The taxi drove Molly, Gerry, Petula, and Titch straight onto the private terminal tarmac at Quito Airport and stopped fifty meters from where the jets were parked. The small luxurious planes stood, sleekly and silently, like beautiful metal sky creatures resting in the morning sun.
Molly saw the Japanese boys beside one plane, talking to the pilot. She smiled. She felt a bit bad about having hypnotized Micky but she didn’t regret it. If he told Primo and Lucy where she and Gerry really were, they would send Forest out to Japan to get them. No way was she going back until she felt like it.
She and Gerry got out of the car. Gerry tucked Titch into his hat and put his hat on. With Petula following them, they made their way across the yellow-striped tarmac.
“Wow! Nice plane!” said Gerry. “Is it yours?”
“For today,” said Toka. “It’s hired. Let’s get on. Mr. Proila is in the front part with Miss Sny. We’re in the back. Mr. Proila doesn’t want to see us or you.”
“He’s usually like that,” said Chokichi.
“Really?” said Gerry, following Toka up steps at the rear of the plane.
“Yes. Unless he wants company,” said Chokichi. “Doesn’t really like us much. Loves the money we make him, though.”
“That’s for sure.” Toka laughed.
“He sounds mean,” Gerry commented. His hat tipped slightly as he spoke, as Titch made himself comfortable, but nobody noticed.
“Did Micky decide not to come?” Hiroyuki asked Molly as they boarded.
“Yes. He’s homesick.”
A friendly flight attendant nodded to Molly. “I am Miss Yjuko,” she said. “I spoke to you this morning. Welcome on board.”
Molly shook her hand. “Hello, nice to meet you.” She knew that any second this woman would need to see proof of their parents’ permission for Gerry and her to be on the plane. Molly needed to sort the situation out urgently. “Erm, excuse me, Miss Yjuko, before we do passports and stuff, could I have a glass of water, please?”
Miss Yjuko nodded and moved toward the galley. Molly followed her and switched on her eyes. When Miss Yjuko turned, holding out the glass, Molly had her captive. “You are under my power,” she told her quietly and quickly. She glanced at the others to check no one was watching. “You now think that you met Gerry’s and my guardians at the airport and that they signed papers, but that you left the papers behind.”
Miss Yjuko nodded. “Yes, I left the file in the airport terminal with my colleague,” she agreed dumbly.
“And you think you have seen our passports,” Molly hurriedly added.
The woman nodded again.
“When we leave the plane,” Molly went on, “you will have forgotten that we were ever on board. Also you will destroy any records of us that you have. You will not mention to the captain or his copilot or to anyone at the airport that we are on board. It must be as if we are not on board. Is that clear?”
“Of—course—miss, whatever—you—say.”
A small part of Molly felt guilty. This part of her knew that Primo and Lucy would worry about where she was. But another part of her felt it really was their fault that she’d had to do this. They should have given her more freedom. They’d made her rebel, her logic argued. With her hand on the gold coin in its pouch in her pocket, she went and sat with the others.
“This is one of highest airports in world! It two thousand eight hundred meters above sea level!” Hiroyuki pointed out as the private jet cut up through the air. Below, Molly watched the buildings, mountains, and green valleys drop away.
“That way good,” Toka said as they climbed higher and higher. He gestured to the left of the plane. “Pacific Ocean. If you keep going, you get to Galapagos Islands.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of them,” Gerry shouted eagerly over the roar of the climbing jet engines. “One of the only places in the world where humans haven’t killed all the wild animals.”
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Toka said. “Lots of islands there. I want to go there one day and swim with seals. I love animals!”
Gerry laughed. “So do I! And I hate people killing animals, especially whales.”
“Same here!”
“Do you like mice?”
“Oh yeah,” Toka replied. “Got six back home.”
“Why didn’t you bring them with you?” Gerry took off his hat and began to undo the Velcro around Titch’s compartment.
Petula trotted over to join them at the back of the aircraft. The plane had leveled out now, and Molly, Gerry, and the band boys had started watching a movie. Molly had taken off her black jacket and hung it over the back of her chair. Petula edged her nose close to it.
The golden coin was in the pocket, Petula knew. She could smell it, but more than this—she could somehow feel it, too. It had a pull—a magnetism, she realized. It drew Petula toward it. Something else was happening as well. It was as if Petula could hear the coin calling to her with a mesmerizing, alluring tune.
Petula’s nose went closer and closer to the pocket. Suddenly Molly’s hand snatched her jacket away.
“It’s mine!” she hissed. Her green eyes were almost fiery. Molly had never looked at Petula this way before—ever.
Petula shrank back apologetically, but was also very scared. Molly wasn’t herself, and Petula had a suspicion that her strange behavior had something to do with the coin.