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 Finn. “Because of the Magic Kingdom!”

she explained. “You’re my favorite Disney host.”

Finn felt awkward and uncomfortable. What was he supposed to say to that? He was saved by the public address system. Players were supposed to find their teams. Finn wanted to catch up with his fellow DHIs.

“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.”

Finn hurried up the stairs and past the snack bar.

He found the others in a sour-smelling locker room marked VISITORS B. Backpacks, athletic bags, and smelly shoes surrounded them. Finn and Maybeck organized plastic chairs into a circle.

Philby said, “Willa and I have made some progress.”

Finn felt a wrenching in his gut. The deeper they went, the more he feared they were in danger.

Philby glanced toward the door. Now Finn did too, because, like Philby, he thought he felt something coming from there: a slight chill. A familiar chill.

“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.

Finn told Philby, “The games are starting. We’ve got to hurry. Have you got anything?”

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.

Finn said, “We’re going to end up in the park tonight, like it or not. We might as well have a plan.”

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?”

Finn said, “We need all of us, Maybeck.” He felt awash with a sudden wave of cold again.

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

“Finn, are you sure you feel all right?” his mother said, looking up from the kitchen sink where she was doing dishes. His father hummed as he wiped down the kitchen table.

“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.”

Finn and his mother exchanged a look: she’d told his dad, after saying she wouldn’t.

“I’m not going to sneak out,” Finn promised.

“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?” Finn didn’t really want the answer to this, but he had to know. Wayne had mentioned the break-in.

“I don’t have any idea! I’m just worried about you, Finn, not whatever was stolen. Are you listening to anything I’m saying?”

“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!” Finn complained. “Can we maybe talk about this in the morning?”

The digital clock that was part of the stove read 7:45. Finn needed to be in bed and asleep by eight if he was to meet the others.

Finn dressed warmly and climbed into bed, boots and all. He pulled the sheet and blanket up high in case his mother looked in on him. She might wake him if she saw he was wearing street clothes. He had no idea what might happen to his DHI if he were rudely awakened from sleep, but he didn’t want to find out.

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.

“Finn?” his mother called upstairs.

Both annoyed and curious, Finn dragged himself out of bed. He headed to the door and then caught a look at himself in the mirror. He was fully dressed, head to toe, in day clothes that he hadn’t been wearing earlier. What would his mother think of that?

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. Finn felt stupid wearing a bathrobe. Too late. She’d glanced up and seen him.

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 Finn’s friends, and such a cute girl at that.

Finn shot her a private look. His mom excused herself to the kitchen.

Jez said, “I came by to congratulate you.”

Finn felt confused.

“Soccer,” Jez said. “You guys took third.”

The clock read 8:12.

“Well,” Finn said, moving to open the door, “Thanks a lot. That was really nice of you.”

“Nice bathrobe,” Jez said, stifling a grin. “You feel okay?”