“Carlo will know,” said Lily, not moving an inch from Becca’s side. “The Frombork Protocol, and all that. Maybe in one of those underground bomb shelters in the Nevada desert.”
“Or maybe the most secure place in the country,” Darrell said. “The fortified bunker under the White House!”
Wade was glad that he and Becca had had those silent moments in the cave. The world had rushed back in quickly and noisily, and he knew he’d never be able to fully explain the magical thing that happened inside that rocky space.
But that was fine. If he wanted to be mushy, he might say how he and Becca sort of bonded over the relic. They had shared something. Something interesting. She grimaced when the nurse returned and clipped up the bandages, and all that went away.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” she said, forcing a smile. She hopped off the hospital bed next to Lily as if they were linked.
The emergency room doors slid open and they all went out. The rain had stopped, and the sun was burning off the humidity. What was left of the day was going to be scorching hot, and to Wade that was just fine. They could finally rest. No more jungle. No more Teutonic Order. No more danger. At least for now.
Roald opened his phone and flicked his thumb across the screen. “I promised Sara I’d call her when it was all over.”
All over.
Was it? Really? Could they just go back home? Darrell to his band and his tennis, him to his star charts and astronomy books? Wade felt his heart sink at the idea of it being all over, though it was probably for the best. They had to go back to school at least. The fact that their home was known to the Order, well, maybe the police would help with that. Maybe. It would probably be more normal than he wanted it to be. Certainly more normal than the last week. He glanced at Becca.
“I won’t tell Sara the whole story, of course,” his father was saying. “Just enough so she’ll know we’re all safe.”
“Dad, put it on speaker,” Darrell said. “We all want to talk to her. She’s going to flip when she hears what we’ve been doing.”
There was a bright click as the call connected.
“Hello, Sara!” Dr. Kaplan said with a laugh. “We made it. We’re all fine—”
“Hello? Who is this?” It was a man’s voice.
Roald squinted at the screen. “I’m sorry. I was calling my wife. Sara Kaplan. I must have the wrong—”
“This is Sara Kaplan’s phone,” said the voice.
“I don’t understand? Who’s this? Where’s my wife?”
“Dad,” said Wade. “Dad . . .”
“I don’t know,” the man said. “Hold on . . . I’m terribly sorry. My name is Terence Ackroyd. I’m speaking from New York. Perhaps she told you. We—Sara and I—were supposed to meet this evening to talk about manuscripts she was bringing from my house in Bolivia for the archive in Austin. But she didn’t show up for our meeting. Her luggage arrived at my hotel. Her cell phone, passport, everything was in it, but according to the airline, she was never on the flight—”
“Never on the flight?” Darrell said. “What happened to my mother?”
“I honestly don’t know,” the man said. “She never arrived in New York. It’s only been a few hours, and communications with Bolivia are spotty, but I fear something is dreadfully wrong. I couldn’t reach your cell and had to wait for you to call.”
Darrell made his hands into fists. “This can’t be happening! They have her!”
Wade felt as if he had been run over. “Dad—”
“Galina Krause said something!” Lily gasped. “She said only she will help us. She. Did the Order kidnap Sara to try to get Vela back?”
“Sorry? Did you say the Order?” said the man on the phone.
Roald waved his hand as if to brush the question away. “What do the police say? What are they doing to find her—”
“I haven’t contacted them,” said the man.
“You haven’t contacted them? My God—”
“There’s a reason,” the man said.
Dr. Kaplan swayed, trying to keep his balance. He couldn’t, and slumped to the curb, wild-eyed. “We have to go to Bolivia. They have her. I can’t believe it. They have Sara!”
“Dad!” cried Darrell, in tears now. “How did they take her? Where could she be—”
“Not Bolivia,” said Terence Ackroyd. He lowered his voice. “Come to New York, please. I can’t tell you over the phone, but there was something hidden in her luggage that you need to see. A message, I think, about her safety. It’s why I haven’t contacted the authorities. I’ll be here until you arrive. The Gramercy Park Hotel. Tell no one you are coming to see me. I’ll keep Sara’s phone and call you with any news.” He seemed to wait for a response, but when there was none, he said, “Until then,” and hung up.
Wade stood over his father, his head spinning, his eyes brimming, while Lily took the phone to call the airport.
