The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines (16 page)

Grace, Mai, and Fred sat around the kitchen table in silence. Grace was lost in her thoughts and Fred's attempts at jokes had lamely petered off when he hadn't even received so much as an eyelid twitch in response.

Mai and Fred had been drenched and shivering when they'd arrived. Grace had found two jumbo beach towels and they'd wrapped themselves up. Mai had made hot chocolate.

“Come on, Grace,” Mai coaxed, pushing the steaming mug closer to her. “Have some. I put mini marshmallows in there.”

Grace stared ahead blankly. “All that talk about how he understood what I was going through with my dad because he'd lost his mother—it was all lies! He probably just said that stuff to get close to me. What a creep! And what's his dad doing at the museum, anyways?”

“I don't know, Grace.” Mai reached over and hugged her. “But we'll find out. Don't worry.”

Fred slurped his hot chocolate. “Maybe there's something going on at the fossil museum. Maybe Jeeter's dad wants to be famous, like that guy who found the dinosaur in the Alberta Badlands. And Jeeter is helping him!”

“Well, there's definitely
something
weird going on! He had all those mining maps in the basement, remember?” Grace said. “They were the same kind my dad has.” She absentmindedly pulled her dad's fossil from her pocket and twirled it around in her fingers.

“Nice fossil,” Fred said, leaning over to get a better look.

“It was in my dad's bag when I found it at Point Aconi the other day,” said Grace.

“Wait a minute!” Fred cried, banging down his cup. Hot chocolate and mini marshmallows sprayed over the tabletop. “Point Aconi! I bet that's where I lost my walkie-talkie. You know, when I fell in that sinkhole.”

“It's only a walkie-talkie,” Grace said. “Don't worry about it. Besides, you have Jeeter's.”

“Can I see your fossil, Grace?” Mai asked. She held it up to get a closer look.

Grace stared at the back of the fossil as Mai was looking at the front. “That's weird. It's been catalogued already,” she said, staring at the coded label. “If it's already coded, it's supposed to be in the museum collection.”

“Maybe your dad just didn't pass it in yet,” Fred said, shrugging. “You don't have to give it back, do you?”

Grace didn't answer. She stared at the code. Something wasn't right.

Heart racing, Grace bolted up to her room. She ran back to the kitchen clutching her mining map. Mai was wiping up Fred's chocolate spill.

“Move your cups,” Grace ordered. She spread her map out on the table. Her eyes scanned the Point Aconi area. It was just as she thought. The code didn't match any of their fossil sites!

“It's not here,” she whispered. Her hands shook as they ran lightly over the map “It isn't on the map.”

“What does that mean?” Fred asked, sounding confused. “That he found it somewhere else? Joggins, maybe?”

“No, I don't think so,” Grace said. “Look at the code: SYD-09-PA4-01. ‘SYD' means the Sydney coalfields—basically, that's all of Cape Breton—‘09' means the year, and ‘PA4' means the exact spot—the fourth sinkhole in Point Aconi. See? Look here on the map. The PA3 was the last place in Point Aconi we had marked down.”

“So?” Fred said. “Maybe you missed one of the sinkholes when you copied your dad's map.”

“No, don't you see?” Grace said. “This has got to be a new sinkhole. It must be where my dad was working before he disappeared. The ‘01' in the code means this is the first find at that site.” She pointed to an area on the map between the PA3 sinkhole and the shore. “The PA4's got to be somewhere in here. We've got to find it!”

“Why?” Fred asked.

“Well, I found his field bag at the PA3,” Grace replied. “If he's already been to the PA4, there could be more clues there!”

“Well, maybe,” Mai said. “But that's still a lot of area. How are we going to find it?”

“Since his bag was at the PA3 sinkhole, partway down the mine tunnel, I bet the PA4 is through that same tunnel. Look, see how all the sites run in a line?” Grace connected each site with her finger. “If we follow the tunnel along that line, we'll find the PA4. I'm sure of it!”

“What do you think we'll find there?” Mai asked.

Grace looked at Mai and Fred excitedly. “There has to be something more. I just know it!”

“It could be dangerous,” Fred said. “Maybe we should we go to the police.”

“Who would believe a bunch of kids?” Grace said. “And what would we tell them, anyways? We have to find more evidence!”

THUD!

The sound of a car door slamming interrupted Grace's train of thought.

“Crap!” Grace whispered fiercely. “Mom's back! You've got to get out of here!” If her mom caught Mai and Fred here, she could forget about being allowed out tomorrow. That would ruin everything.

Fred jumped to his feet, knocking over the rest of his hot chocolate.

“Fred!” Mai yelped, throwing a towel over the spill.

“Sorry!”

Grace dumped the mugs in the sink, poured some dish detergent in, and turned the tap on. Water gushed out of the faucet, covering the evidence with foaming suds. “Gimme that!” She grabbed the chocolate-soaked towel from Mai and dumped it in the water.

Slam!

Oh, no! The front door. Her mom was inside!

Grace heard her mom's high heels clicking on the tile of the front entryway.

“Hurry up!” she hissed. She shoved Fred out the back door. He hopped through, still pulling on his sneaker. Mai followed quickly behind him.

Grace ran back to the sink and thrust her hands into the scalding water just as her mother came through the door from the hallway.

“It's really coming down out there,” Grace's mother said as she shook her coat off and hung it on the hook by the back door. She reached up and fluffed her hair. “I'm soaked.”

