by Roland Smith
He leaned forward until his chin was almost touching his knees. Nicole draped herself over his back. Under other circumstances he might have felt very different about having Nicole this close to him, and he wondered if Nicole was thinking the same thing.
He started out slowly, getting a feel for the overloaded quad. The steering was sluggish in the crosswind.
Up ahead he remembered the road veering to the left. The wind would be at their backs and he might be able to pick up speed. There was standing water on the gravel road, but not nearly as much as there had been on the highway. The quad’s balloon tires cut through the water easily, but he’d have to watch out for hydroplaning, which was just as dangerous as driving on ice.
He followed the road to the left and the steering became more responsive. He increased the speed, and tried to recall if there were any other turns before they reached the buildings below the house.
He felt a tap on his right shoulder and grimaced in pain. He looked to his right, but didn’t see anything. He eased off the throttle, and something very strange happened. The wind died and the rain stopped.
Completely.
Chase shut the quad off.
It was silent except for their breathing, which they hadn’t been able to hear for hours.
Chase looked up and saw stars against a black sky. “Weird,” Rashawn said.
“The eye of the storm,” Chase said. “It’s going to start up again, and the back end of the hurricane might be worse than the front. Do you realize that we’re talking in normal voices and not shouting at each other?”
“This eye-of-the-storm thing is not why I tapped you on the shoulder,” Rashawn said.
“Then why?”
“I know you’ll think I’m crazy. Maybe I dozed off, or maybe I’m so worn out I’m hallucinating, but I think I saw a big spotted cat running along my side. Looked like a leopard.”
Chase and Nicole stared at her, absolutely speechless.
“I told you, you’d think I was crazy. But it gets stranger. The cat was carrying what looked like a little monkey in its mouth. The monkey was limp. It looked dead.”
“Poco,” Nicole said.
“Hector,” Chase said.
“Are you saying I did see a leopard carrying a little green monkey? What kind of a farm is this?”
“Right now, a very dangerous farm,” Nicole said.
Chase started the quad, put it into gear, and pushed the throttle as far as it would go. As they sped up the road he wondered how fast a leopard could run.
03:42AM
Chase pulled up in front of the Rossis’ house, or at least where it used to be. The old farmhouse looked like it had been pushed over by a bulldozer. Nicole was off the quad, screaming for Momma Rossi, before the quad came to a complete stop.
“This was their house?” Rashawn asked in shock.
“Yeah.” Chase swung off the quad and stepped into a foot of water. “Can I borrow your headlamp?” Rashawn slipped it off her forehead. “You want to stay here with the quad while I get Nicole?”
“With a leopard running around?” Rashawn said. “No, thanks.”
“That’s why I have to get Nicole. We can’t be standing out here in the open like this with Hector running around. And this eye isn’t going to last long. When the wind starts up again, this debris is going to be blowing all over the place. We have to find shelter.”
“Then let’s get her and get out of here,” Rashawn said.
Nicole was yelling for Momma Rossi and frantically pulling up floating debris. Chase put his hand on her shoulder.
“We need to go,” he said gently.
“We need to find Momma Rossi!” Nicole shouted.
“She may not be here,” Chase said. “I saw a light on outside one of the buildings.”
Nicole turned around and looked. “The circus barn!”
She ran back to the quad, with Chase and Rashawn right behind her. When they reached the barn, Nicole was off the quad again before it stopped, and running to a side door.
“A lot of water here,” Rashawn said as they hurried to the entrance.
“I know,” Chase said.
Inside, Nicole had her arms wrapped around Momma Rossi. They were both crying. Chase was relieved Momma Rossi had made it through the storm, but he knew they were still far from safe. Three feet in from the door, there was a good six inches of standing water.
“Is that an elephant?” Rashawn asked.
“Her name’s Pet,” Chase said.
“Nicole’s mom is kind of small.”
“Don’t let that fool you,” Chase said. “She’s bigger than she looks. And older — she’s actually Nicole’s grandmother.” They walked over, and Momma Rossi hugged them both. “Where’s Dad?” Nicole asked.
Momma Rossi shook her head. “I don’t know. He left hours ago to see if he could find you. I was sitting in the house, waiting for you, when it started to come apart. I ran down here and I’ve been sitting here ever since. Did you stop at the house?”
Nicole nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks. “It’s gone,” she said quietly.
Momma Rossi put her arms around her. “It’s just a house. We can rebuild a house. Did you see Poco up there? He jumped out of my arms and disappeared into the night.”
Rashawn was about to say something, but Nicole cut her off. “We didn’t see him,” she said. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
“I’m sure your father’s fine too,” Momma Rossi said. “He’ll be back now that the storm’s over.”
“It’s not over,” Chase said. “We’re in the eye of —”
His words were cut off by a gust of wind slamming into the metal building. Pet pulled on her chains and threw hay and sawdust over her back with her gray trunk.
“That wind’s going to scare the baby right out of her,” Momma Rossi shouted above the noise.
Chase glanced again at the door. The water was rising.
Another Rollicking Adventure from Roland Smith!
TROUBLED WATERS!
Cryptids — mythological creatures like the Loch Ness monster and Sasquatch — are Travis Wolfe’s obsession, and he’ll travel to the ends of the earth for proof. For cousins Marty and Grace, who have lived with Wolfe ever since Marty’s parents disappeared, this means adventure — and danger! Now they’re all en route to the South Pacific to track down a giant squid, but the freighter they’re on seems to be haunted, and someone on board is determined to sabotage their mission. Will Marty and Grace get to the bottom of this fishy business — or end up at the bottom of the sea?
PRAISE FOR TENTACLES
“A high-octane page-turner that will reel readers in and keep them riveted.”
— School Library Journal
“Smith’s fast-paced story will capture the imagination of any action-loving reader.”
— BookPage
ALSO BY ROLAND SMITH
THE CRYPTID HUNTERS BOOKS
Cryptid Hunters
Tentacles
THE I, Q BOOKS
I, Q: Independence Hall
I, Q: The White House
THE JACK OSBORNE BOOKS
Zach’s Lie
Jack’s Run
THE JACOB LANSA BOOKS
Thunder Cave
Jaguar
The Last Lobo
OTHER NOVELS BY THE AUTHOR
The Captain’s Dog
Elephant Run
Peak
Sasquatch
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Roland Smith is the author of numerous award-winning books for young readers, including Zach’s Lie, Jack’s Run, Cryptid Hunters, Peak, I, Q, and, most recently, Tentacles. For more than twenty years, he worked as an animal keeper, traveling all over the world, before turning to writing full-time. Roland lives with his wife, Marie, on a small farm south of Portland, Oregon. Visit him online at www.rolandsmith.com.
Copyright
Text copyright © 2011 by Roland Smith
Cover art and design © 2011
by Phil Falco
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention : Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smith, Roland, 1951-
Storm runners / Roland Smith. — 1st ed. p. cm.
Summary: Twelve-year-old Chase Masters travels the country with his father, a “storm runner,” but he is tested in ways he never could have imagined when he and a new friend are caught in a hurricane near St. Petersburg, Florida.
[1. Hurricanes — Fiction. 2. Storm chasers — Fiction. 3. Conduct of life — Fiction. 4. Fathers and sons — Fiction. 5. Circus animals — Fiction. 6. Saint Petersburg (Fla.) — Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.S65766Sto 2011
[Fic]—dc22
2010032720
First edition, March 2011
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
e-ISBN 978-0-545-32326-0
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
One Year Earlier …
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Also by Roland Smith
About the Author
Copyright