“Where can she be?” Darrell pleaded, fighting back tears, before letting go and burying his head in Wade’s shoulder. “My mom, my mom—”
And that was it. Things had changed now. Were they already on the road that Carlo spoke about? The journey of sacrifice?
Becca wiped her face and paced the sidewalk. “That creepy little man said the first relic will tell us where the second is. You heard him.”
Lily was on hold with the airline. “Right. The first will circle to the last. But the second relic could be anything and anywhere. We don’t even know what its constellation is—”
“Maybe not.” Becca pulled Copernicus’s diary from her bag and started turning page after page. “But I think he was saying that something about Vela will help us find the second relic. Galina Krause will definitely be there. When she said ‘bring her to me,’ we have to think Sara will be there, too.”
Lily answered a voice on the phone, and Becca turned to the others. “Vela will lead us to the second relic and to Sara—”
“Wherever it is, we’re going,” said Darrell, still hanging on Wade’s shoulder. “Dad, we’re going to the ends of the world if we have to.”
Lily hung up the phone. “A flight leaves Guam tonight. We can be in New York by tomorrow night.”
Roald rose to his feet, his eyes dark, his face drawn. He wrapped his arms around both of his sons. “We’ll find Sara, boys. We’ll find her . . .”
Becca and Lily ran down the sidewalk, waving their arms and yelling, “Taxi!”
Epilogue
SPANISH SCHOOL BUS
DISCOVERED IN MOUNTAIN PASS
MADRID—A bus carrying Spanish schoolchildren reported missing Wednesday evening in the mountains north of the city was located early Saturday. State police agencies responded to reports from witnesses who described seeing an out-of-control school bus “suddenly appearing in the center of the highway” north of the Somosierra Tunnel.
All the students except one, and their teachers, have been accounted for and were in good health despite suffering exposure and minor trauma. The driver of the bus, Diego Vargas, 68, was also reported missing. After their arrival at a local hospital, the students, aged 7 to 14, and teachers on the bus claimed that it entered the south side of the Somosierra Tunnel and was immediately struck by “a barrage of cannon fire and attacked by uniformed soldiers on horses, brandishing pistols and sabers.”
The passengers’ reports were at first dismissed by police but later confirmed by crime scene investigators when remains of musket shells and fragments of at least two nineteenth-century cannonballs were discovered lodged in the side panels of the bus.
A region-wide search is underway for the missing student and the driver, while all other passengers were treated and released.
The incident remains under investigation by local and federal crime units.
To be continued . . .
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Author’s Note
The Forbidden Stone is undeniably a work of fiction; any real people who pass through its pages have been treated
in a fictional manner. However, since all such books are built on a foundation of reality, I’d like to acknowledge a number of historical works I used in laying out the story.
The first volume to capture my interest about the “timid canon,” his world-altering discovery, and his colorful times is The Sleepwalkers (1959) by Arthur Koestler, a volume I came upon during my college years. A novelist whose most famous book will find its way into the next volume of this series, Koestler instills in his chapters on Nicolaus Copernicus the excitement and living detail of his craft. This book remains the touchstone of my appreciation for the astronomer.
Jack Repcheck’s Copernicus’ Secret: How the Scientific Revolution Began (2007) is an illuminating biography, as is A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos (2011) by Dava Sobel. Both works combine scholarship with an engaging style and have the virtue of being recent and easily obtainable.
Desmond Seward’s The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders (1972) and Frederick Charles Woodhouse’s The Military Religious Orders of the Middle Ages: The Hospitallers, the Templars, the Teutonic Knights, and Others (1879) have been and will continue to be helpful in fleshing out the murky days of the sixteenth century Order. I must also mention Kip S. Thorne’s Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy (1994), a brilliantly amusing and engaging text for humanities-heavy nonscientists like me.
Since I dislike spoilers and feel an obligation to keep secrets hidden until they are revealed at their proper time and place, this paragraph will seem vague until the reader completes the book. I am indebted to Laurence Bergreen’s 2003 book about what he calls “the edge of the world,” as well as Yale University Press’s 1969 edition of Antonio Pigafetta’s travel history. Thanks are due, also, to the Sterling Library at Yale and its Privileges and Reference staffs for locating and providing me space to examine Laura Maud Thompson’s rare 1932 volume, Archaeology of the . . . Also helpful was Thompson’s 1941 book about the people native to that area. Finally, Private Yokoi’s War . . . by Omi Hatashin is a fascinating document made all the more so by containing Shoichi Yokoi’s autobiography.
