CHAPTER 1
I thought slowly as we were driving from the private airport to the secret base that the voice prepared for us in advance. Ostin, Taylor, and I were sitting in the back seats with Gervaso at the wheel. Taylor was holding my hand, probably listening to everything I thought.
"Gervaso?" I asked.
"Yes?"
"Where are we going?"
He quickly glanced back at us. I myself wasn't in favor of a car crash at the moment either.
"We should be there in about twenty minutes. You'll see."
Time dragged on. I looked out the window. We were out of the city where the private airport was. Now, we were driving down a lone road through a maze of corn. Ostin saw me looking out the window and said, "Corn is actually more useful than you think. It is more than just popcorn and a delicious food." He looked off into the distance, probably daydreaming about food.
"Yeah," Taylor said, "I was so curious to know what corn was good for."
Ostin looked confused. "But I didnt say what it was good for yet!"
McKenna patted his arm. "She was just being sarcastic."
He looked at Taylor.
"Oh."
I could tell that he was discouraged. I hoped that Taylor and Tessa would stop discouraging him from telling us what he was interested in, even if it was completely useless. Taylor fidgeted uncomfortably next to me. She was still holding my hand.
"So Corn also makes a pretty good bio-fuel, which doesnt take away from the store of nonrenewable energy."
How does he know this junk? I said to myself.
"I know," Taylor said out loud.
"And that is why people prefer to use corn for packing peanuts. Other packaging companies are still in competition with the corn packing peanuts. They are better for the environment because of their ability to dissolve in almost in any solvent and are extremely biodegradable when exposed to the elements."
"Have you ever eaten any packing peanuts?" Taylor asked, trying to sound interested.
"Of course not! I licked one when I was in fifth grade, but they dont really taste like anything."
"That's good to know," Taylor said.
Gervaso looked back at us with a funny expression.
"Does he always talk like this?" He asked, a little bemused.
"Pretty much," Taylor said.
"But thats not a bad thing," McKenna said.
"It's not unless youre sitting next to him."
Gervaso looked back again.
"Sorry to interrupt your funny conversation, but gather up all of your things. We are almost at the secret house."
"The secret house?" I asked quizzically.
"Yes. Just around this corner here."
Gervaso took a slowly winding turn to the rightand there it was. A small house in the middle of nowhere, complete with a barn and some grazing cows. Taylor sighed. She knew that we were not planning to stay for very long.
"This is the secret base?" I asked incredulously. I was expecting something more like a secure compound.
"You just wait," Gervaso said, as if he was reading my mind. The house had a small garage. Actually, the garage was so small that I doubted that our car would be able to fit in there.
"I'm betting that that garage is only for bicycles and ATVs," Ostin said.
"Where are we going to park?" McKenna asked.
Gervaso drove up next to the garage, got out, and then walked up to the wall of the house. He poked a brick. Suddenly, a keypad appeared in the spot the brick had occupied just a few seconds before. Ostins eyes grew wide.
"Wow! Ive only seen those kinds of things in movies!"
Gervaso entered in a code and quickly got back into the car.
"Time to go," He said.
"Go where?" I asked.
"Down."
Suddenly, there was a low hum and the ground began vibrating. In front of us, the ground began opening up until it revealed a ramp that led to an underground tunnel. My jaw dropped.
"Holy cow!"
Gervaso drove into the darkened hole. The moment our back tire cleared the entrance, the ramp was once again lifted up to seal us in.