“Lost and found,” Charlene said.
“Exactly,” said Philby.
“Oh, perfect,” said Willa. “How are we supposed to find lost and found?”
“By looking for it,” Finn answered. “We can’t freak out. Stuff happens.”
“Yeah, but it happens to us all the time,” Willa said.
“That’s part of it, I think,” Finn said. “Part of being whatever it is we are.”
“Kingdom Keepers,” said Amanda. “Don’t you guys get it? You think it’s coincidence that we’ve all met? That Jess and I just happened to meet you? I don’t think so. Wayne put you together for a reason. Each of you has a purpose, and together we have some bigger reason for being here.”
“We get it,” said Maybeck. “We just don’t talk about it a lot.”
“It’s kind of freaky,” said Charlene.
“Finn is right,” Amanda said. “You—we—can get through this. We have to get through this. I have the ability to move things around. Finn can walk through doors. He and I will look for the fob. Once we get it back I’ll go to France and Finn will go to Norway—how ridiculous does that sound?—and catch up with you.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Maybeck said. He rarely agreed with a plan, so Finn took this as a major endorsement. “Philby and I will head to Norway and look for the sword.”
“Jess, Willa, and Charlie,” Finn said, using Charlene’s nickname, “will make for Paris and the possible connection between the box and a cross. You’ll also make sure no one attacks Jess from her left.”
“I think that threat is over,” Jess said.
“No matter what,” Finn injected, fiddling with his mobile phone, “we meet here before midnight. No matter where any of us are at eleven-forty-five, we head back here to return.”
“We apparently can use our phones,” Philby declared. “In case you’re interested,” he said to Finn, reading the screen, “lost and found is in a gift shop to the right of the entrance.” He held up his phone. “I Googled it.”
“I’m interested,” said Finn. He reached out and grabbed Amanda’s arm above the elbow. “You okay with this?”
“I’m following you,” she said.
* * *
Willa voiced what Charlene and Jess were both thinking. “They didn’t try to stick a boy with us.”
“I was sure they would,” Charlene said.
“It’s the sword,” Jess said. “Boys and swords. I’ll bet if you asked Finn, he’d have rather gone after the sword than the lost and found.”
“Stay down,” Willa said. “No matter what, we can’t be caught or get in trouble. The boys would fry us if that happened!”
The most dangerous moment lay ahead: crossing the fountain plaza. Their DHIs shimmered in the dark, like the face of a wristwatch losing its glow; they didn’t throw light—they wouldn’t be easily seen from any kind of distance, but within ten to twenty yards they were visible.
“We’ll go one at a time,” Willa instructed. “Charlene, you’re the fastest, so you’ll go first. If you’re chased, don’t lead whoever’s following to France, so you’d better have a plan now for where you’ll go.”
“There are trees behind The Land,” Charlene said. “And on the other side of The Living Seas is a small forest. I can lose anybody in there.”
“We’ll meet at the Eiffel Tower in twenty minutes if we get separated,” Willa announced.
“Later,” Charlene said.
Crouching low, she raced out across the open expanse and into the trees across the way. She waved at them and then stepped deeper into the vegetation, disappearing.
Jess went next. She, too, was a fast runner and reached the trees apparently without causing any alarm. Her DHI sparkled in the shadows.
Willa waited, a tingle tickling her at the base of her neck. Something wasn’t right. She waited, looking both directions. It was a hum. Not an engine—not exactly—but a bike maybe, that sticky sound of rubber on concrete. To her left she saw them: a pair of Segway scooters, those two-wheeled motorized scooters that maintain perfect balance and are ridden standing up. Police used them in airports and malls. But it wasn’t policemen riding the two Segways; the riders were…crash-test dummies.
She squinted and blinked, believing she’d seen wrong. Despite everything she’d learned about the parks after dark she still couldn’t always accept what she saw.
The dummies were talking to each other, riding the Segways side-by-side, their voices too faint to be heard at a distance, but voices nonetheless; there was no mistaking that sound.