13 A Cool Setup

CHAPTER THIRTEEN A Cool SetUp Condenser (noun). A device that chemists use in labs that looks like a goofy glass tube. It's super fancy because it is used to transform a gas to a liquid. The vapor passes through the cold tube and turns into cute little droplets. So it sort of acts like a little refrigerator. INSIDE OF DR. FRANKLIN'S laboratory was more glassware than I had ever seen, including all kinds of Erlenmeyer flasks! Those are the triangular glass containers that are wide at the bottom and skinny at the top. There were giant ones and even itty-bitty ones. There was all kinds of tubing going from one flask to another. Oh, plus dozens of test tubes. And a Bunsen burner to heat liquids and stuff. "This is awesome," I said. "They even have condensers." I pointed to some horizontal glass pipes that were moving chemicals from one spot to another.

"I don't see the X-ray machine that Dr. Franklin used to take images," said Phoenix. "She probably locked it up," said Memito, turning on the egg timer to start the countdown. "Right," said Elijah. "She didn't want that evil Dr. Dragas to get his hands on it." Elijah pointed to the front door of the lab. It had a combination lock on it. "Somehow we're going to have to figure out the code to that thing." "Meanwhile, check out that closet," said Birdie in a nervous voice. "It's a wreck." A bunch of lab coats were piled in a heap on the floor. "I'm on it," said Elijah, hurrying into the closet. "It's weird that the lab coats are on the floor," said Phoenix thoughtfully. "I read a biography of Rosalind Franklin over the summer, and it said she was always very neat and careful." "Yes, yes, good point," I admitted. And a little teeny part of me was jealous. I should have been the one to have read the Franklin bio. After all, I'm the kid obsessed with chemistry, and Rosalind Franklin is the queen of chemistry. Elijah stepped out of the closet, making a frowny face. "Nope, nothing in the closet. I checked everywhere. But I did put on a new lab coat. The one I had was too small."

Suddenly, Phoenix dropped down to the floor and scooped up a clue. "Got something!" she announced, waving a small, bright red journal. "Mmm. That color reminds me of candied apples," said Memito. "Which I'm definitely getting at the Fall Festival." "Shh," said Phoenix. "We're not going to the festival unless we can escape from here." Carefully she flipped through the pages. "It's Dr. Franklin's diary," she said with more than a hint of wonder. Then her chin dipped to her chest. "Most of the pages were ripped out. Wait. Look at the last page." Her voice grew excited. "It says, 'Must rush out. There's no more time. Dr. Dragas will never find the image of the virus. He can track me down. But I don't have it. He'll never find it in my lab. Only ghosts. I must go...' Then the rest is just a scrawl." "What does she mean by 'only ghosts'?" I wondered aloud. Elijah leaned in to inspect. "Maybe because the page is torn up, like a ghost of a page?" "I doubt it," said Jeremy. "Well," said Phoenix, "I bet Dr. Franklin had to hurry away to evade that horrible Dr. Dragas. There probably wasn't enough time for her to transport the virus image out of the lab without real danger."

"I bet she was worried about Dr. Dragas finding her and taking the image if she kept it with her," said Elijah. "That image has to be somewhere in here," said Memito, his eyes scanning the shelves. "It says so in the journal. Blanche said it's up to us to find it before Dragas gets here." "We already know most of this," said Jeremy, groaning impatiently. "Dr. Franklin obviously hid that image. Now it's time to find more clues. So we can get out of here in time." Memito set down the timer with a plunk on the counter in front of him. "Guys, we only have thirty- eight minutes. I couldn't even take my shower and get ready for school in that amount of time. Just saying." Birdie glanced at the front door longingly. "Seems like a long time." "Not really," said Jeremy. "Let's find some more clues." I hurried to a central lab table and checked if anything might be hidden underneath. Even after swiping my fingers on the backs of some stools, I came up with nothing. Not even a ball of dust was in sight on the neatly swept floor. Meanwhile Birdie stood across from me inspecting the back of a chalkboard. Memito spun a

globe of the world with his finger and then shook it to see if anything was inside. Elijah fiddled with the buttons on an old-fashioned radio that had a glowing yellow tube coming out the top of it. "It really looks like we've stepped back in time," he said. "I know." Memito joined Elijah, who was now sliding his hand around the back of the radio. "Man, that thing is old," said Memito. "What if it breaks? And then you'd have to use your allowance to pay for it. Or what if—" "—there is a hidden code inside of this." Elijah pulled an instruction booklet from behind the radio. "Is there food behind there, too?" asked Memito. "I'm starving." "Hey, I just found a receipt," Birdie announced. "It was behind a picture frame. It's for a plane trip somewhere." She squinted thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, the print is too faded." "Good. Good!" I encouraged. "We do know that Rosalind Franklin left on a trip." "More clues isn't always better," mumbled Jeremy. "That could be a red herring. Something to throw us off. We need to find something that will lead to that." He pointed to the lock on the door.

"And that image of the virus," Phoenix reminded us. Kneeling down in front of the main door, she flipped over a small area rug. "You never know what could help." She pulled off a tag. "This wasn't attached. It could be something." "Probably not," said Jeremy. "You guys," I said, waving my arms in a stop motion. "Hold up. We have to have a plan." Jeremy stepped next to me. "Yeah. You're right." I couldn't believe he was actually agreeing with me. I met Birdie's eyes in a look of astonishment. "My brother loves watching escape room hacks on YouTube," said Jeremy "So I've seen a ton of them. One of the number one tips is to have a project manager." He thumped his chest. "That's me." "Actually, I think it should be me," I said. "Since I probably know the most about"—I spun around the lab—"all the equipment in this place." "Yes, but did you watch the top ten escape room tips video?" said Jeremy. "No." He pointed to the egg timer. "You hear that thing ticking? Well, we only have thirty-six—correction, thirty-five— minutes. The trick is to divide and conquer." He waved his arms. "And put all the clues in one place. Let's say right here." He grabbed a flashlight off a