“Good to see you,” Jin says with a sly grin.
Hannah snorts with laughter. “You too.”
I want to ask Jin if he is okay, if Paul doing what he did left yet another hole in his heart, but he beats me to it. “You guys are the best friends a person could want,” he says quietly. “And I’m sorry I let you down. It won’t happen again.”
“It better not,” Hannah snaps.
I pat Jin on the thigh. “It’s okay. We’re more than our mistakes, right? At least that’s what Judge Gold told me. Several times.”
“Will they let us back on the Task Force now?” Hannah asks.
“They have to, don’t they?” Jin adds.
We all look to Dad, who mans the wheel. “I’m sure,” he says. But I will only believe it when I see it, and I’ve learned a thing or two about what can be seen and what can’t be in the last twenty-four hours.
Dad captains us directly to the airport. We stride across the tarmac like we own the place, which cannot be legal, toward a small prop plane. “Now, listen up, team,” Dad says. “This is your ride back to camp, where you will rendezvous with Star and Fish. I told them you had something for them, but I didn’t say what. I thought the element of surprise might be fun. I will see you at the conclusion of camp.”
“You’re not coming?” I ask.
A dark look clouds his face. “There’s something I need to do that is rather… urgent in nature.”
“What?”
But before he can answer, the plane’s engines roar to life, and my voice is drowned out. Dad grins and gives us a thumbs-up and shoves us up the stairs into the cabin. He has to stop popping off like this. I have a lot of questions!
We settle in, suddenly exhausted from twenty-four hours of madness. The weariness seeps into my bones, and my eyelids droop. As the wheels come up, the Helm clutched tight in my hand, just before we fall asleep, I whisper, “Thank you for rescuing me in the torch.”
And my friends whisper back, “It’s what friends do, Lola.”
I dream of Star and Fish, humbled and grateful, begging us to share treasure-hunting tips. There is an unknown mayor giving us the key to his unknown city. There is Sparkle Lady patting me on the back. Wait. What is she doing here? Okay. I’ll deal with that later. Moving on. There is my father, beaming with pride and introducing me to his friends as Lola Benko, treasure hunter.
By the time we make it to Timber Wolf Island, I’m fully awake, and twitchy with nervousness even though we have the Helm and as far as anyone at camp knows, we were taking Zeus to the parrot veterinarian in New York City. Lipstick aside, of course.
It’s already hot and sticky outside. Flies swarm my head. Zeus snores happily in Jin’s pocket. Squinting into the sun, I see Lipstick waiting for us onshore. No gnat or fly would dare buzz her head. There is no sign of Moose. My foot taps in a puddle of oil and water collected in the bottom of the boat. I squeeze the Helm in my pocket.
“Campers,” Lipstick says, her eyes shaded by big round sunglasses. “How delightful to see you again. I assume Zeus is well?”
“He’s fine,” I say.
“Wonderful. Such good news. Now, come with me, kids,” she says coolly. “We must get you all caught up. I’ll see to it that the cafeteria whips up some lunch for you travelers. You must be starved.” As we head for her office, clusters of campers turn out to stare at us, like we are walking to an execution. I can imagine the rumors that arose from our sudden disappearance.
It’s dark in Lipstick’s office, and she does not invite us to sit on the uncomfortable couch. Although we slept on the short plane ride, the fatigue is dulling my wits. All the lights are surrounded by halos, as if I have spent too much time underwater. And my mouth tastes like dried crickets, which Dad made me try once when we were in Thailand. For the record, not my favorite snack.
As Lipstick settles in behind her desk, her expression shifts from determined, her normal state, to something almost satisfied. The only reason I notice is because it is the same expression I remember from when we first saw her with my dad in the tunnels under San Francisco. She had my dad and she had the Stone of Istenanya. She had everything she wanted. A chill runs up my spine despite the heat. I clutch the hat tighter.
“Do you have it?” she asks.
Jin and Hannah stare at me, shocked, as I pull out the hat. Lipstick exhales slowly. “Remarkable.” Not so bad for your inelegant, messy, impulsive last choice, Lipstick! “I must admit your initiative was impressive. I think it bodes well for your future. Most kids wanted to figure out the location of the Midnight Market, but you actually attended and succeeded.”
