“Stay behind if you want,” Hettie said. “But I’ve got some Ranger-ness to prove to my other granddaughter. C’mon, Zin.”
I took a few jogging steps to catch up to my grandmother. “Where is it? What does this place look like? So we’re just allowed to waltz in and visit?”
“You’re exhausting with all your questions,” Hettie said. “Isn’t your mouth tired? How does Gus do it? Just wait and see. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Will I be able to talk to a Ranger?”
“Any Ranger?” Zin winked. “Or Mr. X?”
My cheeks burned at her suggestive gaze. “Any Ranger. I just want to get an update on the missing spellbook. See if they have any information or leads.”
“Oh, sure, you can talk to ’em,” Hettie said. “They have a customer service department. But first things first, I have a very important call to make.”
Zin rolled her eyes. “Don’t do it, Hettie. It’s not funny.”
“What’s not funny?” I asked. “What’s she going to do?”
“Poppy works dispatch,” Zin said. “Hettie likes to prank her.”
“I think I’ll order a pizza today,” Hettie cackled. “Let’s make a bet. Who thinks I can keep her on the phone longer than three seconds?”
Zin took the “under” bet, so I was stuck with the “over three seconds” bet.
Hettie pulled out a small device that looked similar to a phone, but functioned more like a walkie-talkie. The contraption didn’t have any numbers on it, just buttons and dials in a variety of colors. I hadn’t seen anything like it on The Isle. Hettie pressed the largest, reddest button. “Yes, hello, I’d like extra cheese on my pizza—”
The line went dead almost immediately.
“I win.” Zin grinned. “I’ll let you buy me dinner, Lily.”
“Drat that was fast,” Hettie said. “She’s learning.”
Hettie pressed another combination of dials. “Buzz us in, will you Poppy?”
“This is the emergency line.” Poppy hissed. “I told you not to use it.”
“This is an emergency,” Hettie said. “Zin needs to use the restroom.”
Zin raised her hands in annoyance. “I can wait.”
“And Lily needs to talk to her man,” Hettie added. “Be a darling and let us in.”
Poppy sighed. “Don’t make a scene in here, okay? They’re still mad at me for buzzing you in the last time.”
I looked at Hettie as Poppy disconnected. “What’d you do last time?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.”
“She drew mustaches on the wall of photos,” Zin said. “The wall with pictures of all the head Rangers for the past fifty years.”
“It was a joke,” Hettie mumbled. “People need to relax.”
“A joke that didn’t wipe off,” Zin said. “You drew a handlebar moustache on the greatest Ranger of all time. And another one had a goatee.”
“Are we here?” I looked around, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
We had passed The Twist. As the sun sank lower in the horizon, the wild jungle in front of us turned a shade of dark that sent shivers rattling through my body and increased my pulse with every step. “I thought we weren’t supposed to go into The Forest. What about that big, black building on the other side of The Isle? I thought that was where HQ would be located?”
“That’s where they want you to think it’s located,” Hettie said. “But that’s just corporate. The only people working there are the finance folks. Rangers hold some meetings there for show, but anything top secret is taken care of here.”
“Where is here?” We stood just on the outskirts of The Forest. “I really don’t think we should go in there. It’s getting dark.”
“Poppy should be buzzing us in anytime now,” Hettie said. “Keep an eye out.”
“An eye out for what?”
“There,” Zin said, pointing. “Did you see that?”
If Zin hadn’t alerted me, I would’ve missed it. Between two of the largest trees on the edge of the woods, a miniscule bolt of lightning shot between them. “What is that?”
“The portal to the entrance,” Zin said. “Sort of like human elevators from what I hear. You walk through, and it takes you to a new level.”
“That’s not at all like an elevator,” I mumbled. “I don’t see any door, and I don’t see any other ‘floors’ located around here. Can’t we just wait for Poppy to come get us?”