The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines (5 page)

Fred stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder. “I'm busy at lunch. I'll catch up with you guys later.”

“You're the one who's always Mr. Spy Guy,” Mai said. “What's more important than this?”

“I have to check something out. I'll tell ya later.”

“Fred's up to something,” Mai muttered to Grace as they watched him walk away.

Grace and Mai met up with Jeeter in the cafeteria at lunch. Mai bought an egg sandwich. Grace noticed that Mai's lunch bag was missing and smiled to herself. It was probably ditched in her locker with an uneaten tuna sandwich still inside.

They snagged a vacant picnic table on the edge of the football field, far away from any unwelcome ears. “I think I've figured out how to get away for a while after school tomorrow,” Grace said, peeling a slice of pepperoni off her pizza and popping it into her mouth. “Jessica owes me big. She blew my cover last night about studying together.”

Jeeter gobbled down a handful of fries. “What's Swim Star gonna do?”

“I'll get her to pretend to be me and go to my place after school. It works out perfectly 'cause we're off tomorrow afternoon for that teachers' meeting. Plus, my mom's working.”

“But what if your mom calls? I mean, Jessica could be your twin, but she doesn't sound anything like you.” Mai unwrapped her sandwich and took an unenthusiastic bite. “Besides, it takes
forever
to bike all the way out to Point Aconi. Can't we go on the weekend?”

“I can't,” Grace replied. “I'm grounded and my mom will be home. I'll just tell Jessica not to answer the phone. Then Mom will check in with Stuckless instead. He'll tell her I'm home and
voila—
it's perfect!” She grinned. “What could go wrong?”

Chapter
6

IT TOOK LOTS OF ARM-TWISTING, BUT JESSICA FINALLY AGREED
to miss her swim team practice the next day and cover for Grace.

“Only one problem,” Jessica said. “You said this Stuckless guy is pretty sharp, right?”

“That's for sure. He's King of the Snoops,” Grace replied.

“Well, I'm gonna need it then,” Jessica said, holding out her hand. “You're gonna have to give me the hat or you'll be busted for sure.”

Grace reluctantly slipped off her hat. Her fingers brushed the embroidered letters as Jessica tugged it from her hand. A hollow feeling filled her, like she'd just given away part of herself.

Hours later at Black Hole, Grace ran her fingers through her hair for the millionth time. She felt weird without her lucky cap. It was like her brain wouldn't work properly or something.

“Grace?” Fred said, waving a hand in front of her face. “Come back down and join us earthlings.”

“Sorry,” she said, “what were you saying?”

“Nothing important—just how we're
not
going to get arrested or killed!”

“Chill, Freddo. It'll be a piece of cake,” Jeeter said.

“Sure, Mr. Piece of Cake. Why don't you just hack into the fossil museum computers and
all will be revealed
!” Fred waved his hands in front of Jeeter's face like a magician. “It shouldn't be any problem for a
genius
like you.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Well, you're such a wizard with
Roger
's computer. You could probably solve the whole mystery.”

“Knock it off, Fred.” Mai poked him in the ribs. “Just ignore him,” she told Jeeter with a smile. “His brain has turned to chocolate mush from all the candy bars he eats!”

“No one's getting arrested,” Grace said. “I told you; we're not going to the fossil museum. We're going out to Point Aconi. If Rick Stanley did lie about seeing my dad, then maybe something happened out there. We'll have to be careful, though. There's probably a lot more sinkholes. My dad said the area was more dangerous when it rained, and it's been raining buckets lately.”

“Great,” Fred gulped. “Killer sinkholes!”

Grace unfolded her map on the wooden table. “We'll have to hike through the woods here.” She traced a line with her finger on the map. “The woods are really thick, but they'll give us more cover and they're farther away from the strip mine site.”

“Wouldn't it be easier to go in by the mine site?” Jeeter asked. “All the trees would be cleared.”

Grace shook her head. “We can't. They have tons of security guards roaming around because of all the protests and vandalism. And they aren't friendly.”

“Oh, yeah.” Fred jumped up and started to pace. “Didn't you tell us a guy got punched in the face by some security goon at a protest?”

“I remember that,” Mai gasped.

Fred's foot was tapping a mile a minute. “Maybe we should forget about Point Aconi. At least the fossil museum doesn't have killer sinkholes!” He lowered his voice as if he was telling a ghost story. “Besides, didn't someone die when they fell into a sinkhole up there last year?”

