo da Vinci.”
    Leonardo bounded up some steps and down a corridor. Jack and Annie hurried after him until he passed through another grand doorway and stopped.
    Leonardo put down his basket and raised his hands. “My fresco,” he said.
    “Oh, man,” breathed Jack.

    They were in an enormous room with tall, arched windows and vast white walls. Several young men stood on a wooden platform on the far side of the room. On the wall above them was a giant painting of a battle scene. It showed a tangle of men on horseback, fighting over a flag.
    The men in the painting seemed to be in a fury as they slashed at each other with their swords. Their faces were twisted, their mouths snarling. Even their horses looked wild and angry.
    “The city has paid me to paint a scene from a battle once fought to defend Florence,” said Leonardo. “They wanted me to paint a scene of glory. But I believe war is a beastly madness. I hope my painting shows that.”
    “Oh, it does,” said Annie.
    Jack nodded. It was the scariest painting he’d ever seen.
    “Zorro!” called Leonardo.
    One of the young men on the platform climbeddown a ladder and jumped to the floor. He was a sturdy-looking teenager with a red face and wavy black hair.
    “Are things any better this morning?” asked Leonardo.
    “No, the paint is still very damp to the touch,” said Zorro.
    “Then let us proceed with our plan,” said Leonardo. “Did the pots arrive from the blacksmith?”
    “Yes, over there,” said Zorro. He pointed at two large iron pots beneath the platform.
    “And you brought the wood?” said Leonardo.
    “Yes,” said Zorro. He pointed to a pile of wood stacked against a wall.
    Leonardo set down his basket and headed over to the platform.
    “What’s the plan, Leonardo?” asked Annie as she and Jack followed him.
    “My apprentices and I will fill the pots with wood and lift them onto the platform,” saidLeonardo. “Then we will light fires in them. The heat of the fires will quickly dry the fresco.”
    “How can we help?” asked Jack.
    “Bring us some kindling,” said Leonardo.
    “No problem!” said Jack. He put down his bag, and he and Annie hurried to the wood stack.
    “
Kindling?
” she said.
    “Small pieces of wood,” said Jack. “They catch fire first and help get the big pieces started.”
    Jack and Annie picked sticks and twigs from the wood stack. They carried the kindling back to Leonardo, and he dumped it into the iron pots. Zorro brought over some logs. Then he and Leonardo hooked the handles of the pots to a system of ropes and pulleys.
    “Pull!” Leonardo shouted.
    The apprentices on the platform pulled on the ropes. The heavy pots swung into the air.
    “Steady! Steady!” Leonardo shouted.
    The apprentices slowly hauled up the pots. Then they pulled them onto the platform and placed them in front of the fresco.
    “Light the fires!” shouted Leonardo.
    Zorro lit a candle from a torch burning at the entrance of the hall. He carried the candle up the ladder and used its fire to light the kindling. Soon the wood in the pots began to blaze.
    “Bring more wood!” Leonardo shouted. “Bring more wood!”
    Jack and Annie hurried back to the woodpile. They gathered bigger pieces of wood and rushed back to the ladder. Apprentices lifted the wood up to the platform and added it to the fires in the pots.
    Soon flames were shooting high into the air, warming the fresco. Standing with Leonardo below the platform, Jack and Annie stared up at the battle scene. The room grew hotter and hotter.
    With the fires blazing above and smoke curling through the air, Jack felt like he was in the middle of the battle himself. He could hear the clanging swords, neighing horses, and shouting men. He could feel the “beastly madness” of war that Leonardo had talked about.
    Suddenly Jack heard
real
shrieks—Leonardo’s apprentices were all yelling.
    “It is
dripping
, Master!” one cried.
    “The paint is running!” shouted