Cragbridge Hall, Book One: The Inventor's Secret (30 page)

“Calm down,” Mr. Hendricks said, his finger poised on the trigger. “Don’t worry. It’ll be quick, and then before you know it, you’ll be back.”

“You can’t promise that,” Coach Adonavich said. “Don’t lie to the girl.”

“You’ll hardly even feel it,” Hendricks promised.

Carol erupted in wails and groans. She clutched at her hair. She fell to the ground, tears spilling over her cheeks. She opened her mouth and wailed. Her eyes, shifting back and forth, filled with tears over and over again. Her fear burst out anywhere it could. Her arms trembled. She clutched her hair. She swayed back and forth. She’d lost all control—completely crumbled under the pressure. She looked hysterical.

Only a foot away, Mr. Hendricks said, “It’s time to calm down.”

In one swift motion, Carol grabbed the gun barrel from Mr. Hendricks’s hand and swept his feet out from under him. The gun fired across the room, and the bullet ricocheted off the hard walls.

Carol wasn’t crying anymore.

Coach Horne lumbered forward and pounced on Mr. Hendricks, punching him unconscious with one blow.

“Get the keys!” Carol yelled.

• • •

Derick and Rafa tore the avatar suits off and raced down the hall. They whipped around one corner and then another, rushing out of the building and into Cragbridge Hall.

While running, Derick logged onto his rings. He tried to sync up to warn his sister. He had to warn her that men were coming. His computer screen simply read “Out of range.”

She must still be back in time.

As he rounded another corner, Derick caught a glimpse of a shadow just passing the other end of the hall. Not many students roamed the halls at night. Derick slowed and shushed Rafa. They clung to the sides of a wall and quickly moved to the end. Derick peeked around the corner. Several men—perhaps ten or so—dressed in blazers, button-up shirts and khaki pants, approached a closet door. They looked like teachers. One glanced over his shoulder; Derick pulled back. In that split second, Derick recognized the man—he had a flat nose and thick eyebrows. He was the man who’d been disguised as a policeman—he took Abby’s key.

After a few moments, Derick peeked around the corner again. The men entered the closet and closed it behind them.

“Must be another way to get back to the basement,” Derick said.

“But they’ll have to go through a simulator, won’t they?” Rafa asked.

“I guess so, unless their mole already has and can let them in on the other side,” Derick said.

“We could go the way you already know,” Rafa said. “We might be able to beat them there.”

“No,” Derick said, thinking quickly. “Abby has our key, so unless she’s waiting for us, we can’t get in. These guys either have a key, or their mole has left the way open. We have to follow them if we want to help Abby.”

They ran down the hall to the closet. They tried the handle—locked.

“To get in at the dead end,” Derick thought aloud, “you have to push a part of the
Endurance
on the molding. It’s different from the other things around it, but similar enough to blend in. Look around for any sign.”

They both searched the area.

“The molding is all the same,” Rafa said.

“Okay, so it’s something else.” Derick looked at the doorframe, hoping to find anything irregular. It all seemed uniform. Wait—the hinges. The bottom one was different. The phrase “small hinges” was written on it. Derick seemed to remember Grandpa saying that big doors always swing on small hinges. It was some metaphor about little things making a big difference. Derick pushed the letters and heard a click.

• • •

Coach Horne reached inside Mr. Hendricks’s pocket and pulled out two keys. “The other one fell to the ground,” he said.

Coach Adonavich dropped to the floor and joined Coach Horne in sweeping the ground with their hands. Carol looked at the Bridge. “Abby’s feeling the air to get back.”

“We need one more key,” Coach Horne said, wincing as he moved his arm across the floor. The bullet wound sent a sting of pain through his arm. “It has to be here.”

“I think they’re going to jump!” Carol yelled.

• • •

“Are you sure the way back was right there?” Abby’s dad asked.

“No,” Abby said. “But I don’t have any other ideas.”

“Then let’s risk it,” he said. He looked at his wife, who nodded back.

“On the count of three,” he said. “One—I love you both. Two—Abby ... thanks for coming back for us. Three.”

Abby, her dad, and her mom all pushed off the railing, trying to jump toward the room in the modern-day basement of Cragbridge Hall.

