The garbled sound of shouting echoed in from outside, and Galina Krause flashed her strange eyes at them. "You cannot stop time. We will have the relic. Will you make it easy?"

"No," Wade said, and Becca stepped back with him.

Galina exhaled a sigh of regret. "Wrong answer."

With no more than a flick of her wrist, the two armed divers holstered their pistols and leaped. Wade tapped his brother's foot, and Darrell sprang forward into one man's knees, screaming as he did. The second man lunged at Wade, who managed to toss the relic to Becca before he went down. She snatched it from the air, crouched, and rolled to the edge of the pool.

"Not in the water!" the pale man shrieked, as Becca slid into the pool, gulping in a big breath. Dropping his pistol, the gnome clamped his two thin hands on her free wrist and pulled.

"Don't you touch her-" Lily was on his back like a cat, clawing his face and yelling "Creep-creep-creep!"

The gnome must have been all bone and wire, because he shook Lily off and was still able to keep Becca from diving away. Dragging her back up, he wormed her fingers open. "I'm getting it, I'm getting it!"

"Back away to the wall!" Galina trained her crossbow on Wade and Lily as one man pinned Darrell to the floor, though he was squirming like an eel. The other goon helped the runtish German drag Becca roughly from the pool. Something flew down through the ceiling. It slapped on the floor near Lily's feet. A rope, dangling from the hole at the top.

A shout came from the surface. "Kids, get back!"

Connor was on the rope, edging down. Galina shot her crowsbow up at him-thwack! He stopped his descent.

While the first thug kept Darrell pinned to the wall, Wade bashed at his knees, and he fell like a ton of bricks. There was a crack and a groan. "Go!" Wade gasped. Darrell and Lily both rushed to the rope. Connor was coming down again.

"Grab hold, and give me a clear shot!" He aimed a pistol at Galina.

While the second thug still had Becca, the gnome jumped at Wade, pushing him into the wall, but he twisted sideways. The gnome smashed his forehead into the stone, shrieking.

Wade spun around. "Becca-"

Galina was standing over her, the crossbow aimed at her throat. The thug had twisted Becca's arms behind her. A scream exploded in Wade's chest. He charged the woman. Her muscles were hard as stone. She barely moved, but her crossbow clanked to the floor.

When the goon dragged Becca away by her throat, Wade drew the dagger out and jerked it into the man's thigh. He cried out and released her. Gasping, she slunk to the floor.

Crack! A shot from above. Galina backed away. Wade tugged Becca to her feet. They grabbed the rope beneath Lily and Darrell.

"No-you-don't!" The pale man's face was smeared with blood. He snatched up the loaded crossbow and pulled the trigger. Galina knocked his arms, and the shot flew to the ceiling and clattered back down. "Fool! They will drop the relic. It will shatter!"

Becca began to slip. "I . . . can't . . . hold on . . ."

A slender thread of blood dripped down her arm.

"You're shot! That creep shot you!" Wade coiled his arm around her waist and half carried her as the rope rose higher.

"We will win this race!" the pale German squealed from below, swinging his fists in the air. "We will force you to give us the relic-"

Galina Krause slapped him across the face.

"But the first will tell them where-"

"Silence!" she cried. "Bring her to me. Only she can help us now!"

Near the top of the cave, the children felt the strong arms of Sgt. Connor pulling them through the opening and found that the storm had passed. When the hole was clear, he slid down the rope. Shots were fired, but a series of splashes followed. Looking down, they saw only Connor in an empty cave.

Galina Krause and her thugs were gone.

An engine sounded off shore. Seconds later, a motorboat roared out from the base of the cliffs. On its deck, the young woman, staring up at them.

"They escaped through the underwater passages," Lily said.

"Something tells me we'll see her again," said Wade. "Too soon."

"Kids! Kids! Are you all right?"

They whirled around. Roald Kaplan ran stumbling toward them, his face smeared with mud, but unhurt.

Wade hugged him tight. "Becca's wounded."

"Connor radioed the base," his father said, kneeling to her. "A helicopter is on its way."

Minutes later, the sharp thunder of rotor blades filled the air. Connor emerged from the cave, and the whole group was choppered to the naval base. On the way, a report came over the helicopter's radio. The motorboat was chased straight out to sea, but found bobbing empty in the water. No trace of Galina Krause. The Order had vanished.

Chapter Fifty-Five.

"Show your dad," Becca said, clutching her arm, but nodding to her pocket. After reaching his hand out instinctively, Wade decided to let Lily fish in her pocket and remove Vela.

Roald took it silently, traced his fingers over it.

"Uncle Henry didn't die in vain, Dad," Darrell said. "We found it. The first relic. We kept it from the Order."

Roald simply nodded, his eyes far away, then hugged them all again. At the base hospital, Becca was bandaged up by a navy nurse named Chris, receiving a tetanus shot to guard against infection from the crossbow's razor-sharp arrow.

Lily was as pale as she could be and still stay standing, which she did as close to Becca as she could. "I can't believe you actually got shot," she said, squeezing in closer. "Your mom's going to kill me!"

"Hey, it's what we Guardians do," Becca said, trying to smile.

When the nurse excused himself for a second, Wade said, "It's kind of incredible, isn't it? We found Vela, a piece of Copernicus's time-traveling astrolabe. Us. We kept it out of enemy hands."

"For now it's out of their hands," his father said. "We have to decide what to do with it and where it will be safe from the Order."

"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."