The Quest for the Kid

by Adrienne Kress

  * * *

  —

  Evie was following Annalise, and she in turn was being followed by the Kid and Benedict. They were making their way hastily through the house. Evie marveled at how huge and detailed the place was. “You made this all from scratch?” she asked Annalise.

  “I did. It was all my design. My crew worked to my very exacting set of specifications. I was very proud of it. Now it’ll be gone. And I’m going to be very angry.” She led them past a blue drawing room into a large glassed-in conservatory.

  Evie didn’t say it, but it seemed to her that Annalise already was quite angry. She didn’t want to know what “very” looked like.

  They ran outside through another door into what appeared to be some very lovely manicured gardens, at least from what Evie could see in the glow of the burning building.

  “Where’s the car?” asked the Kid.

  There was a sudden large crack, and everyone looked up. The fire had started climbing the side of the house, and a large piece of the roof had fallen to the ground.

  “I hid it from the cameras. It’s behind the hedges,” said Annalise, starting to run again. It was kind of good to see her frightened. Though Evie realized that until this moment, she had been a little comforted by Annalise’s seeming indifference to the flaming situation.

  Another crack, and Evie didn’t look back. She kept her focus on Annalise’s white suit in front of her. They were going to do this. They were going to make it out of here.

  * * *

  —

  Sebastian ran to the chickens and opened up all their doors. They quite literally flew the coop, flapping their little wings and running away without him having to shoo them or anything. Which relieved him. He was always nervous about getting too close to birds. They had very sharp talons and beaks.

  “Sebastian, I need your help!” called Catherine on the other side of the barn. He rushed over to see her pushing two lazy-looking pigs out of their pen. They seemed in absolutely no hurry to go anywhere. “Take over! I need to free the horses,” she said.

  Sebastian stared at the pigs and immediately remembered the pig in the teeny hat back at the Explorers Society headquarters. These were so much bigger, with nothing on their heads, but if he hadn’t felt a need to help them before, he definitely did now.

  “Come on,” he urged. And he gave one a firm pat in the right direction. The pig looked at him with indignation, and then it almost seemed like its expression softened. “Hurry!” Sebastian tried again. Then the pig…Well, it was as if the pig nodded and it suddenly picked up speed, trotting through the barn and out the open door, followed closely by its friend.

  Once again Sebastian was drawn to the memory of his first moment with the pig in the teeny hat, saving it from being hit by a car, its stillness in his arms and how Hubert had insisted that Sebastian had to bring the pig inside since it was never normally that still.

  Did he have a special pig appeal? Was that even something that people had?

  There was a loud neigh, and Sebastian turned to see Catherine holding on to the reins of one horse as it reared up, forelegs in the air, kicking about wildly.

  “Watch out!” he called, but he really hadn’t needed to. Catherine had raised her arm and was speaking softly. The horse landed on its feet, and snorted a few times. She placed her hand on its nose and spoke again. The horse shook its head. Then stopped. Then was calm.

  “Here. Hold on to her,” said Catherine, passing the reins to Sebastian, who nervously took them. She then began to unlatch the next stall, and a giant stallion, without even letting her get close, kicked it open the rest of the way and bolted for the exit. When it reached the door, it seemed to understand what was happening outside and started bucking inside the barn, throwing up its legs. It ran right back at Catherine, and she had to jump to the side just in time as it continued its fury to the rear of the building.

  “Sebastian, release the mare outside and meet up with the car,” she said slowly, never shifting her gaze from the stallion.

  “What? You want me to…leave you?” he asked. That couldn’t be the right decision. He must be able to help somehow.

  “Trust me. Do it,” she said.

  He couldn’t.

  She turned to him. “Now!”

  Sebastian pulled the mare carefully across the barn as she flinched and whinnied at the stallion’s temper tantrum. “That’s okay. You’re okay,” he said, even though he had no idea if that was true. Finally he was able to get her outside. And he stopped and stared. The fire had moved onto the house itself. Almost half of the mansion was covered in flames. He could barely swallow for fear. Where were the others? How was Evie?

  * * *

  —

  “Is everyone in?” asked the Kid, his hands on the wheel.

  “I believe so,” replied Benedict from the back next to Evie.

  Annalise gave another of her frustrated sighs. “Drive already!”

  “Okay. Make sure your seat belts are fastened,” said the Kid. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt.” He looked at the fire in front of him. Evie leaned over to do the same. Everything was ablaze. Even their exit. “So,” he said. “The driveway, everything, is burning up. That’s okay. We’re just going to have to off-road this.”

  “Don’t forget about Sebastian and Catherine,” Evie reminded him.

  “Oh, I won’t.”

  Now that Evie was a little bit more familiar with driving, she observed the Kid’s technique more closely than she might have once. He flexed his hands and stared hard over the steering wheel, and she had a feeling she was about to see a true artist at work. At least she really hoped so.

  Here. We. Go.

  The car roared from behind the hedges until it burst onto the gravel drive. They were parallel to the house, and the Kid was driving like he was racing the mansion. Which maybe he was. Another piece of the roof fell off, this time right in front of them, but he swerved to avoid it. Evie looked over her shoulder to watch the flaming object roll away behind them.

