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It was as if she hadn’t heard him. He felt relieved. “Soccer. Yours?”
“Spectator. I came to watch.”
Her eyes were gray with green specks, like imperfect jewels.
“Have we met?” he asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“But you knew my name.”
“I know all about you.” The way she said it bothered Fi
she explained. “You’re my favorite Disney host.”
Fi
“Well,” he said, “I gotta go.”
“There’s a Girl Scout car wash tomorrow,” she said casually, like an afterthought. When she laughed, it sounded almost—musical. “You could come by if you want.”
“Yeah…maybe…”
“It’s at Dangerous Dan’s.”
Fi
He found the others in a sour-smelling locker room marked VISITORS B. Backpacks, athletic bags, and smelly shoes surrounded them. Fi
Philby said, “Willa and I have made some progress.”
Fi
Philby glanced toward the door. Now Fi
“Are we going to talk about last night?” Charlene asked, clearly unsettled.
“What’s to talk about?” Maybeck said. “We were visited by Maleficent, a witch with green skin and black tights, who brought the ambient temperature down to about five below zero.” He spoke with so much sarcasm that no one dared bring the subject up again.
Fi
Philby explained, “The first clue in the fable is sun. There are plenty of suns in the park. But supposedly the ride with the biggest sun is It’s a Small World. I think we should start there.”
“Start what?” Charlene asked.
“Looking for clues.”
“What kind of clues?” she persisted.
“I’m not sure we’ll know until we find one.”
“Does anybody else hear how ridiculous this sounds?” Maybeck asked.
Fi
Willa spoke up. “We should all go to bed early, right at eight, as the park closes. Agreed?”
Maybeck snorted. “You guys are crazy. You know that?”
Fi
Not as strong as at the teepee, but not normal. He lowered his voice. “I think we’re done here.”
The others suddenly felt the cold as well. Maybeck’s smugness fell from his face. He said,
“Okay, I’ll be there.”
“But what about the green—thing, person, woman?” Charlene asked.
Maybeck answered. He’d lost his sarcasm. “Listen, we’d better stay alert. Not only when we’re in the park.” He added cautiously in a whisper, “Are we so sure this crossing over thing is a one-way street? If we can cross over to there, who says they can’t cross over to here?”
15
“Fi
“I’m fine. I just want to go to bed early, that’s all.”
“For the third or fourth night in a row,” his mother said.
His father barely looked up. “Try to sneak out again, you’re grounded for the rest of your life.”
Fi
“I’m not going to sneak out,” Fi
“I’ll take away your computer. No more e-mail. No more gaming.”
This was the worst threat he could make.
His father looked up. “There was a break-in at a welding shop the other night. A bunch of gear was stolen. Same night, the police—the police, this is—reported a bunch of handcuffs missing from a storage room. This was all over the news. You and your friends go sneaking around at night, and you’ll be blamed for things like that, you understand? Whether you had anything to do with them or not. You end up at the wrong place at the wrong time and it’s going to look bad—very bad—for you.”
“Wouldn’t the police have security cameras, Dad?” Fi
“I don’t have any idea! I’m just worried about you, Fi
“Is your homework done?” his mother inquired, changing the subject. She knew when to rescue him.
“All done. Seriously, I’m just tired. ”
“It’s because you sleep too much,” his father said. “More yard work would be good for you.
Why, when I was your age—”
“Dad!” Fi
The digital clock that was part of the stove read 7:45. Fi
Fi
He lay there in bed: 7:55. He didn’t feel particularly sleepy. If he didn’t cross over, then someone else would have to lead the group. This thought made him more anxious and less sleepy: 8:04. He felt his chances slipping away. How would he find them if he arrived late? The Magic Kingdom was huge! This led him to wonder how it was that they all arrived in the same general area. Wayne hadn’t explained nearly enough of this.
The front-door chime sounded.
It was an odd time of night for visitors. Their next-door neighbors always used the back door.
“Fi
Both a
He removed his boots and socks and rolled up the legs of his jeans. If he threw a bathrobe over his clothes, he’d look ready for bed.
A glance into the mirror told him he had to lose the jacket, or look like the Incredible Hulk.
Checking himself one last time, he headed out into the hall.
Jez stood inside the front door talking to his mother. Fi
He summoned his courage and descended, as if it were perfectly normal to be ready for bed at eight o’clock. He felt warm under the robe and layers of clothes.
“Hey, Jez!” A million thoughts ran around in his busy brain. How did she know where he lived?
What was she doing here?
He glanced at the grandfather clock: 8:10. This was a serious problem.
His mother couldn’t shut up, of course. She rambled on about how refreshing it was to meet one of Fi
Fi
Jez said, “I came by to congratulate you.”
Fi
“Soccer,” Jez said. “You guys took third.”
The clock read 8:12.
“Well,” Fi
“Nice bathrobe,” Jez said, stifling a grin. “You feel okay?”