She eyes us, a challenge to admit how we ended up finding the market in the first place. I look at my feet. Jin looks at the ceiling. Hannah examines her cuticles.
“And it really works?” Lipstick asks. For a flash, I think she’s going to ask to try it on and, oh, I really don’t want that to happen! Lipstick is not to be trusted. But instead, she insists I demonstrate.
Pulling off my watch, I hold it up for her to see. The face is black as if it burned up inside. I lay it on her desk. “Wearing the Helm fries your electronics,” I explain. “It ruined my watch.”
She cocks her head to one side. “Of course. So interesting.”
“Okay. Here we go.” I push back my hair and slap the hat on my head.
The kitten paws and jellyfish are all over me. I shiver and twitch. Lipstick’s grin is almost as wide as her face.
“What a wonderful magical treasure,” she purrs. And that’s when I’m absolutely positively one hundred percent sure I’m missing something. This is about more than her wanting to outdo an adversary, to thwart a nemesis. I just don’t know what it is.
CHAPTER 41 LIPSTICK PULLS A FAST ONE
JIN POKES AT ME WITH a finger. “Wow. It’s still so weird. I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to this.”
“Lola?” Zeus squawks with some urgency. I wonder if baby birds develop object permanence like baby humans. It might explain why Zeus sounds worried that I might have vanished forever.
“I’m here,” I say, pulling the hat off.
“Lola!” I give Zeus a quick scratch under his feathery chin.
“Would you like me to hold on to the hat for you?” Lipstick asks, narrowing her gaze. “Keep it safe until the Task Force arrives to relieve us of it?”
“No!” My answer comes fast from my gut. No way! Never! I don’t feel attached to the hat like I did to the Stone of Istenanya. It’s not emotionally manipulating me, but I still feel the overwhelming urge to hang on to it tight. It’s a hat that disappears, so I don’t think my anxiety is misplaced. Plus, this is Lipstick we are talking about.
“Very well,” Lipstick says curtly. “Your father took the liberty of informing Star and Fish that you had something you wished to share with them. They are en route and should arrive in due time. Until then, keep that hat in a safe place. You are free to rejoin camp activities, but may I suggest a shower first?” She turns up her nose. Yes. We know. Imagine how bad it would be if I hadn’t taken that dip in the Hudson River last night.
“Dismissed.” And with that, Lipstick waves us away. If this was about taking the Helm, wouldn’t she have done it? Is it possible she is telling the truth about her nemesis? Until I know for sure, I will keep one hand on the Helm at all times.
Over lunch, Jin and Hannah puzzle over who helped us. Who arranged for us to get the clue? Who sent us to New York City? Who gave us the gold bar? Lipstick. Lipstick. Lipstick. That’s who. We were out treasure hunting for her because of her.
“I have to tell you something,” I say, my throat tight. “It’s bad.”
“Worse than Jin being spied on by Paul?” Hannah asks, cramming a bite of peanut butter and jelly in her mouth.
“You are never going to let me live that down, are you?” Jin shoots back.
“Nope. Never. What is it, Lola? You look weird.”
“Lipstick offered me a deal. It was the middle o
f the night. She said we were in a giant treasure-hunting hole, and if we ever wanted to get out, we had to go big. She’s the one who helped us. But only because she didn’t want her nemesis to get the Helm. It wasn’t Star and Fish thinking we are awesome. It was all Lipstick.” Every last bit.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Jin asks quietly.
“I wanted to,” I say. “And I tried, but I guess I didn’t try hard enough. I’m sorry.”
They stare at me for a long hot terrible moment and I cannot even guess what they are thinking, until Jin breaks the silence.
“I guess we’ve all done things since the Pegasus disaster,” he says. “You know, stuff that is not so great. Paul. Lipstick.”
“Not me,” Hannah interrupts. “I didn’t do anything.”
“You ditched us,” Jin says pointedly. “You said we were boring. You were with Bodhi all the time. You needed your adrenaline rush or whatever.” Oh. So I guess he did notice.
