The Amelia Six Read online

  For Caryn and Sylvie.

  This book would be lost without you.

  Dear Amelia “Millie” Ashford,

  Congratulations!

  We asked middle-school teachers across the nation to nominate a female student who most exemplified the eager spirit of a scientist, engineer, or inventor. Hundreds of entries poured in. My team and I narrowed the list of remarkable individuals to six.

  It wasn’t an easy task.

  We looked for students who asked hard questions, who were endlessly curious, and who brought a creative flair to math, engineering, and science. We are happy to say that your name, Amelia, rose to the top.

  You, and five other winners, are invited to spend the night at the one and only Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum, located in Atchison, Kansas. You’ll experience a private tour, sleep in Amelia’s family’s quarters, enjoy a scavenger hunt, and see all sorts of Amelia memorabilia up close—not to mention win prizes from our pioneering partners, Girls in Science and NASA.

  We eagerly await your response. If you accept, more detailed information will follow. Should you decline, a wait list of other names is ready to claim your spot. So please, don’t delay.

  We hope to see you at the Amelia House. And remember, “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.”—Amelia Earhart

  Sincerely,

  Nina Hegg

  Nina Hegg

  President of the Ninety-Nines, Inc., International Organization of Women Pilots

  From “Courage”

  by Amelia Earhart ©1928

  Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace.

  The soul that knows it not, knows no release

  From little things:

  Knows not the livid loneliness of fear,

  Nor mountain heights where bitter joy can hear

  The sound of wings.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Imagine the worst smell you can think of, multiply it by rotten fish, and I promise you a turkey truck stinks worse. I’d know because I was riding in the front seat of one, sandwiched between Kate, the cheerful driver, and Danni the Body.

  At least it was winter. That had to curb the stench.

  And by stench, I meant the turkeys’ foul odor, not the Body’s. That’s the thing about Danni—he didn’t stink.

  If anything, he smelled like the faintest hint of vanilla. That’s because he’s 100 percent polyethylene. Plastic. But more about him in a bit.

  Because, hallelujah, we were rolling. Unlike Dad’s Chevy, which had fishtailed off the highway twenty miles back. Thank heavens Kate from New Horizons Poultry had spotted us. Otherwise Dad (who was pressed against the passenger window), Danni, and I would be Popsicles in no time flat. Winter Storm Bea had flown in completely unannounced—like Mom used to do—and caught western Missouri off guard, exhausting the area’s tow trucks.

  “How much farther?” Dad asked. Dad was what Mom called a “chronic worrier.” Back when they still spoke.

  “Oh, not long,” Kate answered, her voice chipper and her brown eyes shining beneath her Kansas City Royals cap. “Say, eight to ten miles. Hopefully, you can spot the Missouri River through the snow.”

  “Hopefully.” Dad pulled his beanie down around his ears and frowned. “Thanks again for picking us up.”

  Dad was bummed about his car. He’d had it for, well, forever. Since before I was born, and I’m eleven years, three months, two days, and—I checked my watch—twelve hours old. Now Dad’s Chevy perfectly embodied Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion: An object at rest stays at rest. There would be no moving his car out of that ditch until this weather passed.

  Dad was stranded and stressed. The opposite of Kate from New Horizons.

  “Happy to help,” Kate said, smiling. “Every day is an adventure. I like that.”

  “Not me.” Dad blew into his hands to warm them up. “I don’t like surprises.”

  “Yet you travel with a manikin.” Kate’s eyes sparkled, and my cheeks grew hot, despite the cold temps.

  “You got me there,” Dad said with a sheepish smile. “I’m a CPR instructor, and Danni’s my training dummy.”

  “Oh,” Kate said, putting it all together. “So, do you take Danni everywhere?”

  “You wouldn’t believe,” I said, thinking back to one of my Rubik’s Cube competitions when the police showed up and smashed our car window to rescue the “unresponsive individual” buckled inside.

