“The reservoir supplies the water for all of Spooksville. It also has many underground streams that lead away from it and flow under the entire city. We’ve heard the streams before when we’ve been up there. When we were trapped in the Haunted Cave, we even saw one of those streams.”
“Say what you have to say. You’re driving me crazy.”
“Don’t you see?” Adam said. “If we can divert the oil that’s being pumped out of the ground at the witch’s wells, we can flood the reservoir with tons of oil. And if we’re able to ignite that oil, we will have the biggest fire this area has seen in the last ten thousand years. The local temperature will soar.”
“Up in the hills,” Sally protested. “Not so much down here.”
“You’re wrong. You’re forgetting what I said about the underground streams. The water in them will heat as well. It will boil, and it will heat the ground. If we can get enough oil, if we can cause the whole reservoir to burn, we can drive the temperature back up.”
Sally considered for a long time. “It’s not easy to ignite crude oil that’s been mixed with water. You need something powerful to trigger the fuel.”
Adam patted the box of dynamite that rested beside them. “What do you think I brought this for?”
Sally was amazed. “You didn’t have this idea back at the surplus store?”
Adam shook his head. “No. I just had this feeling—I can’t explain it. Maybe there is such a thing as intuition.”
Sally nodded. “I like this plan. I like big fires. But we’re going to have trouble making it all work. The wind decides the course of this balloon. We’re going to have to land, and we’re going to need transportation up to the hills—fast transportation.” Sally paused. “We need a Jeep. Something that can climb through hills.”
“But we don’t know how to drive.”
“Speak for yourself. I learned to drive in kindergarten.”
“But you don’t have a driver’s license,” Adam said.
“I think that’s the least of our worries right now.” Sally gestured to Watch. “We shouldn’t take him with us. He might ruin the whole plan.”
“I don’t want to leave him helpless while all that trouble is going on below us.”
“I understand,” Sally said. “But if we do get a Jeep, we’re locking him in the trunk.”
“Do Jeeps have trunks?” Adam asked.
“We’ll find one that does.” Sally stood. “We need to tell the others about our plan.”
“You can tell them you thought it up if you like.”
“I was going to do that anyway,” she replied.