by John J. Bonk
“What?”
“All I’m saying is, we have to act fast, so come on.”
“No,” Lexi said. “No bullying. This is serious stuff. All three of us have to agree on everything from now on or forget it. Right, Kev?”
“Yeah, we definitely should vote.” His cheeks were already a splotchy red and getting redder by the second. “And I—seriously, I’m thinking camp. I mean, even if the kids already left for the park, we could probably still catch up, right? It might be fun.”
“Dude,” Kim Ling said with a disgusted sigh. “They do the same mind-numbingly boring stuff every year.” She squatted down, hands to thighs, and looked him straight in the eye. “Day one is always this moronic nature hunt looking for hummingbirds and chipmunks. I’ve done it three years in a row and never saw one freakin’ chipmunk. A couple of rats, one vicious badger, but not a single chipmunk. Then they separate the groups. The blues go row boating—that’s the older kids.”
“And the greens?” Kevin asked, blinking up at her.
“Carousel. So what’s your final answer, short stuff? Tick tock.”
Kevin’s eyes were jetting back and forth like a ping-pong game on fast-forward. “Uh, I can’t think—I have to go to the bathroom. Number one. Wait—yeah, number one.”
“Now?” Lexi squawked. “Who knows where the bathrooms even are in this place? I’m a potential eyewitness to a crime plot—what if someone sees me—”
“Calm down, I’ll bring him. Just sit over there and breathe.” Kim Ling pointed to an empty spot at the end of a crowded wooden bench right behind them. “You can decide what you want to do today, okay?”
“Fine.” Lexi parked herself on what looked like a long, giant church pew and removed her backpack. “Just make it fast.”
“And don’t look so worried, red. I’m not gonna kidnap your brother and sell him for spare parts. Or. Am. I?” Kim Ling laughed like Count Dracula and swept Kevin away in her invisible cape.
Not remotely funny. “Wait!” Lexi called out, motioning them back. “My hair stands out like a flare in the dark—I need coverage.” And she snatched Kevin’s baseball cap, piled her hair on top of her head, and screwed on the cap as best she could. “Okay, go, go, go.” They barely took off a second time when Lexi called them back again. “Kim, do you by any chance have any lip gloss? What if people think I’m a boy?”
“Whoa.” Kim Ling slowly led Kevin away, shaking her head. “You really are a Miss America.”
Lexi watched them disappear around a giant pillar, still jamming telltale curls into the swollen cap. Miss America. Hmph. Like I’d be caught dead wearing a bikini with high heels. She noticed her reflection in a glass-covered poster on the opposite wall and used it as a makeshift mirror. TAKE A TRAIN AND TRANSCEND TIME, the vintage poster read, and had a picture of a smiling woman in a white suit—from the forties maybe—holding a suitcase and boarding the train. Even though Lexi was surrounded by gobs of people, she suddenly felt very alone. She hugged her backpack to her chest, gazing down at the endless parade of shoes passing by—sneakers … stilettos … sandals … Oxfords—until they became a liquid blur.
“I’m so glad you came to Atlantic City with me!”
She heard her mother’s voice in her head with such clarity it made her heart quake.
“Just in time for the Show Me Your Shoes Parade,” her mother had said, pulling nine-year-old Lexi along the crowded boardwalk. “I’ve never even heard of it before, have you, cookie?”
“Nuh-uh. We lucked out!”
All the Miss America contestants had been perched on the trunks of shiny convertibles rolling along the boardwalk real slow. Spotlights on the hoods were aimed at them. Onlookers shouting, “Show us your shoes!” The beauty queens hiked up their glittery gowns to reveal a little leg. So corny. Lexi was on tiptoes, straining to see over heads, when she felt a sudden jerk.
“Agh! What was—oh, Lex, my heel. It’s stuck between the darn slats!”
It was happening all around them, too—ladies getting their high heels caught in the boardwalk, squealing like alligators were nipping at their ankles. A minefield. Finally, Lexi’s mom yanked her pump free with a grunt.
“Hey, Mom.” Lexi readied her digital camera. “Show us your shoe!”
Her mother dangled her gnarled high heel between two fingers like it was a smelly dead fish and stuck out her tongue. Lexi roared and snapped a picture. It was definitely a keeper.