“That was in Glace Bay!” Grace replied.

Grace turned to Mai for support. But Mai was nervously peeling small splinters of wood from the tabletop with her fingernail. Grace felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
What if they don't go?
she thought to herself. They couldn't chicken out on her now. She wouldn't be able to do this alone.

“So, are we going to help Grace or not?” Jeeter challenged, staring at Fred and Mai. “Aren't you supposed to be the
fossil hunters
? Not scared of a little hike, are you?”

Fred looked insulted. “Of course we'll help. We're always here for Grace. Aren't we, Mai?”

Mai let out a nervous giggle.

It did the trick and the ominous mood seemed to vanish.

“Great, then it's settled!” Grace said.

Fred, Mai, and Jeeter nodded in approval.

“Since it's still early and it's my last official day of freedom…” Grace started with a smile, “why don't we check out the tunnel by the Halfway Road pit?”

“Seriously?” Fred said. “Awesome! We haven't been through the tunnels for months. Let's go!” He clicked on his flashlight and hurried past the brook into the tunnel. Within seconds, his light had disappeared into the blackness.

“Where's he going?” Jeeter asked.

“One of the bootleg tunnels running from here ends at an old open pit mine at Halfway Road,” Mai said. “Great fossils.”

“Wouldn't it be easier to bike there?” He pointed up toward ground level. “You know, like normal people? It would definitely be faster!”

“What's the fun in that?” Grace laughed.

“Come with me. I'll show you.” Mai grabbed Jeeter's hand and tugged him along.

Jeeter looked back at Grace.
Save me!
he mouthed.

Grace waved him on with a smirk. Jeeter didn't seem too happy to be alone with Mai. They disappeared into the dark, their bobbing flashlights fading quickly. Grace took her time before following behind them, enjoying the quiet.

The dark tunnels didn't scare her at all. She'd gotten used to them from fossil-hunting with her dad. “I sure wish you were with me now, Dad,” she whispered into the blackness.

“Grace, come in,” Mai's tinny voice called out from her walkie-talkie.

“What's up?” Grace answered.

“Where are you?”

“Close. I'll be there in a sec.” Grace picked up her pace, careful to watch her footing on the slick tunnel floor. Water drip-dripped a constant beat along with her footsteps as she turned right then left down different arms of the warren of tunnels.

Grace bent low through a narrow section under Main Street. Since the tunnels were all hand-dug, they shrunk and expanded with no set pattern and she had to pay careful attention not to trip or bonk her head. Fred had smacked his head more than once when racing through the them.

She rounded another sharp turn and, instead of the expected blue sky from the opening at the pit, she faced glaring flashlights.

“Did we take a wrong turn?” she asked, swinging her beam back the way she'd come.

“Nope,” Fred said.

“Then where's the opening?”

“Gone,” Mai said softly.

“Gone?” Grace echoed.

“Cave-in!” The glow from Fred's flashlight made ghoulish shadows on his face.

Grace ran her light up and down the wall of earth and rock where the entrance to the pit opening once stood. “I wonder when this happened…” she mused aloud.

“We haven't been here for ages,” Mai said. “It could have been anytime.”

“Good thing we weren't here when it happened,” Fred added. “We'd be pancakes…dead ones!”

“No kidding,” Jeeter said. “Interesting hobby you guys have.”

Grace knelt down. Her flashlight picked up distinctive shadows on the flat rocks. “Hey, look at this.”

“What?” Mai bent low beside her.

“Stigmaria fossil.” Grace held up a large piece of slate in her gloved hand.

“That's a great one,” Mai said. “Look at the ridging on the root, there.” She ran the tip of her finger along the dark ridges.

“What is that, a
plant
?” Jeeter didn't sound impressed. “Where are the raptor bones?”

“Hey, Jeeto, a little respect,” Fred said. “These
plants
are a lot older than your raptors—by, like, over two hundred million years.”

“Okay, fine,” Jeeter mocked. “They're
really old
plants. But I don't see them starring in a movie!”

“Ya know, you're a bit of a—”

BAARRROOOMMM!!!

Suddenly, the ground rumbled. Bits of rock and grass rained down from above them.

“Ouch!” Fred yelped, rubbing his head.

“What's going on?” Mai cried.

Larger rocks started tumbling from the ceiling and walls. Grace scrambled to her feet. A table-sized piece of slate thundered down to the ground and shattered beside her.