To Curious Heights

by Sean McGowan

Chapter 10:

  The Running of the Bulls

  Winston banged his fist on the third floor bathroom door, wearing only a towel. “Come on, hurry up! You’re gonna use all the hot water!”

  The door opened and Doug walked out with a towel around his waist and a pile of clothes under his arm. “Dude, I’m done.”

  “Oh, lovely!” Winston grinned.

  “Okay, time to do my laundry,” said Doug.

  “Oh, you’ll have to wait. I just threw a load in.”

  “You only have one set of clothes!”

  “I just went out and bought some more.”

  Doug shook his head and kept walking. “Of course you did.” He walked down the stairs to the second floor.

  On the first floor, Harold, Wayne, and Samson sat around the kitchen table eating cereal. Wayne read his Cryptozoology book while he ate.

  Doug came down the stairs, fully clothed, carrying a laundry basket, and observed three small walkie-talkies sitting on the table next to his credit card. “What are those things?”

  “Walkie-talkies,” said Harold. “Winston got them in case you need to contact us while you’re on your mission.”

  “Why are there three of them?” asked Doug.

  “Guess that’s how many came in the set,” said Harold.

  Doug shook his head. “Whatever.” He walked down into the basement, where the laundry room was.

  “What are you reading about now?” Harold asked Wayne.

  “The Jersey Devil,” Wayne replied. “I know a lot of this stuff sounds crazy, but I really want to believe it’s true.”

  “Why in the world would you want the Jersey Devil to be real?” asked Harold.

  “Not necessarily that,” said Wayne, “but just some of these creatures. They can’t all be terrible. I just want to think that there’s some wonder left to be discovered in the world.”

  “What about that monster we saw the other day?” asked Samson.

  “You mean the owl?” asked Harold.

  “Yes.”

  “I don’t know.” Harold rubbed his chin. “I’m thinking those horns weren’t real.”

  Doug came back up the stairs and sat at the table with the others. “Is he done yet?” he asked, looking up at the ceiling.

  “He is!” yelled Winston as he appeared at the top of the stairs on the second floor. He proceeded to slide down the railing on his rear. When he reached the bottom, he flew off and landed flat on his face. The others watched as he struggled to lift himself off the floor.

  “I just threw my laundry in with yours,” said Doug.

  “Of course you did,” said Winston, limping to the table. He sat down. “So what’s the plan, Stan?”

  “I’m going to show you guys around town a little bit, then we’ll eat lunch,” said Doug. “After that, we’ll split up.”

  “You were in a such a hurry and now you want to take us on a tour?” asked Winston.

  “I just thought it might be nice for you guys to get to know the place better,” said Doug.

  Winston grinned. “You’re getting cold feet, aren’t you? You’re afraid you’ll screw this up.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll screw it up,” said Doug.

  “You know it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get that letter back,” said Winston.

  Doug shook his head. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Looks like we’re all done,” said Harold, observing that the boys had finished their breakfasts. “So are we ready to go?”

  “Yeah, just...” Winston rubbed his sore face. “Can you give me another second?”

  “Sure,” said Harold.

  “Okay, your time’s up!” yelled Samson.

  After a couple hours of sightseeing, the boys made their way back toward The Yak’s Nose for lunch.

  “And that’s that.” said Doug, ”You just got the Doug Holmes tour of Paradise Gate.”

  “The tour wasn’t bad,” sad Winston,” but I honestly didn’t care for your theatrics.”

  “You have to be enthusiastic about what you do,” said Doug. “It’s how you get ahead in the world, and it also makes life more enjoyable. Now let me just take roll to make sure we’re all here.”

  “You know we’re all here,” said Winston.

  “Harold Hawkins?” called Doug.

  “Here.”

  “Samson Friday?”

  “Here!”

  “Winston Morris?”

  ...

  Doug sneered at Winston and moved on. “Wayne—“

  “He’s here!” yelled Winston. “Let’s get on with it!”

  At that, the boys all entered The Yak’s Nose and gathered around a table for a meal. It didn’t take long for their orders to arrive.

