19 Time Is Up

CHAPTER NINETEEN Time Is Up Phosphors (noun). Substances that glow when struck by special kinds of light, such as ultraviolet light. Your teeth and fingernails have phosphors, which is why they look so awesome under a black light. I SHONE THE LIGHT IN THE DRAWER. Glowing letters immediately appeared. RIO. "Rio! Is that some kind of element?" asked Birdie. "Nope," I said. "That's where Dr. Franklin went," guessed Phoenix. "It's in South America, Brazil, actually." "Okay, great," said Jeremy. "Now we know where she's hiding out. What next?" "That's where the globe comes in," said Phoenix. She spun the globe until her finger hovered right over Brazil. "Is there a code written on the globe?" asked Elijah hopefully. "Maybe so," said Phoenix.

I sped over to the lock. "Latitude and longitude. Read them out," I said. "The longitude goes up and down the earth, just like how we cut an apple. And the latitude goes around the earth, like a hula hoop." "Okay," called out Phoenix. "Wait. The latitude and longitude are written in Sharpie right here. That makes it easy, which is good since we don't have much time. The latitude is 22.91 and the longitude is 43.17." "So that would be too many numbers," I called out. "This is a four-digit combination padlock." "Try twenty-three and then forty-three," suggested Memito. I swirled the numbers. I tried 2343. "Nope." "What if you add the latitude and longitude together?" said Elijah, who loved math. "So it would be 6608. Try that!" I spun the numbers into place and then tugged. The lock opened! We all burst out of the room, with four seconds to spare. "We did it!" I cried, jumping up and down. In the hallway, Blanche greeted us with a huge smile. And it grew even bigger as Elijah handed her the tube with the virus image. "For safekeeping," he said.

"Thank you. Dragas will never get it now," Blanche said, tucking it into her trench coat. Then she took off her sunglasses and smiled with pride. "Really, congratulations, everyone. You did it! That was some wonderful teamwork!" We all smushed into a group hug, jumping up and down. "Does that mean that Dr. Dragas won't be able to rule the world?" asked Memito. "That's right," said Ms. Daly. "You all saved the planet." "And our grades," said Phoenix. "I'll say," said Ms. Daly. "Those big fat goose egg zeroes have just been changed to hundreds. You guys used impressive teamwork in there, right down to the wire." Birdie smiled at me. And I smiled back, giving her a knowing look and a wink. "That was so much fun." Jeremy glanced at Phoenix, me, and Birdie. "You guys rocked." Wow. Those were words I never thought I'd hear coming out of Jeremy Rowe's mouth. "We all rocked," I said. And then we all highfived each other. "I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep very well tonight," admitted Memito. "Because my heart is never going to slow down."

"It's definitely a rush," I admitted. "So much science." "And just plain fun!" yelled Elijah.