The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone by Tony Abbott

Author:Tony Abbott [Abbott, Tony]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Action & Adventure, General, Fantasy & Magic, Historical, Renaissance
ISBN: 9780062194459
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-01-07T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

Wade knew they had only moments before the creeps battered their way back in. “We need another plan.”

“Don’t ask me,” said Darrell. “I’m all planned out.”

“Plus you just threw away one of our clues,” Lily grumbled. “What if we need a pitch pipe again?”

“We won’t,” said Darrell. “I have perfect pitch.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t know exactly what that is, but you’d better have it!”

“Guys, we need to get off the train before it stops at another station,” Wade said. “Or worse, a border checkpoint. How soon will we reach Austria? Anybody?”

“I’m looking,” Lily said, tapping her tablet.

The train rolled through forests and valleys surrounded by mountains dotted with the occasional castle, mile-wide rivers, and twisting highways.

“Probably less than an hour,” Lily said.

Wade paced the length of the car. “We can’t depend on being lucky again. We’ll wait for the train to slow down and since we’re at the end of the train, we can just jump off and hide before anyone sees us.”

Darrell tilted his head at Wade skeptically. “That’s your plan? Jump off the train?”

He knew he could try to bluff it, but after crossing that bridge, the train hadn’t reached top speed again, which probably meant a station was not far, so he just said, “Yep. That’s it.”

He opened the rear door and stepped onto the platform. As slowly as the train was going compared to the distant trees, it was speeding swiftly relative to the ground. He was pretty sure Einstein had a name for that phenomenon, but he didn’t have time to search his memory for it. “Who’s first?”

“You’re first,” Lily said instantly. “If you don’t die, we’ll send Darrell. If he doesn’t die, Becca and I will go. Right, Bec?”

“Yeah, sister,” she said.

Wade grumbled. “Fair enough.”

The train slowed more as he lowered himself to the bottom stair. The ground on the left side of the tracks was a ridge of tufted grass. Gripping his backpack strap with one hand, he jumped, slamming hard on the ground, then rolling over twice. He looked back. The train slowed even more. Hurry! Becca wrapped her arms around her bag and dropped off the platform. A little gawkily, but she rolled smartly. Lily and Darrell went at the same time. Darrell landed nearly on his feet, while she rolled on the ground and came to a stop in a heap.

Pushing himself to his feet, Wade’s forearm ached sharply, but not as badly as when he’d fractured it playing baseball. He turned it gently and it felt better, so he ignored it. “Everyone okay?”

They all mumbled something and wobbled toward him, which was good enough. The train rolled for a half mile or so down the rails before it disappeared behind the trees around a curve in the tracks. It whistled twice, and the brakes squealed.

“As soon as they discover we’re not on the train, they’ll comb the area,” Becca said. “We need to be long gone.”

“Comb the area,” Darrell said with a smile. “Official spy talk.

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