The Quest for the Kid

by Adrienne Kress

  “When you get to the bends in the track, don’t follow the curve on the outside edge. Instead drive straight across them.”

  “Why?”

  “Basic geometry. The shortest distance between two spots is a straight line. That’s surely got to be the faster way to take a corner. I bet it will make it look like you know what you’re doing.” He gave a nervous smile, possibly for encouragement, but it was really hard to tell.

  Evie nodded, but she didn’t think Sebastian could see her do so, considering how the helmet held her head heavy in place.

  “Drive slowly going into the curve. You can speed up as you go through it,” he added. “And just don’t, you know…get hurt. The worst thing that happens is they don’t believe us and kick us out.”

  Seemed pretty bad as a worst thing, thought Evie. If Mr. Dashing and Ms. Velos didn’t believe that Evie and Sebastian were stunt-car drivers, then the association members wouldn’t share with them where the Kid was, which meant they wouldn’t be able to find him, which meant then not being able to get his letter, his clue to where her grandfather was, and that meant not finding her grandfather. Unless, of course, she could figure out where these men in black might have come from.

  She had to do this. She had to drive this go-kart. Other kids did this all the time. The thing was…she had never been one of those kids. She really didn’t actually know what she was doing, even though she’d seen enough people drive and stuff. When you’ve seen so many people do it, you think you can just do it too.

  Except there was nothing “just” about any of this.

  Sebastian was still standing there, staring at her.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Good luck.”

  Once again she nodded. Finally, and seemingly with great reluctance, Sebastian walked away from the kart, and she watched him take his seat next to Ms. Velos in the stands.

  Right. Okay. This was easy. Stop and start. That was all there was to it. It wasn’t a real car. Kids drove these all the time. Because they’re easy.

  Easy.

  Oh yeah.

  So.

  Turn on the ignition.

  Evie leaned over and pushed the button in the center of the steering wheel.

  She screamed. She screamed loudly into her helmet as the kart came to life, rumbling around her like an ancient monster that had been trapped underground for hundreds of years and had now found its freedom and was going to eat her alive.

  She sat, her hands shaking, the whole car buzzing around her, the sound engulfing her, the fans to the left and right of her head whirring fast, and she tried once again to breathe.

  Nope, breathing wasn’t working.

  She had to calm down. This wasn’t that loud, nothing compared to a real car, she was sure of it. It was just that she was sitting there with no roof and super low to the ground, and she’d expected it to be a lot less noisy and more…cute. Certainly the high-pitched scream from the motor was nothing she’d ever heard before. But that didn’t make it bad. It was just different. Different could seem scary even if it wasn’t.

  Okay. Okay, she was breathing now.

  Well, she might as well attempt to drive, then.

  She wanted to close her eyes as she brought her right foot down on the gas, but she knew that that was a very silly idea, so she squinted them instead, bracing for movement. And pushed. The engine roared even louder, like someone had stepped on the monster’s toe, but she didn’t go forward. She tried again. Another roar, but again she didn’t move forward.

  Evie glanced at her audience and gave a wave as if she was doing whatever she was doing on purpose.

  Sebastian was the only one to wave back.

  Okay, kart. Why aren’t you moving forward?

  Evie looked down. Oh. She had forgotten to take her left foot off the brake pedal. She was pushing down hard on both pedals. Right, okay, that was a silly mistake but not a big deal. Easy to fix. Just relax, Evie. Relax.

  She carefully released the brake pedal as she pressed gently on the gas pedal, and the car lurched forward this time! She braked and sat grinning in her helmet and glanced up to the stands for approval. Both Mr. Dashing and Ms. Velos did not seem particularly impressed. Wheels appeared downright scornful. No. Of course they weren’t. Driving an inch forward was probably not exactly a big deal to stunt-car drivers. But Sebastian, he probably was impressed!

  Needless to say she was not thrilled to see him wearing an expression of total terror.

