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‘No one believed the story they told about their lost year,’ Hewett continues. ‘They were dismissed as madmen. I doubt even Jules Verne believed them, but hedidlisten. Several years later, after Verne’s novel became famous, he was approached by a different group of men. These were former castaways who had survived on a desert island in the Pacific. They claimed they’dhad an encounter similar to the one described in20,000 Leagues. They wanted to correct what they called inaccuracies in Verne’s account. Verne’s subsequent novel,The Mysterious Island, was based on his interviews withthosemen.’

‘Cyrus Harding and Bonaventure Pencroft.’ My mind is racing, connecting dots I do not want connected. ‘The founders of our school. Just like Ned Land founded Land Institute.’

Nelinha raises one eyebrow at Hewett. It’s the same expression she uses when she wants to tell the mean sophomore girls to back off or they’ll get a butt-kicking.

‘If all that’s true,’ she says, ‘you’re telling us the main dude was real, too. Nemo.’

‘That’s correct, Miss da Silva.’

‘And we’re not talking about the cartoon fish,’ she adds.

Somebody had to say it.

Hewett rubs his face. ‘No, Miss da Silva. Themain dudewas not a cartoon fish. Nor was he the fictional character from Jules Verne’s books after whom that fish was named. Captain Nemo was a real nineteenth-century person – a genius who created marine technologies generations ahead of their time. The most important and powerful advances were keyed to Nemo’s own body chemistry … what we today callDNA.He and his descendants were the only ones who could operate his greatest inventions.’

That’s it. I sit down. I don’t trust my legs to hold me any longer.

‘Ester is descended from Cyrus Harding,’ I say.

Hewett stares at me, waiting. His expression is a mixture of sympathy and cold analytical interest, like a TV-show cop in a morgue, about to uncover the murder victim for the next-of-kin to identify.

‘And Captain Nemo …’ I say. ‘That wasn’t his real name. It was Prince Dakkar. An Indian noble. From Bundelkhand.’

‘Yes, Miss Dakkar,’ Hewett agrees. ‘As of today, you are his only surviving direct descendant. This makes you quite literally the most important person in the world.’

‘Nope.’

Honestly, it’s the only answer I can muster. ‘You arenottelling me that our school was destroyed, my brother was killed and Land Institute tried to kidnap me because I am descended from a fictional character.’

‘Not fictional,’ Hewett says again, his voice strained. ‘Prince Dakkar was your fourth great-grandfather.’

‘I agree with Ana,’ Nelinha says. ‘This is crazy.’

Gem sets his Leyden gun on the table. ‘We’ve got evidence.’

Nelinha waves off the gun, or maybe she’s just waving off Gem. ‘Your electroplated zapper is cool. That doesn’t mean Jules Verne wrote non-fiction. I could reverse-engineer a Leyden gun if I had enough time.’

‘Which is exactly what Harding-Pencroft did,’ Dr Hewett says. ‘And Land Institute, unfortunately. But Nemo’s greatest innovations –’

‘Wait.’ I raise my hands like I’m trying to hold all of this new information together, but I’m failing badly. ‘You’ve reverse-engineered super Taser-guns. You’ve got dynamic camouflage and radar blocking that’s better than military-grade. This is all from a guy who lived a hundred and fifty years ago.’

Hewett gives me the sort of expectant nod he uses in his classroom, as if telling meGo on. You are not entirely stupid.

‘Then what do you need me for?’

Hewett winces. I get the feeling he wishes hedidn’tneed me.

‘Miss – Prefect Dakkar,’ he says, seeing the intensity of my scowl, ‘in the last one hundred and fifty years, we have succeeded in re-creating only a few of your ancestor’s scientific advances. We have been like children playing dress-up in the great man’s clothes. Most of his work, I’m sorry to say, is still beyond our reach.’

‘And you think I can change that?’ I laugh, though there is nothing funny about it. Behind me, Socrates chatters in response. ‘Professor, I don’t have any family secrets.’

‘No,’ he agrees. ‘That was part of Nemo’s plan.’

Gem sits down next to me. His hand curls around the barrel of the Leyden gun. ‘Nemo’s plan?’

Hewett inhales, as if preparing himself for his final lecture. ‘Only two times did outsiders meet Captain Nemo and live to tell the tale. The first time –’

‘Was Land and Aronnax,’ Nelinha says. ‘The bad guys.’