Grace peered out the kitchen window. The rain was coming down even harder than before. “Wow, is it ever!” she agreed. She hoped Fred and Mai got home okay.

“You're doing dishes without being asked?” Her mother looked at her strangely. “Well, isn't that nice?” She smiled and kissed Grace's forehead.

“No problem, Mom.”

Her mother mumbled something about getting changed and went upstairs.

As Grace watched the rain sloshing out of the drainpipes and turning the garden into oozing mud, she had a vision of all of Sydney Mines collapsing into one giant sinkhole.

Chapter
22

“THIS IS HOPELESS!” MAI MOANED, SITTING DOWN ON A FALLEN LOG.
She reached down to rub her shin and frowned at her mud-covered hiking boots. “My feet are killing me.”

Grace's legs were sore too. There were puddles of water everywhere, and moving around felt like trying to walk on a wet sponge.

They had been searching for the PA3 sinkhole for ages, with no luck. It was much harder to find an exact spot than Grace had thought, even with a map. None of them had paid much attention to landmarks the first time they'd come. Who knew they'd want to find it again?

“It took us two hours to get here and we've been roaming around at least that long,” Grace complained. “The day will be over and we won't have accomplished anything.”

“That darn hole is around here somewhere, I know it is,” Fred said, continuing ahead, his eyes glued to the ground.

Grace plunked down beside Mai and pulled out her water bottle. She took a long drink. “Maybe we should just concentrate on trying to find the new site, the PA4. It would be closer to the shore.”

“Why don't we look at the map again?” Mai suggested. “Maybe it'll help.”

Grace was feeling discouraged. She'd been so sure the day would be perfect, like it was meant to be or something. She'd come here, find the PA3 and PA4…

Grace grabbed the map from her pack and unfolded it. She and Mai held it between them, examining the area closely. Mai traced out the markings lightly with her finger, occasionally lifting her head to scan their surroundings. It was no use. The map couldn't help much when they were surrounded by trees.

“Let's get back to searching,” Grace sighed, dejected.

“Sorry, Grace,” Mai said, reaching out to touch her arm.

Grace shrugged and moved away, avoiding Mai's touch. She felt like she'd crumple into a ball and never move again if she didn't keep going. Mai looked hurt and quickly pulled her hand back.

“Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!”

They both whipped around at the same time. Fred had disappeared.

“Fred, where are you?” Mai cried, running in the direction of his scream.

“Uh, I think I found it!” came his muffled yell. They both looked down. Fred was sprawled on the ground in a sinkhole.

“Oh, there you are,” said Grace. She peered down into the crater. It was so wide—how had they missed it?

“Next time, try
not
falling in the hole,” Mai shouted down to Fred. “You're going to get yourself killed!” She turned to Grace. “At least that's one thing we can scratch off Jeeter's list of crimes. He didn't push Fred.”

“Geez!” Fred muttered from below. “It's not like I fall on purpose!”

Grace felt the excitement well up inside her. She tied her caving rope securely to a nearby oak tree. After pulling on her caving gloves, she carefully lowered herself into the sinkhole. The descent was jerky. Chunks of earth at the edge of the hole kept breaking away, tumbling into the open space below her. Water dripped in steady streams around her from the wet ground above.

Grace's heart was hammering. Her instincts were screaming that this was a bad idea. The line jerked even more as she lowered herself another metre.

“Grace,” Mai said from above, “all this rain…are you sure—?”

“It'll be okay,” Grace said. She ignored the uneasiness crawling up her spine.

Grace touched down at the bottom of the hole and tilted her head back to watch Mai's descent. It started out smoothly, but halfway down the line jerked.

“Help!” Mai cried. She spun crazily in a circle, her eyes wide and frightened.

“Take it easy,” Grace soothed. She grabbed the bottom of the rope to steady it.

More clumps of dirt and grass fell down from the lip of the crater. The ground up top was too wet to hold.

“Come on,” Grace encouraged. The sooner Mai was on solid ground, the better.

Mai slowly descended into the sinkhole. Her hands held the rope in a death grip. When she finally touched down, she sagged against Grace. “Whew,” she breathed. “That wasn't fun.”

Grace gave her shoulder a quick squeeze.

“Hey, guys,” Fred called, sounding excited. “Look at this!” He emerged from a nearby tunnel and handed something to Grace.

Her heart jumped. It was another fossil. Could it be another clue? She flipped it over.
Darn!
No code.

Grace retrieved her flashlight from her pack and walked into the tunnel, shining her beam on the floor. Fred and Mai followed behind her.

There were pieces of broken shale everywhere. Bending over to get a closer look, Grace could see outlines of seed ferns, cyclopteris leaves, and calamite tree bark in the shale fragments. The remnants of an entire carboniferous forest were scattered at her feet! She picked up a beautiful stigmaria fossil and carried it back to the tunnel opening to get a better look in the natural light.

“Fred, Mai,” she called. “Come and see this one.”

BBARRUMMBRRGG!!!

Suddenly, the sky was falling. Rocks and earth crashed down from above, blocking out the light. It was another cave-in!

Grace heard a scream. Before she could run toward the sound, pain exploded in her right arm. Instinctively, Grace crouched low and covered her head with her uninjured arm, keeping her other one close to her chest. Debris continued to fall all around her. Dust clogged the air and filled her mouth. It was getting hard to breathe.