The 39 Clues: Unstoppable: Nowhere to Run by Jude Watson Page A

she reached the chemistry building, the security guard wouldn’t let her up and wouldn’t confirm if Sammy had left.
    “But I was just here!” Nellie protested. “I brought him a pizza.”
    A young man was signing out as she was talking. “Are you a friend of Sammy’s? I’m his roommate, Josh.”
    “Yes! Is he still here?”
    “He left about a half hour ago,” Josh said. “There was some kind of family emergency. They called up for Sammy — his uncle was here.”
    Nellie shifted her feet. “His uncle?”
    “Yeah. I was worried, so after a minute I came down after him. I saw him standing with a couple of guys by the curb. They were talking to him, and then suddenly he just kind of collapsed. It must have been seriously bad news. They helped him into the car. Jeez, I hope his family is okay. I’ve been texting him, but he hasn’t answered.”
    Nellie swallowed against the ball of fear in her throat. “Did you notice anything about the car?”
    “It was a black SUV. I don’t know what the make was. I don’t pay attention to cars.”
    “Anything at all . . .”
    “First state.”
    Nellie shook her head, confused.
    “The license plate said ‘the first state.’ I noticed that because I didn’t know there
was
a first state. Hey, if you track him down, will you tell him to give me a buzz?”
    Nellie thanked him and walked a few feet away. She whipped out her phone and activated her search engine. She typed in
first state
.
    Delaware was the first state to ratify the US Constitution. “First state” was on its license plate.
    “Delaware,” Nellie muttered. “That really narrows it down.”

Chapter 13

    Dublin, Ireland
    They arrived in Dublin in a hard rain. All they saw was a curtain of gray. They made it through customs quickly and walked into the lounge. A young man with a dark wool cap pulled down to his eyebrows stood.
    “Sarah and Jack Swift?” he asked in a thick Irish brogue. At Amy’s nod, he added, “Guess you landed at last.”
    Amy and Dan looked at him, confused. Their plane had been early.
    “The birds,” he said. “Swifts. Legend is that they spend their lives in the air and never land. Ach, never mind. Welcome to Ireland. I’m Declan. Follow me.”
    They followed him out to a parking lot, where a battered truck waited.
    “This is some rain,” Dan said.
    “We call it a little mist here.” Declan climbed behind the steering wheel. “You can sit in the back, there’s a blanket there — heating’s not the best in this heap. It’s a long drive. There are sandwiches and a thermos of tea in the basket for your dinner. We won’t be stopping.”
    “All right,” Amy said. “What’s the name of the town?”
    “Meenalappa. Don’t get excited, there’s not much to it.”
    “How many hours is the drive?”
    “As many as it takes, I’d guess.”
    Declan turned on the engine and drove. Soon they were on a highway, and Amy and Dan lost track of where they were going or why as the numbing monotony of a drive in the rain took over.
    Amy had fallen into an exhausted sleep on the plane, and now she was wide awake. She wished she could fall into that dark oblivion again. Because for the first time since she’d stood over an open grave only twenty-four hours ago, she had time to think about the last time she saw Jake.
    She and Dan and Fiske had flown to Rome for New Year’s. Somehow, away from Attleboro, away from all those reminders of Evan and what she’d lost, Amy had felt herself come back to life again. She still remembered the New Year’s Eve dinner that Jake had cooked for all of them. Atticus had woven tiny fairy lights all over the dark, somber apartment until it glowed with cheer. She remembered the sudden, surprising snowfall that began as they ate their dessert, and how Jake had grabbed her hand and said, “Let’s walk.” That midnight walk through the snow had given her a glimpse of a new life, a new way of being. An Amy who wasn’t tortured by memory and crushed