Even after taking forty-eight killer shots of the Miss America pageant itself, this photo was still her absolute favorite. That was what she had decided during the first half of their long train ride home.
“Saltwater taffy?” her mom asked, digging through her Fralinger’s souvenir tin as the train chugged along. “There’re some chocolate ones left, hon, but they’re going fast.”
Lexi shook her head. Barely. She had gone from rating her photos to studying the contestant bios in her giant souvenir program.
“All these girls have the same crazy-white teeth, Mom—and talent. Look! Classical piano, tap dance, vocal performance …” She flipped through the pages. “Plus, they all know ways to save the world. End world hunger, stop global warming—”
“Don’t tell me you want to try out for Miss America someday.”
“No way.” She thought for a second. “But, Mom—shouldn’t I start learning how to do something soon?”
“Oh, come on. You do cheerleading.” She gave Lexi’s knee a little jiggle. “And weren’t you even voted Best Personality at cheer camp last summer?”
“Everyone got a prize. They just couldn’t come up with anything—better.”
“I give up.” Her mom snapped the lid on the tin of saltwater taffy and shoved it into her tote with a throaty sigh. “You’re nine, for heaven’s sake. You have plenty of time to discover your hidden talents.”
Lexi’s shoulders had stiffened against the vinyl seat-back. But what if I don’t—what if I wind up being ordinary? It was true that some people were late bloomers. But if something special was growing inside Lexi other than maybe a perky personality, wouldn’t she at least have seen some buds by now?
A squealing baby snapped Lexi back into reality. Or now? she thought, folding her arms across her chest. Suddenly Grand Central Terminal was alive as ever and buzzing all around her.
“So, what’s it gonna be?” Kim Ling asked, jutting out her hip. “Hello? Earth to Lex! The kid’s vein has been drained and I’ve convinced him to stay. So, that’s two votes yea, which leaves it all up to you.”
“Huh. Really, Kev?”
“Yeah. She twisted my arm.”
“Not literally,” Kim Ling said. “Well? Are we heading back to the dork convention, aka City Camp, or are you up for doing something extraordinary?”
What was it about that word? Lexi, who had one time in her life spent a full twelve minutes deciding between chunky and smooth peanut butter, rose to her feet and answered unblinkingly, “Extraordinary.”
“You mean it?” Kim Ling asked. “So you’re in?”
“I’m in.”
And they sealed the deal with a firm handshake.
9
DOOR NUMBER THREE
“Okay, red, get me up to speed.” Kim Ling unshouldered her backpack and began digging through it. “All you told me in the park was that you heard two guys plotting to bury jewels under an abandoned train track until they can have them stripped and shipped. We need specifics. Here, take my notebook and jot down anything that pops into your mind—no matter how trivial.”
As soon as Kim Ling handed Lexi the small spiral notebook and pen, her mind was mud. “Well, let’s see. The, uh, guy with the accent said ‘bloody’ a lot.”
“So? Brits say bloody for everything—bloody rain, bloody fog, bloody queen—”
“You said no matter how trivial!”
“Anything specific about the location? Concentrate.”
Lexi closed her eyes and tried to relive the mystery men’s conversation in her mind. “Track Fifty-
one—or Sixty-one. East, I think. Yeah, the East Terminal.”
“Write it down.”
“I remember they said a few levels below—right.” A surge of sour acid shot up Lexi’s throat and she swallowed it with a squint. “So, we should probably—I don’t know, start by going down as far as we can and head east.”
“Okay, nice work. Let’s jet! And if anyone asks, you guys are two innocent kids from Cold Spring.”
Kevin dug his finger in his ear. “We are two innocent kids from Cold Spring.”
“See how that works?”
There were no elevators in sight, but Lexi remembered seeing one next to the Oyster Bar and Restaurant. So they flew down the hall past the Whispering Gallery and boarded the first elevator to arrive. It only went down one level, so that was where they got off. With the help of Kevin’s official NASA space compass replica, the three-some scuttled eastward down an empty hallway and rounded a shadowy corner, scouring every inch for who knew what. They stopped at an unmarked door. Kim Ling was the only one brave enough to open it and peek inside.
“Ugh! Gross!”
