The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines (9 page)

“I'm just looking around,” Grace responded.

“The guards could be coming!” Fred called.

“Okay!” Grace was about to turn and climb back out of the sinkhole when her light flashed on something against the wall a few metres down the tunnel.
Could it be?

“Grace!” Fred yelled. “What are you doing? We're pulling you up!”

Grace dropped her flashlight and lunged toward the object. Her hands grabbed it just as she felt the sharp tug of the rope. “Got it!” she said. She clutched her newfound treasure to her chest and let herself get dragged back through the opening and pulled into the air.

Within minutes, she was back up on solid ground. Fred and Mai were both huffing and puffing from pulling her up, but apparently they still had enough air in their lungs to argue with each other.

“Fred, are you
crazy
? You could have a concussion. We're
not
staying!” Mai said, hands on her hips. “Right, Grace?”

Grace didn't answer. She plopped down on the ground and rested her treasure on her lap. She could hardly believe what she had found. She felt dizzy as she flipped up the front flap of her dad's field bag.

“
Grace,
we're going home, aren't we?” Mai said loudly. “Hey, what did you find?” She knelt beside her.

“It's my dad's bag—the one he always took with him fossil-hunting.” Her voice cracked as she ran her hands gently over the worn leather.

“You mean he was here?” Mai gasped.

Grace nodded, opening his map and examining the notations. She searched the rest of the bag, pulling out his battered old rock hammer and some other tools. There was a fossil tucked in a side pouch.

“What does this mean?” Fred asked.

“That he was here that day, the day he disappeared,” Grace said.

“But you knew that already,” Mai said.

“Yeah…”

“It doesn't mean he didn't go back to the museum, does it?” Fred asked.

“No,” Grace admitted. “But what happened to stop him from taking it? He'd never leave it behind!” She carefully repacked the bag and slung it over her shoulder. “If we found this, we might find something else.”

“We can come back on Saturday,” Mai said reassuringly.

Grace stood up. “I'm grounded on Saturday. We should go back down there now.”

“I can't believe it!” Mai exclaimed, looking shocked. “Fred's hurt. Don't you care?”

Of course she cared. How could Mai say that?

“We've always done whatever you wanted,” Mai continued. “Fred goes into tunnels even though he always ends up getting hurt. We sneak out, lie to our parents…and that's okay because we're your friends. But this—”

“I—” Grace started.

“Fred could've died.” Mai was shaking as she pointed down into the sinkhole. “We shouldn't even be here.”

“Mai—”

Suddenly there was a rustling in the trees. “Oh no, the security goons!” Fred cried. “Hide!”

Chapter
12

THERE WAS NOWHERE TO HIDE. GRACE FELT LIKE SCREAMING AS
she stood frozen, hypnotized by the moving leaves. It was like a scene from a movie, like she was waiting for the monster to burst out and attack any second.

But it wasn't a monster that stepped into the clearing.

“Grace! Where were you? How come you ran off?” Jeeter said testily as he emerged from the foliage.

“What do you mean, where was
I
?” Grace shot back. “You're the one who disappeared.”

“I thought you were behind me.” Jeeter looked at Fred. His eyebrows shot up as he took in Fred's mud pie face and dead-leaf accessories. “Looks like I missed some action.”

“You!”
Fred exclaimed suddenly. “It was
you
.”

Grace and Mai gaped at Fred. “What are you talking about?” Mai said.

Fred pointed an accusing finger at Jeeter. “
You
pushed me into that sinkhole!”

“Me?” Jeeter said. “He thinks
I
pushed him? I wasn't even here!”

“I thought you couldn't remember what happened?” Mai said, staring at Fred in horror.

“It just came back to me,” Fred replied.

“You saw Jeeter push you?” Grace asked.

“I didn't exactly
see
him,” muttered Fred. He was examining the ground as if there was something very interesting there.

“What do you mean, not exactly?” asked Mai.

“Well,
someone
had to push me. It's not like I just fell in for no reason.” Fred scowled in accusation at Jeeter.

“Where were you anyway, Jeeter?” Grace asked.

“I followed Stuckless…but then I lost him,” Jeeter responded. “Maybe
he
pushed you,” he said sarcastically to Fred. “Or more likely you tripped!”

Grace sighed. It was crazy to think that Jeeter would try to hurt Fred, wasn't it? Besides, Fred
was
the biggest klutz in the universe. He probably tripped over his dumb baggy jeans, like always. What a mess.

“We don't have time for this,” Jeeter continued. “That Stuckless guy and his buddies could find us any second. Are we even on public property?”

“Probably not,” Grace admitted. “I really don't know how much land the strip mine company is leasing now.” She looked out over the terrain. “Maybe all of it…”

“Well, if we're trespassing, we'd better get outta here,” Jeeter said.

Grace clutched her dad's field bag to her chest. “Maybe you're right.”

