the arm of her chair, brought out a piece of paper and pen, and handed them to her teacher.
“To Dante’s credit,” said Ms. Parkly, “a secret society does need to keep some secrets. Now… what was it that the bird said again?”
“Talking to mesmerist. Too big. Too mega. Dogma is phenomena worship,” Theo replied.
Presto glanced at him pleasantly.
Ms. Parkly wrote out the message on the page and showed it to the group. Then she circled the last letter in each word. When she rewrote each of the circled letters onto a new line at the bottom of the paper, Presto’s secret message from Mr. Vernon was revealed: Go to GOA ASAP.
“GOA?” said Izzy. “What’s a GOA?”
“And what’s an ASAP?” asked Olly. “Are these even more code words?”
“GOA would be Grand Oak… Auditorium?” said Carter.
“And ASAP stands for As Soon As Possible,” Theo added.
“Talking to mesmerist. Too big. Too mega. Dogma is phenomena worship,” Presto said again.
Ms. Parkly went on. “There’s a trick to it. You’ve got to say, ‘What a fantastical bird!’ After that, she’ll repeat whatever you say next. To make her stop, you say the same words. ‘What a fantastical bird!’” Presto stared at the teacher but did not speak again. “See? It worked!”
Presto perked up and said, “See? It worked!”
Ms. Parkly laughed. “What a fantastical bird!”
“I’ve definitely heard my dad say those words before.” Leila clicked her tongue, and Presto nuzzled her nose. “If we get out of this mess, we are so playing around with this trick,” she told the parrot.
“Why couldn’t Mr. Vernon just call us on the phone?” asked Izzy.
“You never know who might be listening in. Depending on whether or not Kalagan had gotten to them, they might pass along whatever they heard.”
“My dad wants us with him up at the resort,” said Leila. “We should leave now.” Carter stood.
“Wait,” Ridley heard herself say. Everyone glanced at her. She felt heat in her chest. “Are we sure that’s the right thing to do?”
“Of course it is,” said Leila. “My dads will protect us.”
Ridley thought about the confession letter, about all the things that Kalagan had told them of Mr. Vernon. Yes, Kilroy Kalagan was a jerk of the largest order, but that didn’t mean all was fine with Vernon, who, everyone had to admit, had made some very, very big mistakes.
Theo stood beside Ridley and rested his hand on her shoulder. His expression told her that he was on her side. But then Ridley thought: The whole idea of sides meant that there was a split in the group. And hadn’t Ms. Parkly—or Madame Helga at the time—told them that together they were strong? Her advice had gotten the Magic Misfits through so much. At this point, those words felt almost sacred.
Maybe Ridley and her friends would never agree completely about everything. Maybe that was fine. However, the issue of who was right about Mr. Vernon was one that Ridley knew had the power to split apart the Magic Misfits forever. Just what Kalagan wanted.
People so often say they can agree to disagree, but what if Ridley decided, for once, to agree to agree? What was her other option? Locking herself in her lab and hoping for the best? No. If Ridley had a choice here—and she did have a choice—she would choose her friends.
She would choose her first guardian.
She would choose Dante Vernon.
Ridley touched Theo’s hand on her shoulder. Looking up at him, she nodded and said, “Let’s go with them. Every one of us. Together.”
TWENTY-TWO
Ms. Parkly led the group to the resort’s trolley stop in the village. Despite the danger of being spotted by one of the people whom Kalagan was manipulating, the trolley was the only way for them to travel to the Grand Oak together, which they all agreed was the safest way to go.
It was late afternoon when they arrived, the sun shifting behind the trees on the hill, casting weblike shadows across the resort’s wide front lawn. No staff member greeted them at the entrance. They opened the doors themselves and crept through the lobby, all the way to the back hall, which snaked around toward the auditorium.
The day had been long, and Ridley’s arms ached as she maneuvered her chair along the pathway. Her brain ached too. So much had happened. Way too much to process. If the Misfits managed to get themselves out of this situation, Ridley knew it would take at least a week of tinkering in her lab to calm her down again.