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 the cousins to the wrong adventures. The machine also gave the wrong gifts.

Whit was gone. No one knew when he would be back. He did not answer e-mails or phone calls.

Eugene was in charge of the workshop. An older version of the Imagination Station was found. It looked like a Model T car. Whit had made it for government use.

The car had a special feature called lockdown mode. The cousins used this machine for their adventures. But it began to break down too. Eugene couldn’t fix it without help.

At the end of book 20, Inferno in Tokyo, Eugene was still locked in a jail cell. He was in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the year 1874. He was using a laptop to communicate with the cousins.

He sent them on a mission to find Nikola Tesla. But the broken Imagination Station took them to 1923 Tokyo, Japan, instead. There Patrick and Beth ended up helping people at the Imperial Hotel who survived a tsunami. Afterward, they were helping in the hotel kitchen. Here’s what happened:

Each cousin wore an apron. Each was rolling rice balls.

“Four hundred thirty-three,” Patrick said. He placed a ball on a tray.

“Four hundred thirty-four,” Beth said. “Only nine thousand, five-hundred sixty-six more to go.” She placed a rice ball on the tray.

Mr. Inumaru, the hotel manager, came through the side door of the kitchen. His kind face was split by a wide smile.

“You won’t believe this,” he said. “The US Navy sent you a gift. It was made in America. So they thought it belonged at the US embassy. But Mr. Kagawa said it belongs to you. So they put it on the garden patio. Come outside.”

Beth and Patrick took off their aprons.

Patrick beat Beth to the patio. He was stunned.

Beth joined him. She took his hand and squeezed it.

“It’s the Imagination Station!” she cried.

The Model T Imagination Station was covered in sand and seaweed. The driver’s-side door was dented. The glass in the back was cracked in a spider-web design.

Beth’s heart sank when she remembered it was broken.

Mr. Inumaru took a cloth out of his pocket. He began to wipe down the old car.

“It doesn’t have any battery power left,” Patrick said. “It’s useless.”

“Have you tried cranking it up?” Mr. Inumaru asked.

Beth shook her head.

Mr. Inumaru went to the front of the car. He bent over and grabbed the crank. He turned it several times.

Suddenly a light came on inside the machine. Then a great burst of light exploded from the headlights.

Beth put her arm across her eyes to shield them from the brightness.

Mr. Inumaru shouted, “What? It can’t be!”

Beth looked at the Model T.

Inside sat a man. He was waving the electric gizmo that Patrick and Beth had found in Babylon. It looked like a big TV remote control.

The man had thick, dark hair and a thick moustache. He wore a nice suit with a white shirt. He had a smug expression on his face.

“It’s Mr. Tesla!” Mr. Inumaru said.