  Gee, thanks for the confidence, Sebastian, she thought.

  Okay. It was time to drive.

  With fierce determination Evie stared at the track ahead of her and gripped the wheel tightly. She hadn’t yet learned how to steer, true, but she was feeling confident now that she understood how to move the car forward. The roaring monster seemed almost like her cheerleader now, and she smiled a little, imagining a big scaly green monster holding pom-poms.

  Let’s do this.

  She pressed down very lightly on the gas, and the car began to roll forward. She knew she was going ridiculously slowly, but it still felt like an achievement and also scary, and she gripped the wheel hard. Don’t get hurt, she thought as she pushed down harder and sped up. After all, Sebastian did have a point. While it would be pretty bad to not convince Mr. Dashing and Ms. Velos, it wasn’t as bad as seriously injuring herself, because then what good would she be to her grandfather?

  She moved forward along the track and sensed the wind rush around her head and felt a little more confident. She decided to try steering a bit and turned the wheel a little to the right. The car responded immediately, and she quickly rotated the wheel back to the left—but a bit too far, overcorrecting, and the car swung widely to the left. She took in a deep breath and turned the wheel a teeny bit back to the right, and she was driving straight along the track again.

  Okay, this wasn’t horrible.

  It wasn’t even bad.

  This was actually kind of neat. A little fun, even. She focused on where she was trying to go. She sped up again, remembering they were timing her, and she could see a curve ahead. There was a little lurch, and she was driving faster, and it was a lot scarier, and the wind whooshed more loudly, but she just kept focusing ahead of her at the curve.

  Slow down as you approach it. Drive across it. Because Sebastian had to be right about this sort of thing. She could feel her already elevated pulse getting faster, and her hands gripped the wheel more tightly. She put less pressure on the gas pedal and slowed down a bit, marveling at how now she actually felt in control and not terrified. Maybe she was getting used to this.

  Oh no. The curve. Okay, maybe she wasn’t.

  She aimed for the far end of the curve but realized that this wasn’t quite the same as driving in a straight line. There was a bit of a curve that she had to make, and she did have to carefully turn the wheel. If she had learned anything from earlier, it was to turn the wheel in small increments.

  She focused ahead of her, on the almost straight line. She tried to not even plan how much she was going to turn the steering wheel.

  She could do this.

  She would do this.

  She did do this!

  She was around the first corner! Quickly she pushed down on the gas pedal and sped up. But even as she celebrated on the inside, she realized she didn’t have time. The next corner was coming up quickly.

  Right.

  With more confidence she drove across the curve, and having succeeded even better this time, pushed down a bit more on the gas. And then a little bit more. She pushed down harder than she had yet, and the feeling was exhilarating. The roaring cheerleader monster was totally on her side now as she came up to the third bend. She was feeling the rush, the thrill, and with a little bit of a flourish, she took the curve.

  And was a bit too enthus
iastic turning the wheel to the left.

  The back of the kart spun out from behind her, and she found herself skidding, spinning too far to the left. Quickly she tried to correct, but this time not going all the way to the right with the wheel like she’d done the last time. Still she found the kart not responding to her, and she drove right toward the wall.

  No!

  No, she wasn’t going to get hurt!

  She slammed on the brakes and screeched to a stop, squeezing her eyes shut, bracing for impact.

  The car stopped. Her body lurched forward, then back, held in place by her seat belt.

  She sat there, quietly panting.

  It didn’t feel like she’d hit anything. She opened her eyes slowly.

  She had managed to stop the kart just inches away from the wall. Evie let out a long sigh of relief and leaned back. She glanced to the side and could see all three of her audience members standing on their feet. And one on its wheels.

  Okay. The clock was still ticking. It wasn’t over until it was over.

  Thinking back to what the mechanic had instructed her to do, she was able to find the reverse. Slowly she pulled herself back from the wall. Far enough that she felt she could turn and aim the car back straight toward the last curve.

