The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines (2 page)

Ducking behind a huge oak tree, Grace hid her bike behind some foliage and skidded down a nearby bank. At the bottom of the slope was a pile of old lumber. Grace carefully moved the pieces of wood aside, revealing the hidden entrance to Black Hole.

Grace turned on the electric lantern she and her friends kept at the entrance and soon the inky walls of the mine were bathed in a soft glow. Deeper in the cave she could see the outline of the logs they had set up as benches and the rough wooden table they'd made. Fossils and other treasures they'd found on past expeditions were tucked in scattered hollows of the cavern walls.

As Grace waited for her friends, the sounds of water gurgling in the brook that ran through the hideaway and the slow drip of water trickling down from the ceiling were the only noises interrupting the silence until—

“Ouch!”

“Good grief, Fred. Do you have to hit your head on that log every time?”

“Come off it, Mai. It's not
every
time.”

Grace sighed in exasperation. “Will you guys keep it down?” she frowned at her bickering best friends as they entered the cave. “It's supposed to be our
secret
headquarters!”

“Well, blame Fred—he makes such a racket,” Mai said, brushing dirt from one of the logs before perching daintily on its edge. Her smooth caramel skin glowed in the shadowy light.

“Where's Jeeter?” asked Grace.

“He said he'd be here later,” Fred replied, tossing his pack on the wooden table with one hand and hauling up his baggy jeans with the other. “I told him to come right away, but he didn't seem too worried about it.”

“What's the big rush?” Mai asked. “Fred said it was an emergency, but I figured he must have been exaggerating, as usual.” She tucked her shiny black locks behind her ear and threw Fred a playfully mocking look.

Grace grinned at Mai. It was so easy to get Fred going—it had been ever since they'd all become best friends a hundred years ago, way back in grade three.

Fred muttered something about not being appreciated and began digging around in his backpack. His chunky build and round cheeks were telltale signs of his favourite hobby: munching on chocolate. He pulled out three bars and tossed one to Grace.

She tossed it back. “Allergic to peanuts, remember? One bite and I'd be barfing my guts up.”

“Oops, sorry,” he said, grabbing another. “So what's going on, Grace?”

Grace's face turned serious as she ripped open her chocolate bar wrapper. Tension bubbled back to the surface as she answered. “You're not going to believe this!”

Mai leaned forward. “What?”

Grace tossed a piece of paper onto the table. “I found this in my locker today.”

Mai gasped and Fred's mouth stopped mid-chew as they read the note:

Chapter
2

“
IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT?
DO YOU THINK THAT HAS SOMETHING
to do with your dad?” Mai's brown eyes blinked in surprise.

Fred squirmed, looking troubled. “But Grace, it's been almost three months since the car crash. Who would leave a note after all this time?”

“What else could it mean?” Grace jumped up from her seat. “It never made sense—that he didn't come right home that night, and that they never found…him.” She paced back and forth, chewing her thumbnail. “I mean, whoever left the note must know what happened. Maybe they're too scared to show their face. We have to find out who left it!”

“Piece of cake!” came a voice from the shadows.

The distorted voice bounced eerily off the mine walls, startling Grace. She whirled around to see who had spoken.

Fred stepped in front of her, his hands balled tightly into fists, ready to deal with the intruder.

“We'll hack into the school security cameras,” continued the mystery guest, stepping from the shadows into the lantern's circle of light.

“Oh, it's
you
!” Grace relaxed and dropped back to her seat. “I thought you couldn't come 'til later?”

“Jeeter, we're going to have to put a bell on you or something,” Mai giggled, smiling up at him.

Fred stared at Mai's upturned face. His hands were still clenched into fists. “
You
know how to get into the school security cameras?” he asked.

“Geez, Fred,” Grace said. “Chill! I told you before—Jeeter's a
genius
with computers.”

Fred shot her a skeptical look as he turned around and stomped over to the brook, his curly black hair bouncing with every step. He reached down into the icy water and pulled out two dripping pop cans.

