In The Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

the bends. It was better than the big dipper at the carnival. Except it was getting darker as the Mission Tube lights grew dimmer.

    It was a text message from SHINE. Had they intercepted another SHADOW message already?

    The emergency lighting was very dim. It was now nearly impossible to see the twists and turns of the tunnel and EJ slowed right down. After driving very slowly for a while, she checked her map app and saw that it was now straight ahead to the end of the line. That’s better, she thought, as she pulled the lever up again and returned to full speed. Soon the console on the driving panel flashed ‘approaching line end’. EJ pulled the lever slowly down, bringing the train to a halt in front of a ladder and a sign.

    EJ pushed a large button by the train door. The door slid open and EJ stepped out of the train onto a narrow platform. She edged along the platform to the front of the train before climbing up onto the front of the train and onto the ladder. EJ then climbed up the ladder until she reached the top and a metal door above her, like a manhole. It had a bolt, two locks and a combination mechanism, the code for which SHINE had uploaded to her phone. EJ pulled back the bolt, used her skeleton key on the locks, turned the combination 5-24-9-20, smiling as she realised what letters the numbers stood for. That is the easiest number code, she thought as she pushed the door open and climbed up and onto the ground. As she shut the door, EJ could hear the train heading back to HQ. For EJ12, however, there was no turning back.

    EJ took out her binoculars and compass and looked around to get her bearings. She was in a smallclearing in the bush. Tall white gum trees stood all around her. EJ could smell the eucalyptus from the leaves and wondered if she might see a koala. When she looked to the south she could just make out the SHINE solar station in the distance through the trees, with its rows and rows of metallic panels pointing up to the sky. These were the panels that collected the sunlight. To the north, where EJ needed to go, there were more gum trees, a whole forest of them covering a small hill. If SHINE was right, Black Cave Mine was on the other side of that hill and the tower would be on the next hill.
    The light of the day was fading, with the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky. Though it was still quite warm, a breeze was starting to blow gently, rustling the leaves. EJ knew from the position of the sun that it would be dark in less than thirty minutes. She began to make her way through the bush, eager to use the daylight while it lasted.
    Dusk was a funny time. It wasn’t quite day or night. When EJ was younger, she was sure that this was when fairies would come out. The last rays of sun were shining through the gum trees and in thedappled light EJ was almost sure that she saw the glisten of a fairy wing as it darted behind a tree. Or maybe that was just a butterfly. EJ never imagined scary things at this time of day, only magical, good things.
    EJ’s boots crunched as she stepped on leaves and fallen twigs. She hardly noticed the noise of her boots or of birds as they flapped and screeched around her. She pushed on, keeping her eyes on the compass to make sure she was going north. Only when her compass began to glow did EJ look up and realise it had become dark. The sun, which had been hovering just above the horizon, had suddenly dived down, throwing day into night, as if at the flick of a switch.
    Now EJ noticed the noises.
    She stepped forward and CRACK! She jumped back. What was that? She didn’t dare take another step. Standing completely still, she felt for the zip of her light pack and rummaged inside. Grabbing the longest, biggest thing in there, she pulled outan enormous torch. She turned it on and shone it at her feet.
    A stick. I stepped on a stick, she told herself. She shone the torch up at the trees. They had looked so pretty before with their speckled