“Fair enough,” said Allie. She looked at the coin in her hand. It was lukewarm.
She suspected if she held it long enough it would get her where she was going, but just because she was ready to go, it didn’t mean she had to just yet. It was a matter of choice.
What was it her fortune had said? “Linger or light. The choice is yours.”
Allie chose to put the coin in her hip pocket for now. She always had been good at saving her money.
Mikey held out his hand to her, ready to lift her up on the horse.
“Home?” he asked.
But suddenly it didn’t seem all that urgent. There were still plenty of unknowns to explore here in Everlost. She could squeeze a lot of them in between here and home. “There’s no hurry,” she told him, but Mikey wasn’t pleased.
“Taking you home,” he said, “was going to be my first halfway-decent deed.”
“I’m sure you’ll find another one.”
Mikey sighed in frustration. “This is not going to be easy. I’m good at being bad, but I’m bad at being good. I don’t know the first thing about good deeds.”
“Well,” Allie said, with a grin, “I do know a twelve-step program.” Then she grabbed Mikey’s hand, climbed on the horse with him, and they rode off together toward all things unknown.
Nick had to win this race, even if the odds were against him, and so when the ghost train dropped him off at old Penn Station, he wasted no time. It was dusk now. The train had been fast, but an airship didn’t have to worry about tracks.
His only hope was that Mary’s learning curve when it came to flying the thing had slowed her down. When she had first taken to the air, the airship was erratic, turning this way and that, unable to set a course. With any luck, she was still zigzagging across New Jersey, trying to get the hang of it.
He ran at full speed from the station all the way down to the plaza at the base of the towers. The same kids were there playing kickball, jumping rope and playing tag.
“Is Mary here?” he called out. He expected them to rush him and capture him.
What was Mary’s version of chiming? Nick had a suspicion that he was about to find out.
But they didn’t rush him. Instead, one of the kickball kids playing the outfield turned to him and said, “Meadow says she went away for a while, but shell be back real soon.”
Good, thought Nick, he had beaten her here—and now, when he looked west, he could see that he hadn’t beaten her by much. Between the buildings to the west, Nick could see the zeppelin in the sky across the Hudson River, still high, but dropping toward them. It couldn’t be any more than five miles away. Nick knew he didn’t have much time.
“Go get Meadow,” he told the kickball kid. “Tell her to gather everyone at the fountain.” Then the kickball kid ran off, confounding the daily pattern of his game.
Nick went over to the fountain himself, and stood on its lip, calling out to all the kids in the plaza.
“Everyone! Everyone listen to me! I have a message from Mary!”
That got their attention. Jump ropes stopped spinning, balls stopped bouncing.
Kids began to converge on the fountain.
Nick looked to the west again: The airship was there, halfway across the river.
It was still too high, but that didn’t matter—as soon as the kids saw it, the game would be over. He would lose their attention. He had to keep everyone focused on him.
Meadow began to arrive with kids from the higher floors. “Mary wants me to tell you that you no longer have to fear the McGill. She’s cut him down to size! “
A cheer from the kids.
“And,” said Nick, “I have something very exciting to tell you!” Okay, thought Nick. Here it goes…. “How many of you threw your wishes into the fountain?”
Every hand went up.
“And how many of your wishes came true?”