The Impossible Race: Cragbridge Hall, Volume 3 by Chad Morris Read Free Book Online

so the teachers would be out of sight as they approached the door.
    “Why are we here again?” Carol asked.
    “The clue was a reference to different laboratories of Nikola Tesla,” Abby explained.
    “That is a crazy name,” Carol said. “I love it.”
    “It took me a little while to figure it out,” Abby admitted. “Tesla was an inventor, and Liberty Street and Foote Avenue were places he had laboratories. The message meant that we shouldn’t go to his first laboratory, but to one he worked in after he was more established and had financial backing. So if we compare that to Grandpa, this would be a laboratory he had after he was established.”
    Abby raised her hand and could feel it being scanned, but the light didn’t turn green. The door was still locked.
    “He said to bring the key,” Rafa reminded. “It looks like we need it.”
    “The message said, ‘Bring this key,’” Derick corrected. “And it was on the cane, so do you think he means the cane is also some sort of key?”
    “Probably,” Abby said. She pulled out the cane from her backpack. It had been too long to fit in entirely, so the rubber bottom stuck out, but she would have felt weirder holding a cane as she walked the halls. Abby lifted the cane to the lock. She couldn’t exactly thread it into a keyhole. She was hoping that just bringing it close to the lock would do something.
    Nothing happened.
    Again, Abby pulled on the cane and exposed the metal band beneath. She touched it, and the cane vibrated. She saw numbers automatically appear on the security lock near the door, and the door popped open.
    They quickly stepped inside and closed the door. The walls were filled with bookshelves, screens with blueprints, several locked cabinets, and a few booths. One portion of the room held a Chair, a metal plate on its back bent up, wires flaring out from beneath. Another part of the office had controls to the Bridge. A machine that Abby didn’t recognize stood in a corner. It looked like a small table with a console, a round container on the side, and a large, thick safe-like compartment beneath.
    “We use machines like this in metal shop,” Rafa said, looking at the same mechanism. “It’s used for the small stuff.” Abby hadn’t thought about it before, but that made sense. Grandpa used lockets and keys and black boxes to teach about his secrets. Someone had to make them, and Grandpa couldn’t trust just anyone with the secret messages they contained. So he made them himself. It was a wonder her grandpa found time for it all.
    A large desk stood in the middle of the lab with a chaotic mess of machinery scattered across its top.
    An image of Grandpa appeared, this one full-size. As always, he wore his loafers, casual khaki pants, a button-up shirt, and his blue blazer. He rubbed his bald head, then smoothed his fluffy white mustache. “Welcome to my office.” He spread his arms wide, his cane hanging on his wrist. “Have a seat.” The image of Grandpa motioned toward the plush chair behind his desk.
    Abby’s heart swelled and hurt at the same time. She was listening to her grandfather again, but she knew his real body lay in the medical unit, still unconscious.
    “Go ahead, Abby,” Derick said, nodding toward the chair. “You’re the one who started figuring all this out.”
    “What a gentleman,” Carol gushed.
    As soon as Abby sat, screens lowered from the ceiling. They covered the bookshelves and cases and drawings. It was like theater in the round.
    “Unless I’m wrong,” the image of Grandpa said, “you have come here wondering if the Bridge can show you even more than you have yet discovered.” He smiled, wrinkles bunching up at the corners of his mouth.
    “I admit to having another secret or two. By the data related to your fingerprint, you already know the Bridge can show the past and present. Perhaps you wonder if it can also show the future.” His white eyebrows raised. “Before we answer that question, I