  “The amphitheater should be crazy at the concert tomorrow night,” said Wayne. “The Sages are gonna tear it up.”

  “Don’t forget, Bakon’s playing tonight,” said Harold.

  Wayne shrugged. “Yeah, good for Bakon.”

  Harold turned to Doug and Winston. “So you plan on sneaking around the Stinkerton to find the laptop... Are you sure you want to do this?” He was starting to worry that they would be held up further.

  Winston turned to Doug. “Yeah, are we sure we want to do this?”

  “I told you, I can’ get that letter replaced,” said Doug.

  Harold rubbed his chin. “Yeah, I’m just thinking, like, why search for the Bunyip?”

  Doug shook his head. “What?”

  “I mean, do you really think you’ll be able to find the laptop? The letter might not even be in there anymore.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” said Doug.

  “We could always just ask Lorne for it,” said Samson.

  “You’re joking, right Samson?” asked Winston. “You’re not actually that stupid, are you?”

  “No... I mean, yes I am joking.”

  “Good,” said Winston. “I can’t always tell with you.”

  “Me neither,” said Samson.

  “I guess you’re right. It is worth a shot,” said Wayne. “Just take it one step at a time.”

  Doug nodded and put his arms around Winston and Samson. “I’ve got these two guys helping me. What could possibly go wrong?”

  “I can’t even begin to imagine,” said Winston.

  Once they had finished their meals, Harold and company exited The Yak’s Nose and stopped in the middle of the street.

  “I guess this is where we part, eh guys?” said Harold.

  Doug pointed across the street to the Stinkerton Hotel. “Yep. We’re off to the enemy fort.” He held up his walkie-talkie. “I’ll buzz you if we run into any trouble.”

  “Got it.” Harold nodded. “Godspeed.”

  “Do us a favor and send up a prayer or five hundred,” said Winston.

  “Will do,” said Wayne.

  Doug, Winston, and Samson took off towards the Stinkerton’s entrance.

  “So what pool are we going to, Harold?” asked Wayne.

  Harold pointed past the Stinkerton. “I’m guessing the one behind the Stinkerton. It’s the biggest one here.”

  “What do you mean, you’re guessing?”

  “I mean, I think that’s where I want to go.”

  Harold led the way to a massive stairway—nearly twenty yards wide—on the left side of the Stinkerton that ascended around back about a quarter of the way up the hotel. At the top of the stairway was a huge gate leading into the resort’s largest pool, which was closed in on each side by the Stinkerton and another hotel, each wrapping around opposite corners.

  The pool was made up of three areas: a regular swimming section, a kiddy pool, and an area with a variety of waterslides. As with nearly every spot at the resort, the pool was well populated on this day. People of all ages and sizes scurried about the area, which was modeled to resemble a tropical island. Large imitation rock structures, palm trees, and tropical shrubbery decked nearly every nook and cranny.

  “Jackpot!” shoute
d Harold.

  “This is a popular place, huh?” said Wayne as they walked through the gate. “Wonder what they do with it in the winter.”

  “I dunno. Ice skating, maybe?” Harold pointed to the tallest waterslide in the distance, which almost reached the roof of the Stinkerton. “You gonna ride that one, Wayne?”

  “Oh no. That’s not really my thing. I rode down one of those once and forgot to cross my legs. Next thing I knew, it was like somebody shot a fire hose up...

  Harold unzipped his shorts, revealing his swim trunks underneath.

  “Harold, what are you doing?!” Wayne shouted.

  “I’m changing into my swimming trunks.”

  “You can’t just drop trou in public!”

  “Wayne, this is a swimming pool. This is okay here.”

  Wayne pointed to two doors on the wall with a sign reading “locker rooms” above them. “There’s a reason they have locker rooms. You need to follow proper etiquette in the adult world.”

  “Oh fine,” Harold thought Wayne was mistaken, but he didn’t feel like arguing.

  Wayne led the way over to the locker room entrance and walked in the door on the left. After a woman screamed, he quickly jumped back out the door and ran into the one on the right.

  Doug, Winston, and Samson entered the very expensive looking Stinkerton lobby. It was quite spacious, with three balcony floors overlooking the area.

