“Sort of.”
“Nervous.”
“It’s just me.”
She came up from under the veil of hair and met Finn’s eyes. Hers were close to tears, shining like marbles. “You, of all people, might understand. You and the others. I can’t think of anyone else. Maybe you won’t believe—and that’s okay,” she said, reaching out and touching his knee. “I won’t be mad or anything.”
“I can’t believe it if I never hear what it is,” he said, a little impatiently.
She nodded, her eyes apologetic. “Jez and I are different,” she said.
“I know that,” he said quickly. “You’re very different.”
“No…I don’t mean from each other. I think it might be better if you just listen. No offense or anything, but this is kind of hard to explain.”
He nodded, thinking he shouldn’t speak.
She saw this and giggled. Covered her mouth. Looked as if she might cry. When she spoke, it was very softly.
“I guess the only way to explain this is just to say it.”
Works for me, he thought, but didn’t say so.
“We’re Fairlies.”
“You mean: fairies?”
“No. Fairlies. As in, fairly human. It was supposedly a joke a long, long time ago, but it stuck. Fairlies. Go figure. We’re not witches or fairies, or anything like that. We’re just kids with…unusual abilities.”
“Such as?”
“I’m not allowed to say. Sorry. Rules, you know?”
“You and Jez are sisters?”
“Sort of, I guess. Not exactly. We’re both orphans. All Fairlies are orphans. My parents drowned. Jez’s went on this trip to South America and never came back. They think pirates—real pirates—got them. She and I were raised in the same foster home. That’s why I call her my sister. Fairlies display certain qualities at a very young age: spoon-benders, mind readers, clairvoyants. There was a boy who could set fire to things by just looking at them. Very strange. But real. Jez dreamed the trouble here in the Parks. This was way before you guys were hired to be the models for the DHIs. She and I…we kind of ran away. Not recommended, I might add.”
Finn understood the solar panels then: there were no parents. Jez and Amanda lived by themselves.
“The day we got here, Maleficent put a spell on Jez or bewitched her or something. Jez didn’t even recognize me. Then you and the DHIs came along. Somehow, you released her right before Maleficent was captured. I wanted to go back after that, to the foster home, but Jez had more dreams. She keeps them in a diary, a journal,” she explained.
“So, she can dream the future?” Finn asked skeptically.
“Believe whatever you want to,” Amanda said, “or not. I believe the Overtakers have taken Jez prisoner to prevent her from interfering with whatever they have planned.”
Finn’s skin crawled. He felt slightly sick to his stomach.
She stared at Finn long and hard, her eyes fiery pinpricks. “I can’t expect you to believe any of this. Asking that is probably too much. I hope you do someday. I hope this makes us better friends, not worse. I’m trusting you in ways I’ve never trusted anyone.” She paused. Her breathing was labored, her skin flushed. Finn felt as if he might explode with anticipation.
“And your powers?” he asked.
“Sorry,” she said squinting. “Can’t say. Not now. Not yet, anyway.”
“You and Jez are squatting. Here, in this house, this church. Whatever it once was. The solar power.” He pointed.
Amanda eyed Finn cautiously. “You’re not going to tell.”
“I’ve got bigger secrets than this, believe me.”
“It was closed up. Abandoned. We always enter by the back. We’re very careful. Only once have I used the front door, and that’s when you and your mother dropped me off here. I wasn’t even sure it could open.”
“And the neighbors?”
“What neighbors? It’s stores and stuff. No one’s ever said anything. It’s only been a couple of months. The water’s on. It’s cold; no hot water, but it works. We shower at school. The toilets work.”
“This is way cool.”
“It’s not great, but it’s what was available. We had to think fast.”
“Don’t Fairlies have money?” he asked.
“If you’re going to tease me, we’re done here.”
“Can’t take a joke?”
“Not about that. And yes, I have an after-school job. But right now, I think we both could use some sleep.” She yawned.
“No! We can’t sleep,” he said. “Wayne says if any of us—the DHIs—go to sleep, we might get trapped the way Maybeck did last time. He said the only way to protect ourselves is to find Jez, get her to safety, and then find and crash the second server.” He let this sink in. “We need your help. That is, only if you want to.”
“Of course I want to.”
He liked the idea of her being involved. She was the most unusual girl he’d ever met. He wondered what powers she might have and why she wouldn’t tell him about them. “You were going to join us on IM,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, well…my computer access is through our local library. A little late for that.”
“So what about her journal? Can I see it? Maybe she left clues or something. We don’t know what we’re looking for, and it’s a huge park. We’re all real tired, and we haven’t started. We don’t know for sure she’s in the Animal Kingdom. Wayne thinks so, but no one knows for sure. I don’t know if you can help, but—”
“Absolutely. I absolutely want to help if I can.”
She took off, out the bedroom and down the dark hall. A light popped on in the next room, casting a trapezoid of light against the far wall, where a mural of a woman’s stern face had been painted. She seemed to be looking at Finn. He ducked back into Amanda’s room.
She returned, clutching a leather journal. Reluctantly, she passed it to Finn. “This is private stuff, remember?”
Finn nodded and flipped through the pages. The diary was filled with writing, drawings, sketches. Clippings and photographs had been pasted, paper-clipped, and stapled to the pages. Fortunes from fortune cookies. Ticket stubs.
In the upper-right-hand corner of a page crowded with sketches was a drawing of a castle being struck by lightning. Finn pointed to it. “Okay,” he said. “Now I believe.”
13
FINN CLIMBED BACK UP the fire rope to his bedroom window, while below him, barely seen, Amanda waited for him, straddling his mother’s mountain bike, which he’d loaned her.
His mission was to get hold of his father’s BlackBerry; to make sure his parents didn’t worry about him or question where he’d gone; and to borrow his little sister’s DS for Amanda, who didn’t own one.
He reached his parents’ bedroom on tiptoe and quietly opened the door. His mother was snoring; his father lay on his side facing the window. The clock on his mother’s end table read 4:08 AM.
He found his father’s dresser in the dark and patted around, searching for his BlackBerry. On Saturdays, his father only took his phone if he went on an extended errand. Finn could only hope that his father had no such errands planned. If he did, and he looked for his phone, he wasn’t going to find it.
He returned to his mother’s side of the bed and quietly turned the clock so that it faced away from the bed, where it couldn’t be read by his mother. Then he gently shook her awake. She was a heavy sleeper, and he was counting on her not coming fully awake.
“Mom…”
Her eyes squinted open, saw him, and then shut again.
“Finn,” she complained.
“It’s just after six,” he lied, wishing he didn’t have to. “I’m going on my bike over to the skate park. Might go to Blizzard Beach later. I’ll call.”
“Don’t forget sunscreen.” She opened her eyes a little more and looked for the clock, but she made no effort to turn it around. This he’d been counting on.