Sky Jumpers Series, Book 1 Read Online Free PDF

inventions they had back then. The people in White Rock have invented some pretty great things, but no matter what we did, we’d never get back to the technology level that existed before the bombs. It meant inventing was more difficult now than it used to be.
    But just because it was difficult didn’t mean I was willing to give up.

As soon as history was over and I walked into the inventions classroom, excitement buzzed through my veins. There were 917 people living in White Rock, and everyone four and older made an invention for the Harvest Festival competition. That was a
ton
of inventions. I hoped mine wouldn’t get lost in the masses. I wanted everyone to see it.
    The clock read 11:05, with Helen Johnson’s name displayed on the plaque below it. I imagined a plaque somewhere with my name on it. Maybe my potato-peeler invention would be installed in the school kitchen, and Mrs. Davies would use it all the time. Maybe people would even use it in their homes. Maybe we would use it in
my
home.
    I grabbed hold of my necklace. The pendant was from my birth mom, but the chain was from my parents. It was silver and woven so intricately, it reminded me of the woven pastry my mom baked only once a year on my birthday. The chain was made long before the green bombs and was the most beautiful thing I’d seen in my whole life. I ran my finger down its smooth surface and thought of my parents. I was going to make them proud!
    My inventions teacher, Mrs. Romanek, stood at the front of the classroom with an anxious face. Mr. Hudson, our town’s super-inventor, sat on a tall wooden stool next to her, his foot resting on the bottom rung, which was still charred from my first and last attempt at doing a chemical experiment two years ago. The black case he always carried lay on a table behind him. Mr. Hudson came to every grade each year on Inventions Day to see all the Harvest Festival projects. He was so good at inventing and figuring things out, he was the only person in all of White Rock who didn’t have a main job of farming and a split job of teaching, running a shop, mining, being a doctor, or something like that. His main job
and
his split job were inventing and teaching. Mr. Hudson had a kind smile, and eyes that always sparkled like something thrilling was happening in his head. Today he wore a dark blue suit, probably for the council meeting this afternoon.
    Mr. Hudson looked amused as he watched my noisy class, but Mrs. Romanek wasn’t happy at all. She held her grade book in one hand and rubbed her forehead with her thumb and two fingers as we all crowded into the room.
    “Quiet!” she called over the clamor, and narrowed her don’t-test-me eyes at each of us. “Class, this is a busy week. I know you’re excited about showing your inventions today, the field trip tomorrow, and then the Harvest Festival. We’re wasting time, though! It’ll take most of class—before and after lunch—to get through everyone’s inventions, so put yours on your desk and find a spot against the walls to watch.”
    This classroom was almost twice as big as our history classroom, and the half that wasn’t filled with desks was filled with equipment for working with chemicals, machinery for shaping wood and metal and even glass, and several bookcases of old reference books. Aaren sat his invention on the desk in front of me, and my cousin and second best friend, Carina, sat hers on the desk to my right.
    Carina and I were cousins, but since I was adopted, we didn’t share any genes. And it was obvious. My dark hair hung stick-straight and thick, while her blond hair fell in soft waves down to her shoulders. My eyes were brown; hers were blue. My skin looked like I spent all day in thesun, while hers was pale. I liked to do daring things; she liked to talk. Carina wore pants, and mine were cut into shorts, but otherwise we dressed almost identically. She looked much more girlish than I did.
    We still had fun together, though. I