It was a useful, even necessary tool, and one he’d been coaching the others to learn how to do.
“And while you two are out playing games, what are we supposed to do?” Maybeck asked, clearly complaining. “I’m not hanging here. I’m not big on churches.”
“You’ll divide into groups-split up between Norway and Mexico on either side of us,” said Finn. “You watch for crash-test dummies. Text me if you see any. Charlene and I will do the Kim Possible quest and let you know what we find out. Amanda and Jess, stay with us to make us a bigger group. That way it’s less likely we get spotted as Keepers.”
Maybeck said, “You look so stupid, Whitman.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“At least he tried for some kind of disguise,” Willa said.
Philby said, “It’s a good plan. Let’s get going.”
Philby and Willa headed for China. After more discussion, Maybeck went by himself into Mexico.
An announcement filled the loud speakers: the fireworks were set to begin.
A wooden cart sat tucked into a dark corner of the terraced path between Norway and Mexico, pushed against an island of trees and bushes. The Cast Member attending the unmarked cart wore a Kim Possible Adventure T- shirt. Finn, Charlene, and the sisters approached the overweight man, waiting for a small boy and his father to return their Kim Possible phone.
“W sent us,” Finn told the Cast Member.
“Okay.” The man had a gruff voice, unexpected of a Cast Member.
“We’re here to do the adventure,” Charlene said.
“I was told you would have two initials for me,” he said to Finn. This had Wayne’s DNA all over it.
“K.K.”
“Can’t be too careful,” the guy said.
He rifled through some phones in the cart’s drawer and handed one to Finn.
He launched into a memorized explanation of the game. Finn and the other three listened intently. Didn’t miss a thing.
“Any questions?”
“I think we’ve got it,” Finn said, checking with his friends.
“Off you go. Return it here, please. I’d tell you to enjoy yourselves, but I’m not sure that’s appropriate.”
The phone’s screen told Finn to step away from the cart and to press
The crowds for the fireworks clogged the pathway encircling the lake, forty people deep. The Park music charged the air with excitement.
Finn pressed
The cartoon image on the screen of Kim Possible changed to a photograph of a tree. A written message read:
Go to this tree by the bakery cafe and press “OK.”
“Where is it?” Finn said, spinning around.
“There!” Amanda and Charlene said at the exact same moment, both pointing.
“Okay. But let’s not advertise,” Finn said.
The girls lowered their arms.
Once at the tree behind the cafe, Finn pushed
The tree began speaking. Or at least it seemed so real that Charlene jumped back. Finn felt shivers run up his arms as an old man’s voice-a voice he knew to be Wayne’s-spoke to them from a speaker in the shrubs designed to look like a rock.
“We all need a waiter now and then,” said the voice. “Some can get a waiter’s attention faster than others. This can have disappointing results.”
As Finn slapped his pockets hoping to find a pen, he noticed Jess already scribbling on a piece of paper. Jess carried a pencil and paper whenever she was inside the Parks. She had previously had daytime “dreams” or visions of the future here while awake. She came prepared. Her uncanny ability to dream about future events had earned her a place as a Fairlie alongside “sister” Amanda. That power was corrupted and nearly harnessed by Maleficent, who’d put Jess under the effects of a horrible spell, which brought her together with Finn and the Keepers when Amanda had sought their help to free Jess of the spell. Now, the Keepers benefited from her unique ability; on more than one occasion the Keepers had used a Jess diary page to “see” an event before it happened. They’d learned to pay strict attention to anything she sketched.
The phone’s screen said to press
“Got it,” she said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Charlene asked.
“We keep going. You know what he’s like,” Finn said.
The screen on the phone changed. An animated Kim Possible said, “Find a friend around front. Push
Again, a photo appeared. It showed two garden gnomes and some shrubs. They located the identical setting just inside the Norway plaza, past the Stave Church.
Finn pressed
The gnome spun around, his backside facing them. Finn pressed
“Whoa!” Charlene exclaimed. “Way cool.”
“Please write it down,” Finn said to Jess.
Charlene leaned against him from one side; Amanda the other. A Finn sandwich.
A cartoon of a dorky kid appeared on-screen. He said that Kim Possible had identified a signal post and that she needed their help in locating it. If the enemy saw that signal, they were told, bad things might happen.
“Is that supposed to be some kind of code?” Charlene asked.
“Don’t know,” Finn said. But he was thinking, So many questions from her.
The camera offered another photograph. The four of them returned to behind the bakery. Jess, with her keen artistic eye, found the scenery that matched. She positioned them all with their backs to the bakery patio and pointed to their right where the building ended at a knot of rocks and foliage.
“Go ahead,” Charlene said. “Try it.”
Finn pressed
Nothing happened.
“Try again,” she said.
“Up high,” Amanda said. She knew better than to point and attract attention. One by one the other kids saw it: a red, triangular flag popping up from behind a wrought iron lamppost each time Finn pushed
“Better write it down,” he said, but Jess was already on it.
The Kim Possible character reappeared on the phone and told them how well they were doing and that they had one last clue to find.
Another picture.
Charlene spotted the location immediately: it was a rock face on the way back to the Kim Possible cart where they’d started.
The screen read:
“I don’t know about having your picture taken,” Amanda said.
“It’s telling us to do it,” Charlene pointed out. “We’ve done everything so far.”
Finn said softly, “Maybe it’s a way for Wayne to see that it’s really us. That we’re the ones on the adventure.”