Abby felt no scalding feeling followed by cold. There was no change of scene. Only terror. Freezing air whipped across Abby’s body as she and her parents plummeted toward the icy waters below.

• • •

Derick tried to step gingerly as he and Rafa hurried down the hall toward the Bridge. He could hear the men a good distance in front of them, but he didn’t want them to have a clue that someone was following them.

As Derick and Rafa moved forward, the voices grew louder; the men had stopped moving. Derick slowed his pace and Rafa followed suit. He could barely make out their mumbling words as two of them spoke.

“Is it unlocked like he promised?”

“Yes.”

“We need to retrieve
all
the keys.”

“Correct. Muns wants to add them to the one he has.”

“Don’t shut the door behind you. We may need to leave in a hurry.”

They proceeded down the long tunnel to the Bridge.

• • •

Abby fell through the air in 1912. She only had seconds before she collided with the water. Why wasn’t the portal open? What had happened? Had she risked so much, only to die with her parents?

Then again, would she have had it any other way? She’d done her best. She’d made it to the Bridge and crossed through time and found her parents. Now something was keeping them all from traveling back. Would they survive the impact of the ocean? If so, could they wait in the cold water for the others to find and save them? No. She couldn’t take the space of someone who was on a lifeboat; those people needed to live. She couldn’t change history. It was over. Staying in the water meant death.

• • •

“Found the last key,” Coach Adonavich said. She stood and raced to the console, grabbing the two keys from Coach Horne as she went. Carol ran to the console to meet her. Once all the keys were in place, Coach Adonavich commanded, “Turn the keys.” Carol and the coach simultaneously turned the keys.

Carol moved her hands across the screen, changing the Bridge’s perspective.

“Bring them in on an angle,” Coach Adonavich said.

• • •

Abby held her breath and braced for impact. A split second before crashing into the Atlantic ocean, she hit a slide—the hardest, most uncomfortable slide she had ever experienced. But it wasn’t frigid, salty ocean. She skidded across the hard floor beneath Cragbridge Hall, careening out of control. She felt the heat of the friction against her jeans, tearing her flesh. Then she hit the back wall with a thud.

Someone was touching her. Someone was talking. Abby had to shake her head and blink several times before she could see straight.

“Are you okay?” Carol asked.

Abby managed to nod, and her vision became clearer. Behind Carol, a funnel from the top of the
Titanic
broke loose and careened toward the open Bridge. “Close the Bridge!”

Coach Adonavich turned to the open scene and quickly twisted the keys just before the huge metal cylinder could flatten them all. The image changed to a ghost of itself and crashed past them.

Abby felt her parents’ arms around her. The three of them held each other for a few moments. They were back—and what was more, they were safe. She hugged them tightly. It didn’t feel like it took any energy at all.

“Sorry we took so long,” Coach Adonavich said. “Hendricks was working for Muns. He shot Coach Horne and took all the keys. If it hadn’t been for Carol, you would be freezing in the ocean right now—if you were still alive at all.”

With tear-stained cheeks, Abby turned to see Carol. Carol gave an enthusiastic wave. “I basically did a scene from
The Kidnapping of Jen Tusil
, a web movie I did a year ago. I faked being hysterical—which wasn’t that hard to do under the circumstances. I mean, I was really
almost
hysterical, and then I attacked him when he got close enough. I can’t believe it worked. I’ll have to send a message to whoever wrote the screenplay and thank them for their accuracy.”

“I’m glad it worked,” Abby said. She exhaled slowly and rose to her feet. She’d done it—she had discovered all the clues, passed all the tests, and brought her parents home safe. A huge weight lifted from her shoulders.

Then her hand vibrated. Someone was trying to sync to her rings. She checked her ring and saw that it was Derick.

“Abby,” he whispered. “You finally answered.”

“Did you get Grandpa?”

“Yes, but there’s more.” His words were quick and urgent. “A group of about ten men are on their way down to the Bridge. We followed them in. I’m pretty sure they’re armed, and they’re coming after the keys. You only have a few minutes.”

Abby turned to the group. “Some of Muns’s men are coming.”

