I opened my eyes. Murray was shaking with silent laughter, and the others all had wide grins, even Carolina.
“Ha ha!” said Ben. “You got Lisa Franked!”
Wow. These kids were hilarious.
“Sorry, sorry,” said Miesha. “It was just too perfect. For real now, though, Maggie Hetzger, picture your network for me. Please? Okay. So, where did the very first link from your original pillow fort lead, as far as you know?”
“To Abby’s,” I said promptly, because it had. I saw Noriko and Murray throw each other a look across the table, but Miesha kept going.
“Okay, good,” she said. “And where did the second link go?”
“Uncle Joe’s.”
“Cool. Now, think about this: Do those other two forts connect to each other, without going through your fort on the way?”
I thought.
“The answer is no,” said Ben. Murray shushed him.
“Well . . . they might,” I said, frowning. “We haven’t checked the pillows from the other forts yet. They could maybe link to—”
“They don’t,” Ben interrupted. “They really don’t. Trust us—we’re the experts here.”
Murray and Miesha glared at him, but I was too distracted to care about Ben’s rudeness. If what they were saying was true, and the forts in my network only linked up through Fort McForterson, then everything back home literally revolved around me. I was the center. I was the hub of Camp Pillow Fort. Huh. I liked that.
“Good, thank you, Miesha,” said Noriko. “I think she’s got it. And now that that’s all clear, the main business we need to discuss, Maggie Hetzger, is you and your friend joining the National Alliance. Your network is still small, but it’s developed unusually quickly, and it’s time for you to step up and get with the pillow fort program. You’ve already come close to making some major mistakes—like oversharing with that uncle of yours, for a start—and we can’t let you keep bumbling around like kindergartners anymore.”
The thought suddenly flashed through my mind that maybe this was all a very bizarre dream, and any second now I would wake up in Fort Comfy feeling downright silly.
I pinched the inside of my wrist and winced. Nope, not a dream.
“Hang on,” I said, as Noriko’s speech hit home. “How could you know we almost said too much to Uncle Joe? You weren’t even there.” The answer smacked me in the face like a sofa cushion. “Wait—have you been spying on us?!”
“The Council and Alliance monitor all linked-fort activity,” said Ben, patting his clipboard. “For your own protection, and for ours.”
“And you were actually up there in Alaska the whole time?”
“We had NAFAFA agents listening from inside what you now call Fort Orpheus, yes,” said Noriko. She held up a hand while I spluttered. “Look, our first duty here is to protect our own networks. That’s what this entire meeting is about. There’s nothing more dangerous than a splinter group of uninitiated kids running amok and drawing the attention of the authorities.”
“Authorities?” I said. Noriko was starting to sound a lot more like Ben. “What authorities?”
“Parents.”
“And teachers.”
“And lawyers.”
They were all facing me. They looked deadly serious. Not even Murray was smiling now.
“Okay,” I said. “Right. And you brought me here to . . .”
“To bring you into line,” said Noriko. “We show you the way things work”—Ben gave a satisfied nod—“and teach you the rules. Then you either join us and start playing along, or we take . . . further steps.”
“Further steps?” I repeated. That sounded like a threat. “What does that mean? And why do I have to follow your rules?”
Noriko leaned back in her chair. “How long have you and your friend been aware of the links, Maggie Hetzger?”
I thought. “A little over a day, I guess.” Was that really all? It already felt like so much longer.
“And you’re probably pretty excited about what you’ll be able to do with them in a week or even a month from now, right?”
I nodded. If Abby and I weren’t playing nightly galactic conquest games in the downtown library within two weeks, it wouldn’t be my fault.
“Great,” said Noriko. “Well, just for some perspective, I built my first linked fort and joined the Forts of the Eastern Seaboard five years ago. Everyone here has just a little more experience with this whole pillow fort world than you do, so you can trust us to know what’s best.”
“Five years?” I echoed. I was starting to feel like a parrot. “How do you even keep a pillow fort up for that long?”
Ben snorted, then choked on his mouthful of popcorn. Murray threw another marshmallow at him and gave me an encouraging smile.
“There are benefits to joining the Alliance, Maggie Hetzger,” said Noriko. “A group like this doesn’t exist for over three centuries without picking up a few tricks.”
“Three centuries?!” It was official. I was a parrot.
Miesha raised her hand. “Hey, how about we just skip ahead to the tour? That way all these questions can get answered at once.”
“Yes,” said Noriko, pointing at Miesha. She looked around the table. “Who wants to give the tour and standard history lesson?”
“Ooh! Me!” Murray threw his hand in the air. “I’ll do it!”
Miesha put a hand over her mouth to cover her smile.
Ben held up his pen. “Point of order. Newcomers aren’t supposed to learn the history of NAFAFA until they’ve agreed to the entrance requirements, and this applicant still hasn’t done that.”
“Oh, I don’t think a tour will hurt,” said Noriko. “Besides, we need to talk about the you-know-what before this meeting can go any further. And since I think we can already tell which way Murray’s going to vote ”—Murray’s forehead went pink—“the rest of us can stay here and talk about Maggie behind her back in peace.”
Ben scowled, but he didn’t object again as Murray got to his feet and led the way down the steps.
I followed, then glanced back as everyone around the table began talking at once. Were they really talking about me, like Noriko said? Why? And what were these “entrance requirements” I was supposed to agree to? They sounded downright ominous.
I turned
