Kingdom Keepers(65)

Again, Finn didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to think. He didn’t turn around.

Amanda continued, “Doesn’t that strike you as a little odd? A little too coincidental, her being there like that? Right then?”

“You were there, too. That struck me as odd as well.”

“I just explained.”

They stepped away from the soda line. Finn juggled three cups. “You weren’t sure it was her. You just said so yourself.”

“Think about her name, Finn. Jezebel? Come on. The Bible?”

He was not exactly a Bible scholar.

“Jezebel is wicked. Evil. Just like a witch. And that fits with the cold, right?” Amanda asked.

“It could have been anyone doing that,” Finn blurted out, thinking of the woman in the car.

She leaned back and looked at him as if she didn’t know him. “What are you thinking? Are you serious? Me? Listen, there’s something you need to hear…something I have to tell you about her. I’m not supposed to—do you understand that? This could get me in big trouble….”

Suddenly, Amanda shuddered. Her head jerked up toward the sky. Her shoulders shrugged and stiffened. Her eyes rolled in her head. Finn thought she was going to faint. He dumped all the drinks into a nearby trash can, freeing his hands, and took her by the arm. Then by the waist. She sank into his arms. She felt cold, really cold, and stiff, as if she were suffering some kind of seizure.

Finn, wanting to avoid making a scene, walked her to a bench and sat her down.

A commotion erupted behind him. He turned to see Charlene now sitting down on the sidewalk, her head hanging slack over her knees. She had apparently fainted as well.

An adult hurried toward Charlene.

“Finn!” It was Willa, late to arrive.

“No time to explain,” he said. “You’ve got to get Charlene over here before people start asking questions. The giant crab—that’s Dillard—he’ll help you. Hurry!”

Willa, who’d come as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, rushed across to Dillard, took hold of one of his oven mitts, and dragged him over to the wilted Charlene.

Finn checked Amanda. She looked half asleep, her eyes barely open. Thankfully, she was breathing normally. “Amanda!” he said, but got nothing from her.

A brownout, he thought. But a brownout affecting a human, not a DHL.

If you’re not careful, I’ll cast a spell on you. Hadn’t Jez said something like that? Was he imagining that she’d said that?

He looked around, his eyes searching for Jez.

Hadn’t Amanda been just about to tell him something to do with Jez when she’d fainted?

Willa and Dillard had Charlene walking between them. Definitely a good sign.

There! Finn finally spotted Jez. She stood on the far side of the street, talking to an adult—a thin woman in a large witch’s hat, her back to Finn. He watched as Jez pointed in his direction. He felt goosebumps race up his spine. What was she talking about?

Then, just for an instant, Jez accidentally met eyes with Finn, from clear across the street. A moment later Jez led the woman off, absorbed by the crowd.

“Listen…Finn said, trying to think. “I gotta go,” he told Willa.

“What, just leave us here?” Willa asked, astonished.

“You know anything about the Bible?” he asked Willa.

“A little. Sure.”

“I think I know what’s going on,” he announced to Willa just as Philby and Maybeck showed up.

“I’m glad someone does,” Maybeck said.

Philby had come wearing a white curly wig and big black glasses, calling himself Einstein. Maybeck had sprayed his hair gray and wore the flag of South Africa on his sleeve.

“Nelson Mandela,” Maybeck told Finn.

“You guys come with me,” Finn instructed as he spotted Jez and the woman again. They were well down Main Street, heading toward the castle.

Amanda sat up suddenly, surprising them all. Willa yelped.

“Don’t!” Amanda gasped, looking directly at Finn. “You have no idea…of their powers.”

She slumped back, in that same lost state again.

“We’ve got to go. Now!” he told the boys.

The three boys hurried down Main Street.

“What about, you know…?” Maybeck asked.

Finn tapped his chest. “I brought the pens.”

“Aren’t we going the wrong way? Shouldn’t we be going to the fire station?”

“Don’t ask me how, but Jez did this to Charlene and Amanda. Made them sick.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Maybeck said, his voice raspy. They were nearly running.

Finn explained, “Jez hooked up with a witch! In costume? Or for real? Super skinny. Long black hair. Sound like anyone we’ve seen lately? And oh, by the way, Jez just happens to be wearing long white gloves.”