Kingdom Keepers VI(86)

A bird took flight from the taller woman’s shoulder, startling a few of the passengers. They immediately took this to be part of the evening’s entertainment. Whispers went down the rail.

Ignoring them, Maybeck held the journal over the side.

“What now?” said Maleficent. She held Finn by the back of the neck.

“You release us and you both keep your hands at your side.”

“You tell her, Finn!” a passenger shouted. A few applauded.

“He’ll put the journal down on the deck,” Finn said.

“Finn will join him,” Philby said, taking over. “I stay with you. They will back away from the journal. When the Queen is close to the journal, you will release me. I run. The Queen gets the journal.”

Maleficent considered the rules. “Agreed.”

Philby caught Finn’s attention and threw his eyes to the wall, where the shuffleboard equipment hung. Philby was a devious boy; it was everything Finn could do to stop from smiling.

“You hear any of that?” Finn called to Maybeck.

The boy shook his head.

“Journal goes on the deck. You kick it under the rail if they don’t let us go.”

Maybeck nodded and set the journal down.

Finn, who wanted to switch roles with Philby, knew better than to protest. He walked toward Maybeck. The Queen followed, a few steps behind.

Their audience grew significantly—the passengers seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. To them, it looked like an improvisation on an Old West shootout.

The Queen was now a step from the journal, practically drooling.

Maleficent held tightly to Philby, her grip cruel.

“Release him!” Finn called. He and Maybeck did the fox-trot; they took a step back and another away from the rail. “Do not move,” Finn whispered to the Queen, who seemed ready to pounce.

Maleficent released Philby. He backed up toward the door slowly.

It was a five-person dance now. Maybeck and Finn eased closer to the wall; the Queen bent toward the journal; Maleficent eyed the three boys, expecting trouble.

Finn didn’t disappoint. He jumped for the wall, jumped farther than an Olympian, grabbed hold of a shuffleboard disc, squatted down, and shot it across the deck, knocking the journal beneath the rail just as the Queen’s long fingers reached for it.

Philby and Maybeck rushed through the door, followed by Finn, whose speed made him nearly impossible to see. He was the last through the door, his eyes alight with victory.

The Queen shrieked, “KILL THEM!”

But Maleficent made no move. She was smiling—red lips, green skin, white teeth. A horror show.

Like an angel rising, here came Diablo above the rail, the journal’s cover clenched in his beak, the rest of the pages dangling.

The Queen wound up to throw a spell. Finn dove inside, came to his feet, and ran.

“They got the journal!” he shouted as the three boys bounded down the stairs. “Diablo caught it!”

At Deck 3 they hurried toward the bow and the forward stairs.

“Where are we going, anyway?” Maybeck asked.

“Security!” replied Philby. “They’re expecting us.”

* * *

Poised precariously on a rock ledge thirty feet below the zip-line platform, Charlene dared not move, for fear of being seen. Having jumped from the platform, she’d also jumped into DHI shadow—invisibility.

As she reached out from where she was hidden, several of her fingers reappeared. For the ruse to work, every last guard who had pursued them had to ride the zip line to the far side. Only one guy had done so. After colliding with the empty harness that she’d sent ahead halfway out across the line, this man had shouted something back in Spanish. Whoever was on the platform above her—if anyone—had failed to follow down the line.

What any of it meant, Charlene wasn’t sure. She was currently tucked in behind a plant with green leaves the size of beach towels, her back against rock.

The ledge was no more than four feet wide. Ten feet below was another ledge, and thirty feet below that yet another, like stair steps leading down into the dark slash of ravine. Her only hope of catching up to Amanda and Mattie was the trail on this side. But if she were seen taking it, she would lead their pursuers straight to her friends.

The only way to reach the trail from the ledge was to climb up to the platform, and until the man left the zip line he would spot her if she tried to do that. Presently, she saw him hand-walking back toward her, his ankles crossed over the line, moving like an inchworm.

What now? Charlene thought.

Climbing nearly straight up the rock should keep her in DHI shadow, but if not… Charlene wasn’t overly concerned about her own safety; she was fast, strong, and a projection of light, impossible to harm. But Mattie was vulnerable. If she were captured, the Keepers would be missing two of their team members.