  One more, Evie. Then it’s the home stretch.

  One more. And this time, focus.

  Evie once again pushed on the gas pedal and approached the last curve carefully. She did it as slowly as she could, but she knew that she didn’t have a lot of time. She squinted in concentration and drove across it, and once she had, she pushed down hard and felt the wind around her helmet, felt the world blur beside her, felt more determined and more alive than she’d felt in days. And she raced along the straight last bit of the track. When she crossed the finish line, she didn’t want to stop. She kept going a bit longer than necessary, and then, since it was all over anyway, she decided to turn the wheel hard. The kart spun in a full circle, but this time Evie felt in total control as she brought the monster carefully to a stop.

  Then she sat still for a moment. Breathing hard. But it wasn’t the same kind of breathing echoing around her helmet. It wasn’t fear. It was exhilaration. It was happiness. Even if she’d failed the test, she’d still just done something she’d never done before, and she had really enjoyed it.

  There was a shadow crossing in front of the kart, and sure enough it was Sebastian again. She grinned at him, though he couldn’t see it, of course. Evie undid her seat belt and pushed herself to standing. Only then did she realize how weak she felt. Her legs were like jelly. Sebastian caught her before she actually collapsed, and helped her find her balance before Mr. Dashing and Ms. Velos came over.

  As quickly as she could, Evie pulled off her helmet, her hair a matted mess beneath and not falling nearly as gracefully across her shoulders as Ms. Velos’s had. She looked at the drivers with anticipation. She knew she’d made a mistake, a bad mistake, with that one curve. And she didn’t know if she’d beaten the clock at all. Did they believe her? Had they fallen for it?

  It was too silent. For too long. Why were they just staring at her?

  Then Mr. Dashing stuck out his hand, and Evie reached out to take it. They shook.

  “Welcome to the SRAC,” said Mr. Dashing.

  Evie sighed and laughed at the same time. They were in! One step closer to finding the Kid and her grandfather. She hugged Mr. Dashing and then Ms. Velos, and then scratched Wheels behind the ears. And finally gave Sebastian the biggest hug of all.

  “You did it!” he said into her ear.

  She pulled away and grinned at him. Then she turned to Mr. Dashing. “Thank you so much! Now, we have to talk.”

  They had been invited into the main part of the building to fill out their paperwork. Sebastian stood behind Evie, waiting for his turn to sign the register, and stared at the back of her head in amazement. He thought maybe he might have been able to figure out how to drive like she had, but when she’d been heading right for the wall of the track and had then managed to not hit it and make it to the finish line, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have had the nerve to do that. Evie might have had some pretty out-there plans sometimes, but it did seem she was able to make them work.

  He remembered her saying something about riding a llama way back when they’d been escaping the men in black at the zoo. He’d never asked for more about that. He really ought to someday.

  “Your turn,” said Evie, handing Sebastian the pen. He quickly signed his name and then joined her on the dark red leather couch in a room that was also covered, from floor to ceiling, in red leather.

  It seemed like the designer for this place was a big fan of sticking to one idea and one idea only.

  Unlike the black-and-white-checkered room, though, there were visible bits of furniture and other colors to be found. Like the coffee table in front of them made out of a huge tire. And the bar in the corner constructed of some kind of shiny metal, with its various beverages held within gas and oil containers, except for one antifreeze can that he thought actually contained the toxic green liquid—until Ms. Velos poured herself a glass and took a sip.

  “So,” said Mr. Dashing, finding himself another chaise longue and reclining on it with Wheels at his side, “you said you needed to talk.”

  “Yes,” said Evie, all business. “We were told by our director to speak with one of your members. The Kid.”

  “You are the only kid members,” replied Ms. Velos, sitting on one of the barstools.

  “Oh no, she doesn’t mean a kid, she means the Kid,” said Sebastian.

