Prologue

At Whit’s End, a lightning storm zapped the Imagination Station’s computer. Then the Imagination Station began to do strange things. It took Patrick to the wrong adventure. The machine was also giving the wrong gifts.

At the workshop, Mr. Whittaker was gone. Eugene was in charge.

Beth uncovered an older version of the Imagination Station. It looked like a car. But this machine had some unusual features. It had lockdown mode. Lockdown mode took passengers to a new place. But the passengers couldn’t get out of the Imagination Station. They could only watch what was happening.

At the end of book 17, In Fear of the Spear, Eugene was missing somewhere in history. Beth and Patrick were trying to find him. They didn’t know which Imagination Station to ride in.

Here’s what happened:

Patrick couldn’t decide which one to pick.

“Let’s go in the helicopter one,” Beth said.

“No,” Patrick said. “It’s still damaged from the lightning strike.”

“Well,” Beth said, “why not the car one?”

“That one’s worse. Eugene got in it with me, but he disappeared,” Patrick said.

“The Imagination Station sent you on different adventures!” Beth said. “It’s never happened before.”

“I don’t know where or when Eugene went,” Patrick said.

Beth said, “Think, Patrick. What happened?”

Patrick closed his eyes to help him remember. “Right before Eugene disappeared, he said something weird,” Patrick said.

“Tell me,” Beth said.

Patrick looked worried. “I heard Eugene say, ‘Stop the train!’ He sounded scared.”

“So these are the choices,” Beth said. She held up her index finger. “Option one, get into a broken machine.”

Patrick looked at the helicopter Imagination Station. It had taken him to Pompeii by mistake. And it had taken Beth here instead of back to Whit’s End.

Beth held up a second finger. “Option two, get into an Imagination Station that lands on a moving train.”

“Or worse, on the train track,” Patrick said.

Patrick looked at the car machine. It had been working fine until this last adventure. But Mr. Whittaker had programmed it for the government to use. Maybe it had hidden features that were causing problems.

“Maybe we should just stay here,” Patrick said. “Mr. Whittaker will come find us.”

“When?” Beth asked. “No one knows the day he’s coming back.”

Patrick sighed. “Let’s take the car one,” he said. “It has a lockdown mode. If it’s too dangerous, it won’t let us out.”

“And maybe it will take us to Eugene,” she said.

Patrick shrugged. “If it doesn’t separate us too,” he said.

The cousins sat in the comfortable black seats. They shut the doors.

Patrick gave the steering wheel a big spin.

Colors flashed on the windshield. They whirled like a kaleidoscope.

Patrick heard the shriek of a train whistle.

And suddenly everything went black.