He smiled. “Thank you, Helen. For all that you’ve done.”
She shook her head. “Give me time, Arthur. Give all of us time. I’ll do what I can.” She squeezed his hand before turning to Linus. “Off, then? Saturday, right?”
He blinked. In all the excitement, he’d forgotten his journey was almost at an end. “Yes,” he said. “Saturday.”
“I see.” She looked between Arthur and Linus. “I do hope you find yourself back here again one day, Mr. Baker. It’s certainly … eventful, when you’re around. Safe travels.”
And with that, she moved down the dock, grabbing Martin by the ear and pulling him away, much to his righteous indignation.
Linus moved next to Arthur. The backs of their hands brushed together. “How did it feel?” he asked.
“What?”
“Stretching your wings.”
Arthur turned his face toward the sun, lips quirking slightly. “Like I was free for the first time in a very long time. Come, my dear Linus. Let’s go home. I’m sure Zoe has her hands full. I’ll drive.”
“Home,” Linus echoed, wondering just where that could actually be.
They headed back toward the car. Moments later, they were on the salt road, the wind in their hair, the cerulean sea lapping at the tires.
SEVENTEEN
On Friday afternoon, there was a knock at the door of the guest house.
Linus looked up from his final report. He’d been working on it most of the day. He’d only written a single sentence after the customary introduction.
He stood from his chair and went to the door.
He was surprised to find the children of Marsyas Orphanage standing on the porch. They were dressed as if ready for an adventure.
“I have returned!” Commander Lucy crowed. “For one last expedition. Mr. Baker, I am asking you to join us. The perils will be great, and I cannot promise you’ll get out of this alive. I have received word there are man-eating snakes and insects that will burrow under your skin and chomp your eyeballs from the inside out. But the reward—should you survive!—will be more than even your wildest dreams. Do you accept?”
“I don’t know,” Linus said slowly. “Man-eating snakes, you say? Sounds dangerous.”
Lucy glanced back at the others before he leaned forward and whispered, “They’re not real. I’m just playing. But don’t tell the others.”
“Ah,” Linus said. “I see. Well, it just so happens that I am an expert in man-eating snakes, especially in ways to avoid them. I suppose I should come along to make sure nothing happens to you.”
“Oh thank God,” Chauncey sighed. “I didn’t want to get eaten today.”
“Go change!” Talia said, shoving Linus back inside the house. “You can’t go dressed like that!”
“I can’t? What’s wrong with—” He stiffened and slumped. “Oh no! I don’t think I can take another step! Is it the flesh-burrowing insects?”
“Why are you like this?” Talia growled. “Phee! Help me!”
Phee bellowed and ran forward, throwing her negligible weight against Linus. He snorted as he took another step toward the bedroom. “Much better, thank you. I’ll be out in a flash.”
He listened to the children chatter excitedly about the upcoming adventure as he went into the bedroom. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.
“You can do this,” he whispered. “Come on, old boy. One last adventure.”
He pushed himself away from the door and went to the closet.
He found the adventurer clothes.
He put them on.
He still looked absolutely ridiculous.
And for once, he found he didn’t care at all.
* * *
The adventurers traipsed their way through the jungle. They fended off cannibals that attacked with spears and arrows and thinly veiled threats to eat their spleens. They snuck by man-eating snakes hanging like thick vines from the trees. Commander Lucy was overtaken by insects that were going to burrow behind his eyes. He gasped and gagged and flailed around, finally collapsing against a tree, his tongue hanging from his mouth. It was only thanks to his troops that he was able to be revived at the last possible moment, living to fight another day.
They eventually made their way to familiar ground, and in the distance Linus could see a copse of trees that hid the house of an island sprite. They came out of the tree line and onto the beach just as her voice boomed around them. “I see you have returned! You truly are foolish. You barely escaped with your lives the last time.”
“Hark!” Commander Lucy cried. “You won’t get the best of us! We demand that you relinquish your treasures. We won’t take no for an answer!”
“You won’t?”
“No!” the children shouted.
“No,” Linus echoed quietly.
“Oh. Well, then. I suppose I might as well give up now. You’re far too strong for the likes of me.”
“I knew it,” Lucy breathed fervently. He raised his hands above his head. “Men!” He glanced back at Talia and Phee. “And also women. Follow me to your just reward!”
They did. Of course they did. They would follow him anywhere.
Linus would too.
They charged across the beach and into the trees.
Linus sighed. He wasn’t going to charge anywhere. His charging days were pretty much over with. He wiped his brow and trudged toward the trees.
He frowned once he reached the tree line. It had grown strangely silent. Six children should have been making much more noise. Especially these six children. He hesitated but then stepped into the trees.
Paper lanterns had been hung from the branches. They were the same ones that had been hung in the gazebo. He reached up and pressed a hand against one of them. The light inside was bright, and he didn’t think it came from a bulb or a candle.
They were waiting for him as he reached the house in the middle of the trees. Talia and Phee. Sal, Theodore, Chauncey, and Lucy. Zoe, the flowers in her hair green and gold.
And Arthur, of course. Always Arthur.
They held a sign out in front of them, a long roll of paper with painted words that read: WE’LL MISS YOU, MR. BAKER!!! There were handprints on it. Little ones for Talia and Phee and Lucy. A bigger one for Sal. A line that he thought came from Chauncey’s tentacles. And a drip of paint that looked like claws from Theodore.
Linus took in a shuddering breath. “I … I didn’t expect this. What a wonderful thing you’ve all done. Look at it. Look at you.”
“It was my idea,” Lucy said.
Talia stomped on his foot.
He winced. “Well, mostly all my idea. The others helped, though. A little.” He brightened. “But guess what?”
“What?”
“There was no treasure after all! It was a lie to get you here for your party!”
“Oh. I see. So the real treasure was the friendships we made along the way?”
“You guys are the worst,” Lucy muttered. “The literal worst.”
* * *
And what a party it was. There was food—so much so that Linus thought the table would collapse under the weight of it. There was roast and hot rolls and salad with cucumbers that crunched between their teeth. There was cake and pie and bowls of tart raspberries they could dip in cream.