The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

Reynie was in no hurry to descend into that chaos himself, but hurry they must if they wanted to find the Shortcut in time. Before he could think how to prod Constance forward, though, a barrel-chested young man in a blue uniform and cap whizzed up to them in a motorized passenger cart.

“Don’t see many kids down here!” the young man shouted over the din. He circled the children in his cart, looking them up and down with friendly brown eyes. “And you do fit the description! Here for the Shortcut, right?”

The children nodded, and Kate said, “Do we, um, need tickets or anything?”

“Tickets? No, you’re guests of the captain! He expected six, though . . .” The young man glanced left and right, as if someone might have materialized in the last instant. “This all of you? No grown-ups?”

“Just us,” Reynie replied, and to prevent any questions he added, “No time to explain!”

“Right you are!” the young man said, clearly pleased. He slammed on the brakes and gestured for them to get into the cart. “Glad you made it! If you weren’t here in two minutes Captain Noland said I was to go fetch you.”

The cart lurched forward and shot toward the gate. The young man looked back at his passengers. “Name’s Joe Shooter, by the way, but you can call me Cannonball. All my friends do! I’m third officer on the Short — oh, hold on!”

Joe Shooter — that is, Cannonball — whipped out a piece of paper and waved it at the gate guards, who obviously knew him and only nodded as the cart passed through. The cart, which had already been moving frighteningly fast, began to accelerate. “We’re headed all the way down to the end of the docks!” Cannonball shouted, now weaving crazily among forklifts and stacked cargo and terrified dock workers. The children gripped the sides of the cart. “So you all ready for your journey? I see you didn’t pack any bags! This whole thing’s awfully mysterious, if you ask me! Why are you going to Portugal, anyway? Or are you just coming aboard for the experience?”

The cart jerked sharply to the left, and Constance flew out of her seat with a little squeak. Kate caught her by the shirt and pulled her safely down.

“Don’t talk much, do you?” Cannonball shouted. “That’s all right! You’ll see I don’t bite! Now hang on, it gets a bit dicey up here around Terminal Four!”

All the children except Kate closed their eyes. Reynie had never been on a roller coaster, but he imagined it felt much like this. In fact, he was trying to pretend he was on a roller coaster — a very safe, properly maintenanced roller coaster that stood no chance of crashing — when Kate spoke into his ear. “Reynie, did you know the ship was headed to Portugal?”

Reynie nodded, keeping his eyes tightly shut. “Port of Lisbon,” he said, then flinched as he heard something whoosh by overhead, followed by a loud crash and the sound of someone cursing.

“Well, I didn’t read that part,” Kate said. “Don’t you think we ought to take a plane instead? We can figure out a way to pay for the tickets — I know you can, at least — and we’ll get there much faster.”

“We don’t know whether Lisbon’s even important,” Reynie pointed out. “Mr. Benedict said to take the Shortcut — he didn’t say anything about Lisbon. For all we know the next clue may be hidden on the ship, or it may be revealed to us only at sea.”

“Gosh, that’s true. I guess —” Just then the cart jounced over a bump, and Kate’s head knocked sharply against Reynie’s.

“What’s that?” Cannonball shouted when he heard them cry out. “Say something?”

Kate and Reynie were grabbing their heads, in too much pain to answer, but Constance called out that she would very much like to know where Portugal was.

The sailor laughed and cupped his hand to his ear. “Sorry, it sounded like you asked me where Portugal was!”

Now everyone was looking at Constance, who made a face and said, “Well? Is anyone going to tell me?”

“The other side of the ocean,” said Sticky. He was holding onto the cart with one hand and keeping his spectacles on his nose with the other, and he looked rather unwell.

“I know that much,” Constance snapped. “Fine, don’t tell me. Why would I want to know?”

“Here we are!” Cannonball announced. The cart skidded to a stop at the bottom of a gangway. “Everybody out!”

The children piled out of the cart. Cannonball allowed them a moment to stare up in awe. Like any ship, the Shortcut was daunting when seen from below. Nor was its size an illusion, for the ship was longer than two football fields and taller than Stonetown City Hall.

“She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Cannonball said, gazing up admiringly. “First of her kind, fastest cargo ship in the world! By far! Special hull design! Special jet propulsion system! Believe it or not, kids, in calm seas she can reach —”

“Upwards of sixty knots,” Sticky said. “She’s expected to cross the Atlantic in just two days, right?”

Cannonball snapped his fingers and pointed them at Sticky. “Exactly right! Exactly right!” He grabbed Sticky and hugged him roughly, then just as quickly set him aside. “Love a boy who knows his ships! Now let’s go, everyone! Let’s go!”

And with that, Cannonball set his cap on Sticky’s head and charged up the gangway.

“I like this guy,” Kate said.

Reynie wasn’t surprised. After all, Cannonball was a lot like Kate.

“We’re all loaded up!” Cannonball called over his shoulder. “Just taking care of last minute details! Oh, speaking of which . . .” He stopped on the gangway and knelt down. When the children caught up, he spoke in such a low voice they strained to hear him. He seemed to have no medium volume.

“Listen here, a lot of bigwig company owners decided they wanted to come aboard at the last minute,”