Kingdom Keepers III(54)
“That works,” Finn said.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Jess asked Charlene somewhat timidly.
“She’s fine,” Maybeck said, resenting Jess’s voicing her concern.
“Help me tie this on,” Charlene said.
Amanda and Jess knotted the coil of rope into a figure eight that fit snugly on Charlene’s shoulder. She double-checked the flashlight, cupping it to avoid giving their position away.
“One last thing,” Finn said. “If it goes bad in there, we rendezvous in two stages. First, here, if it seems safe. Then, where we crossed over, over near Test Track. If some of us miss the first crossover, I’ll leave the fob on the water fountain by the bathrooms. We’ll need a better hiding place for it after the final crossover, so keep that in mind.”
“We’re good,” an impatient Maybeck said. “Let’s do this thing.”
He and Charlene slipped out of the bushes and, ducking low, ran quickly toward the looming pavilion.
23
FINN KEPT AMANDA and Jess close, crouched and sneaking through the trees and shrubs, with Philby and Willa lagging slightly behind. The group gathered where they’d have a view of Maybeck, who had scurried off into the overgrowth after boosting Charlene up into the superstructure. Maybeck had taken a position where he could see around to the back of the pavilion.
The five watched in amazement as Charlene scrambled up the crossbeams like a monkey. She threw a knee over the rim that stuck off the curved surface like a shelf, and then rose to her feet, leaning against the wall and inching her way to her left. After a few minutes, she disappeared around the curve of the building.
“We wait for Maybeck’s signal.”
“Finn!” hissed Jess. She was pointing toward the pavilion. “On the ground.”
“I don’t know what you’re pointing at.”
Amanda shuddered. “Is that a—”
“Snake?” gasped Willa.
“Not just a snake,” Philby answered. “A python. A giant python.”
“That’s Gigabyte,” Finn said, finally seeing the thing. “It’s from Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.”
The python was over fifteen feet long and a foot in diameter, with a diamond-shaped, oversized head the size of a large pumpkin. He was patrolling through the grass and the landscaping along the base of the pavilion. “What’s he doing here?” Willa whispered. “We aren’t anywhere near Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.”
“He’s with them,” Finn answered.
“And if he’s guarding Wonders,” Philby said, “then it’s pretty obvious who’s inside.”
“Seriously?” Willa sounded terrified.
“An Overtaker for sure,” said Philby. “Interesting that the characters come alive here the same as in MK and AK. If we thought it was limited to just—”
“Spare us the Nutty Professor routine,” Willa said, uncharacteristically harshly. “If the Overtakers are inside, then Charlene’s in trouble, big-time.”
“We should have set up a system to do this in reverse,” Finn said, withdrawing his flashlight and preparing to signal Maybeck.
Philby slapped his hand over the front of Finn’s light, stopping him.
“Wait a second!” he hissed. “Think this through. If you signal Maybeck, and he signals back, guess who’ll see it?” He stared off into the general direction of where they’d last seen Gigabyte.
“Note to self,” Willa said. “Where’s the snake now?”
“I was watching him,” Jess said. “But I lost him by that column.”
“What if he’s headed here?” Willa said, speaking what they were all thinking. “Don’t snakes have amazing noses?”
“They do have an olfactory ability,” Philby said. “They don’t have noses. But yes, they can smell things a long, long ways away.”
“Like nervous girls?” Willa said.
“We have to warn Charlene,” Finn said.
“Not with the flashlight,” Philby cautioned. “That’ll backfire.”
Willa quickly tried to reach Charlene by phone. She shook her head. “Must have turned it off when we nixed it.”
Finn felt responsible for that decision. He toed a rock free of the dirt at their feet and picked it up. “What if we could distract the snake? Turn him around so he doesn’t see our flashlights?”
“I think it may be too late for that,” Amanda said. She was looking off toward Maybeck, and when Finn looked in that direction he saw what she had seen: a small white light flashing three times, pausing, and flashing the same signal again. Maybeck was relaying Charlene’s signal.