They all decided to wait outside Nigel’s house. This was a special occurrence. With the exception of Kelvin, Nigel had summoned only two people: Lane and Martin. Now there was Darla.
To keep themselves occupied, the kids built snow sculptures, dug tunnels, and had contests to see who could throw a snowball the farthest. The din of chatter and laughter indicated that they all enjoyed it much more than they’d expected. A shame, really, what it took to bring them all together like this.
Martin was giving snowman construction a try—rolling a ball to make a head—when Felix offered him a carrot.
“Traditionally, the nose,” Felix said. “Doesn’t make much sense to me. Baby eggplant would make a better nose. Or a radish.”
Martin nodded his thanks. Carrots and eggplants and radishes would be hard to come by soon. Did the others recognize this? Did they care? Was there another green thumb among them to pick up where Chet had left off?
Martin was tempted to pose these questions to Felix, but he suspected that his friend would just shrug them off and say that they’d have to do without. It had been a while since the two had spoken one on one, and Martin was starting to learn that it was always better to chat with his neighbors about common interests than problems.
“Our security system,” he said with a labored wink. “Snagged anyone yet?”
“Nope,” Felix responded.
“That’s a good thing, right?”
Felix shrugged. Then, timidly, he asked, “Didn’t you want my help? At the amusement park?”
“Oh.” Martin stumbled over his response. “I knew you were too … busy with your Internet for something silly like that.”
This was only part of the answer. Martin also knew that Felix, for all his talk about technology, really didn’t have a firm grasp of it. The mainframe he had been working on for the last couple of months was a calamity of wires and circuit boards. Even Martin, who knew nothing about computers, could tell it was all wrong. Felix’s genius wasn’t for mechanics or electronics. It wasn’t for computers. It was conceptual. Firefly lightbulbs. A World Wide Web that was actually a web. These were his gifts to the world, but Martin wasn’t going to tell him that. Perhaps he didn’t need to be told. He still hadn’t asked Martin to hook up the power to his house. Things were obviously not on track.
“And you never mention your session with Nigel. It makes me wonder, you know? Does that have something to do with all of this?”
The temptation to lie was strong, but Martin owed Felix more than that. “It does,” he admitted.
“Did he tell you Chet would die?” Felix asked.
“No.”
“They’re convenient, his predictions.”
“I have reasons to believe them,” Martin explained.
“Most people do.”
When the door to Nigel’s house opened and Darla strutted to the front steps, Gabe, who was perched in a tree, hollered, “She’s back!”
Darla placed a hand to her heart, feigning shock. Then she gave a little curtsy to the crowd, even though she wasn’t wearing a dress, just a long peacoat and tights. Martin noticed they were spotless. Maybe deer heads weren’t always on the menu at Nigel’s house.
“Well, well,” Darla said with pouty lips, “were y’all waiting for little ol’ me?”
Everybody stopped what they were doing.
“What’d Nigel say?” a girl named Tiberia yelled.
“Was it good?” Ryan said.
“Is it a secret?” Henry asked, his eyebrows at full mast.
“A secret? Heavens, no. I don’t keep secrets.” As she said this, Darla stared at Lane and Martin.
“So what’d he say?”
Darla smiled widely. “He said we should all be Spacers.”
“I do not believe it,” Sigrid said. “Nigel does not say things like that.”
“Okay,” Darla admitted. “You got me. Then he implied that we should all be Spacers. After all, we’ve got ourselves a spaceship.”
The crowd reacted with confused silence, so Darla continued. “Oh, is that a secret? I’m so sorry, but how can we keep secrets if we’re expected to rebuild civilization?”
“Out with it, Darla!” Tiberia yelled. “What’s this about a spaceship?”
“Remember a few months ago, when Kelvin was banished, and Lane was all weepy and more suicidey than usual? And remember how Nigel summoned her and she was way too cool for school to tell us his prophecy?”
In the shade of a nearby tree, Lane leaned and seethed, but she didn’t say a word. Her eyes were injecting poison straight into Darla’s jugular.
“Out with it!” Tiberia shouted again.
“Chill, rock star,” Darla said, putting a hand up. “I’m getting there. Nigel told Lane that the next person who appeared in Xibalba was gonna have a plan to fix everything. And wouldn’t you know it, a few weeks later, Martin Maple comes strolling in, all smiles and sunshine and solar panels. And you know what Martin Maple knows how to build?”
“A spaceship,” Martin stated with a humble nod. He thought it best they heard it from him, even if Darla was now running the show.
“Hallelujah!” Darla shouted. “A sky-scorching spaceship! And Nigel told me that you all have to pitch in because we don’t have much time. We need to get this thing fired up as soon as possible.”
“He said that?” Felix asked, his eyes narrowing in doubt.
“In so many words. You know what he also said?” Darla was truly relishing the moment, punctuating her speech with gestures, winks, and smirks. “He said that Martin doesn’t have everything he needs to finish the job. But don’t worry, kiddies, Darla does.”
It was unbelievable. Nigel had done it again. How could he have known about the missing piece?
“What are you talking about?” Lane finally asked, turning from Darla to Martin, whose hanging head didn’t seem to instill any confidence in her.
“Is the rifle loaded, sweetie?” Darla said softly to Henry, who had snuck his way to her side.
Henry gave her the thumbs-up.
“Then you’re forgiven for laughing earlier. I’m going to need your protection.”
Henry took the rifle off his shoulder and held it at the ready.
“What are you talking about?” Lane asked again.
Darla pushed Henry forward so he would take the lead, and then they both started down the steps. “Kelvin might not have known it, but he had the key to our salvation all along. And now I have it. The fuel to a spaceship.”
Darla stopped, put her thumb and forefinger up as if she were holding something very small between them, and looked at Martin. “When you’re ready for it, come see me. We’ll make a deal.”
Martin knew exactly what she meant.