A cool, misty rain was falling as Cricket and Tyler pedaled back up the road. They had finished dinner quickly, and Cricket had thrown a few special supplies into her backpack before they raced out the door.
Dr. Kate wasn’t there yet, and neither were Shilo and Will. But the salamanders sure were.
“Wow, Cricket,” Tyler said, jamming on his brakes and skidding to a stop. “Look at all of them!”
Salamanders scurried across the wet road. Salamanders crawled from the grass by the lake. Salamanders scrambled up the new ramp.
“It works, Tyler! Your Salamander Step works!”
Cricket and Tyler parked their bikes under a tree to keep dry. Dusk was falling quickly. More and more salamanders darted across the road and used the ramp to get over the curb.
“Wow!” Dr. Kate said when she hiked up the hill and saw the ramp. “Did you kids do this?”
“We sure did,” Shilo said, riding up with Will.
“Well, it’s fantastic!”
Cricket opened her backpack and gave everyone a flashlight. “And this is for you,” she said, handing Shilo a light with a strap to fit over her hat. “You turn it on here,” she said, clicking a switch.
Shilo’s headlamp lit up the wet road. “Look!” she said.
The road was alive! It quivered and wiggled as hundreds of salamanders scurried toward the mountain.
“The rain must have triggered the migration,” Dr. Kate said. “Good thing I brought extra buckets. Look at all the babies!”
All different sizes of salamanders scurried at their feet. There were big ones as thick as Cricket’s thumb and skinny ones smaller than her baby finger.
The kids stood beside Dr. Kate and watched the migration. There was no way they could trap, measure and mark every salamander—there were just too many! Some salamanders had missed the ramp and were stuck, piling up on each other as they tried to scramble over the curb.
“Come on, everyone. Let’s give them a lift,” Dr. Kate said as she gently scooped some salamanders up and over the curb with her hands.
Suddenly the rumble of a truck engine shook the air. It was a deep rumble that Cricket could feel vibrating in her chest. It must be a big truck! Salamanders covered the road. There was no room for a big truck to drive around them. They had to do something quickly before the truck killed hundreds of salamanders.