“So you’re in danger if he finds out about us,” Apollo says.

  “Well, he’ll never find out about you now, will he? Get in,” Needleman commands.

  It feels like Henry’s heart has stopped, because this is what he sees: The doorway of the cage, gaping. Jo trembling. And Needleman’s long, bony fingers, reaching toward Apollo, closing around the back of his neck.

  CHAPTER 26

  The Cage Lurch

  With all due respect, sir, I wouldn’t get in that thing if you paid me a million bu—” Apollo says as Needleman shoves him from behind and he lands on the little cage bench.

  “Next,” Needleman says.

  “You are going to regret this, I promise you tha—” Jo lands hard next to Apollo. The cage swings.

  Needleman scoops up Button, who snaps and twists before getting tossed inside.

  “Not on your life,” Pirate Girl says. She spins and kicks. “YA!”

  “Ow! You little beast.” Needleman tries to grab her.

  In an incredible display of pirate ability, Pirate Girl wrenches free, grabs something from her pocket, and lunges. It’s a folding pirate saber with a jeweled handle, both useful and beautiful. She spins, kicks, and thrusts. She seems to know all the moves.

  “You violent thug!” Needleman yells. “Give me that,” he barks to Henry, and snatches the huge stuffed head of Vlad Luxor, which he uses as a shield.

  All the Moves

  “Ughph,” Pirate Girl grunts as she lunges. The tip of the saber pricks the Vlad head, and a bit of stuffing pours out.

  Needleman uses the head to shove her, and Pirate Girl is forced backward. Henry tries to kick him in the rear end.

  “Blrghh,” Pirate Girl says, and lunges again, managing to slice off a bit of stuffed Vlad’s ear.

  “Now he looks like Vincent van Gogh,” Apollo says. “The nineteenth-century painter who cut off his ear in a fit of—”

  “Never mind that now!” Jo says. “We’ve got to help her!”

  But it’s too late for that. In a flurry of movement, Needleman shoves the Vlad head hard at Pirate Girl. She drops her saber, which clatters to the ground. Now he whirls and grabs Henry. He tosses both children into the cage, one after the other. He tries to fit the Vlad head in with them, without success. He locks their cage and presses the big button to make the ride go forward. They inch upward. Needleman shoves the big Vlad head, minus one ear, into the cage behind them, and then he starts the ride again.

  Vincent van Gogh, the Nineteenth-Century Painter

  “Chee chee chee,” Mr. Reese says from below.

  Their cage rises and then stops, swinging in midair. Rises, stops. Rises, stops. The children reach for each other’s hands. “Oh,” Jo says. “Oh, oh.” It’s a quiet cry of despair. No one else can even speak. Henry’s voice is gone. His thin shoulders tremble. The cage rocks back and forth.

  Swing-swing. Swing-swing.

  Henry could be sick. Button is whimpering. They’re high up now. So high that the tower grounds and the fair and even the trees get smaller and smaller below them. Next to the ride, the tower itself is black and gleaming, looking like the worst kind of forever.

  “Say, ‘Thank you for this wonderful day of joy and fun,’” Needleman shouts upward.

  “Never!” Pirate Girl shouts back, and then spits down at him. The globber of sputum falls like a clump of half-chewed banana and lands on his shoulder.

  Up, stop. Up, stop.

  Swing-swing. Swing-swing. Henry’s tummy swirls.

  “Don’t look over your shoulder,” Jo says, which of course makes everyone look over their shoulder. The Vlad head above entirely fills up its own cage. Vlad’s glued-on eyes look right at them.

  “What are we going to do?” Jo says. They’re still gripping hands, which are getting sweatier and sweatier. “He could keep us in here forever.”

  “If we’re lucky! More likely, he’s going to get rid of us the second Vlad is out of sight,” Pirate Girl says.

  “We’re going to have to wait until Needleman leaves or, or . . . something. And then we’ll escape.” As Henry says this, the impossibility of it looms over him. Even if they could somehow get out of this locked jail cell on this high ride, they’re on this mountain. Vlad Luxor’s mountain.

  Needleman stands below, laughing, his eyes fixed on the children in that awful cage. He seems to be enjoying himself, pushing the button, letting them rotate for a while, and then stopping them at the highest spot, where the cage swings and rocks.

  “He doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere,” Jo says.

  “He can’t stay there forever,” Pirate Girl says as Needleman pushes the button to send them rotating again. Each time they pass him on the ground, Needleman gives a little wave. He cackles, as if the children are an amusing toy, before they start upward once more.

  Now from inside Apollo’s pocket comes a small and awful sound, like the last of the bathwater glugging down the drain.

  The Last of the Bathwater Glugging Down the Drain

  “Rocco?” Apollo says.

  Rocco pops his head up. He’s crying. No, the tiny naked lizard is sobbing. Tears roll down his itty-bitty triangle face. His reptile chest heaves up and down. His green mouth is twisted in sorrow. Henry’s heart breaks. Rocco might be annoying, and his antics might have gotten them into all this trouble in the first place, but Henry remembers that he’s just a little boy. If Henry is scared, he can only imagine how terrified Rocco must be.

  “It’s okay, buddy,” Apollo says.

  “We’re going to get out of here,” Henry says.

  Henry and Apollo look at each other. It’s a private look. A look that says, The truth is, we’re doomed.

  “I want my mommy,” Rocco says. Henry’s heart breaks double.

  And then Apollo does a beautiful thing. A beautiful, brotherly thing. A thing that makes Henry remember what all of this is for: Love. And family. The kind of love and family that everyone deserves.

  “I want my mommy,” Apollo mimics, in spite of his own fear.

  “Don’t,” Rocco says.

  “Don’t,” Apollo says.

  “STOP THAT RIGHT NOW, APOLLO!” Rocco says. His small lizard cheeks turn red. He makes tiny fists the size of pencil erasers.

  “STOP THAT RIGHT NOW, APOLLO!” Apollo says.

  Rocco punches Apollo’s arm.

  “Punch me again with all your might.” Apollo knows that naked lizards can’t do much harm. Rocco pulls back his fist and gives it all he’s got. “That’s the guy I know,” Apollo says.

  “I’m hungry,” Rocco says.

  “Mom gave us plenty of snacks.” Apollo unzips his backpack. This is downright heroic under the circumstances. He must unclasp his hands from Henry’s and Jo’s. He must act normal, and give out foil packages, when absolutely no one is thinking about food except Rocco. Apollo offers everyone a slab of Choco Butter, while Button gets a Carrot Apple Bling Bar. Henry isn’t sure chocolate is part of the regular diet for naked lizards, but Rocco is gobbling it up like a boy, not a reptile. Apollo and Jo and Pirate Girl unwrap the shiny paper for Rocco’s sake. It’s hot in there, and the sun has blazed all day, so the chocolate is a melty mess. They practically have to lick it off the wrapper. These are the unhappiest children eating chocolate that you’ve ever seen.

  “Wait,” Apollo says.

  “What?” Henry feels a lift of hope. Apollo is the smartest of them all. He’s sure to have a great idea.

  “Why didn’t I think of this before?”

  “Tell us!” Jo says. She’s thinking the same thing as Henry.

  “My walkie-talkie! I have a walkie-talkie. All I have to do is radio for help!”

  Of course Apollo has a walkie-talkie, because before today, he had everything he could ever want in the world. Apollo hunts around in his backpack. He’s the smartest of them all, and he has everything a boy could want, but Henry isn’t so sure about this idea. They’re up on a mountain, for one. And for another—

  “Who can you even radio?” Pirate Girl asks.

  “Exactly.” Henry sighs. There are no police officers or government officials in their town anymore. At least, none who will stand up to Vlad Luxor.

  “My dad,” Apollo says. “He always has his with him.”

  “My mother would come, too,” Jo says.

  It is a lovely, shining idea—parents climbing into their cars and riding up this mountain to save them from evil. Fighting off Needleman with the cleaver from the kitchen of Rio Royale or some tool from the Dante garage. But Henry doesn’t believe the same things that Apollo and Jo do. Not about parents. Not about the bad that bad people are capable of.