Hannah eyes us cautiously. “Did I really say you were boring?”
“You did,” I respond.
“And I really blew you off?”
“Yes,” Jin replies.
She glances from me to Jin. “I didn’t realize,” she says. “I’m sorry, but why didn’t you tell me I was acting like a jerk?”
That’s a fine question. Why didn’t I say something to my friends when I was feeling bad? Why didn’t I trust them enough? “I don’t know,” I say. “You said we were boring. And we know that’s like the kiss of death for you.”
Hannah cocks her head to the left. “For the record,” she says, “Bodhi is fun and all, but he’s not you guys. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for this team. Nothing. Besides, just yesterday I fell out of the Statue of Liberty and was rescued when the grass came to life and saved me. So. Not. Boring.”
“That really happened,” Jin muses.
“It totally did,” I say.
“I can’t believe Lipstick has a nemesis,” Hannah adds, shaking her head. “How truly terrifying.”
And in the silence that follows, I feel for the first time that maybe we have moved past where we were and to a place that is better and stronger. It could happen. It might be real.
The rest of the day passes in a blur of exhausted contentment, and we collapse into bed while the sun is still bright. My legs are leaden and my head feels clogged with cotton. In the other room, Jin whispers to Zeus, “You’re a good bird. A smart bird. A pretty bird.” And Zeus whispers back, “Snacks?”
I fall asleep smiling, to the quiet snores of Hannah in the top bunk, the hat stuffed in my pillowcase tucked under my head.
We did it. Everything worked out exactly as I hoped.
* * *
My dreams are full of rain and thunder, as if the world outside has gone mad, but when I wake up, all I hear is the symphony of crickets. The bedroom window is streaked with rivulets, glistening in the moonlight. I stretch and yawn and reach into the pillowcase to give the Helm of Darkness a squeeze.
But it’s gone.
Immediately, my heart shifts into overdrive and adrenaline floods my system. Leaping from bed, I search everywhere, but there is no sign of the hat. Maybe the hat put itself on and disappeared? Is that possible?
No, Lola. A hat can’t wear itself.
“Hannah! Wake up!” I shake her bed violently, and she opens one eye.
“What is wrong with you?” she groans.
“The Helm. I can’t find it!” This gets her out of bed in a hurry. She searches everywhere I already did, despite my telling her so.
“It’s gone,” she says breathlessly.
“That’s what I told you.”
There is a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder followed by a shriek, the human kind, the Jin kind. “Lola! Hannah! Get out here!” Maybe he found the Helm? Hannah and I try to cram through the door at the same time, and smash shoulders and get stuck. “Go,” I say, an acid taste on my tongue that I recognize as fear. Tomorrow was supposed to be about our glory! This cannot be happening again. This is so not glorious.
“Oh wow.” Hannah stops abruptly, and I plow into her. “Look at that.” On the tree-stump coffee table lies a necklace, glittering with the most beautiful gems I’ve ever seen, strung together with delicate rose-gold links as if by magic. It’s nestled in a dark-blue velvet box, under which is tucked an envelope.
“What is it?” Jin asks anxiously. “Why is it here?” Zeus flutters to the necklace and pecks it a few times to determine if it falls into the snack category. Deciding not so much, he heads to the windowsill to peer out into the night.
As I reach for the envelope, it starts to come together in my head. But it can’t be. I refuse to accept the possibility. “Read it,” Hannah says sharply, circling the coffee table cautiously like the necklace might ignite. I open the envelope and pull out the card, written on thick, creamy stationery. The words are in a tight looping hand.
“I meant to teach you a lesson,” I read aloud, “specifically, that payback hurts, that there is nothing in the world that I cannot take from you, that you are nothing special. But perhaps I was wrong. This is NOT an apology. Rather, I consider it a fair trade, proper payment for a job well done. I hope our paths cross again in the future. In fact, I am sure they will.”
“Huh? I don’t get it.” Jin’s eyebrows cut a deep crease in his forehead.
