“So, when do we leave?” I try to sound as innocent as possible.
“Leave?” He cocks his head to the side.
“Yeah, Peter said we were supposed to go with Coy to the town.”
“He did?” He scratches his head.
“Didn’t he tell you?”
“No. He told me to stay here with you.”
“That’s odd.” I tap my fingers on the counter. “Well, when did he tell you to stay here with me?”
He looks up, thinking back. It takes a semi-ridiculous amount of time for him to answer. “Last night after your story.”
“Oh, well, he toldmethis morning that we should go with Coy. I think it’s pretty clear he must’ve changed his mind while he slept and come up with a new plan. You know how Peter is.” I give him what I hope is a charming smile.
He ponders for a while. “Well, it does sound like Peter. He changes his mind so much all the time. One day we’re fighting alongside the Neverians, the next we’re at war with them. We get all sorts of mixed messages.”
“I’m glad I could clear this one up for you.”
He gives me a sheepish smile. “Thanks, Moira. You really helped me out. I hate when Peter gets mad.” He looks at his feet.
I’ve never seen Peter mad, at least not with me. “Does that happen a lot?”
“Everyone gets mad. Hey—” He looks around as if realizing something momentous. “I think Slightly and the boys left without us. We need to catch up.”
I finish my water. “Lead the way, Tootles. Let’s go to town.”
He shows me through the short hall and into a side tunnel I don’t recognize. We keep walking until the floor begins to angle up and we come to a worn wooden ladder.
“They can’t have much of a head start,” I tell Tootles as we climb up from yet another secret exit that I’ll never be able to find again.
“We’ll catch up to them.” He takes my elbow so I don’t trip over a large patch of faintly glowing mushrooms just ahead of me. “This way.”
We hike around a grove of trees, then past a mossy bank with an algae-covered pond where frogs bask in the moonlight. After a few minutes, we come to the giant smoking toadstool I’d seen the time I tried to escape.
“What’s that?” I point. “Why’s it smoking?”
“It’s the chimney,” he says matter-of-factly.
“What?”
“It’s the kitchen chimney. We had to hide where the smoke comes out so the pirates don’t find our cave.”
I look at the cartoonishly huge mushroom and then at Tootles, who’s earnestness somehow brings a giggle from me. I laugh, unable to hold it in.
He starts to laugh, too, an awkward ‘hehehe’ as he stares at me with obvious befuddlement.
“I’m sorry.” I hold my side and try to calm myself. “It’s just. I don’t know. I thought it was like a magical toadstool, you know? With the smoke and everything. And then when you said it’s a disguised chimney—but the disguise is … I mean, come on …”
He’s looking at me blankly. I need to cut my losses.
“Sorry, Tootles.” I squeeze his arm. “I’m just a little loopy this morning—or afternoon—or whatever time it is.”
“It’s okay.” He leans in conspiratorially. “I think it’s a dumb disguise for a chimney, too.”
I smile and take his proffered elbow, and we pick our way through the trees and past huge, fantastical flowers that close abruptly when we get close.