  As owner of Lifeline CPR, Dad’s entire career revolved around training others to effectively and efficiently respond to a crisis. Or, better yet, to prevent crises from happening in the first place. This was why Danni the Body traveled with us everywhere, though he usually rode in the trunk of the car now, not up front. He’d also cost six hundred bucks, which Dad fretted about for a good three months. No way would Dad leave Danni stranded on the side of the road for someone to steal.

  Shoot—thanks to Danni, our neighbor’s cat Cleo was on her tenth life. Cleo survived what we call the “Dryer Incident.” She was trapped inside for “only” twelve seconds, but the whole ordeal singed the hair off her tail and stopped her heart cold. But Mr. Wilkins got her blood circulating again using the improvised chest compressions he learned in Dad’s class. So, as weird as it was that my dad traveled with a manikin, Danni the Body’s all right.

  Dad’s okay too. When he’s not worrying over my every move.

  “So, tell me about starting your own business. I’ve always dreamed of having my own floral shop.” Kate sighed. “Seems impossible at times.”

  I smiled. Even though I’d known Kate for only fifteen minutes, I liked her. And not just because she saved my tush. Kate would make a perfect florist. She’d probably give each flower a pep talk as she placed it in its vase.

  While she and Dad talked shop, I reached into the duffel bag at my feet and found my Rubik’s Cube. I wouldn’t think about how late we’d be, or how weird it would look to show up in a turkey truck. I was going to take this in stride, like Mom would have. If she were here, which she wasn’t.

  Her good luck pin poked me through my shirt, reminding me she was probably someplace warm and sunny, like Bermuda. If only she’d opened a floral shop instead.

  I did a quick checkerboard solve, and Kate clicked her tongue in amazement.

  “You can actually solve one of those?”

  I nodded, bracing myself for what I knew would come next.

  “The only way I could solve that puzzle when I was your age was to remove all of the stickers first.” Kate chuckled. Her laugh sounded like wind chimes. The perfect laugh for a florist.

  I laughed along to be polite, even though everyone over the age of thirty said the same thing about the stickers. They didn’t grow up with YouTube and Google like I did, so they didn’t have access to the hundreds of online tutorials on how to solve the original three-by-three. Still, it took hours of practice to get good. And I was pretty sure my cubing expertise had helped me win this overnight spot at the Earhart house. Not many girls cube. Even fewer compete. That’s why my first-place finish on the classic three-by-three at Regionals made quite the splash.

  “Isn’t she something?” Kate asked, and motioned out the window. “The famous Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge and the Mighty Mo.”

  “Whoa.” I looked up from my cube. Steel beams stretched in an arch across the muddy Missouri River. Bluffs bordered the water, which divided Kansas to the west and Missouri to the east. My skin prickled with excitement. “So, the other side is Atchison?” I asked.

  Atchison, Kansas, was where the real Amelia grew up. Amelia Earhart. The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and who, years later, mysteriously disappeared with her plane while attempting an around-the-world flight.

  “Sure is, kid.” Kate waited for a car to turn in front of us. “Good news. The bridge is prepped and open.”

  Dad grunted, and Kate gripped the steering wheel as her rig inched across the bridge.

  “Welcome to Kansas! You guys haven’t told me where to drop you,” said Kate.

  “The Earhart house, please,” said Dad. “Millie has a special invitation.”

  Kate smiled. “Oh! You’re one of the lucky ones. It’s been all over the radio today.”

  “The contest was on the radio?” I looked at Dad, amazed.

  Kate laughed. “No, the news about the flight goggles. That is why you’re going, right?”

  I must have looked confused, because Kate babbled on: “Docents from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum are here to collect Amelia’s goggles for a permanent exhibit, and a big shot at Purdue University believes they should be the ones to house the goggles—which are valued at one hundred twenty thousand dollars, by the way. Can you imagine? Anyway, this is the last weekend the goggles will be on display here in Atchison. And no one knows where they’re headed next.”

  “Wow. Really?” My eyes grew wide, and my fingers stilled.

  “Really.” Kate laughed again. Definitely wind chimes. “Get excited, Millie. You’re about to see a piece of history before it’s—poof—gone.”

  I glanced at Dad to see if he’d heard this exchange, and I noticed the worry lines across his forehead had vanished like Amelia’s plane. He was listening, really listening, to Kate talk.

