Chapter 2- On The Hunt

Inside the train, the seats were slightly ripped on the sides of the poorly painted rails. Anxiously, Jake stared out of the foggy windows but there didn’t seem to be any life outside. Outside, snow melted into slippery ice that overwhelmed the tracks ahead. Jake stepped up from his seat as the doors of the train clicked. The doors burst open, letting the cold, icy atmosphere enter the summer-breezed train. Dovesdale felt wintry and unwelcoming. This wasn’t like before.

Jake and Tilly bounded towards Dovesdale Premier Hotel. Doverrie flew above them, seeking any obvious clues. Inside the hotel, Jake was surprised to see that nothing had changed since he left. The wooden bookshelves were still lined up perfectly against each other. Fragments of dust roamed around the room, like tiny clouds roaming the sky in the daytime. With a sigh of relief, he could still spot the book. It was still safe!

Curious, Tilly grabbed the book off of the shelf and opened it cautiously. Inside, there was something that they had never expected to find. It was a tiny map, drawn in Jake’s mother’s unique style. It looked like a prototype of a new sort of airship, powered by temperature. Amused, Tilly exclaimed, “Wow, is this what they have been after? If your mom had designed an airship that is powered by temperature, it would be worth a fortune! No wonder she had so many enemies.”

“So, that’s what all this chaos is about? A drawing for something pointless?” hissed Jake, peering over Tilly’s shoulder to see the prototype.

“Precisely so,” came a distinct voice from the doorway. He stepped inside, revealing himself from the darkness outside. Jake instantly recognized who it was. It was his mother’s old friend! Hamilton Robert to be exact. He let his hand stroke through his white, icy hair. He smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile. It lacked happiness. “I’ve been waiting for this moment. I knew that she hid it away from me. Now, I will be taking that, if you don’t mind.” Hamilton exaggerated, snatching the prototype from Tilly.

A few minutes later, the children were stuck outside in the hotel’s dark alley. There was a slender window leading to the staffroom, but it was too small to wiggle through. The backdoor was firmly locked. “That snake!” whispered Jake cautiously. “He double-crossed my mother!”

“We’ll never get out of here!” muttered Tilly. She sat down on a garbage bag, trying to wipe away the dust from her hands.

“Oh, yes we will,” reported Jake, determined not to be outwitted by an old man. “We will escape from this and get back that prototype in memory of my mother!”

“Good luck doing that.” mumbled Tilly, so quietly that Jake couldn’t understand a word that she was saying. Staring at the cobbled wall, she could only sense a feeling of dread.