“Beats carrying them around,” Trevor said.
It took some time to feed all the ribbons of tickets into the machines. In the end they got a receipt for over two thousand.
“That’s a lot of bouncy balls,” Trevor said.
“I might be aiming higher than bouncy balls,” Nate replied. “Let’s get out of here. We need to talk in private.”
*****
Their favorite location for secret Blue Falcon meetings was the Nest, a secluded hollow enclosed by trees and shrubs at the creek below Monroe Circle, the street where Nate, Trevor, and Pigeon lived. They were pedaling in that direction when a white van pulled over to the side of the road ahead of them. Ziggy got out and helped them load their bikes inside.
“Why do I feel like I’m being kidnapped?” Trevor asked.
“Because a pair of large men we’ve hardly met just piled us into their nondescript vehicle,” Pigeon replied.
The roomy van had space for the bikes behind the two rows of benches where the kids sat. Victor was driving while Ziggy rode shotgun.
“Where are we going?” Nate asked.
“Nowhere definite,” Victor replied. “We’ll just drive and talk. We want to go over everything while it’s fresh in your minds.”
“Did you snap any pictures?” Ziggy asked.
“I forgot,” Trevor said.
“I snuck a few,” Pigeon said. “I didn’t aim the shots, but I got one of the employees, along with some interesting customers.”
Pigeon held up a digital camera, an image of Todd on the screen. Ziggy accepted the camera and studied the picture.
“I don’t know this clown,” he said. “Might just be an ordinary deadbeat.” Ziggy started paging through other images. Pigeon leaned forward to narrate.
“That’s Chris,” Pigeon said. “He’s one of the kids we think might be involved with the secret side of Arcadeland. Summer and I saw him float over a fence. He didn’t have a hat on at the time.”
“They’re already recruiting?” Victor asked.
“Seems that way,” Nate said. “You can earn stamps for forty or fifty thousand tickets. It’s a lifetime supply. The stamps are by far the most expensive prizes, and they’re kind of hidden. After I used Peak Performance to enhance my basketball score, Chris checked my hand. I bet he was looking for a stamp. I think the stamp gives access to whatever these guys are handing out.”
“You mentioned different prices,” Ziggy said. “Are there different stamps?”
Summer explained about the four different stamps, and how each stamp was limited to four people. She told how some slots were already gone.
“That girl, Risa, was also floating,” Pigeon narrated as Ziggy looked at a new image. “And that guy is named Roman.”
“He’ll probably be a new recruit soon,” Trevor said. “The other two were encouraging him to win tickets.”
“Seems evident that trading tickets for stamps gets kids into the inner circle,” Victor said.
“Do you want us to earn a stamp?” Nate asked.
Victor pulled the van into the parking lot of a large home improvement store and claimed a spot far from the entrance. Empty parking spaces surrounded them. He turned to look Nate in the eye. “If you kids acquire those stamps, you’ll expose yourselves to some serious danger. I can’t guarantee that we could protect you.”
“Do you have enough information now to help John?” Pigeon asked.
“We’ve found the start of a trail,” Ziggy said. “Victor and I can’t go in there and trade tickets for stamps, but we can track down the kids Pigeon photographed and look into this Todd character.”
“What if we go after the stamps?” Summer asked. “Could it make a difference?”
Victor and Ziggy shared a glance. “You want the truth?” Victor asked. “It would move the investigation forward much faster. The people running this operation have been extremely careful not to expose themselves. Those stamps probably lead straight to whoever is behind all of this.”
“But the information would come at a price,” Ziggy said.
“The magician behind this operation is clearly powerful and secretive,” Victor said. “If you become involved directly, it might not be easy to walk away.”
“We could get sucked into some serious danger,” Nate said.
“At best it will be dangerous,” Ziggy said. “At worst you could get killed.”
“Do we know whether John is alive?” Pigeon asked in a small voice.
“We’re not certain,” Ziggy replied. “We hope so.”
“If you’re considering direct involvement,” Victor said, “you deserve to know all we do. This situation is bigger than John Dart going missing. John learned something and called in Mozag.”
“Your boss,” Trevor said.
“Arguably the most powerful living magician,” Ziggy said. “He almost never gets involved directly in an investigation. He’s too valuable. He runs things from a distance.”
“But he came when John called,” Victor said. “And Mozag disappeared along with him.”
“Mozag is missing too?” Nate exclaimed.
“Which tells us a lot,” Victor said. “Away from his permanent lair, Mozag was vulnerable, but still, any magician who can subdue Mozag is wielding some serious power. And any situation that would lure Mozag into the field had to have catastrophic potential.”
“Then we could be in danger whether we help or not,” Nate summarized. “If we do nothing, whoever is running Arcadeland could still become a threat to us.”
“The country could be in danger,” Ziggy said. “Maybe the world.”
“Mozag didn’t get involved directly with Mrs. White,” Victor pointed out. “But he came for this.”
“He and John were captured at the same time?” Trevor asked.
“Far as we know,” Ziggy said.
“Does Mozag have other agents who can help?” Pigeon wondered. “Are you guys here alone?”
“There are some others who could lend assistance,” Victor said. “Frankly, with John out of play, we were the best operatives available. This is a delicate situation. The knowledge that Mozag polices the magical community keeps a lot of shady characters in check.”
“You don’t want it known that he’s missing,” Nate said.