  “So are we going to find Lorne’s room and find the laptop that The Order of the Bull stole from Colonel Seward?” asked Samson.

  “No,” said Winston.

  “No,” said Doug. He pulled Samson aside and whispered. “Samson, don’t talk so loud about what we’re doing. We want to be discrete about this.”

  “You mean like a slug? Like how a slug discretes mucus?”

  “I’m saying be quiet.”

  “Oh, ok.”

  Doug surveyed the area. “I don’t see any kids our age around here, so...”

  “Ask me if I have a plan,” said Winston.

  “Winston, do you have a plan?” asked Doug.

  “Of course I have a plan! Watch this.” Winston led to the front desk, where the three stopped at the end of a short line.

  Doug whispered. “What is your plan?”

  “I’m gonna find that bugger’s room,” Winston whispered back. The line soon passed and Winston stepped up to the desk.

  “Hello, can I help you?” asked the man at the desk.

  “Yes, I have a reservation.”

  “May I have your name, please?”

  “Stanley.”

  “Stanley what?”

  “Err...” Winston thought for a moment. “Cup.”

  The man typed at the computer in front of him and scanned his eyes over the screen. “I’m sorry, Mister Cup, but I don’t see your name listed here.”

  “Preposterous! Let me see that!” Winston ran around the desk, nudged the man out of the way, and stepped up to the computer. He used the mouse to scroll down the list from the C’s to the R’s. He scanned his finger along the names and stopped on the name Rousseau, Vincent—Room 1492.

  Winston shrugged. “Huh, I guess you’re right. My apologies.” He walked back around and grabbed Doug by the arm. “Come on, Rambi. We’re going to have to find somewhere else to sleep tonight.” He led Doug and Samson over to the elevator area and whispered. “He’s in room 1492.”

  “His name was listed right there?” asked Doug.

  “He’s listed as ‘Vincent Rousseau’. It’s the name he was using at the restaurant last night.”

  Harold left the locker room and approached the side of the pool. He wore only his swim trunks, while Wayne also wore trunks, but kept his hoodie on.

  “You’re just gonna keep that on?” asked Harold.

  “I might take it off at some point.” He pulled the walkie-talkie out of his pouch. “But I need somewhere to hold this.” He spotted the Chavez family swimming in the distance and stopped in his tracks. Rodrigo wore a thick vest, while two bodyguards stood at the edge of the water behind him. Wayne squinted. “Is that Ruth and her family?”

  “Yup.” Harold waved for Wayne to keep walking. “Come on.”

  Wayne slowly started to move again. “Why is her dad wearing a life vest?”

  “That’s not a life vest,” said Harold.

  “Oh... Okay, now I see the bodyguards.”

  “Yeah, he’s a bit paranoid.”

  “Well, you might be too if you survived an assassination attempt.”

  “Sure, but he got shot like two years ago.” Harold shrugged. “You’d think he’d have cooled down a little by now... Anyways, I hope that doesn’t keep me from being able to talk to Ruth.”

  Wayne stopped. “What do you need to talk to her for?”

  “Do I need a reason? I want to see if she can help us get home.”

  “I thought you were going to call your folks.”

  “I tried that. The bulls are still blocking my calls.”

  “You tried to call home again?”

  “Yeah, last night during dinner.”

  “That’s not what you told us.”

  “Oh well, sorry.” Harold shrugged. “I’m going to talk to Ruth. Are you coming?”

  Wayne hesitated. “I think I’ll just stay back here... You know, in case Doug and the guys buzz us.”

  “Swimsuit yourself.” Harold walked on.

  Doug, Winston, and Samson stepped off the elevator onto floor fourteen of the Stinkerton. The door closed behind them.

  “What if they catch us?” asked Samson. “What if he’s in his room?”

  “Worrying won’t do us any good,” said Winston as they started to roam the halls.

  “We should have taken the stairs,” said Samson. “Winston could use the exercise.”

  “Nope, that’s fourteen more flights of stairs than I’d care to walk up,” said Winston.