Suddenly a new voice crackled in the air. “Hello? Grace? Is anybody there?”

Now what?
Grace wondered. “Jessica? It's Grace. What's up?”

“I gotta bail. The coach called my mom about me missing swim practice. She just called me on my cell phone and I'm totally busted. Favour's over. But don't worry—I was checking out the window. That Stuckless guy hasn't been around all day, so you're in the clear. Later!” With a final crackle, she was gone.

“C'mon.” Jeeter motioned to them. “I know the way back.”

Everyone followed Jeeter as he raced through the woods. They went as fast as they could until they arrived back at their bikes. Jeeter carefully circled around first to make sure the coast was clear.

“Okay,” Grace panted, “let's get out of here. If my mom finds out I've been up here, I'm dead.” She glanced nervously over her shoulder, expecting Stuckless to burst through the trees at any minute. “If we take the highway to North Sydney, we can hook onto Shore Road. It's a longer route, but no one will think we went that way.”

“But it's already seven o'clock,” Mai cautioned. “It'll be dark in a couple of hours. That's barely enough time if we go our normal route. If we go to North Sydney, it'll take twice as long to get home. Plus, that means we have to drive by, you know…”

“Of course I know!” Grace snapped. “I wouldn't go that way unless I had to!”

“Why are you yelling at
me?
It's not my fault we're out here.” Mai's feet fumbled on the pedals of her bike. Then she took off, her pack flapping loosely on the back.

“Mai, wait!” Grace called.

“Nice going, Grace!” Fred shook his head, then sped after Mai.

Why did I yell like that?
Grace scolded herself.
I didn't
mean to.
She rubbed her temples. Things just kept getting worse. “Can you follow them and make sure they get home okay?” she asked Jeeter.

“Who's going to make sure
you
get home okay?” he responded.

“I can take care of myself. Besides, if Stuckless knows I was out here, I'm already in bags of trouble. He'll tell my mom for sure this time. It's no good if you get grounded too.”

“You're not going anywhere by yourself. Stuckless likely doesn't know for sure that we were here. If he found our bikes, he would have taken them.”

“You're probably right,” Grace conceded.

“We'll take the shorter route back, but we'll both watch out for Stuckless,” Jeeter said. “And don't worry about me. I don't get grounded.”

As it turned out, it
was
dark when Grace and Jeeter finally reached Sydney Mines. They hadn't seen Stuckless at all on their way back. Jeeter rode with Grace to her street and then continued home. As she stood in the driveway, Grace looked up at the dark windows. The thought of being alone in an empty house was not appealing.

She closed her eyes and hugged her dad's field bag. The lilac hedges her grandmother had planted around the house were in bloom and the delicious perfume filled her nostrils. Lilacs meant June, which meant school would be over soon. She used to get so excited for the fossil-hunting trips she'd take with her dad over summer break. Not this year.

Overwhelmed by a sudden urge to see the spot where the accident happened, she found herself pedalling down Huron Avenue and onto Richard Street. She turned onto Shore Road and coasted by homes that were now abandoned, decorated with condemned signs and broken windows. Their once-manicured lawns were now minimeadows, where the weeds grew waist-high. Everything looked neglected under the pale light of the flickering street lamps.

Shore Road used to be the main thoroughfare between Sydney Mines and North Sydney. But erosion and bootleg mines had eaten away the cliffs and now the road drooped dangerously low in spots. Hardly anyone used it anymore. All the people who lived along the road had been relocated, like in Point Aconi.

As Grace approached the Fraser Avenue intersection, she stopped pedalling. There it was—the spot.

Grace couldn't resist. She slid off her bike and walked it over to the shoulder. She gazed down at the water. Moonlight danced on the ocean waves. She and her dad had gone fossil-hunting below on the beach at Sutherland's Corner. The steep path down to the shore was only a few hundred metres from where she stood. They had probably even walked along the beach under this very spot.

Grace laid her bike in the grass and ran her hands over the smooth guardrail at the side of the road. They had replaced it shortly after the accident, but not before Grace had snuck out to see it the morning after. She shuddered at the memory of the ripped and twisted metal.

She climbed over the rail and sat down gingerly on the curved metal edge. Her legs dangled and her feet brushed the tips of the grass. A warm breeze ruffled her hair as a whirring June bug droned past. What if the note was true? If it hadn't been an accident, what did that mean?

The police report had said that her dad's car had lost control at the bottom of Fraser Avenue, where it intersected with Shore Road. It was where the old Hartigan coal mine had been. They'd attributed it to poor road conditions due to torrential rains.
A tragic accident
, the papers had called it.

Grace gripped the guardrail with one hand and leaned over the edge. She tried to see the rocks below, but couldn't. How far was it? If he
had
been in the car, could he have gotten out somehow? She'd seen lots of movies where people got amnesia from accidents and didn't remember who they were. What if that had happened to her dad and he was somewhere out there, alone and afraid?