“Cease and desist!” Milton bellowed so loudly and so intensely that dust scattered from every nearby surface, billowing around him in a very impressive cloud.
“Sea Hawk! I mean, Milton.” Uncle Evan rose from the desk chair, putting the pen behind his back. “What are you doing here?”
“Uncle Evan, you said you would speak with me before signing anything, but I have caught you pen-handed,” Milton said, pointing an accusing finger. “You lied!”
Uncle Evan sighed and dropped his hands to his sides. “I did,” he said. “I wanted to get this over with.”
There were footsteps behind them, and then Dr. Morris appeared in the doorway to the sitting room. She took in the scene silently, then nodded to Fig and leaned against the wall.
“Dr. Greene, we need you to listen to us,” Fig said, turning from her mother.
If Uncle Evan had seemed unhappy before Dr. Morris arrived, he now looked utterly miserable. He was a slumped question mark of a man, and Milton could only hope that he would listen to the answers.
“All right,” Uncle Evan said, giving a one-shouldered shrug. “But you should know that one night of observations from the tree ship is very unlikely to change the fate of this island.”
“We weren’t in the tree ship,” Milton told him.
“We were in the jungle,” Fig said, glancing at her mother, whose eyebrows popped up.
“And we found the proof you need,” Milton said.
“Proof of what?” his uncle asked.
“Proof that everything Dr. Paradis told you about is still out there,” Milton replied. “Proof that you shouldn’t give up.”
Uncle Evan studied them wearily for what seemed to Milton like twenty hours (he counted to ten at least two times). He didn’t think he could wait for a second longer when from outside, there came a loud, screeching, bird-of-prey call.
It was the signal. Rafi and Gabe were ready.
“I’ll have a look,” Uncle Evan said. “But I’m sorry, I can’t make any promises. Where’s this proof?”
Milton nodded, his heart now thumping like the percussion section of a cicada symphony. He hoped Rafi and Gabe had done their job because it seemed like this was the last chance they were going to get.
“Right outside Dr. Paradis’s front door,” he said.