Any liberties and excursions from fact are, of course, completely my own.
Acknowledgments
It’s hard to separate these personal remarks from the Author’s Note of the previous pages; all have combined to create what you’re holding in your hands right now. Still, I want to express particular gratitude to the following constellation of stars.
My astonishingly smart, funny, beautiful, and talented wife, Dolores, has always been the rock upon which I’ve been blessed to conjure stories, from early disappointments to the glorious present. My equally amazing and lovely daughters, Jane and Lucy, you make each day a wonder of discovery. Together, you three are on every single page of this book.
My agent, George Nicholson, has been artfully building and shaping my career in stories since I began writing them. Yes, George, it was 1994 when we began our pleasant relationship (with Harper, I might add). Here’s to the next twenty years!
I must thank Kip S. Thorne, astrophysicist extraordinaire, for collegially allowing me to use his name in a work of fiction. Kip, I am here offering you the use of mine.
To the entire team at Katherine Tegen Books, starting with Katherine herself, whose wry humor and excitement so sparked to the idea and nurtured that spark into a blaze. My editor, Claudia Gabel, delightfully present at the creation of The Copernicus Legacy, has always urged this epic story to ever-higher levels. Your creative intelligence and brainstorming are indelibly present in these pages, too. Also there at the beginning, Melissa Miller has been a shepherd, a microscopic reader, a sounding board, and a crutch; I happily depend on all of your talents. To the several copy editors and proofreaders whose native brilliance has offhandedly saved me from gaffes as numberless as the stars, I love you. From the art department (oh, that awesome logo!) to the marketing, promotion, and sales forces—your support from the inception of this project has been a joy.
This is the beginning of the payback.
Praise for
THE COPERNICUS LEGACY:
The Forbidden Stone
“I had to keep reminding myself The Copernicus Legacy was intended for a young audience. Full of mystery and intrigue, this book had me completely transfixed.”
—Ridley Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of the Kingdom Keepers series
“The Copernicus Legacy takes you on a fantastical journey that is as eye-opening as it is page-turning. With mysteries hiding behind secrets coded in riddle, this book is like a Dan Brown thriller for young readers. The further you get, the more you must read!”
—Angie Sage, New York Times bestselling author of the Septimus Heap series
“The Copernicus Legacy has it all: A secret code, priceless relics, murderous knights, a five-hundred-year-old mystery, and a story full of friendship, family, humor, and intelligence. Tony Abbot better be writing quickly because I can’t wait for book two!”
—Wendy Mass, New York Times bestselling author of The Candymakers and Every Soul a Star
“Tony Abbott is such an amazing storyteller, Copernicus should’ve named a star after him. With codes to crack, clues to unravel, and bad guys to outrun, this is one thrilling, smart, and fun read! I can’t wait for the next chapter in this stellar new series.”
—Chris Grabenstein, New York Times bestselling author
“A sprawling and fast-paced adventure in the great tradition of Robert Ludlum, Ian Fleming, and other masters whose tales loom larger than life. Readers are in for a real treat.”
—David Lubar, author of Flip, Wizards of the Game, and Hidden Talents
About the Author
TONY ABBOTT is the author of nearly a hundred books for young readers, including the bestselling series The Secrets of Droon. Tony has worked in libraries, in bookstores, and in a publishing company and currently teaches college English. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, two daughters, and two dogs. You can visit him online at www.tonyabbottbooks.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
Credits
Cover art © 2014 by Bill Perkins
Logo art © 2014 by Jason Cook/debut art
Cover design by Tom Forget
Copyright
Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone
Text copyright © 2014 by HarperCollins Publishers
Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Bill Perkins
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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ISBN 978-0-06-219447-3 (trade bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-06-232811-3 (international ed.)
EPUB Edition DECEMBER 2013 ISBN 9780062194459
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FIRST EDITION
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Tony Abbott, The Copernicus Legacy: The Forbidden Stone
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