• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

That giddy feeling didn’t last long. As they rounded the corner, Winston realized just how big a fool he was. When the security guy lost track of them, he didn’t give up and go back to his office or vanish like a movie extra. He knew where Winston was going . . . and he went there first. The security guy was right there, waiting for them.

Worse yet, he seemed to have rounded up everybody involved with the puzzle contest. He was talking with Mr. Garvey, but all the other teams were gathered around, listening in. There was Rod Denham with his team, and there were Bethany’s teammates. Even the Ferris wheel operator was there, Mr. Lip Ring himself. Winston groaned. The next few minutes were going to be very, very bad.

Mr. Garvey looked stonefaced, so angry he didn’t know how to express it. The Ferris wheel was still not moving, which, in a way, was fine with Winston. He wouldn’t have wanted to go through all this for nothing.

Everybody looked up as Winston and Bethany came into view. The man from the amusement park pointed at them as they approached. He looked like a professional wrestler, right down the furious expression on his face. “Give me that key,” he said.

Winston, head down, handed the security guy the key, which he instantly turned over to Lip Ring.

“You’re supposed to keep this on you at all times,” the security guy said to the kid. “If this ever happens again, you can find another summer job.” Lip Ring nodded his head, too afraid to speak. “Now get those people off the ride,” the security guy said. Lip Ring wordlessly went to follow orders.

The security guy turned back to Winston. “And you,” he said, “get out of my park.”

CHAPTER NINE

WINSTON WAS FROZEN. He thought, Thank goodness we solved this puzzle. He couldn’t imagine Mr. Garvey’s reaction if they’d been kicked out without the answer they needed.

“You’re still standing here. I said get out,” the security guy said.

Mr. Garvey clutched Winston by the shoulder a little too tightly. To the security guy, he said, “One of my boys is on that ride. We’ll wait to retrieve him, then we’ll be on our way.”

Miss Norris was leading Bethany away by the elbow. The security guard pointed at Bethany and said, “Her too. The lot of you. You’re all out of the park.”

“But we haven’t solved the puzzle yet,” Miss Norris said.

The security guy went goggle-eyed. “You’re not solving the puzzle! You’re leaving the park!”

Winston felt his stomach go sour. This was going as badly as it possibly could. Had he really thought he could run away, steal a key from a park employee, and run back here with no consequences whatsoever? Or that perhaps he would get yelled at briefly and that would be it? Well, now he knew better. He was in a ton of trouble, and what’s more, it was his fault Bethany’s team was getting kicked out of the park. By stealing the key, he’d ruined the contest for them—they wouldn’t be able to solve this puzzle, and would never be able to win.

Should he just blurt out the answer? That would get Bethany’s team back on track even if they got kicked out of the park. Mr. Garvey would be furious, of course—but then again, he already was. What’s the worst that could happen to him? He wasn’t sure if he wanted to find out. The answer to the puzzle—Icarus Icarus Icarus—bobbed in his throat, daring to be said.

Mal and Elvie joined them. The cars of the Ferris wheel are essentially metal boxes, and both of them looked like they had been in an oven set for a long, slow roast. Mal’s T-shirt was soaked through with sweat.

“Whoa,” said Mal when he reached them. “What happened to you?”

Winston turned to see what Mal was talking about and gasped. Wrapped in his own miseries, he never noticed that Jake had been beaten up. He had a waffle of a bruise on one cheek, his upper lip was bleeding and swollen, and he had a large black-and-blue mark under one eye. He was holding a white plastic bag, and Winston wondered where that had come from. Had it belonged to the