  He swerved again, taking them back onto the grass, and they were going down a steep hill. Trees were materializing out of nowhere. He turned the wheel, neatly avoiding each and every one. Like he knew they were coming. If the experience hadn’t been terrifying, it would have been beautiful to watch. Then he made a sharp left, trying to get them to the front of the house. All of this at a speed that Evie, after her go-kart experience, could not imagine maintaining.

  “Pig!” called out Annalise.

  Brakes squealed, and they all flew forward, and, thanks to their seat belts, back again. They all sat there, watching, as two huge pigs sauntered slowly across their path in the beam of their headlights.

  “I guess Catherine and Sebastian were successful,” said Evie.

  The Kid eased his foot off the brake, and they were speeding along the dirt once more, until they finally arrived on a smooth, easy surface. Evie had never truly appreciated just how nice it was to drive on a paved road until now. The Kid pulled to a quick stop, for once without causing them whiplash. They were far enough away from the house that they could see it in full view, entirely engulfed in flames. It was utterly horrifying.

  There was a banging at the rear of the car, and Evie turned to see Sebastian waving at them. He came around to her side, and she slid over so he could get in.

  “You made it!” she said.

  “Yes,” he replied, out of breath.

  “Are the animals okay?” she asked.

  “Yes,” he panted.

  She paused for a moment, grateful that he was still alive. Then she realized, “Wait. Where’s Catherine?”

  Right as she asked that, the explorer came into view, charging toward them riding the biggest horse Evie had ever seen. She galloped up to the car, but the horse couldn’t stop or stand still. It stomped and flar
ed its nostrils and looked as antsy as Evie felt.

  The Kid rolled down the window.

  “Drive!” called out Catherine, as the horse pulled itself up onto its rear legs. The animal expert stayed firmly on its back until it landed on its feet again. “I need to ride him to safety. I’ll see you back at the society,” she finished, nudging the animal forward.

  The Kid didn’t question, didn’t offer another solution. He gave a sharp nod and peeled out of there.

  They were on the road, and Evie turned to watch Catherine riding like the wind following them, the large fire burning in the background. She couldn’t ride nearly as fast as their car, but my goodness was she going very fast. It was impressive.

  Eventually, though, she fell farther and farther behind, until the red glow of the rear car lights could no longer illuminate her. And even the glow from the fire was out of sight.

  “Well, this is a magnificent story, and I am most relieved to see you all alive and well,” said Alejandro, leaning back in his usual dining room chair as the early morning sun filtered into the room.

  “Really?” asked Evie.

  “I might not approve, I might not like you all, but I still am glad you are breathing.” He smiled and took a sip of hot chocolate from a small white cup. “And I am very happy to welcome our new member, Orson, to the society,” he added.

  The dog snuggled into Sebastian’s lap and didn’t seem to realize what an honor had been bestowed upon him. Sebastian kind of got it. After all, there was only so much excitement a body could take before you just wanted to go to sleep. He stared down at his hot chocolate. He couldn’t drink any of it. Even though the excitement was over, he couldn’t unclench his body. His stomach was a complete mess. He was tired. So tired. He felt like he’d been tired for days. No, years. And not just because of everything he’d put his body through, or because he’d barely slept last night, but inside too. Emotionally. It was all getting to be too much. It was one thing after another. After another. And last night he’d almost been set on fire. Was that maybe the final straw?

  “So this agent of yours, you reported her actions to the authorities?” asked Alejandro.

  “Yes. And the good news is that I got an even better agent as an apology from the agency,” said the Kid, drinking his orange juice happily. “And when I told the new agent I was taking a break, you know what she did?”

  “What?” asked Benedict.

  “She was really nice about it and said that was okay. I really like nice people.” He beamed at them all.

  “I agree,” said Alejandro with a grin. “You, Jason, I actually like.”

  Sebastian heard Evie scoff, and he looked over at her. Evie. He had to tell her something. Anything. That he was starting to doubt that he could do this adventuring thing. That he’d lied about calling his parents.

  She’d be sad.

  More than that, she’d be mad.

  He had to do it. He had to do it now.

  “Evie,” he said.

  She smiled at him. “Yeah?”

  “Can we talk…like…over there?” he asked, pointing vaguely behind him to what turned out to be a very random spot along the wall of windows next to a support column.

  Evie wore a quizzical expression. There was a kind of laughter behind her eyes. She was probably finding him amusing again. Sebastian and his weirdness. This made telling her all the harder.

  “Okay,” she said, rising. He gave Orson a tiny tap, and the dog looked up at him with sad eyes.

  “I’ll be back soon,” he said, and instantly felt ridiculous attempting to explain something to a dog. But Orson stood and jumped off his lap and Sebastian stood too now, the weight on his shoulders almost holding him down.

  The adults didn’t really seem to care about what they were doing, just continued with their conversation.

  “The next step, then, is Doris,” said Alejandro as Evie crossed over toward Sebastian. She stopped to listen to the adults.

  No, Evie. We really need to talk now!

