They floated up and out of the cemetery before any more Cold People could get them. Adam was with Sally and Watch. Their friend lay sprawled on his back on the floor of the gondola. Sally knelt at Watch’s feet, tying his ankles together. Adam sat on the floor of the gondola as well. He didn’t know if he could stand without support. The exercise in the cemetery had done nothing to drive away the numbness.
“I wish you didn’t have to do that,” Adam said to Sally.
She began to knot the rope. “Just wait till he wakes up and we’ll see what you wish.”
Adam put his hand on top of Watch’s head.
It was like touching a block of ice.
“It’s like he’s dead,” Adam said.
“Maybe it would be better if he were.”
Adam was shocked. “How can you say that?”
Sally lowered her head. “I just have to look at him. He’s not Watch anymore.”
“But you saw him just before he attacked. For a second he recognized me.”
Sally nodded sadly. “I saw it. I hope it means something.” She sighed and stood and looked out over the city. “We’re drifting toward the center of town. I think I see more Cold People below us.”
Adam clawed his way up and leaned against the side. He was stunned to see three Cold People run into a house directly below them and drag a man and woman out onto the lawn. The Cold People pinned the couple to the grass. Adam had to look away. He could not bear to see how the monsters made more of themselves.
“We can’t just float around up here all day,” he said. “We have to take more aggressive action.”
Sally sat beside him. “We’re probably not going to get another situation like we had at the surplus store where we were able to get a bunch of them at once. I think the best we can do is swoop down every now and then and get one or two of them.”
“That’s no good,” Adam said. “Especially since they’re making more of their kind every few minutes. We have to do something that will wipe them all out at once.” Adam pounded his numb leg lightly with his clenched fist. “What is it that they’re afraid of besides fire?”
Sally was thoughtful. “We haven’t seen anything else. We know bullets and grenades can’t stop them.”
A remarkable idea occurred to Adam. “Wait a second! We asked ourselves earlier why they appeared today. We thought the cold weather had something to do with it.”
“Yeah. We guessed that they might even have changed the weather.”
“Yes, exactly,” Adam said. “They probably did. It’s summer and it’s freezing today. That’s an incredible coincidence. But what we didn’t ask ourselves is why they would have changed the weather.”
Sally shrugged. “They probably like the cold.”
“No,” Adam said. “They probably need the cold. There’s a big difference between liking something and needing it. I wonder if it got warmer if they would all begin to die. Remember Bum’s story. When Atlantis attacked Mu, the Cryo Creatures dashed up to the North Pole.”
“So they wouldn’t be killed by the nuclear blasts,” Sally said.
“If they were just worried about the blasts, they could have gone anywhere else. But they didn’t go anywhere else. I think they fled to the North Pole because all the bombs—and the asteroid—raised the temperature of the whole world. It’s possible they had to go to the North Pole.”
“What’s your point?” Sally asked. “We don’t have any nuclear bombs here. Or asteroids. We can’t just change the weather.”
Adam sat up straighter. He could feel the power of his idea. He was sure he was onto something important.
“A couple of weeks ago we were having an argument about the witch,” he said. “You were complaining about how rich she was, and how she never shared her wealth. You also said she was wrecking the local environment. Do you remember?”
“Yes. So what?”
“You said the worst thing she ever did—besides murdering hundreds of innocent children—was drill several huge oil wells in the hills behind Spooksville. You said they were somewhere above the reservoir.”
Sally paused. “What are you saying?”
“The reservoir supplies the water for all of Spooksville. It also has many underground streams that lead away from it and flow under the entire city. We’ve heard the streams before when we’ve been up there. When we were trapped in the Haunted Cave, we even saw one of those streams.”
“Say what you have to say. You’re driving me crazy.”
“Don’t you see?” Adam said. “If we can divert the oil that’s being pumped out of the ground at the witch’s wells, we can flood the reservoir with tons of oil. And if we’re able to ignite that oil, we will have the biggest fire this area has seen in the last ten thousand years. The local temperature will soar.”
“Up in the hills,” Sally protested. “Not so much down here.”
“You’re wrong. You’re forgetting what I said about the underground streams. The water in them will heat as well. It will boil, and it will heat the ground. If we can get enough oil, if we can cause the whole reservoir to burn, we can drive the temperature back up.”
Sally considered for a long time. “It’s not easy to ignite crude oil that’s been mixed with water. You need something powerful to trigger the fuel.”
Adam patted the box of dynamite that rested beside them. “What do you think I brought this for?”
Sally was amazed. “You didn’t have this idea back at the surplus store?”
Adam shook his head. “No. I just had this feeling—I can’t explain it. Maybe there is such a thing as intuition.”
Sally nodded. “I like this plan. I like big fires. But we’re going to have trouble making it all work. The wind decides the course of this balloon. We’re going to have to land, and we’re going to need transportation up to the hills—fast transportation.” Sally paused. “We need a Jeep. Something that can climb through hills.”
“But we don’t know how to drive.”
“Speak for yourself. I learned to drive in kindergarten.”
“But you don’t have a driver’s license,” Adam said.
“I think that’s the least of our worries right now.” Sally gestured to Watch. “We shouldn’t take him with us. He might ruin the whole plan.”
“I don’t want to leave him helpless while all that trouble is going on below us.”
“I understand,” Sally said. “But if we do get a Jeep, we’re locking him in the trunk.”
“Do Jeeps have trunks?” Adam asked.
“We’ll find one that does.” Sally stood. “We need to tell the others about our plan.”
“You can tell them you thought it up if you like.”
“I was going to do that anyway,” she replied.