Charlie Thorne and the Lost City

by Stuart Gibbs

  The question was where to go now.

  Charlie had learned it was pointless to lie low on the fringes of civilization and hope that no one found her. Ivan Spetz had tracked her down, and there would certainly be more people like Ivan. So it made sense to keep moving, to never stay in the same place for long. That wasn’t necessarily an easy life, but it was certainly less boring than spending the rest of her years in the boonies. The earth was a big planet, and there were plenty of amazing places to see.

  Plus, thanks to the CIA, she knew there were other geniuses from throughout history who had hidden their discoveries.

  As long as she was on the run, she might as well track those down. It wasn’t as if she could end up in more danger. And those discoveries, whatever they might be, were probably better off in her hands than anyone else’s.

  Dante had told Charlie a lie about Einstein’s message, thinking she didn’t know the truth. He had said Darwin was the only name that Einstein mentioned. In fact, Einstein had provided a long list of fellow geniuses and detailed where to start looking for what each of them had found. Of course, Charlie had memorized it all.

  Now she ran through it in her mind, wondering whose discovery would be the most interesting to pursue next.

  There were many fascinating, incredible people on the list, but at the moment, one name stood out to her over the others.

  Cleopatra.

  It would be fun to find out what another brilliant woman had discovered.

  Charlie took a final look at the falls, then went to book a flight to Egypt.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  After Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation came out, I got a lot of mail from people wondering how much of what I said about Albert Einstein was true and how much I had made up. I expect that the same might happen after the publication of this book, so I figure, maybe I should include a note in this book to that effect.

  However, after having written an entire book positing something exciting about what might have happened, it feels a little weird to now add a note saying that it didn’t happen. Obviously you’re aware that the book you just read is a work of fiction, but still, part of the fun to me is making you wonder if it could have really been possible. That said, I do want you to know what an absolutely amazing person Darwin was and want you to have some serious respect for his science. He really changed the world with his ideas. So here are the facts:

  As far as we know, Darwin did not go to Ecuador, or venture into the interior of the Amazon from the west. But he did explore the Amazon from the east, as well as much of Patagonia in South America. The Beagle really did spend four years exploring South America, which was far longer than intended. Although Darwin was really asked aboard to provide companionship and intellectual stimulation for Captain FitzRoy, he proved to be a rugged adventurer and spent far more days on land than he did on the ship. He collected many fossils and natural specimens and did so much geological work, he originally believed his great contribution to science after the trip would be in the field of geology.

  Darwin did not find an undiscovered group of prehominids. The convergent evolution that I describe in the book for many species is well documented, but the chance of prehominids developing in two places is unlikely. Instead, Darwin needed no such obvious signs of evolution to develop his famous theory, which makes him even more impressive, really.

  So, Darwin did not disappear from the Beagle for a year on a mysterious journey. Nor did he leave a series of clues behind to track down a tribe of prehominids. But everything else I wrote about him in this book is true: His fascination with Charles Lyell’s geologic discoveries, his skill with a rifle, his falling out with FitzRoy, his concern about revealing his theory of evolution to the world until Alfred Russell Wallace hit upon exactly the same idea and sent it to him. His journal really is missing fifty pages (no one knows why) and he really did ride on a Galápagos tortoise and fling a marine iguana into the ocean over and over again. (Science was a little different back then.) Charles Darwin was a great thinker, a great researcher, and a great adventurer.

  And here’s one other cool fact about him that I couldn’t figure out how to work into the story: He was born on the exact same day as another incredibly influential, brilliant man: Abraham Lincoln. February 12, 1809. Although there are many notable cases of famous people dying on the same day, there is no other example of two such incredible people sharing a birthday in history.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I had been toying with the idea of a story of Darwin discovering a group of prehominids since long before I ever thought of Charlie Thorne. However, I could never have written this book without visiting the areas it takes place. So first and foremost, I ought to thank my traveling companions: my children, Dashiell and Violet; my in-laws, Barry and Carole Patmore—and, of course, my wife Suzanne. Sadly, this was the last great trip that my wife went on, as she passed away tragically shortly afterward. She had originally expressed some reservations about visiting the Amazon and the Galápagos, but she knew that I really wanted to go there, and so she agreed. Thankfully, she had a great time there—as did we all.