  “You know this isn’t really the fourteenth floor, right?” said Doug.

  “What do you mean?” asked Samson.

  “Hotels never list a thirteenth floor because people think it’s bad luck.”

  “That’s nice,” said Winston. “That way all the dumb superstitious people can sleep soundly.”

  They stopped in front of room 1492.

  “And here we are.” Winston pressed his ear to the door. “Doesn’t sound like anyone’s in there.”

  “Great,” said Doug, “but how do we get in?”

  An old maid who looked as though she’d had enough of the world turned the corner, pushing a cart of cleaning supplies, and made her way toward the boys.

  “I’ll just ask this maid,” said Winston. “She looks pretty apathetic.” He approached the woman. “Excuse me.” He pointed back at room 1492. “We locked our keys in our room.”

  “Yeah, sure, here ya go.” The maid walked up and unlocked the door.

  Doug nodded. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “Whatever...” The maid walked on as the boys slipped in the room.

  They shut the door behind them and found they were standing in a large, luxurious suite.

  “Now we know where all that money’s going,” said Winston.

  Doug approached the nightstand next to the double king-sized bed and picked up a small, framed photo which sat there. It showed what looked like a younger Lorne standing with an older boy of similar appearance. Both were smiling. “Yep, looks like we’re in the right room.” Doug set the photo back down.

  Winston looked about the area. “Any signs of the laptop?”

  “No, but do you think there would be any way to jump from here and not die?” asked Samson, looking out the window.

  Suddenly, the doorknob began to jiggle. The boys froze. They all looked at each other, then looked at the large bedside closet. They ran to the closet, opened the folding doors, and jumped inside.

  Just as Doug, Winston, and Samson closed the closet door, Lorne walked in with two kids who were both taller than him. Lorne wore a crimson
robe and each of the three boys held one of the typical creepy masks in their hands.

  “I don’t know how they messed this up,” said Lorne. “I should have two of them in your sizes.”

  In the closet, Doug, Winston, and Samson sat huddled and listening. Winston reached in an open cardboard box to his left and pulled out what appeared to be a small pistol. “What the heck is this?” he whispered.

  Doug’s eyes widened. “That’s a tranquilizer gun.”

  Back in the room, Lorne pulled two crimson robes out of a box that sat by the window. “Here, see if these fit.”

  Lorne’s companions grabbed the robes. Kid 1 took his robe into the bathroom.

  Kid 2 set his robe on the bed, stopped, then looked at Lorne. “Are you just gonna stand there and watch?”

  Lorne rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll wait out in the hall. Hurry up.” He left the room.

  Back in the closet, Winston shuffled through the box he got the tranquilizer gun from. “There are like thirty of these in here!”

  Back in the room, Kid 2 had finished putting on his robe. He stopped and looked at the closet. “Hey Charlie, get out here!”

  Charlie opened the bathroom door and walked out, wearing his robe. “What do you want?”

  ”Something’s moving in the closet.”

  Both kids cautiously approached the closet door. Charlie grabbed the knob and yanked the door open, exposing Doug, Winston, and Samson. “What the heck is this?!”

  In a quick burst, Winston blasted both kids with the tranquilizer gun and they collapsed onto the bed behind them. Doug, Winston, and Samson stood up and inspected the bodies.

  Samson gasped. “You killed them!”

  “They’re not dead, Samson. They’re just sleeping,” said Doug.

  “That’s what they always tell me,” said Samson.

  Doug looked around the room. “Now what?”

  Winston scratched his head. “Well, it doesn’t look like the laptop’s in here, so...”

  A minute later, the door opened and two masked, robed figures emerged into the hall to meet Lorne.

  “Are we good to go?” asked Lorne.

  One of the figures stuck his thumb up from under his sleeve, which went a little longer than his arm.

  “Okay then, let’s go.” Lorne waved them on as he led down the hallway.

  “Hey, watch your feet!” Winston whispered to Samson, who sat on his shoulders under the one of the robes.

  “What’s that?” Lorne turned around.

  “I said, this is gonna be sweet,” said Winston, doing his best imitation of Charlie.