“Genius, yeah right,” he mumbled, banging the cans down on the table. He yanked the tab off the first can and it emitted a loud warning hiss. As if in slow motion, a purple geyser exploded from the can and shot up into the air. It seemed to hover for a second before crashing down, covering Fred from head to toe in soda. Purple rivers ran down his face. Wordlessly, he handed the dripping can to Mai.

“Uh…thanks, Freddo,” she said, taking a sip. “Mmm, grape. My favourite.” She wrinkled her nose as sticky pop trickled from the side of the can onto her hand.

Fred's scowl deepened.

“Jeeter, what was that you said about the cameras?” Grace asked.

“It's no problem. I should be able to hack in on my dad's computer at home.”

“Hack in?”
Fred said. “Maybe I'm not a
genius
, but I know computers, too. It's not easy to hack into stuff.”

“It might work,” Grace said.

Mai slipped Fred a wet wipe from her backpack. “Thanks,” he said, finally showing a hint of a smile as he mopped his face.

“I'll get right on it,” Jeeter said. “Give me an hour, and then come over to my place, okay?”

“We'll come with you,” Grace said. But she was talking to air. Jeeter was already gone.

“What's his hurry?” Fred asked. “You know, Grace, I don't think it was a good idea, letting him into our group.” Soda-soaked curls hung in his blue eyes and he brushed them away. “I mean, we don't even really know the guy.”

“Don't be paranoid,” Grace replied. “He just moved here and he doesn't really know anyone. I told you. His mom died last year. Give him a chance.”

“Fine,” Fred mumbled. “I feel bad for him about his mom and all, but there's just something weird about that guy…”

Jeeter was standing on his front step when they arrived. “It worked!” he exclaimed as Grace, Fred, and Mai walked up the drive. “I told you it'd be a piece of cake!”

As she followed Jeeter inside, Grace noticed how tall he was. With his muscles and brush cut, he looked more like an action figure than a teenager only one year older than she was.

There were boxes stacked in Jeeter's living room, covering the couch and coffee table as if it was still moving day. But the basement was a different story. It was lit up with blinking lights and glowing screens from several computers. One of them caught her eye—it showed a map of mine sites around Cape Breton. She'd seen paper ones just like it in her dad's office.

“Where does your dad work, anyway?” Fred asked, echoing Grace's thoughts. “He lets you use all this?”

“Roger's never around. I do what I want.”

“You call your dad by his first name?” Fred said. “That's weird.”

“You want weird, look in the mirror.”

“Knock it off, you guys,” Grace said. “Hey, there's my locker!” She pointed to an image on one of the screens.

“How did you hack into the cameras?” Mai asked.

“It wasn't hard. Here, I'll start the feed over at the beginning.” Jeeter sat at the terminal and pounded on the keys.

The picture was dark and grainy. First there was nothing but an empty hallway. The hall was usually filled with students laughing and banging locker doors. Grace never knew there was a camera watching everything they did. It was kind of creepy.

She gasped as a person suddenly appeared on the screen, walking toward the lockers. He was dressed in jeans and a hoodie, with the hood pulled up over his head. He took something out of his pocket and slid it into Grace's locker. Then he backed up and the screen went blank.

“That's no good,” Grace sighed in frustration. “You can't even see his face.”

“Let's watch it again,” Jeeter said. “Maybe we missed something.”

Jeeter started the video from the beginning. Grace, Mai, and Fred leaned in close to get a better look.

“Hey, I think something fell out of his pocket!” Fred leaned forward and touched the computer screen. “Right there!”

“Fred!” Grace yelped. “Hands off! I can't see.”

“Oops, sorry,” he said, hastily removing his hand. A purple fingerprint was smeared across the monitor.

Mai grabbed another wipe from her pack and tackled the purple trail. “There it is. Zoom in.”

“The other side!” Fred said, as nothing but magnified floor tile came into view. He reached over to touch the keypad. “Here, let me—”

“Back off,
Freddo
.” Jeeter elbowed him away. “I got it.”

Suddenly, a crumpled envelope came into view. Only the first two lines of the address were visible: