“Come, Mr. Reese,” Needleman says to the squirrel.

  Needleman’s jacket flaps flap as he turns and disappears down the road to town. They wait until he’s out of sight.

  “Mr. Reese!” Jo says, speaking barely above a whisper. “I thought that squirrel looked familiar. Needleman is Vlad Luxor’s right-hand man, but Mr. Reese used to be the left. Mr. Reese was horrible! He tattled on Mr. Trevor Tinkle, one of the waiters at Rio Royale, and Vlad Luxor turned him into a humiliating statue.”

  “You mean that statue in the town square?” Apollo asks.

  “That’s the one.”

  “I had no idea that was Mr. Tinkle,” Apollo says.

  Mr. Tinkle

  “Needleman flicked you,” Pirate Girl says. She looks furious.

  If you’ve ever had a bully be mean to you, you might understand what Henry feels now. He feels small. He feels like he’s the one who did something bad. It’s wrong and confusing, but bullies excel at the wrong and confusing.

  “I want to punch his face in,” Pirate Girl says. Button barks in agreement.

  Rocco pops his head from Apollo’s pocket. “Pow,” he squeaks. He makes a little fist.

  “Do you think he knows about us? Could he have heard? The way he said ‘Four particular children’ . . .” Apollo shudders.

  “He wouldn’t have just let us walk away, would he? Or else, he’s running off to tell Vlad Luxor about us now,” Jo says.

  “I guess we’ll know when we all get turned to lizards. Or worms, or rodents, or—”

  Apollo interrupts Pirate Girl and looks at Henry. “Your grandfather said we’d see answers about what to do next, but I don’t see any answers. I see only dangers.” His eyes are wide, and his lips are trembling.

  “Not to be disrespectful to Captain Every,” Jo says. “But when Manuela Sáenz fought with the rebel army in the Battle of Junín, she did not wait for answers. She strategized. She made a plan.”

  The Battle of Junín

  “He didn’t say wait. He said seek. And look. And listen,” Pirate Girl says.

  “I vote to make a plan,” Apollo says.

  “Let’s go to Rio Royale and sit under the painting of a fancy fox. We’ll be safe there.” Jo fastens the snap under her helmet. She looks very decisive again, now that Needleman is gone. Henry suddenly remembers from Jo’s oral report that Manuela Sáenz became a lieutenant, and then a captain, and then a colonel.

  Henry doesn’t feel decisive, not at all. He doubts they’ll be safe when they reach Rio Royale. From his long personal experience, safety is a sweet dream, found only in the soft folds of sleep, or in his imagination. He wishes so bad that he could believe in it. It’s the most beautiful wish he has.

  CHAPTER 19

  A Shocking New Message

  As the children ride their bikes through Huge Meadow, heading back toward town and Rio Royale, it’s hard not to get that creepy feeling where you jump at every blade of grass that slips by your bare legs, and jolt at every gnat that bumps your forehead. Behind them, on Rulers Mountain, the tower rises to the sky, and the black mirrors warp and stretch every tree and cloud. The shadow is dull and cold, wide as it is long. As he rides through it, Henry feels as if he’s in the freezer section of the Always Open, now closed. But this is a freezer section with only frozen vegetables, and the worst ones, too: gross blocks of spinach, little yucky cubes of carrots, disgustingly icy green beans.

  Disgustingly Icy Green Beans

  It’s summer, but in that dark space you can only think of winter. The sun is gone. The crows sit in the trees but say nothing. Pirate Girl rides next to Henry. In the sidecar, Button’s ears are back, same as when she hears a skittering creature under the floorboards at night, and Rocco huddles close to Button’s white paws. Pirate Girl pedals without terror, though. At least, her hands have a determined hold on the handlebars, and the look on her face is fierce. Henry wonders if she ever feels afraid.

  Ahead of them, on her yellow bike, Jo leads, with Apollo right behind her. It’s strange, but as he watches Apollo ride through that shadow, Henry gets a terrible feeling. A feeling of doom. For all of them, but maybe especially for Apollo.

  Henry pedals harder.

  They bump up onto the cobblestones of town, leaving the meadow behind them. All they have to do is reach Rio Royale, where they can make a plan.

  But suddenly, this is a lot trickier than it sounds. Main Street and the town square are filled with people. Everyone in the Timeless Province seems to be there. Henry sees some of their classmates with their parents. He spots the owner of the candy store, and teachers from school, and even Jo’s mother, Isabelle Idár, in the distance, wiping her hands on her apron.

  “Mom!” Jo calls, but it’s too noisy and crowded for her to hear. “What in the world is going on?”

  “No idea. But this can’t be good,” Pirate Girl says. She’s jostled from behind, and Henry is shoved by a shopping bag. People are standing on their toes, trying to see.

  “There’s a new message on the billboard, I think,” Henry says.

  They maneuver through the swarm. With Button under Henry’s arm and Rocco on Apollo’s shoulder, the children edge and wind their way to the front of the crowd. They tilt their chins up like everyone else to read the shocking announcement:

  TODAY! PARAD AND FARE! CELEBRAT THE GREAT VLAD LUXOR! YOU’RE WELCOME!

  “Parad and fare?” Henry whispers. “Celebrat?”

  “I think he means parade and fair,” Jo says. “Celebrate.”

  “Parad and fare!” Pirate Girl snickers a dangerous snicker. “Celebrat!” She’s about to burst with chuckles. Do you know those moments when it is the worst possible time to laugh but it begins to happen anyway? When you’re being scolded, for example, or when a room is silent and serious, and a very wrong giddiness rises up and threatens to explode out of your mouth? Well, that is exactly what happens now. Pirate Girl’s eyes get wide and glittery, and she makes that dangerous ckkk sound in the back of her throat, the sound of laughter being strangled to silence. Jo elbows her. Pirate Girl’s shoulders begin to go up and down in muffled chortles. Henry doesn’t dare look her way. His own bubble of hilarity is rising, threatening to erupt in a loud HAHAHA!

  “Celebrat!” Pirate Girl snickers again and snorts.

  Henry is making the ckkk sound now, too. He focuses on Button’s collar. Apollo looks down at his shoes. Jo stares at a baby in a carriage. If any of them meet eyes, they’ll all burst out laughing, and then the people around them will laugh, and then the whole crowd will start in, and everyone will get turned into statues and sparrows and trees.

  Oh no! There’s twittering all around. A lot of people are making the ckkk sound. Many shoulders are going up and down. That baby begins to gurgle with giggles. Even Button’s lips are turned up in a dog smile. They have to stop, though. They must, because this kind of laughter is dangerous.

  But then . . . The message changes before their very eyes. TODAY! PARADE AND FAYRE! CELEBRATE THE GREAT VLAD LUXOR! YOU’RE WELCOME! YOU DID NOT SEE THE MESSAGE THAT CAME BEFORE THIS ONE! REPEAT! YOU DID NOT SEE THE MESSAGE THAT CAME BEFORE THIS ONE!

  “Fayre,” Pirate Girl snickers. Jeez! She’s as dangerous as Rocco!

  A parade and a fair. They had these before, when Best Farriver was their RM. Men and women from Everything Storage set up games and rides, and people lined the streets, and little children sat on the shoulders of their fathers to get a better view of the parade. Between the knees of his parents in front of him, Henry could glimpse colorful floats and baton twirlers, men eating fire, and marching bands. At the fair, his parents bought two scrumptious Choco Blocks on a stick, and gave Henry the sticks. They stood in line so that his father could toss rings over the tops of bottles. They stood in another so that his mother could shoot a spray of water into a clown’s mouth. His mother and father rode the very colorful race-car ride as Henry waited below.

  The Very Colorful Race-Car Ride

  “Parad,” Pirate Girl says. She’s got to stop this! But then, Henry realizes that she’s serious. “Don’t you all see?”

  “See what?” Apollo says.

  “Parad! We looked, we listened.”

  Apollo and Jo might not understand, but Henry does. It’s terrifying, and his stomach knots, but he knows exactly what she’s saying. “The answer,” he says. “It appeared. Vlad Luxor is giving a parade and a fair. This is a chance for Rocco to hide in plain sight. It’ll be crowded. What a perfect way for Vlad Luxor to see Rocco but not notice him. This is what we have to do next.”

  “Captain Every was right all along,” Pirate Girl says.

  CHAPTER 20

  An Invitation to the Tower

  This is going to be a snap!” Apollo says. “Rocco, don’t you worry. You won’t be a naked lizard much longer. Hiding in plain sight when there are lots of people around is the easiest thing in the world.”

  A Fortune-Teller

  Henry knows this is true. There have been many days at school, surrounded by children, when he’s been sure no one’s noticed him at all.

  “He said the parade is today,” Jo says. “We need to find out when and where.”

  “There are signs everywhere. We only need to follow them,” Pirate Girl says. She sounds like a fortune-teller.

  But Pirate Girl is right—there are signs everywhere, posters on every pole and post and tree. Everyone is elbowing and shoving to get close enough to see.

  “‘Parad at noon. Fare following,’” Pirate Girl reads from the sign pasted on the nearest lamppost.

  “Oh no,” Apollo says. “Oh no!”

  “What?” Jo edges in to have a look.

  “‘Location: Tower Grounds,’” Apollo reads. Henry’s heart cinches. He puts his arms around his own thin shoulders. “The parade and fair are at the tower.”

  “No one has been to the tower since Vlad Luxor moved in,” Jo says, horrified. “Except the awful people who work for him.”

  “And spies, don’t forget,” Pirate Girl says.

  “We can’t go up there!” Apollo runs a panicked hand through his handsome hair. “It’s a trap.”

  It seems that the rest of the villagers agree, because all at once, whispers of It’s a trap, It’s a trap begin to spread like a bad rash.

  “Maybe it’s not a trap at all,” Pirate Girl whispers. “Vlad Luxor does like to celebrate himself.”

  “And everyone will be there. If there are lots and lots of people, we’ll have safety in numbers,” Henry says. Honestly, even to himself, this sounds as doubtful as one of the ads in the back of Amazing Stories magazine.

  “Are you kidding?” Apollo says. “Who would be foolish enough to go? Up there, you wouldn’t have a chance! Down here, you could at least run or hide.”

  One of the Ads in the Back of Amazing Stories Magazine

  “They have to go! He told them to.” It’s hard for Henry to imagine defying anyone more powerful.

  “This is what you call a no-win situation. A double bind. A catch-22, which means a dilemma from which there is no escape, because of—”

  “We get it, Apollo.” Pirate Girl’s voice is testy. This avalanche of knowledge right now is only making Henry more anxious, too.

  “The point is, you can get stuck up there forever, or at least have a chance down here.”

  Around them, the woman with the stroller hurries off. The people with their shopping bags disappear in all directions. The diners with their napkins still tucked into their collars seem to vanish. Ms. Esmé Silvooplay turns the sign at the French bakery from OPEN to CLOSED. Sir Loinshank Jr. of Big Meats does the same. Miss Becky, of Creamy Dreamy Dairy, locks the door of her shop and rushes away, her apron still on.

  The children are suddenly alone on the street. The only other people in sight are a few workers at the Always Open, now shut, who are scraping off the old name of the store and painting on a new one. There are three letters so far. VLA. Vlad’s.

  “Well, that settles it,” Apollo says. “No one’s going, so we certainly aren’t. It’s much too dangerous. Besides, we can’t hide in plain sight if it’s just us.”

  “That’s not the attitude that will turn a naked lizard back into a little brother,” Pirate Girl reminds him. “Captain Every said a plan would appear, and it has. What’s more of a sign than an actual sign?”

  “No way,” Apollo says.

  “We have to! It’s our duty. Captain Every told us our courage would be tested,” Pirate Girl says. “Think about what it was like, really like, for his ship to be battered to a million pieces in a storm, to swim to shore holding only a piece of planking. Imagine how terrifying it was to take part in a ritual involving a troop of orangutans and a large snake! And then, malaria! Bizarre hallucinations from jungle fever! Rivers of sweat! I know how bad and scared I felt when I had an awful earache.”

  “She’s right,” Jo says. “And I have to think about what it was like, really like, for Manuela Sáenz to fight in a battle on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano. Besides, Vlad Luxor does love to be celebrated and admired. Maybe it’s not a trap at all. Maybe it really is just a parade and a fair.”

  Bizarre Hallucinations from Jungle Fever

  Henry swallows his own fear. “We’ll just go up the mountain, watch the parade, and get Rocco to hide in plain sight of Vlad Luxor.” Just. The word echoes and shimmers with foolishness.

  Pirate Girl fishes in her pocket, removes a watch on a chain. “It’s ten thirty. And it’s a long way up there. We’re going to have to hurry.”

  “This is nuts,” Apollo says.

  “We have the stuff,” Henry says, though inside, his stomach is collapsing with nerves.

  “Okay, okay, but I don’t think I have the stuff,” Apollo says.

  The children look up at the tower. It looks so cold. It looks so high and far away. No one wants to make the first move. The five of them plus Button are frozen in place.

  Wait. Button.

  “Where’s Button?” Henry asks. “Button!” he calls, panicked. “Button, come!”

  “It’s okay. She’s way over there,” Jo says.

  Henry sees Button’s little white-and-brown behind trotting down Main Street, heading toward the meadow and the Circle of the Y. The place where one road goes down, down to the lighthouse, and one goes up, up to that horrible tower.

  “Wait for us!” Henry calls.

  CHAPTER 21

  The Frightening Trip Up the Mountain

  In the Circle of the Y, the children drop their bikes. The two very different roads sit on either side of them like a decision.

  “Ready?” Pirate Girl asks, but no one answers, because no one would ever be ready for this.

  They begin to walk up that steep, rocky path. Almost immediately, the meadow disappears, and the way ahead becomes shady. On either side of them, there’s the start of a forest—ferns, a few brambles, prickly blackberry bushes, the thin trunks of young evergreen trees and pines.

  “It’s very shady and prickly and foresty,” Pirate Girl says, freeing her sleeve from a reaching blackberry branch.

  “Cold, too,” Jo says, zipping her thin sweatshirt.

  The damp-earth smell of the woods surrounds them. It gets shadier and pricklier and more foresty with each step. The trees begin to get larger and older. Finally, up ahead, Henry sees it—that iron wall made of bars, and in the center, the gates themselves.

  “Wow,” Jo says.

  None of them have ever been here before. They all stare upward. The iron bars reach toward the sky, and iron vines loop between and up and around, and the wall itself disappears right into the trees. The gates are giant and steely, and a tight row of spikes marches along the top, dull and deadly. One wouldn’t dare reach a hand sideways between those bars. Those iron leaves on those iron vines look razor sharp. They could slice your hand like a knife through lunchmeat.

  “Those are the scariest gates I’ve ever seen,” Jo says.

  “And they’re open.” Apollo shudders.

  It’s true. Open gates—well, usually they give the joyful sense of welcome, the feeling of excitement about what waits on the other side. But these gates are more like the open doors of a cage where a dangerous animal lies in wait, even if you can’t see him yet.

  “Come on,” Pirate Girl says, Button at her side.

  Henry follows. The moment he steps through those gates, dread crawls deep into him.

  “This is a bad idea. Bad, bad, bad, bad,” Apollo says.

  “Bad, bad, bad, bad,” Rocco squeaks.

  “You’re not helping, Poll,” Pirate Girl says. She makes a face to remind him of the scared little brother in his pocket. “Try to hold it together. Let’s focus and stay quiet.”

  Mere Mortals Propelling Through a Large and Dangerous Universe

  On the other side now, the road climbs, and the sun vanishes, and the trees that border the path get taller and taller with each step, and the brush gets thicker. Under his shoes, as they trudge upward, Henry swears that the rocks feel rockier. He suddenly gets that unsettling feeling that they are mere mortals propelling through a large and dangerous universe.

  Soon, the hike becomes so steep that walking takes real effort. Apollo’s backpack begins to slouch from the weight, like a backpack with bad posture. Pirate Girl’s cheeks are red, and she’s puffing hard. Even Button’s pace slows. Henry feels his muscles pull, and there’s a burn in his chest.