The man grabbed the stick shift and yanked it back about a foot. "No ... how you say ... clatch?""Clutch," corrected Amy, sounding more interested in Tiny Tim."Little sister is rude," said the man.
"You said it," offered Dan, running his fingers through the fake goatee. Amy thought she might explode.The man pointed to the pedals on the floor in front of the driver's seat. "That is brake, that is gas. Easy!"
"Seems simple enough," said Dan. Amy still couldn't believe they'd just bought a go-cart masquerading as an automobile."I am late," said the man, patting his pocket to make sure the money was still there.
"Be careful. Tiny is faster than he looks. He will make man out of you. Da svidanya!"
"Dude, I'm so driving this thing," said Dan. Amy gritted her teeth. She hated it when he called her dude. It made absolutely no sense.
Dan grinned. "We've got a boatload of money and our own car! This is incredible.""Yeah," said Amy.
"Incredibly stupid."Dan looked wounded. "It's not stupid.
Every time we use the card, NRR can track us. Now we're like outlaws -- cash only and a cool ride of our own.
Untraceable."Amy had to concede the point, but there was no way she was letting her eleven-year-old brother drive her around Russia."Move over, Richie Rich. I've practically got a learner's permit already. I can do this."
Dan protested until his mustache fell off, but Amy wasn't budging. She settled into the driver's seat, her nerves starting to get the best of her.Dan hopped back on the offensive. "You absolutely sure you can do this? I've got experience on the streets of Russia. Maybe you should let the exp-- "
"Just stop talking and let me concentrate, will you?""Oh, yeah, you sound really ready to drive," said Dan, strapping a tattered old seat belt across his waist.That did it. Amy had had enough.
She turned the key and the tailpipe coughed out a plume of smoke. The engine rumbled and popped as if it wanted nothing more than to race through traffic."Okay," said Amy, taking a deep breath and setting her foot on the pedal. "Here goes thirty thousand rubles.
"Tiny Tim lurched along the side of the road doing about three miles an hour until Amy caught the hang of it and sped up to ten. Pretty soon she was doing twenty."You like Tiny Tim, don't you?" said Dan. "Come on, let me drive it. Please?"
"Eat your heart out, dude," said Amy. "Just keep the directions coming and don't distract me."Dan grumbled, but he found the dog-eared map of St. Pete in the guidebook. A smile bloomed on Amy's face. When the speedometer hit 25, she slammed the stick shift down and Tiny Tim lurched forward with a sharp buzzing sound."Wow! He's got some giddyup!" said Amy.
Tiny Tim swerved back and forth as Amy tried to find the brake pedal."Amy," said Dan.
"You see the telephone pole, right? AMY!"Amy jerked the steering wheel hard to the left, narrowly avoiding the sidewalk."C-c-calm down, Tiny Tim!" yelled Amy. She finally found the brake pedal, tapping it softly a few times and bringing the car under control."I think I'm getting the hang of it," she said.
Amy glanced at Dan. He looked as miserable as the time Aunt Beatrice confiscated his nunchucks. But he dutifully gave directions, asking questions as they went."Tell me again why we're going to this village of royals.""The royal village. In Russia they call it Tsarskoye Selo, the Tsar's Village.
It's where the Romanovs went on holiday.""And why do we care about the Romanovs again?" asked Dan."They were the last royal family in Russia. This is the family Rasputin held so much sway over."Amy had settled onto a long highway doing about forty. As they headed for the Tsar's Village, she told Dan all about the last Russian royal family.
How they'd been overthrown and banished to the village. One day they were the most powerful family in Russia, the next they were prisoners. Amy was especially interested in the young grand duchess Anastasia.
Everything Amy had read about her was fantastic. Anastasia was raised as a normal child, not like a royal, and she was exceptionally charming. She was also brilliantly naughty, always playing pranks on her teachers and friends."She liked to play all sorts of tricks, and apparently she was a great climber of tall trees.
Once she was up a tree it was hard to get her to come down.""Sounds like my kind of kid," said Dan."But she came to an awful end. She was murdered, Dan.
They all were. Her brother, Alexei, and her three sisters. And her parents. It was a firing squad, bullets flying everywhere, ricocheting off walls.
But there's a bright spot, something I think is connected to all this. There are a lot of people who think Anastasia didn't die with the rest of her family."
"When did she die, then?""Who knows? But some say when they went to examine the grave site years later, her body wasn't there." "Cool!" said Dan."You know what I think? I think Rasputin was a Cahill. I think he might have tried to save Alexei and Anastasia.
Maybe he gave them whatever it was that made him so hard to kill.
First Alexei, to cure him of his illness, then Anastasia, to save her From a firing squad. Maybe they couldn't kill her."Dan was silent, his eyes huge, and Amy knew he was lost in superhero daydreams again.Super Dan.
That's all I need.They kept driving in silence as St. Petersburg disappeared and the countryside started to take over. Rolling hills on either side marked their way, and with the windows rolled down, they smelled the fresh air.
"The village was one of the last places where Alexei and Anastasia played. Alexei's playroom was a favorite place in the palace. And I'll tell you something else. Right before they took her, at the very end, Anastasia and her sisters hid their most valuable jewels. They sewed them into their clothes so no one could find them."
"How'd you know about that?" Dan said, turning toward her with a skeptical look.
"Don't tell me this guidebook has a section on hiding valuables.""Wikipedia," said Amy. "I checked it out while you were sleeping. They hid a lot of jewels in the hems of their dresses and pants.
Hamilton Holt said that at the Dostoevsky statue there was a jewel on the brick along with the words Alexei's Playroom. I think we should keep our eyes peeled for an article of clothing in this playroom. I bet that's where we'll find what we're looking for."The royal village was coming into view and Amy tapped on the brakes, shifting Tiny Tim into low gear as it spluttered to a crawl.
"Let's leave Tiny as far away from the security guards as possible. I'd hate to see him get towed away.
"They parked the car and walked along a lengthy row of gardens and opulent buildings. Grand white fountains trickled everywhere and the flowing lawns were perfectly trimmed."Pretty nice place to be banished," said Dan. "It's not exactly a prison cell.""No kidding," said Amy.
The royal village was even more spectacular than Amy had imagined. She'd seen pictures, but they hadn't come close to capturing the endless lawns and beautiful buildings."That one is Catherine Palace," said Amy, pointing to a building that went on for what seemed like a mile."The Russians like their buildings long," said Dan. Catherine Palace looked to Dan like an extended doll-house. It was bright blue with white accents and gold trim, about fifty feet tall and ten times as long."And that's our destination," said Amy, pointing down the long row of gardens in the center of the royal village. "Alexander Palace.
Come on, maybe we can get in and out fast."Alexander Palace was completely different from Catherine Palace. Ancient white columns of stone stood before pale yellow walls that seemed to go on forever in a wide U-shape. Behind the circular driveway lay a sprawling green lawn leading to a shimmering pond.
"I hope you know where we're going," said Dan. "This place is gigantic. It could take hours to find one room.""I've got it covered," said Amy. She had taken down notes on a piece of hotel stationery, which she pulled out of her pocket.