  “Oh.” Lorne turned back around and kept walking. “Yeah, it’s gonna be real sweet.” They reached the end of the hallway and arrived at the exit stairwell. Lorne opened the door and the boys all entered.

  Wayne sat at the poolside and stared solemnly into the water as he kicked his feet through it.

  A ways over, Harold approached the end of the pool and watched Ruth swimming with her family. She appeared to be deep in conversation with them. Harold thought for a moment, and then spotted a beach ball lying unattended beside a chair. He grabbed the ball and jumped into the water. He swam until he was about twenty feet from Ruth and the water was shallow. Harold then threw the ball in the air and batted it towards Ruth. She picked the ball up and looked back at Harold.

  Harold waved. “Over here!”

  Ruth made her way over and handed Harold the ball.

  “Hey, Ruth.” Harold took the ball and tossed it aside.

  “Harold?! What are you doing here?”

  Harold looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s actually an incredibly long story.” He looked up at Ruth. “So what are you here for?”

  “We’re sort of on vacation, but my dad also has some obligations for the festival.”

  “Oh, ok.”

  “But really, what are you doing here?”

  “I told you it’s a long story.”

  Ruth looked over at her family, then back a Harold. “I’ve got time.”

  “Alright, but this is going to sound crazy.”

  “My dad’s a politician. I’m used to crazy.”

  “Fair enough.” Harold took a deep breath, then proceeded to explain his predicament in as few words as possible.

  After Harold had shared enough, Ruth shook her head. “You weren’t kidding.”

  “Do you believe me, though?”

  “Yeah, I have no reason to doubt you. I always got a weird vibe from Lorne, and it’s common knowledge what his older brother did.”

  “Thanks. That’s a bit of a relief.”

  “You’re all right now, though?”

  “More or less...” Harold cleared his throat. “But I wanted to ask if you could help get us home.”

  Lorne led the disguised boys to the bottom of the stairwell, where they arrived at floor B2. He took them through a door, down a hallway, and up two more flights of stairs. They walked through a door and found themselves inside a massive, gothic church sanctuary. The room was full of robed and masked kids on the main floor and a second balcony floor, which wrapped around the back end and both sides. The windows were covered with thick sheets of black paper, while candles—both small and large—provided dim light.

  Lorne pulled up his hood and put on his mask, which had a creepy face like the others, but two sets of horns instead of one. He pointed his companions toward the crowd. “Here you go. Get situated wherever you like.” He made his way to the front of the sanctuary while the disguised boys found some open seats in one of the pews.

  “Ok, this is definitely a cult,” Doug muttered to himself.

  Winston whispered to Samson. “What’s going on up there? I can’t see.”

  “I think we’re in some sort of demon world,” said Samson.

  Lorne stood on the stage in front to address the crowd. A big sheet of paper with a list on it was taped to a large wooden cross next to him. Sprocket sat in a chair behind Lorne, wearing a robe, but no mask.

  “Gentleman!” Lorne yelled as he held his arms in the air.

  The crowd applauded until Lorne motioned for them to stop.

  Lorne cleared his throat. “It is with great pleasure that I begin our second gathering with a very special announcement. I must thank all of you for bearing with us in what have been a difficult couple of days.”

  Lorne walked over to the list pasted to the cross and held his hand up to it. Most items on the list represented objects The Order had stolen, or persons they had silenced. “We have had a significant number of accomplishments recently—all listed here. But as I have always made it my priority to be transparent and honest with all of you, you know we were forced to cross one of those accomplishments off of our list.”

  Lorne pointed to a line on the list which read “Procure Colonel Seward’s Laptop” and had a line drawn through it. “Many of you are already aware of this, but I want to officially announce that we have an update to this situation.” He turned his head to an archway at the side of the stage. “Magnus...”

  Magnus emerged from the archway, robed but not masked, carrying Colonel Seward’s laptop. He walked up to the stage and handed it over to Lorne.

  Lorne lifted the laptop triumphantly over his head. “We got it back!!!”

  The crowd erupted with cheers and applause. Magnus took a marker and wrote “Laptop Retrieved” at the bottom of the list.

