Fathom L. Standage (books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

broom and mop and had to grab them to keep them from making a huge noise.

We waited there for several minutes. My galloping heart and my ragged breathing felt loud in the dark. I couldn’t see Calder, but I could feel him there—the only thing in the entire world that could have made the situation more uncomfortable. I couldn’t hear a thing outside the closet.

“I think they’re gone,” I said.

“Wait.” He touched my arm.

Stupid butterflies, just stop!

“All right, they’ve gone out the door,” said Eamon’s voice in my ear. “You’re clear. Hurry now.” Calder opened the door a crack, peeked out, then slid into the hallway. I followed him, closing the door behind me.

“This way,” I said, jogging ahead of him. I turned into the adjoining hallway and found Linnaeus’s office. I turned the knob, but it wouldn’t move. “Locked.”

“Linnaeus isn’t about to leave his office open anymore,” said Calder, shouldering me aside. He took out a pocketknife and another small tool. He slid the knife into the crack between the door and the jamb and stuck the other little tool through the keyhole in the knob. After about ten seconds, the lock clicked. I hurried into the office, my shoes squeaking on the glass floor. I swung myself around the desk, fell on my knees beside the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet, and hauled it open.

“Is that the shark tank?” Calder asked, gazing at the floor.

“Yeah,” I said, thumbing through the files. Project Fathom, Project Fathom, I repeated in my head as I searched each file name.

“Olivia, Calder—Linnaeus is coming back! Get out of there!”

There was no place for both of us to hide but we weren’t going to get another chance at this. Calder snatched at my arm just as the right file caught my eye. I pulled away from him, seized the file, and tugged it out of the drawer. Leaving the drawer open, I ran through the office door after Calder.

“Is there another way out?” he asked.

“I don’t know!”

He growled in frustration, then ran down the hall in the opposite direction of the main entrance. With the file under one arm, I trailed behind until we found another door at the other end of the hallway. We plowed through it without forethought. An alarm went off, loud, long, and piercing. Ugh, an emergency exit!

“This way!” Calder shouted, pushing me along. I took off, clutching the file, hoping its contents wouldn’t spill everywhere. We hurried down the sidewalk, a few people looking curiously toward the sound of the alarm. Soon it stopped and I breathed easier. I increased my pace. Calder held me back.

“Don’t run. It draws attention.”

“There!” Linnaeus shouted from behind. “They took something from my office!” Someone stepped into my path—a long-haired someone with wild eyes. Marinus.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he said into my ear.

My vision spun. He groped for the file in my hands, but I held it tight against my chest. He yanked my hat off. My blond waves tumbled around my face. I couldn’t see. Then with the sickening sound of a fist pounding flesh, Marinus grunted in pain. Two more blows. His grip loosened. I wriggled away. Calder took my hand and pulled me along. He was too fast for me. I stumbled on my unsteady footing, but he held me up. Behind, Marinus limped after us.

The alarms started again. So much for escape. Calder led me away from the park entrance. With our carelessness of setting off an emergency exit alarm, the entire place could be aware of our presence. Hiding in the bushes wasn’t going to help us this time.

We ran around gift shops and displays, and even some of the construction Uther mentioned, until we came to a tall fence. Calder boosted me up. I climbed up and jumped from the wall. I landed hard, lost my footing, and fell onto my knees. The file of papers fell to the ground. Calder landed beside me and helped me gather the papers back into the folder. He held them together as we ran again, coming at last to the relative safety of the parking lot.

We found our car as we walked, half bent to hide our heads, and climbed in. Calder thrust the file folder at me. As he backed the car out of the space, he ripped out his earpiece, took a cell phone from his pocket, and pushed a button.

“They’re after us,” he said without any other introduction. “We got out of the park okay, but Linnaeus saw us. We—” Calder swore, dropped the phone, and slammed on the brake. The car screeched to a stop, almost throwing me through the windshield. Papers from the file went flying. Security cars blocked the exit. Calder shifted the car again and roughly steered away from the approaching security guards. I struggled to buckle my seat belt as the pursuit began.

We screeched around the parking lot, surrounded on all sides by vegetation and tall chain-link fences.

“Keep your head down,” he said. I gathered the scattered papers from the file, glancing up once to see the direction our car went.

“This isn’t the exit!” I shouted as Calder pounded the gas pedal toward the one-way entrance to the parking lot. At this time of night, however, no one was coming in. He blew past the parking attendant booths, orange cones rolling in all directions, and sped onto the main road…which was also a one-way street. I screamed as a pair of headlights swerved out of our way and a horn blared at us. Calder only went faster, dodging another oncoming car. I covered my face and crouched in my seat. The car swerved again. I opened my eyes. We were now on the highway, this time heading the right way. I heaved a deep breath, glad for our escape, until I saw a car behind us make the exact move we did.

“Someone’s coming!”

He glanced in the rearview mirror. Knuckles bleeding, he gripped the gearshift and manipulating the transmission faster than I