  “She will prove to be a challenge,” continued the West Coast president, before pausing and drinking a bit more hot chocolate. “I also like her.”

  The Kid laughed and nodded. “Yeah, definitely challenging. But at least we know where she is.”

  “We do?” asked Evie, eyes wide and hopeful.

  He was losing her. She was being drawn back into the conversation.

  “Well, I do. Obviously, first we need to go to my place, grab some things, especially the letter and map.” He glanced at Evie and gave her a smile.

  “Does that mean…Does that mean you’ve decided to join us?” she asked, sounding so hopeful.

  “It does.”

  “Oh, thank you!” she said, launching herself at him and giving him a huge hug. The Kid laughed.

  “And you know where Doris is?”

  The Kid nodded. “We keep in touch. She’s working as the technical director of an opera company a few hours outside of Lisbon.”

  “That’s so neat!” said Evie.

  “Portugal?” asked Catherine with a tone that Sebastian didn’t quite get.

  “Yeah,” replied the Kid. He seemed to understand her meaning somehow. “I really haven’t heard from her much, just when she got the job.”

  Catherine nodded but didn’t say anything else.

  “So I guess we’re going to Portugal!” said Evie.

  “I suppose you are,” said Alejandro with a laugh.

  “Sebastian! Isn’t that great!” She looked at him with a huge grin on her face. Sebastian really could only give a half-hearted smile back, which seemed good enough for her, because she turned back to the Kid, practically glowing. He couldn’t very well tell her now, not when she was so excited and happy. Meanwhile the idea of traveling across the ocean again made him sick to his stomach.

  All he had to do was call his parents and go home.

  And all this would be over.

  He sat back down and took a sip of hot chocolate instead.

  “Three down, one to go,” said Evie as she grabbed her suitcase and rolled it along the sidewalk toward the automatic doors opening to the departures level of the Los Angeles airport.

  “Yeah,” replied Sebastian. Evie was getting used to the distracted Sebastian, but he was making her uneasy.

  “Okay. You have to tell me what’s going on. You’ve been weird since we arrived in Los Angeles,” she said.

  “Well, you’ve been pretty weird too,” replied Sebastian.

  Yes, that maybe was true. She had had a lot to think about, about loyalty and family and stuff. But she’d also been herself a lot in other ways. It wasn’t the same. And anyway, he hadn’t actually answered the question. “You didn’t answer the question.”

  The Kid, Catherine, and Benedict had gone through the doors and were talking among themselves inside. They didn’t seem to realize that Evie and Sebastian were still outside.

  “I don’t know,” said Sebastian. He was watching the farewell of two travelers who looked like friends.

  “Come on,” said Evie. “It’s only me.”

  “It’s…my parents.” He stopped.

  Her gut clenched immediately. “Do they want you to come home?” It really oughtn’t to have upset her that much. She wasn’t alone anymore. She had three of the Filipendulous Five helping her. And yet…She glanced at them chatting away.

  “No,” said Sebastian.

  That should have made her feel better, but why did the “no” feel like it wasn’t a no? “Are you sure?”

  Sebastian nodded.

  “Sebastian, if there’s something going on, if you want to leave…” She didn’t want to finish the sentence. She didn’t want him to say yes, but the fact was that she couldn’t make him do this. And if he didn’t want to be here anymore…Her stomach got
even tighter and she could feel the beginnings of tears.

  Sebastian looked down, then toward the airport, then over at a taxi pulling over. Anywhere but at her. “I just…,” he started.

  “Hey, you two!”

  Evie turned to see the guy who worked the car rental desk rushing over, holding his jacket in a bundle in his arms. Even though she recognized him, she really didn’t think he was yelling at them. She looked around to see who he might have been yelling at.

  “I think he means us,” said Sebastian.

  Sure enough, the man ran right up to them. He looked pretty angry.

  “Uh, yes?” asked Evie.

  “You guys can’t do that. That’s cruel. If you don’t take him back, I’m going to give him to a shelter. And let me tell you, I have the full name of that guy who rented the car from me, and I’ll tell everyone what he did.”

  The man was out of breath, and it was hard enough to follow the words he was saying through his wheezing, let alone understand what on earth he was talking about.

  “Oh no,” said Sebastian. He was staring at the man’s jacket, and Evie followed his gaze. The jacket wiggled, and then a very familiar head popped up.

  “Orson!” said Evie. “What are you doing here?”

  “So, what is it? Are you guys taking responsibility for your pet, or am I going to tell the world how you abandoned him in my car?” asked the rental car guy.

  Evie finally understood. Orson had somehow sneaked into the car with them, and they’d unknowingly left him in it.

  “What do we do?” she asked Sebastian.

  Orson was wriggling hard now, trying to leap out of the guy’s arms and into Sebastian’s. “Give him to me before he hurts himself,” said Sebastian, who was promptly handed Orson. The dog wriggled up and tried to lick Sebastian’s face all over. “Okay, okay, calm down.”

  “That’s your one strike. If this ever happens again…,” said the guy.

  Evie nodded. “Thank you for your help,” she said, and turned to Sebastian.