  Apollo finds his walkie-talkie. The ride creaks and groans. He’s about to push the talk button when Pirate Girl speaks.

  “Even if they could help us, they would be in danger then. Don’t you see?”

  This hadn’t even occurred to Apollo. Or even to Jo. They’ve always lived in the cozy, safe nests of their families. Their parents have always been bigger than danger, able to make things right, no matter what. They can’t even imagine that this might not be true. But Henry can. He can imagine a lot of things. He wonders if maybe Pirate Girl can, too.

  The Creepy Old Ceiling Fan That You Must Nervously Watch

  The children are at the highest point of the ride again when Needleman stops it. The cage swings, back and forth, back and forth. It squeaks and wobbles like the creepy old ceiling fan that you must nervously watch.

  “How about another spin on the wheel, little hamsters!” Needleman shouts. He hits the button again. The cage lurches. And right then, Apollo’s walkie-talkie slips from his sticky chocolaty fingers.

  He cries out, but no cry can undo the thing that is happening: the transmitter, the last link to Apollo’s mom and dad, to Jo’s mother, tumbling through the air like an astronaut through the atmosphere. It lands with a crack against the hard earth and, like their dream of rescue, shatters to pieces.

  CHAPTER 27

  Danger at Great Heights

  Below them, Needleman laughs and laughs. When they pass him near the ground, he waggles a broken bit of the walkie-talkie at them. “Were you going to call your mommies?” He cackles.

  Button begins to snarl and paw at the mesh of the cage as they rise again. Jo looks like she might cry, and this, as well as their dire situation and the zinging rush of chocolate, sends a renewed rush of resolve through Henry.

  “He’ll have to walk away for a moment. To eat, to go to the bathroom, something,” he says.

  Swiss Army Safari Knife, Model 5400

  “Plus, I have this.” From her pocket, Pirate Girl removes a Swiss Army Safari Knife, Model 5400.

  “Wow,” Henry says, in awe. It’s extraordinarily impressive, the top tier of pocket knives. Not only does it have a jumbo-sized blade, but it also has a saw, a screwdriver, a bottle opener, and an extra-long and sturdy corkscrew.

  “It even has the hidden toothpick, which I’ve been very careful not to lose,” Pirate Girl says.

  “Can you pick this lock?” Apollo says, his eyes wide.

  “Of course I can,” she says. “I think I can. Well, who knows. I’ve never picked a lock before.”

  “Maybe you should practice,” Jo says. “And then the moment Needleman steps away, you can spring us free.”

  “When we’re close to the ground and not up here, hopefully,” Apollo says.

  “He will have to leave at some point,” Jo says.

  Henry swears that Jo’s beautiful voice right then travels to something or someone who isn’t evil, who guards goodness, who allows the right thing to happen at the right time, because even from way up there, they can suddenly hear Vlad Luxor.

  “Needleman!” he booms. “Needleman, I want more photographs!”

  “Photographs?”

  “Lots of photographs of me and this sensational fair that I’ve generously given to the people! Photographs of me eating a giant corndog. Me winning prizes. Me and the laughing, happy children!”

  “Now?”

  “Of course now! Where is your camera?”

  “Camera?”

  “You don’t have a camera? You know that I always need a camera. Snapshots, images, videos! Me looking to the left. Me looking to the right. Me looking serious. Me looking amused.”

  “Of course!” Needleman recovers. “Of course I have a camera. Let me get it. Right away!”

  “And what is wrong with that ride, Needleman? It keeps starting and stopping. I love when the little baskets spin around.”

  “Nothing is wrong with the ride, sir! It’s working perfectly!”

  Needleman hits the button of the Cage Lurch, which begins its slow rotation, this time without stopping. He sends the children a warning glare before trotting toward the tower.

  “We don’t have time to practice after all,” Henry says.

  There’s no need to tell Pirate Girl this. She’s already on her knees, working the toothpick into the lock.