But I do. “The Helm is gone,” I say. “Lipstick took it. She knew it would fry her ankle monitor and let her walk right out of here, undetected. Or swim? But more important, that”—I point to the box—“is the Pegasus necklace.”
A fair trade, indeed.
CHAPTER 42 WHICH SUPERPOWER WOULD YOU PICK?
AT LEAST TWICE IN MIDDLE school, I’ve been asked the following question: If you could have the superpower of flight or invisibility, which would you choose? The question itself is not that interesting, but what is interesting is why people choose what they do.
Invisibility is never about saving the world. People don’t say they want to help old ladies across the street or save cats stuck in trees or whatever. No way. What they want to do is sneak into the principal’s office and change grades. Or spy on a best friend who is cheating with another friend they don’t like that much. Or sneak into the movies without paying. Maybe grab an extra-large bucket of popcorn, and Junior Mints, too.
It’s the same for flight. No one wants to pull a Superman. Instead, they want to get across the country fast without having to bother with the airport. Or maybe hover right above third base for the best view of the baseball game. How about avoiding traffic? Again, no world savers here.
But really, the question is a fantasy because no one ever really gets to choose. Well, most of the time anyway.
Star and Fish have arrived at Camp Timber Wolf, and while they are happy to have the necklace, they are unhappy about lots of other things. No one can find Lipstick. The International Task Force for the Cooperative Protection of Entities with Questionable Provenance has scrambled and sent a replacement, who should arrive by evening. Meanwhile, the campers run amuck. No one is in charge. And the cafeteria ran out of doughnuts. We are moments away from a full-on mutiny. It’s all pretty funny, if you ask me, but not the doughnuts bit. That’s a real problem.
Star and Fish manage to corral us into our cabin for interrogation. They claim they are doing nothing of the sort, but if it sounds like an interrogation and feels like an interrogation, it probably is an interrogation. They have a lot of questions, which they call “concerns,” mostly that they know we were hunting the Helm but can’t say so without getting in trouble themselves over Moose. And if we were hunting the Helm, why do we have the necklace instead? The whole tangled mess is stressing them out big-time.
“We were under the impression that you had attained the Helm of Darkness,” Fish says through gritted teeth.
“Who said that?” I ask.
“Your father,” Fish replies. “He instructed us to come here and get something from you.”
“He did?” I ask, making my eyes wide.
“That Professor Benko,” Hannah says, slapping her thigh. “A total trickster.”
“Loves his practical jokes,” Jin adds.
“He said you had something,” Fish insists.
“Did he really?” I say quickly. “Because we never said that. And believe me, we would never say we had something when we didn’t actually have it. Lesson learned.”
“Seriously,” Jin agrees. “Been there, done that, wasn’t great.”
“Did Moose tell you we had it?” Hannah asks. “Where is he anyway? He seems to have… disappeared.” Fish turns a shade of green at the mention of Moose, which I enjoy immensely. After all, she told him to get rid of us. Not okay.
“We were here at camp the whole time,” I add.
“Just ask the director,” Jin volunteers. “Oh wait, you can’t. She’s gone.”
Star and Fish seethe. “You kids…”
“Anyway, to be clear, we were definitely not out hunting some invisible hat thingy,” I say.
Star tugs his bedraggled mustache. It looks like he did his grooming blindfolded. “It’s not invisible,” he says impatiently. “And it’s not a hat.”
“That’s what you think,” Jin replies under his breath.
“Jin!” Zeus caws, extra loud so Star and Fish jump in surprise.
“Shut that bird up,” Fish barks.
“Rude!” sniffs Zeus, puffing his plumage.
“Okay. Fine,” Fish says. “Then how and when did you come to possess the necklace?”
“I thought we were talking about hats?” Jin inquires.
“Besides, all necklace intelligence is classified,” I say.
“Totally,” Hannah agrees.
“As in, we could tell you, but then we’d have to kill you,” Jin adds.
Fish grimaces. “Not funny, young man,” she says.
Oh, it’s definitely funny. Besides, everyone knows a good missing magical mythical potentially dangerous treasure hunter never gives up her sources.
The Midnight Market Page 17