It turned out to be a smelly employee bathroom. But there were two bigger doors right next to it. One of them had a sign that read: DO NOT ENTER. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
“Hmm, that looks promising,” Kim Ling said. She twisted the doorknob, but the door was locked so she moved on to Door Number Three.
Of all things, Alice in Wonderland popped into Lexi’s head. That part where Alice is faced with a hallway of doors. If only she knew they would be stumbling into a painted rose garden or a wacky tea party on the other side, maybe her hands wouldn’t have been trembling quite so much.
The third door was also locked.
“Oh, well,” Kevin said, turning to go, “can’t say we didn’t try.”
“Not so fast.” Kim Ling started searching through her backpack again. “Make yourself useful, short stuff, and keep a sharp lookout—lemme know if anyone’s coming around that corner. And you, Lex Luthor, stand here to block me from view, just in case. And try to unclench a little.”
“What’re you gonna do?”
“Don’t do it!” Kevin cried, as if she were about to shoot someone.
“Geez. Chill.” Kim Ling calmly unsnapped her wallet and removed her plastic library card. “This always works in the movies.”
“Oh, great,” Kevin said. “Flying always works in the movies too, ya know!”
Lexi moved in closer to camouflage Kim Ling, fanning herself with the small notebook until Kim Ling swiped it away and dropped it into her backpack, mumbling something about drawing too much attention. “Sorry,” Lexi whispered. She watched closely as Kim Ling carefully slipped the library card between the door and the doorframe. Once. Twice. Three times. This seemed as goofy as trying to pick a lock with a hairpin, but after the fourth try there was a definite click.
Kim Ling tried the doorknob and this one turned. With a smug grin, she leaned into the door and opened it just a crack.
“Someone’s coming!” Kevin hissed.
“Hustle!” Lexi said, hearing the heavy footsteps.
In the span of a heartbeat, all three slithered through the doorway into the thick blackness. The door closed behind them quietly but surely. Lexi felt something sweaty clinging to her arm. Hopefully her brother.
“Just for the record,” he said in the faintest whisper, “if we wind up dead, I’m totally telling Dad.”
10
“I NY”
The air felt ten degrees cooler on the other side of the door. Lexi, Kevin, and Kim Ling took a deep collective breath, staring into the dark unknown. There was the strangest smell—you could practically taste it. Stale. Metallic. Like sipping spoiled milk through a steel straw.
They stood motionless at first, listening to the electrical hum and waiting for their eyes to adjust. Lexi tried to loosen Kevin’s life-or-death grip on her arm, and when she did, she immediately grabbed his clammy hand. Little by little, they all inched forward until the cavernous room slowly bled into view.
“Whoa,” Kevin muttered, looking straight up.
The room was a mile tall at least. Grated staircases zigzagged from ceiling to floor, and long steel catwalks outlined the walls at every level. There were rows and rows of pipes, and thick black wires were snaking everywhere. It was like being inside a gigantic computer. The mother of all motherboards.
“Don’t touch anything,” Lexi warned, thinking they might get electrocuted.
“This doesn’t look like an abandoned train station to me,” Kevin said in a shaky whisper. “Happy now? Have we had enough?”
“Suck it up, tadpole,” Kim Ling said, “we’re not turning back now.”
“Famous last words.”
They were taking bigger, bolder steps when Lexi noticed a wedge of light in the far corner, spilling onto what looked like a burlap sack or something. Probably not the jewels—it could never be that easy—plus, they were supposed to have been buried under some tracks. Still, it was worth checking out.
“Come on,” Lexi whispered, riding a wave of bravery.
“Do you see something?” Kim Ling asked.
Lexi’s quickening pace was her answer. She kept a steady gaze on her target and cautiously led the others along the endless wall, counting her steps—one for every heartbeat so she could easily find her way back to the door. Thirty-eight, thirty-nine footsteps exactly. They came to an accordion stop.
Now the electrical hum was competing with a strange rumbling that seemed to come from the bowels of the earth as they sized up the brownish lump. It was woolly. Dirty. Looked more like a rumpled blanket up close than a sack. And there was definitely something under it. After a few uncertain seconds, Kim Ling gave the edge of the blanket a little kick and quickly backed off. Nothing happened.