“They’ll do anything for the keys,” Coach Horne said, wincing as he shifted his weight. “I’m afraid I’m not much good. Normally, I might have been able to take a few down for you.”

Coach Adonavich looked at Mr. Hendricks. “His gun is no good to us either, unless we can hack into his rings and sync up to it. Chances are the code would be too hard to crack quickly.” She began to pace.

Carol looked around, perhaps searching for anything that could help. Mom and Dad looked at each other. Abby eyed Mr. Hendricks. He caused this. He was a double-crosser all along. Even though he pretended to befriend her, pretended to teach her the value of history.

And then an idea hit Abby. “I know what to do.”

“What?” Coach Adonavich said. “We are about to face who knows how many armed men who want to kill us for the keys.”

Abby was surprised at how calm she sounded as she answered, “We make them think they’ve won. And then we ambush them. Just like Maynard and Blackbeard.”

Coach Adonavich shook her head. “Like who?”

“Listen up,” Abby said. “I’ll need someone to help me turn these keys.”

35

Ambush

The men bounded into the room, guns poised. “Everyone’s hands in the air!” one yelled, from his position at the front of the group. He saw the figure of a girl at the console of the Bridge and approached her cautiously.

The other soldiers seemed dazed as they stared in wonder. Not only could they see the metallic, tree-looking Bridge, but the keys were all turned, and waves with lifeboats that were half-filled with passengers and debris filled the other side of the room. They hadn’t expected to see an ocean in the school’s basement.

One soldier looked up at the branches of the Bridge and yelled, “They’re above us.” He pointed two barrels, one attached to each of his hands, at the metal limbs, where Carol, Coach Adonavich, and Abby’s parents clung to the branches. Both of Abby’s parents kept their faces covered so they wouldn’t be recognized.

“They were planning an ambush,” the soldier said.

Two more raised their guns at the tree.

“Here’s another,” a different soldier called out, pointing his gun at Coach Horne, who stood in the corner, clutching the handle to a metal door.

The head soldier walked down the middle of the room toward Abby. “Step
away
from the console.”

Abby turned to see the man with thick eyebrows and a flat nose. “I’ve listened to you before. Don’t think I’ll make that mistake again.”

It took the man only a moment to recognize her. “I must admit, I didn’t expect to find you here. You must be a very resourceful girl. But now you have lost your keys to me again. Now step away.”

“Now!” Abby yelled. With one quick motion, she moved the Bridge’s perspective to beneath the level of the ocean. A huge wave of freezing Atlantic water barreled in through the Bridge and into the room.

The soldiers only had time to widen their eyes before the water slammed into them. Coach Horne had already braced himself. Abby desperately held onto the console, the water mostly missing her as it flowed around the metal trunk of the tree.

The water stole the soldiers’ footing and sent them crashing into the back wall.

Abby quickly moved the perspective above the ocean’s surface again, and the water drained out nearly as fast as it had come in. She glanced over her shoulder to see one or two soldiers still conscious. “Again!” And she slammed them again.

As the water receded the second time, Abby yelled for everyone to take the men’s guns. Within a few moments, they had removed the mechanisms from the invaders’ wrists and were ready to hold them captive if they woke up.

“Abby,” Coach Adonavich said. “It must run in the family, because that was pure genius.”

Abby and Coach Adonavich retrieved their keys.

“You should probably take the third key,” Carol said to Coach Horne, removing it from the console and handing it to him. “It was meant for you.”

Coach Horne nodded and took the key.

Abby’s mother found cuffs on a few of the men and now used them to restrain their owners. The others dragged the men, including Mr. Hendricks, out of the room so they could lock it up tight.

As they made their way out of the tunnel, Coach Adonavich and Carol helping Coach Horne, Abby saw two silhouettes coming toward her.

A voice broke the silence. “You’re okay!” Derick ran through the hall and hugged his parents. “Abby, you did it!”

“Yes, she did,” Mom said.

“We should have been here sooner,” Rafa said. “We heard them enter, and we were trying to take them by surprise from behind, but then the door flew open, and we got hit by a wave of water. Knocked us both over and carried us down the passageway.”

“And just when we were almost to the door again, another wave nearly knocked me out cold,” Derick said. “Rafa, too.”