The Lightning Catcher: The Secrets of the Storm Vortex (29 page)
Read The Lightning Catcher: The Secrets of the Storm Vortex Online
Authors: Anne Cameron
When the morning to leave finally came, Angus, Dougal, and Indigo dragged their bags out into the courtyard and joined a long line of lightning cubs waiting to use the gravity railway. Jeremius joined them as they inched closer to the front.
“I've had a word with your uncle Max, Mr. Dewsnap, and Indigo's parents, and they are all agreed that it would be best for Dougal and Indigo to spend Christmas at the Windmill with you, as far away from the troubles as possible,” he told them.
“You're kidding!” Dougal said, suddenly looking excited. “You mean we're going over to the mainland for a whole fortnight?”
“Longer, if necessary,” Jeremius said. “Maximilian has agreed to suspend all invention activities over the holidays, so you three should be safe enough,” he added, smiling. “You will travel together on the ferry today. Your parents will be waiting at the port to wish you a Merry Christmas
before you board,” he told Dougal and Indigo. “Dankhart is unlikely to follow anyone to Budleigh Otterstone at the moment with the lightning tower newly unveiled.”
“Are you coming with us?” Angus asked hopefully.
“I'm planning to spend a few days at Feaver Street first with Rogwood and Dougal's dad. We need to decide what is to be done about Delphinia,” he said, lowering his voice, “and that may take some serious discussion.”
“But won't your uncle mind having us to stay, with all that extra cleaning and cooking?” asked Indigo as Jeremius waved good-bye and they were bundled into the gravity railway carriage with their luggage.
Angus shook his head and grinned. “He'll be fine, as long as you don't mind eating curried sprout marmalade and chocolate turkey pudding.”
“What, together?” asked Dougal, his smile fading slightly at the thought of it. Even Indigo looked uncertain.
“Er, I wouldn't suggest it if I were you,” Angus warned.
As the doors closed and the carriage began to plummet toward the ground, he tried to put all thoughts of his uncle's experimental cooking out of his head.
“This is going to be the best Christmas ever!” Dougal declared as they reached the bottom.
Angus was already looking forward to spending the holidays with his two best friends. As for what might happen once the festivities had ended, it was hard to tell. The future of Perilous had never seemed so fraught with danger and uncertainty. Angus knew that no amount of chocolate turkey pudding could ever ease his fears about the lightning tower, Dankhart, and his plans to create the most destructive storms the world had ever seen.
ANNE CAMERON
got the original idea for the Lightning Catcher series after reading an article about fulgurites, which are formed when lightning strikes sand with such ferocity that it melts the particles together and forms amazing, rootlike glass tubes. What would happen, she wondered, if lightning bolts could be caught deliberately, by expert lightning catchers?
Anne Cameron lives in England.
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Cover art © 2015 by Greg Call
Cover display type lettering © 2015 by Jim Labbad
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.
THE LIGHTNING CATCHER: THE SECRETS OF THE STORM VORTEX
. Copyright © 2015 by Anne Cameron. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Black-and-white illustrations by Victoria Jamieson
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cameron, Anne.
The secrets of the storm vortex / by Anne Cameron.
pages cm.â(Lightning catcher ; [3])
“Greenwillow Books.”
Summary: “Now-twelve-year-old Angus McFangus and his friends encounter a storm vortex and a stranger from the crypts”âProvided by publisher.
EPub Edition © April 2015 ISBN 9780062112859
ISBN 978-0-06-211283-5 (hardback)
[1. WeatherâFiction. 2. SchoolsâFiction. 3. Adventure and adventurersâFiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C1428Sec 2015 [Fic]âdc23 2014035854
15 16 17 18 19Â Â
CG/RRDH
  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
GREENWILLOW BOOKS
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