Not a dead body, Lexi prayed, her bravery shriveling instantly like aluminum foil in a microwave. Anything but that.
Kim Ling kicked it a little harder and this time it moved. Everyone flinched.
“Oh, God, please don’t let it be rats, either,” Lexi said.
In a very bizarre move, Kim Ling wriggled a foot under the dusty blanket and, with one mighty kick, it flew into the air.
“No!” Kevin cried as a girl jolted upright.
“Okay, I’m leaving right now,” the girl said through a drape of greasy blond hair that hung from her purple bandanna like wet spaghetti. “Just be cool, be cool.” She scrambled to her knees, swiftly gathering the things around her—Chinese food cartons, half a box of doughnuts. When she happened to glance up at the three gawking faces, she stopped cold. “What the—whadda you rug rats want?” she snarled, collapsing onto her heels. “Take a wrong turn on the Yellow Brick Road?”
“Mixed metaphor,” Kim Ling said.
“I thought you were the cops!”
Her voice was gravelly with a New York twang. From the Bronx, Lexi guessed, or Brooklyn maybe. The girl shook her head and crammed half a doughnut into her mouth, raining crumbs down her grungy I NY T-shirt. It was like the ones sold all over the city except the heart was broken with a zigzag crack. When the splotch of light caught the girl’s face, Lexi guessed she couldn’t have been much older than fifteen maybe. Sixteen tops.
“I hate it when visitors show up unannounced,” the girl said with her mouth full, retrieving her ratty blanket.
Now Lexi was clinging to Kevin’s arm like a tree frog. Kim Ling grabbed her free hand, and the threesome stood gawking down at the rumpled teenager in total disbelief. At her makeshift bed made out of flattened cardboard boxes; at the rolled-up jeans she used for a pillow; at the filth upon filth.
“So, how’d you guys end up in the boiler room?” the girl asked through a crooked yawn. “You lost or somethin’?”
Lexi scanned the place again. “Boiler room?”
“We wandered in by mistake,” Kim Ling answered. “So, what’s your excuse?”
The girl gave her armpit a ferocious scratch. “I live here,
if you must know. Ain’t much sunlight but I love the high ceilings and it’s definitely affordable.” She adjusted her purple bandanna, brushed crumbs off her jeans-pillow, and collapsed back down. “Well, show’s over, kiddies. You’ll have to see yourselves out.” And yanking the disgusting blanket over herself, that was the end of that.
Lexi, Kim Ling, and Kevin did an awkward about-face, coughing a little from the dust. They started toward the door, but after a few steps, Lexi had a thought and rushed back to the girl.
“Knock-knock,” she said softly. “Sorry, but you don’t by any chance know where the abandoned section of the train terminal is, do you? Track Sixty-one? We were actually—”
“GET OUUUT!” a voice roared out of nowhere.
Lexi bolted for the exit, her heart beating wildly. Kim Ling and Kevin were in full throttle ahead of her with Kevin screeching like a boiling teakettle.
“I wouldn’t be hangin’ at Grand Central no more if I was you!” the girl called out. “The cops’ll cart your butts off to juvie!”
“Thanks for the heads-up,” Lexi yelled back. “Sorry we interru—Bye!”
A burst of wicked laughter erupted from the rafters and Lexi flew into a full gallop. Ghostly images were emerging from everywhere. A leg dangling from a platform—then an arm—two heads poking through a steel stairway. It was as if she was escaping from some eerie catacomb where all the dead bodies were rising from their graves. Like the Haunted Mansion at Kingsley Park, only real.
She couldn’t get to the triangle of light fast enough, where Kim Ling was holding the door open, frantically waving her on. Laughter ricocheted off the walls as Lexi finally flew out the door and closed it behind her with a slam.
“Thanks-sorry-bye?” Kim Ling spouted. “Are you for real?”
“There’s, like, a whole bunch of mole people in there—hiding in the shadows!” Lexi clung to the doorknob, catching her breath. “Where’s Kevin? Is he all right?”
“I’m okay.” He was behind Kim Ling with his hands on his thighs, panting and wheezing.
Lexi rushed over and smothered him in a desperate hug, surprised he wasn’t bawling. “That was so not cool,” she said to Kim Ling. She could feel Kevin’s heart about to explode from his chest. “So not cool.”