Chapter 23—The Mapmaker

Devin was map crazy. So was his dad. As a cartographer—a mapmaker—his dad had good reason to be that way. What was Devin's reason? No one knew for sure, but ever since he could put his lips around words, he had pointed at maps and babbled sentences no one understood. At three, Devin had grabbed a pencil and begun drawing simple maps. Eventually he copied his father's, making every line and symbol the same way. By the time he was eight, one couldn't tell Devin's maps from his dad's.

Early on the second morning of summer vacation, Nikki and Jake stood outside Devin's door and knocked. They knew that once Devin went into his mapping room he hated being disturbed.

"Do you think he'll do it?" Nikki asked as they waited.

"If it has anything to do with mapping, I'm pretty sure he'll want to come," Jake said, hopping from one foot to the other. Jake liked to keep moving.

"How do you know that?" Nikki asked. She stood there twiddling her thumbs. The deadline had her on edge. The next full moon, she kept thinking.

"I know because Devin's been hiking with me and Dad for years," Jake said as he jumped off four porch steps and then ran back up. "You should see the maps he makes after every hike. He memorizes the route, and then as soon as he gets home, he draws an exact rendering with all the details. They're amazing."

In fact, Devin's drawings were so accurate that Jake and his hiking buddies used them as trail maps. Now at fourteen, Devin also shared his maps with the Pacific Trail hiking club.

"Hey," a deep voice sounded as a tall, dark-haired boy peered out from the partially open door. "To what do I owe this unexpected visit?" He opened the door wider, and his brown eyes shot back and forth between Jake and Nikki before settling on Nikki. She was younger, and he didn't recognize her.

"Can we come in for a minute?" Jake asked, taking the porch steps two at a time. "There's an adventure afoot and I knew you wouldn't want to be left out."

"Well, my friend, you might be right." Devin's eyes lit up under round, wire-rimmed glasses. He pulled his wet, shoulder-length hair back into a pony tail with an elastic he'd been wearing around his wrist and turned back into the house.

"Come in," he said, waving his arm and walking along the front hall to an open door.

Nikki and Jake followed Devin down a set of dimly lit stairs into the dark, cool basement. They walked through the concrete room toward a gray wooden door. Devin opened the door and ducked slightly, motioning the others to enter.

"Welcome to my humble mapping den," he said, as he flipped a light switch and shut the door.

The room was in the daylight section of the basement and had none of the rest of the space's chill or mustiness. It was paneled with unfinished pine walls covered with maps of every size. Radiant overhead lights and multicolored glass lamps filled the room with a prismatic blaze. The illumination effect reminded Nikki of the light field she had seen during the angel's appearance. But she kept that thought right where it belonged—inside her head.

"So what's the big adventure?" Devin asked as he leaned back against the drafting table. "You've got my attention."

Jake looked at Nikki to see if she wanted to do the explaining. Devin crossed his arms and turned toward her. Nikki was nervous around ninth graders, but took a deep breath and nodded. She had already decided to give him the same little white lie explanation she had given Jake. So not looking at him directly, but out the window over the drafting table, she began.

"Well, my mom works for NASA, and she thinks the agency is interested in rare crystals with unique chemical properties. Some of these may be embedded in an old mine nearby. It's closed. So I'm organizing an expedition to explore the tunnels—find a few of the crystals. Then NASA will test them with their UV fluorescence equipment, and if they show properties they're interested in, they'll—NASA that is—search for more. What do you think?" She dared to look at him and noticed his eyes had gotten much wider.

Devin liked what he had heard and considered the offer. "Where are we talking about exactly? What old mine?"

"The mine on the other side of Scouter," Jake threw in. "You've hiked there with us."

While Devin didn't usually hang out with junior high kids, the idea of mapping the tunnels inside the mine intrigued him. He pulled away from his drafting table and walked over to one of the many shelves stuffed with tubes. Pulling out a narrow one, he opened it, removed a roll, and spread it out on another, larger table.

"I've already mapped the deep crater and the trails leading to it. See?" he said, pointing. "I'm drawn to those tunnels and what might be inside. Mapping them sounds like a perfect summer project."

"Does that mean you're in?" Jake asked, flashing his toothy grin.

"Perhaps, my friend," Devin said. He glanced over at Nikki, not sure yet if she could be a friend. But unable to resist a captivating adventure, he agreed. "Okay, you've got me." He watched Nikki's lips tilt into a slight, lopsided smile—the first one he'd see since she and Jake had arrived.

Later, as he walked away from the house, Jake waved to Devin, who stood at his front door. "Call me with details," Devin said.

"I'll call later today." Jake rubbed his hand over his spiky blond hair, turning it into a bunch of new spikes.

Nikki and Jake rounded the house and Jake took off in a fast jog. Nikki ran to keep up. "Now we have to find our fourth person," she said, trying to talk and catch her breath. "I want to set out tomorrow."

"You don't want much, do you?" He stopped and pulled a phone from one of the many pockets of his cargo shorts and started searching for a number.

"What are you doing?" Nikki asked.

"Hoping to perform a small miracle," Jake said, and flashed his mischievous grin.