Finn felt the curious warmth on the back of his neck that he always felt when someone’s eyes were on him. Through the chaotic crowds of kids and parents, coaches and referees, volunteers and Wide World employees, Finn spotted a girl looking at him. Not just any girl. She was beautiful, with pale skin that set off her jet-black hair. Her deep-set gray eyes captivated him, even from a distance. He’d never seen her before.
It didn’t take Amanda long to notice Finn gazing at the girl. She stared long and hard at her.
“Who’s that?” Finn asked.
“Who?” Amanda tried to pretend she hadn’t seen her.
“The girl you’re staring at.”
“Never seen her before.” Is Amanda upset with me? Finn wondered. She turned and hurried off.
Finn called out to stop her, but she pretended not to hear.
The pale girl with the black hair smiled at Finn, who couldn’t avoid passing next to her on his way to join the others.
“Hey, Finn,” she said, as if they knew each other.
He stopped. “Hey.”
“I’m Jez.”
“That’s an unusual name.”
“Short for Jezebel. It’s from the Bible.” She wasn’t proud of this. “My mother. You know how that goes.”
“Lawrence Finnegan Whitman. My parents actually thought they’d call me Larry. Larry! Can you imagine? I switched it to Finn in third grade, though it’s not much better.” He couldn’t stop his mouth from talking. He told himself, Shut up!, but he kept on going. “And then all the fish jokes started coming. Fin, this. Fin, that.”
“What’s your sport?”
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.”