Kingdom Keepers III(24)

“We know all about prescience,” Amanda said. “‘Knowing beforehand.’”

“It’s a gift.”

“Or a curse,” said Jess, winning a sympathetic look from Amanda.

“Yes, I suppose,” said Wanda. “Though for my father, a definite gift. He would do things like pull over to the side of the road without explanation. A minute later a car would come zooming down the wrong lane head-on at all the traffic. That kind of thing. Quirky things.”

“You still haven’t told us what he gave you,” Jess said.

“I didn’t say he gave it to me,” Wanda said, correcting her. “I merely told you I had something of his.”

Amanda said, “Jess has a similar gift to your father’s.”

“I’d like to see it,” Jess said, sounding somewhat trancelike.

“Please,” said Amanda.

“Of course. I have no problem with that.” Wanda reached into her purse. “He made this the day before all that craziness at the Animal Kingdom, the day before he disappeared. He’d kept everything about your friends private until then. I hadn’t heard anything about it. But we spoke that day—he called me, not the other way around, which was the far more common occurrence. He told me in detail about the Overtakers, about Finn and Maybeck and the others. You two included. He’d not done that before and I knew just his talking about it meant it was significant. I’m now of the belief that he might have foreseen his being captured, that he called me because of this. He was laying the groundwork for your friends to save him, or at least to save the parks if it came to that.”

She withdrew the item from her purse, opening her palm to reveal a small, white cube made of typing paper. There were symbols written and drawn on the cube’s six surfaces.

Jess picked it up and studied it, spinning it and taking in the various images. She closed her eyes, opened them and looked over at Amanda. She shook her head slightly: she hadn’t immediately flashed on anything to do with the box.

“We can get it to Finn,” Jess said, not wanting to surrender it.

“Oh, yes! Could you, please? As soon as possible!”

“Tomorrow,” Amanda said. “I’ll see him tomorrow.”

“I can help your friends,” she offered. “I want to help.”

“We can show the box to Philby,” Jess said. “He’s smart. He might know what it means.”

“I looked up each symbol on the Internet,” Wanda said. “They were all easy enough to find. But none of it added up. And who can tell what order they’re supposed to be in? Without the order, the message—if there even is a message—keeps changing. But he didn’t intend it for me, did he? I don’t think so. I think it was for your friends. I think that’s what he was trying to tell me in the phone call, without actually saying it. He was always convinced the Overtakers were listening, watching. I think some of that rubbed off onto me, which is what made actually contacting Finn or Maybeck so difficult for me. But then it occurred to me to talk to you. They’ll believe you more than me, anyway.”

“We’ll make sure they get it,” Amanda said.

“I want to help,” the woman said. “There are any number of ways I can help your friends. Access to the parks. Research materials. I’m very close to my father. I know much more than I probably should—about the parks, the Overtakers, Maleficent, even Chernabog. I’m not claiming to be as useful as my father—there’s only one Wayne. But he called me for a reason that day, and I think the reason was for me to be involved in his rescue. I’m not saying I can take his place, but I want to help.”

“We’ll tell them what you’ve told us,” Amanda said.

“I want to leave you with my phone number,” she said, scribbling out a number and offering it first toward Jess, but then passing it to Amanda as Jess’s concentration remained fixed on the paper cube she held. “Day or night, doesn’t matter. Please call.”

“Okay.”

“I have access to all of my father’s things. His notebooks, keys, computer. There are any number of ways I can help.”

“We have to come up with something believable for Mrs. Nash,” Amanda said.

Mention of the woman’s name snapped Jess out of her trance. “Yes, there is that.”

“I can take care of it,” the woman said. “We’re recruiting you as boarding students. I’ll have the school mail some brochures and applications as a kind of follow-up. I’ll call you. I can make it convincing, I promise. I can be very convincing.”