  Ms. Velos looked at him carefully. “I don’t know how to make it any clearer. You are the only children members of SRAC,” she said slowly, as if he didn’t understand the words she was saying.

  Once more he was being considered stupid. He really hated that. Especially when he constantly demonstrated time and time again how well he understood so many things.

  Then he suddenly understood.

  “Oh! Well, that’s a nickname,” explained Sebastian, finally realizing that of course they wouldn’t know him as “the Kid.” That had been his Filipendulous Five nickname, and he was going under a totally different name now. Probably a different name than his real name, which, come to think of it, Sebastian didn’t actually know.

  This could be a problem.

  “So what’s his name?” asked Mr. Dashing.

  Sebastian glanced at Evie. She looked as worried as he did. Had this whole becoming members, putting Evie in danger, been for nothing?

  “We only know his nickname,” said Evie softly.

  “That does present a problem,” said Mr. Dashing, running a hand through his hair and making it look even more windswept.

  No, this wasn’t it. This wasn’t the end. Come on, Sebastian. Time to step up, solve a problem. Any problem. It had all been Evie solving everything lately, with her SRAC idea and the database of explorers idea and…

  Wait.

  “Do you have a database?” he asked.

  “We do.”

  “With pictures?”

  Mr. Dashing nodded, and he leaned over to the side table next to his chaise longue, a repurposed steering wheel, and honked the horn.

  In a flash two men in white mechanic uniforms whipped through a side door, flew over next to Mr. Dashing, listened to him, and then ran back out.

  “What was that?” asked Evie quietly. Sebastian shook his head.

  The men quickly returned with a large binder carried between them, ran to the car tire coffee table in front of Sebastian and Evie, placed the book down quickly, and opened it to the first page, then disappeared through the door.

  “How helpful,” said Evie, watching them leave.

  “Yes, thank you,” added Sebastian. Together they examined the first page of the book. Three pictures
ran down the page, one of Mr. Dashing, one of Ms. Velos, and one of another gentleman named Mr. Uturn.

  They flipped the page. Then Evie sat up and looked at Sebastian.

  Sebastian felt obligated to do sit up and look back at her.

  “What is it?” he asked quietly.

  “Do we even know what he looks like, though?” she asked, eyes wide with worry.

  “We saw him in the pictures in the puzzle box your grandfather left at the Explorers Society headquarters. Remember? That first afternoon we met?” replied Sebastian.

  “That seems forever ago.” Evie didn’t seem convinced.

  “Well, it wasn’t, actually. Not really. It was just under two weeks ago, in fact. And anyway, we saw them. Or rather, I saw them.”

  “But do you remember what he looked like?” asked Evie, looking now quite dejected. Sebastian stared at her, more than a little stunned by her question, but before he could say anything, suddenly Evie, with a laugh and looking a little embarrassed, said, “Oh right, of course. How silly of me. Your photographic memory.”

  He was relieved. Okay, so Evie might not have had perfect recall like he had. Very few people did. But he’d gotten worried about her when she’d forgotten his special talent. After all, the men in black had kidnapped him precisely because Sebastian had memorized the key to the map to the waterfall. That’s why they wanted him so much: they wanted his brain. That was why Sebastian had been kidnapped and taken across the world and Evie had come after him. Fortunately, she seemed clear about it all now. “Exactly,” he said. “And I can’t think of any better situation to use a photographic memory than when looking at photographs.”

  Evie nodded and smiled a bit. “You’re right. I forgot. I get all overwhelmed when I’m stressed.” She stopped and looked toward the bar. “And hungry. Do you think there are snacks?”

  “You investigate that. I’ll look at the pictures,” he said. Evie paused, then seemed to agree. She stood and crossed over to Mr. Dashing to ask about food. In the background—kind of indistinct as Sebastian flipped the pages and focused hard—he heard the beep of a car horn and a door opening and some quick-paced shuffling. Snacks seemed to be being acquired.