damage to the ice cream shop, he wouldn’t have been able to resist taking a few mementos.
“I already agreed that it’s a good idea to search their hideout,” Mollie was saying. “I’m just saying that we could’ve used a better plan. Any plan actually.”
Daniel stood staring at a long tear in the chain-link fence that circled the perimeter of the junkyard. This wasn’t just a section where the fence had come loose, where someone might squeeze through. This was a boy-sized hole, where the steel links had been ripped apart like paper. This was Clay’s work, and imagining the sheer strength it would take to tear the metal like that, Daniel began to wonder if Mollie was right. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting, but meeting Clay face to face on his home turf would be a bad idea.
“Let’s just call this trip recon,” said Daniel. “And if itlooks too dangerous, we’ll come back another time. But if he’s really not home, I wanna get a look inside his van.”
Mollie had already scouted the area from the air and reported back that the junkyard looked empty from way up high, but she hadn’t dared get close enough to be sure. If Clay and Bud were inside the hideout, then they wouldn’t be visible from the sky anyway. Plus, Clay was known to throw junk at passing fliers who got too close. Anything would do—tires, toilet seats, the occasional car.
So here they were, with Daniel tiptoeing into the lion’s den and Mollie right behind. And Mollie wasn’t the quietest person he knew. If only she’d try to sneak more and stomp less.
“Have you thought about what we’re going to do if they’re home?” she asked.
“Haul them in for questioning?” whispered Daniel. “You be the good cop, I’ll be the bad cop.”
Mollie rolled her eyes and snorted. There was only one person in all of Noble’s Green who scared Clay, and that was Eric. If Clay was here, interrogating him without Eric around would be suicide. And Daniel would be the only one without superpowers. In fact, if history was any guide, Mollie would probably end up having to save him. She’d pulled his backside out of enough bad situations already, what was one more?
Sometimes it seemed like he took Mollie on these adventures just to give her something to do.
As they walked beneath the stacks of rubbish, it occurred to Daniel that of all the great landmarks he’d discovered back in those first few months in Noble’s Green, the junkyard was the one that had remained unchanged. Once mysterious and foreboding, Mount Noble was now home to a school. The Old Quarry had collapsed. Now even the tree fort was being rebuilt. But the towering skyscrapers of refuse here in the junkyard were as unchanged as the first time he’d laid eyes on them. Rusted-out cars, broken appliances, and more piles of unrecognizable junk leaned menacingly on every side, and when the wind picked up, Daniel imagined he could hear the creaking of metal as the stacks shifted and settled. One couldn’t walk through this place without wondering what it would take to make the whole thing come crashing down like a line of dominoes. Not much, Daniel suspected.
It was a maze of garbage, complete with its own real-life Minotaur waiting at the center.
As they got ever closer to Clay’s lair, even Mollie began to tread cautiously, taking care
not
to step on every soda can in sight. Daniel hoped that at last Mollie’s instinct for survival might have kicked in. It would be nice to live long enough to have supper.
Their extra stealth was warranted, because they hadn’t gone very far before they heard voices.
Daniel stopped and grabbed Mollie by the arm. Not daring to speak, he gave her a questioning look—could she havemissed someone as she’d flown over? Mollie just shrugged. He hadn’t been there a few minutes ago.
Wordlessly, Daniel tried to signal as best he could that she should wait here while he scouted ahead. Mollie responded with a considerably ruder
“I already agreed that it’s a good idea to search their hideout,” Mollie was saying. “I’m just saying that we could’ve used a better plan. Any plan actually.”
Daniel stood staring at a long tear in the chain-link fence that circled the perimeter of the junkyard. This wasn’t just a section where the fence had come loose, where someone might squeeze through. This was a boy-sized hole, where the steel links had been ripped apart like paper. This was Clay’s work, and imagining the sheer strength it would take to tear the metal like that, Daniel began to wonder if Mollie was right. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting, but meeting Clay face to face on his home turf would be a bad idea.
“Let’s just call this trip recon,” said Daniel. “And if itlooks too dangerous, we’ll come back another time. But if he’s really not home, I wanna get a look inside his van.”
Mollie had already scouted the area from the air and reported back that the junkyard looked empty from way up high, but she hadn’t dared get close enough to be sure. If Clay and Bud were inside the hideout, then they wouldn’t be visible from the sky anyway. Plus, Clay was known to throw junk at passing fliers who got too close. Anything would do—tires, toilet seats, the occasional car.
So here they were, with Daniel tiptoeing into the lion’s den and Mollie right behind. And Mollie wasn’t the quietest person he knew. If only she’d try to sneak more and stomp less.
“Have you thought about what we’re going to do if they’re home?” she asked.
“Haul them in for questioning?” whispered Daniel. “You be the good cop, I’ll be the bad cop.”
Mollie rolled her eyes and snorted. There was only one person in all of Noble’s Green who scared Clay, and that was Eric. If Clay was here, interrogating him without Eric around would be suicide. And Daniel would be the only one without superpowers. In fact, if history was any guide, Mollie would probably end up having to save him. She’d pulled his backside out of enough bad situations already, what was one more?
Sometimes it seemed like he took Mollie on these adventures just to give her something to do.
As they walked beneath the stacks of rubbish, it occurred to Daniel that of all the great landmarks he’d discovered back in those first few months in Noble’s Green, the junkyard was the one that had remained unchanged. Once mysterious and foreboding, Mount Noble was now home to a school. The Old Quarry had collapsed. Now even the tree fort was being rebuilt. But the towering skyscrapers of refuse here in the junkyard were as unchanged as the first time he’d laid eyes on them. Rusted-out cars, broken appliances, and more piles of unrecognizable junk leaned menacingly on every side, and when the wind picked up, Daniel imagined he could hear the creaking of metal as the stacks shifted and settled. One couldn’t walk through this place without wondering what it would take to make the whole thing come crashing down like a line of dominoes. Not much, Daniel suspected.
It was a maze of garbage, complete with its own real-life Minotaur waiting at the center.
As they got ever closer to Clay’s lair, even Mollie began to tread cautiously, taking care
not
to step on every soda can in sight. Daniel hoped that at last Mollie’s instinct for survival might have kicked in. It would be nice to live long enough to have supper.
Their extra stealth was warranted, because they hadn’t gone very far before they heard voices.
Daniel stopped and grabbed Mollie by the arm. Not daring to speak, he gave her a questioning look—could she havemissed someone as she’d flown over? Mollie just shrugged. He hadn’t been there a few minutes ago.
Wordlessly, Daniel tried to signal as best he could that she should wait here while he scouted ahead. Mollie responded with a considerably ruder
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