  The truck rumbled over some railroad tracks. I lifted my feet to ward off additional bad luck. I mean, sliding off the road was pretty horrible, but then we met Kate, which turned out good. Maybe if I thought of today’s events like a math problem, they’d cancel each other out.

  We took
a right, and then another. Kate shifted gears as her truck climbed a narrow tree-lined street. I struggled to read the road sign through the blowing snow. Santa Fe Street. I clutched my cube tighter. We had one more street to go.

  Kate cleared her throat. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to make the next turn. So, I may need to let you out—”

  “There!” I gasped. A majestic, two-story white home loomed ahead on a corner lot, blanketed in fat, falling flakes.

  Kate whistled. “She’s pretty as a postcard.”

  The truck lurched, and Kate steered its massive frame up the hill, as far as the stop sign. Low-lying branches scratched the top of the cab, and an angry cardinal chirped.

  I leaned across Danni the Body for a better look. The home’s windows arched like those on a church. The front porch boasted eight columns, four rocking chairs—all painted white—and an American flag, which popped against the ivory house and snow. Snow-topped statues of greyhounds flanked the shoveled front walk. The whole scene looked more magical than menacing, like someone had given a snow globe a good, hard shake.

  Dad reached over Danni and squeezed my knee. I knew we were thinking the same thing.

  Mom would be so proud to know that I was here, at her idol’s house. I wished I could send her a postcard to let her know. Maybe then she’d come flying back. To me. To us. Of course, I’d have to know her newest mailing address to make that happen. So instead, I clutched my Rubik’s Cube and whispered so low only Danni could hear:

  “Mom, it’s me, Millie. You’ll never believe this, but I’m at Amelia Earhart’s house.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Correction. I was crammed inside a turkey truck—a truck hauling hundreds of live, gobbling turkeys—parked in front of Amelia Earhart’s birthplace.

  Kate applied the brakes, which squealed like a high-pitched Ferris wheel. A gaggle of girls dressed in bright winter caps and mittens turned their heads and stared from the front porch.

  At the truck first. Then at the turkeys. Then, finally, at me.

  One girl, dressed in a heavy overcoat, covered her mouth with a hot pink glove. She said something to the girl next to her. They laughed.

  I sank deep into the seat and hid behind Danni the Body.

  Way to go, Mills. Your weekend is over before it even began.

  Dad looked at me and frowned. “Where did your confidence go? Fears are paper tigers.”

  Blast it. I should have known he’d use Amelia’s famous quote against me.

  Kate rested her arms on the steering wheel. “I know it’s none of my business, but it’s been my experience that those girls all feel every bit as jittery and nervous as you. My truck may not be some shiny, presidential-looking SUV, but I guarantee you no one else in the history of the Earhart home has arrived quite like—”

  A loud rumble cut off Kate’s words.

  I sat up and peered out the window. The other girls had turned to look too. Thank God.

  “Millie, you’ve been upstaged,” Dad said with a laugh.

  I squinted through the snow. “A motorcycle? In this weather?”

  Kate laughed too. “Not just a motorcycle. A bike with a sidecar.”

  I watched, mesmerized, as the bike sputtered to a stop. The motorcycle was glossy red, like an apple. Bright orange flames blazed across its sidecar. I’d never seen anything so showy or awesome. The biker killed the engine and lifted the shield on her helmet.

  The passenger, a girl, undid the strap beneath her own chin. I watched as she hopped out and hoisted a bulging backpack onto her broad shoulders. Even with her layers of outerwear and combat boots, I sensed she was athletic and strong.

  “Well, it’s our turn. Thank you, Kate.” Dad opened his wallet and offered Kate a bit of cash. “For your trouble.”

  Kate blushed. “Aww, keep your money. It was a real pleasure meeting you. You both, I mean.”

  “Likewise. And if we need roadside assistance in the future, I know who to call,” Dad joked, and opened the door.