  So I also owe thanks to everyone at the Napo Conservation Center in the Ecuadorean Amazon—and to the entire crew of the Anahi in the Galápagos—for all you did to make our trip so wonderful, and for answering the thousands of questions I asked.

  This book is also somewhat based on the first trip I took to the Amazon, many years ago, and to Machu Picchu, with my good friend Jeff Peachin, who has always been an excellent travel companion. On that trip, we stayed at the wonderful Explorama Lodge, which also had fantastic guides.

  Even with these inspirational visits, I still needed plenty of extra research for this book. So huge thanks to my outstanding interns, Kelly Heinzerling and Caroline Harris, and all the invaluable work you did for me. And thanks to Mingo Reynolds, R.J. Bernocco, and everyone at the Kelly Writer’s House at the University of Pennsylvania for finding me such great interns every year.

  And now for the usual round of thanks to everyone who helps to make my life easier and advises me on how to do my job better:

  First, there’s my incredible team at Simon & Schuster: Krista Vitola, Justin Chanda, Lucy Cummins, Kendra Levin, Dainese Santos, Anne Zafian, Milena Giunco, Audrey Gibbons, Lisa Moraleda, Jenica Nasworthy, Penina Lopez, Chrissy Noh, Anna Jarzab, Brian Murray, Devin MacDonald, Christina Pecorale, Victor Iannone, Emily Hutton, Caitlin Nalven, and Theresa Pang. Also, thanks to Liz Kossnar, who was my editor when I began this book, but who has sadly moved on to a new job. And massive thanks to my incredible agent, Jennifer Joel, for making all this possible.

  Thanks to my amazing fellow writers (and support group) James Ponti, Sarah Mlynowski, Julie Buxbaum, Christina Soontornvat, Karina Yan Glaser, Max Brallier, Gordon Korman, Julia Devillers, Leslie Margolis, and Rose Brock.

  Thanks to all the school librarians and parent associations who have arranged for me to visit, all the bookstore owners and employees who have shilled my books, and all the amazingly tireless festival organizers and volunteers who have invited me to participate.

  Thanks to the home team: Ronald and Jane Gibbs; Suz, Darragh, and Ciara Howard; Andrea Lee Gomez and Georgia Simon.

  Dash and Violet, one last shout-out. You’re the best kids in the universe. I love you more than words can say.

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  STUART GIBBS is the author of the New York Times bestselling Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation and the FunJungle, Moon Base Alpha, and Spy School series. He has also written screenplays for movies, worked on a whole bunch of animated films, developed TV shows, and researched capybaras (the world’s largest rodents). Stuart lives with his family in Los Angeles. You can learn more about w
hat he’s up to at stuartgibbs.com.

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Stuart-Gibbs

  Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Also by Stuart Gibbs

  The FunJungle series

  Belly Up

  Poached

  Big Game

  Panda-monium

  Lion Down

  The Spy School series

  Spy School

  Spy Camp

  Evil Spy School

  Spy Ski School

  Spy School Secret Service

  Spy School Goes South

  Spy School British Invasion

  Spy School Revolution

  The Moon Base Alpha series

  Space Case

  Spaced Out

  Waste of Space

  The Charlie Thorne series

  Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation

  The Last Musketeer

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  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Text © 2021 by Stuart Gibbs

  Jacket design and illustration by Lucy Ruth Cummins © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Gibbs, Stuart, 1969– author.

  Title: Charlie Thorne and the lost city / Stuart Gibbs.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2021] | Series: Charlie Thorne; vol 2 | Audience: Ages 8 to 12 | Audience: Grades 4–6 | Summary: “Charlie Thorne must search for Charles Darwin’s hidden treasure in South America—with plenty of enemies hot on her trail”— Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2020017301 (print) | LCCN 2020017302 (ebook) | ISBN 9781534443815 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534443839 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Darwin, Charles, 1809–1882—Fiction. | CYAC: Genius—Fiction. | Spies—Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Buried treasure—Fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.G339236 Ck 2021 (print) | LCC PZ7.G339236 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020017301

  LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020017302