  “I can’t . . . I don’t know . . .” Her face is knotted in concentration, sweaty from stress and the heat of their bodies in that cage. There’s barely room for her to move her elbows, with all of them and Button squished inside.

  “Hurry!” Apollo says. “We’re getting close to the ground.”

  “It’s harder than you think. I can’t feel anything in there.” Pirate Girl wiggles the toothpick.

  “Is there some little latch or something?” Jo asks.

  “I don’t know! I’m doing the best I can!”

  “He’s heading into the tower,” Jo reports. “We only have a few minutes.”

  “Oh no. We’re going up again,” Apollo says.

  “High. Very high,” Rocco says.

  Rocco is right. They are way, way up there. “I’m not sure we want the door to unlock right n—” Henry says, just as the cage springs free. The door pops open and sways toward the wide-open sky. Pirate Girl screams. Her hands are still on the latch. The front half of her body swings with the door as she holds on, her legs still on the metal floor but sliding fast.

  “Help!” she cries.

  Henry flings himself down to catch her. When he does, his lucky marble flies from his shorts, rolls across the cage floor, and drops off the edge, disappearing forever. What this says about luck and gravity—well, he can’t bear to think about that right now. With one arm, he grips Pirate Girl around the middle, and with the other, he holds tight to the side of the cage. Pirate Girl’s eyes are squeezed shut, and Henry can’t bear to look either. It is so, so far down. Things are falling from Pirate Girl’s pockets now. A canteen flies through the air and crashes to the ground. An old can of sardines tumbles and falls.

  An Old Can of Sardines

  “Hang on. Please hang on!” Jo cries. Henry feels Jo’s two hands grasp one of his ankles, followed by Apollo’s hands gripping his other. And then, there’s the nip of terrier teeth on the cuff of his shorts.

  The cage swings. The joints creak like an old ship. Behind them, the giant Vlad Luxor head leers.

  “No one move. Keep the cage as still as possible,” Henry says. He’s holding Pirate Girl with all his might, but he has the small shoulders and thin arms of a gentle boy with no meat on his bones. With every little swing, he feels Pirate Girl slip. She opens her eyes and looks at him, and he looks at her, and he sees a sight that tears him apart. Pirate Girl, the tough, challenging, and never-afraid Pirate Girl, is crying.

  “Pirate Girl,” he says. Henry’s voice wobbles. His throat gets tight, and his own eyes water, and he wishes he could tell her the million things he already knows about feeling afraid and small and falling.

  “We’re going down. We’re going down!” Apollo shouts.

  “He’s still in the tower,” Jo says. “We’re almost there. We’re almost on the ground.”

  The ground, the beautiful, beloved earth, seems to rise to meet them.

  “Now!” Apollo says.

  “Go, Button!” Henry commands, and Button jumps, and all them, even poor Pirate Girl, tumble onto the platform.

  “He’s coming!” Jo cries. “Needleman’s coming out of the tower!”

  “Run!” Apollo yells.

  CHAPTER 28

  Scary Men Give Chase

  The empty cage begins to rise again, the open door hanging like a loose tooth. The children race through the grassy park, past the game booths and the food, past the tower workers, who don’t make a move to stop them until they see Mr. Reese zigging and zagging and leaping from tree to tree after them.

  Henry has never run like this in his life. He didn’t even know he could run like this, his breath coming in hard puffs, his thin legs pumping, fleeing as fast as a cheetah.

  Apollo is in the lead. Even after all of the upset the day has brought so far (with so much more, the worst, still coming, alas), he remains quite handsome. Apollo sprints the way he does during recess, and during the times he dashes to the farthest-most corner of the baseball field to catch a fly ball.

  Button races at Apollo’s heels. She’s a dog champion, charging at full speed. Pirate Girl bolts, too, the pirate beads in her hair flying out behind her. This time, Jo runs beside Henry, the two of them side by side, and so Henry does maybe the bravest thing he’s done the entire day, because sometimes love takes the most courage of all. He reaches for her hand. They run together, through the small town square now, down the street to the gates. It has been the worst day of his life, but for one brief moment, it’s like he has wings.