“Did I miss a class or something?” Finn asked.
“He wants us all up there,” Philby said. “There’s something to see.”
“That’s not so smart,” Finn said immediately. “We’re more effective in two groups. As a single group we’re vulnerable.”
Philby nodded. He flashed Maybeck some hand signals, and Maybeck turned from the railing and disappeared.
“Okay, Maybeck’s coming down,” Philby said. “You and Amanda will go up to Charlene and Jess.”
Finn remained skeptical that Philby could have gotten that from Maybeck’s few quick gestures, but a moment later Maybeck appeared.
“You’re not going to believe it,” Maybeck said.
“Keep an eye out,” Finn said. “All phones on vibrate. Call me if there’s trouble.” He and Amanda took off.
Finn and Amanda hurried back to the main doors and were halfway up the stairs when Finn tripped. He fell flat into the stone stairs and struggled to stand back up, desperate not to look too much like an uncoordinated dork. But Amanda crawled up his back and lay down on top of him, holding him down, squeezing the breath out of him, before sliding off to his side, her left arm still around him. “Outside!” she whispered.
The exterior wall was glass. Finn edged his eye over the edge of the staircase and spotted what Amanda had seen: the giant gray python, squirming toward the pavilion, with four shapes following close behind. Two adults, two children, judging by their size.
“Vikings and cave…people,” Finn said. He rolled over and quickly texted all the others.
MAYDAY!
Finn was lying face-to-face with Amanda, so close that he could smell a flowery sweetness. Her hand had seemed to burn his back where she’d touched him.
Philby, Maybeck, and Willa appeared, moving toward the front door.
“Pssst!” Finn caught Philby’s attention and tried his best to hand-signal him to crouch and hurry to join them. He then took Amanda’s hand and, bending low, the two raced for the top of the stairs.
They ran down a hall and into a room where a real-life fabric circus tent had been erected inside the reception area. Beyond the circus tent, Charlene was waving them ahead.
As Finn reached Charlene and Jess, the other three were fast on his heels. Finn stepped into what turned out to be a conference room with a long oval table surrounded by a dozen or more comfortable chairs. But it wasn’t the chairs or the table that caught his eye. It was the walls. They’d been painted with carousel horses from Mary Poppins, so he felt as if he were at the very center of a carousel, looking out.
“Oh my gosh,” he said. “This is it.”
He immediately identified the panel and chair that Jess had sketched in her diary. The resemblance was uncanny. She’d captured it perfectly.
“But no code on the wall,” Jess pointed out. “Or if it’s there, we can’t see it.”
“Maybe it’s invisible ink or it needs a special light or something in order to be seen,” Philby said.
“And no Wayne,” Charlene said.
“We’re out-a here, people,” Maybeck said as he arrived. “Those four aren’t sightseeing.”
Finn said, “We’ll go down Charlene’s rope, as soon as we’re certain those four are inside.”
“What four?” Charlene asked.
“We’ll explain later,” Finn said.
“We have visitors,” said Amanda. “Two sets of fathers and sons.”
“And don’t forget the snake,” said Willa.
“I’ll stand watch,” Maybeck offered. “The moment they enter the building, we go over the side.”
“What about the snake?” Willa asked in a dry rasp.
“I can deal with the snake,” Finn said. If he could maintain himself fully crossed over in all-clear, the snake would have nothing to attack.
If, he thought.
“Follow me!” Charlene said, leading them through a jumbled room where there were cloud figures on the wall.
Jess stopped as if she’d hit a wall of glass.
Finn grabbed her.
She said, “I know this place. I’ve seen those shapes.” She pointed to a hot-air balloon and a spaceship—small plaster reliefs hanging on the wall about fifteen feet above the floor.
“We’ve got to go,” Finn said, pulling her after him. They entered a spacious patio enclosed in walls of glass that met overhead like a greenhouse. One of the windows was open and Finn spotted Charlene’s rope looped over a pipe and doubled, dropping down to the ground.
“Philby first. Then Jess, then Amanda.”
No one argued with him. When Maybeck appeared, frantic and excited, Philby hooked the rope in his feet and lowered himself. Jess went next. They went quickly, in an orderly fashion, and Finn thought back to Wayne telling him that some people were born to lead and that he was one of those people. He hadn’t believed it at the time, but he was slowly coming around.