  A blast of cold rushed in. I groaned. Suddenly, I wanted to be anywhere else but here. My stomach loop-de-looped and my scarf bunched under my chin, scratchy and uncomfortable. I was not the girl to arrive on a motorbike during an epic snowstorm, though my mother would have. I was the quiet, introverted girl with the collection of Rubik’s Cubes and vintage Nancy Drews. The girl who had Mr. Safety First for a dad.

  “Mills, what do you say to Kate?” Dad asked. So, Mr. Safety First was also Mr. Manners.

  “Thank you.” I forced a smile and took a deep breath before sliding out the door.

  “Millie, wait.” Kate reached into the console and pulled out a big bag of Twizzlers. “Making friends is easier with candy. Here, take it.”

  I looked at Kate and grinned. How was one lady so smart? “Wow. Thanks!”

  “No problem, kiddo. Knock ’em dead.”

  “Millie!” Dad waved at me to hurry up.

  I shoved the Twizzlers into my coat pocket. “Bye, Kate. I hope you get your flower shop.”

  Behind Dad, an elderly woman in thick-rimmed glasses pulled her green coat snug to block the cold. She looked too old to be out in this weather. Wasn’t she worried about slipping or catching pneumonia? Maybe she was related to the Earharts and sent to welcome us. With all the giggling and gawking, a warm welcome would feel nice. But when your dad travels with a manikin and your passion is solving puzzles, you come to expect being frozen out. Sigh. That doesn’t make the cold sting any less.

  Still, I avoided the girls’ stares as I carefully climbed out of the New Horizons Poultry cab. Ice coated the semi’s running boards, making them as slippery as snot. I wasn’t about to fall flat on my face now. Not after arriving like that. I gave Kate one last wave and tromped through the snow to Dad. The mystery lady in the green coat stepped forward with the help of a wooden cane. Now that I was closer, I could see that her eyes were crinkled around the edges like a crackled cookie. Her silver hair was cropped short, showcasing sparkling bird-shaped earrings, and her ruby lips highlighted a silver tooth and wide smile.

  “Welcome to Amelia Earhart’s birthplace and museum! I’m Birdie, the resident caretaker. What a blustery day!”

  I managed a polite smile. “Nice to meet you. I’m Millie. And this is my Dad, Miles, and his, um, CPR manikin.”

  “A pleasure.”

  “You’ll have to forgive our tardiness. We had, as you can see, a bit of car trouble.”

  “Not to worry, Mr. Ashford. This time of year can be brutal for transportation or ambulation, if you’re ancient like me.” She chuckled and thwacked her cane in the snow. A puff of white powder shot into the air. “At least two neighbors extended vacations to dodge the storm, and a third is stuck in Denver. ’Tis the season.”

  “Well, thank you for hosting,” said Dad. “Even if it is a ghost town.”

  “Absolutely. A little snow doesn’t rattle me. Most of the guardians have already left, with the exception of the motorcyclists and the Lams. They are, shall we say, quite thorough.” Birdie’s gaze shifted to a family of three.

  I glanced over to the smartly dressed couple and their daughter. The dad wore a buttoned-up peacoat and pressed charcoal slacks. His face bore a scowl as he typed furiously on his phone. The mother, with her sleek ponytail, high-heeled boots, and chic wrap, adjusted the knot in her daughter’s scarf and fired off a list of orders. The girl, wearing a plum-colored wool coat and coordinating tall boots trimmed with fur, nodded a quick yes. Her shiny black hair, which was trimmed into a severe bob, bounced in rhythm. I caught her eye and smiled.

  She frowned.

  Yikes.

  A soft sigh escaped Birdie’s lips, but she recovered quickly with a smile. “City folk don’t always warm up to the Midwest. Now, may I get you anything? A cup of hot tea? You are more than welcome to use the telephone to call for a tow.”

  Dad hefted Danni under his arm. “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. Kate kindly radioed for a tow truck to fetch my car. But I am curious about whether the Lams would give me a ride to the inn.”

  Birdie patted his arm. “Let’s ask. And if they can’t, my nephew Collin can take you.” Then, looking at me, she grinned. “Shall we get going? Chef Perry is preparing dinner, and we don’t want to be late.”