  “This will set us forward, give or take, a million dollars,” said Lorne.

  Doug, Winston, and Samson gasped.

  The applause died down and Lorne handed the laptop back to Magnus. “Thank you, Magnus.”

  Magnus carried the laptop back through the archway.

  “Moving on...” Lorne pulled up a whiteboard and whipped out a marker. “I’d now like to outline our plan for membership advancement over the next year.”

  Doug leaned over to Samson and whispered. “Alright, I’m gonna make a move.”

  Samson nodded. “Good luc
k!”

  Doug nudged the robed kid on his other side. “Hey, which way is the pot?”

  “Out that door, I believe.” The kid pointed to a door on the right side of the room.

  Doug squeezed out of the pew and headed for the door. This caught the attention of Lorne, who threw him a suspicious glance and held up his hand with a halting signal. Doug hunched over, pigeon-toed, with his hand on his gut and pointed out the door. Lorne winked and nodded, then waved him on.

  “So...” Lorne turned back to the crowd. “We are focusing primarily on three new schools...”

  Once he was out of the sanctuary, Doug started running through the hallways in search of Magnus and the laptop. He walked down to floor B1 and heard footsteps around a corner of the hallway. He poked his head around the corner and saw Magnus exiting a room. Magnus closed the door behind him and took off to another stairway.

  Once Magnus was out of sight, Doug approached the door. Quickly and carefully, he opened the door and slipped inside the room.

  Inside, two costumed Order members stood on either side of a desk, on which rested the Colonel’s laptop.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” asked one of the kids. “There isn’t supposed to be anyone else in here.” The kid placed his hand over a tranquilizer gun on his belt.

  Doug quickly whipped out a tranquilizer gun of his own and shot both kids out, collapsing them on the floor. “Sorry. Didn’t know how else to do this.” He approached the laptop, laid his hand on the top and slowly pulled it open. To Doug’s relief, the envelope was still lying on the keyboard. “There you are!” He smiled.

  A hand flew up from behind and slammed the laptop shut. “Not so fast...”

  Doug jerked back to see Magnus standing over him. He lifted his gun to shoot, but Magnus snatched it from his hand. Thinking fast, Doug reached down, pulled a tranquilizer dart from one of the downed kids’ chest and jabbed it into Magnus’s shoulder.

  Magnus stepped back, pulled the dart out, and started to slouch a bit. He shook his head, looking dazed. He grinned. “Nice try, but there’s not enough juice left.”

  “Enough for what?” Doug tore off his mask and hurled it at Magnus, knocking him back a couple steps. Doug then snatched up the laptop and sprinted out of the room. After quickly regaining his balance, Magnus ran after him.

  Inside the sanctuary, Lorne continued to speak. Behind him, Sprocket scanned the crowd and stopped on the disguised Samson/Winston. He squinted his eyes, then stood up and stepped forward. He tapped on Lorne’s shoulder.

  Lorne stopped speaking, then turned his head back and whispered. “What do you want, Ed?”

  Sprocket whispered into Lorne’s ear and pointed at Samson/Winston.

  Samson whispered to Winston. “The hypnotist is talking to Lorne and pointing at us.”

  “Ok then... I’m gonna start walking.” Winston began to slide his way out of the pew. “Excuse me... Comin’ through...”

  Winston and Samson had just made it out of the pew when Doug busted through the door in front of them, laptop in hand.

  “Guys, run!!!” Doug screamed.

  Suddenly, Magnus burst through from behind, tackled Doug, and slammed into Winston and Samson, knocking both of them over. Doug kicked Magnus and sent him tumbling a few feet away. Winston and Samson removed their robe and stood up with Doug. Winston grabbed the robe and threw it on Magnus, then he, Doug, and Samson took off in a sprint for the back of the sanctuary toward the church’s front door.

  Lorne thrust his finger toward the intruders. “Everybody, after them!!!”

  All of the kids in the room began to pour out of the pews.

  Once Doug, Winston, and Samson made it to the front lobby area, Doug pushed on one of the front doors, which budged but wouldn’t open. “Dang it!”

  “It’s boarded up, remember?” said Winston. “Just keep slamming into it!”

  While the three boys continued to ram into the door with their shoulders, Doug removed his robe and wrapped it around the laptop. Just as soon as the swarm of bulls arrived in the lobby area, the door burst open. As Doug, Winston, and Samson started to sprint down the front steps toward the street, Doug pulled out his walkie-talkie and yelled into it. “Wayne!”

  Wayne pulled his walkie-talkie up to his mouth. “Doug, what’s up?”

  Meanwhile, Harold continued his conversation with Ruth.

  “I don’t understand,” said Ruth. “Why do you need to get back so soon?”

  Harold looked down. “I told Sally I’d be back in time to say goodbye.”

  “Oh...”

  “I mean, if you don’t...”

  “No, I understand. That would be terrible for both of you.” Ruth looked back at her family. “I’m just not sure if I can help get you back before Saturday.”

  “No?”

  “Well, my dad has to head back to Curious Heights right after the concert tomorrow night.”

  Harold nodded.

  Ruth kept her eyes on her dad. “But he’s so tight with security. It’s hard to imagine him agreeing to take you guys home.”

  “I see...”

  “Tell you what...” Ruth tuned back to Harold. “I’ll see if I can figure something out for you. Can you meet up with me again tonight?”

  “Sure. When and where?”

  “How about eleven at the lighthouse?”

  “Sounds good...” Harold rubbed his face. “Where is that again?”

  “On the lakeshore. Near the golf course.”

  “Got it.” Harold nodded. “I’ll be there.”

  Ruth pointed behind her. “Well, I’d better get back to my folks.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Ruth.”

  Ruth returned to her family.

  “Harold!” Wayne shouted from the poolside. “Come on, we have to go!”

  Within a few minutes, Harold and Wayne were fully clothed, running down the giant stairway to the street.

  “He said they were coming out of the church,” Wayne panted.

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, a stampede of nearly three hundred boys came roaring from their left, led by Doug, Winston, and Samson. “Move, move!!!” Doug screamed.

  “What the heck did you do?!” yelled Harold as he and Wayne jumped in and started to sprint with the others.

  Pedestrians shrieked and jumped out of the way as the crowd of boys swept through the streets. After about a minute of running, the crowd had looped around the block and ended up back in front of the church, where they were brought to a screeching halt by a swarm of police officers.

  “Everybody stop!!!” screamed Officer 1.

  The crowd came to a standstill.

  “What in the world is going on?!” yelled Officer 2.

  Lorne removed his mask and made his way to the front of the line. “Officers, I can explain everything.”

  “You’ve got your work cut out for you,” snapped Officer 1, “but go ahead.”

  “Lorne pointed in Harold’s direction. “This is all his fault.”

  Harold gasped.

  “Yes, yes, yes...” Sprocket came forward from behind Harold.

  Lorne stepped out of the way as Sprocket arrived.

  Sprocket adjusted his spectacles. “Officer, this has been on the schedule for nearly a year.”

  “What schedule?” sneered Officer 2.

  “The festival activities schedule,” said Sprocket.

  While Sprocket spoke to the officers, Lorne pulled Magnus aside and pointed to Harold, Doug, and their friends. “Get it back!”

  Magnus nodded and started in the boys’ direction.

  “Run!!!” Harold shouted as he and his friends began to sprint out of the crowd, with Magnus picking up on their tail.

  “Hey, stop right there!!!” screamed a third officer as he began to chase after them. Harold and company gave it all they had and made it about a block before Harold came upon an open manhole cover, but noticed too late to avoid it. It felt like the ground suddenly disappeared as Harold fell through t
he hole, while Doug, Wayne, Winston, and Samson came to a stop in front of it.

  Having landed in a stream of water without injury, Harold looked up at the circle of light from which he had just fallen. “Guys, down here!” he yelled.

  Without a second to think, Harold’s friends jumped one by one into the sewer. Magnus would have jumped in after them, had Officer 3 not tackled him to the ground. Magnus now lay at the edge of the manhole, slammed his fist on the street, and spat out a thousand bad words.