By noon the next day, we were ready to go. Coleman said he’d see us off down at the harbor. The mood was tense and silent as we passed the marketplace. I looked behind me and caught sight of a black-suited agent following us at a distance. I nodded toward him and Coleman frowned.
“I wish you weren’t going. If anything happens to you . . .” Coleman said.
“We’ll be fine,” I said. “We’ve planned well. We have an excellent boat, Joyce is about the best captain we could ask for, and we’re not going to do anything stupid. If it even starts to get rough, I’m sure we’ll head for safer waters. Mr. Wooley won’t let us get hurt.”
“I know, I know.” But he still looked worried.
We had almost passed the market when an old woman, walking the opposite direction and carrying a basket of Ribby Fruit on her head, knocked into me, hard. Both of us fell to the ground, and as I reached out to help her up, she grasped my forearm and leaned in, whispering, “Saylor’s Spice Stall. North end of the market. Now.”
Then she smiled apologetically, collected her Ribby Fruit, and went on her way.
“You okay, Kit?” Coleman asked.
“Yes, fine,” I said. “But I just thought of something I have to get from the market. I’ll meet you at the boat.”
“What is it?” Coleman looked confused.
Zander and M.K. were up ahead, but Sukey was standing next to me and I whispered in her ear, “The Explorer. He wants to see me. Now. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Bewildered, she nodded, then mouthed, “Be careful.”
I took off through the nearest alleyway. I was pretty sure that I could get to the market through one of the small alleys that ran behind the big houses lining the street. I ducked through, then stopped, pressing myself to the wall, to see if the agent was still following me.
It took a couple of minutes, but sure enough, two black-suited agents came slowly past my hiding place. I pressed myself into the wall and prayed they didn’t come down the alley. I counted to sixty before peeling myself away from the wall and running further along. I turned right, then left, following the sounds of the voices, and pretty soon I was in the marketplace. People crowded around me, laughing and talking and singing. I could smell rotting fruit and spices and flowers from the stalls. I went along as quickly as I could in the thick mass of people, looking for Saylor’s Spices, and finally found it next to a fruit stand at the far end of the row of stalls. I assumed the Explorer would meet me there, so I pretended to browse the packets of red and golden powders stacked along the table and was surprised when the scarf-wrapped old woman standing behind the counter lifted her eyes and said, in the Explorer’s voice, “They followed you. We don’t have much time.”
“I know,” I said, barely moving my lips as I looked at the spices, mother-of-pearl whistles, and little trinkets on the table.
“I wanted to tell you good luck,” he mumbled, adjusting the scarves wrapped around his head and busying himself straightening up the piles of spices and things while I pretended to consider the little packets. “Are you ready? Do you think you can do it? Do you think you can get away?”
“I don’t know. Lazlo will be the problem, but with the four of us, I think we can figure something out.”
“I heard a rumor that they’ve got someone inside the expedition, to keep an eye on you and your brother and sister. Lately, I’ve been wondering about . . . well, watch Kemal Asker carefully. And BNDL may not be content with a spy. They may send someone to follow you.”
“Kemal?” He nodded. I searched the market for agents, and then I met his eyes. They were pale, blue, watchful. “I’m worried,” I said. “Everyone keeps saying how dangerous it is.”
“I guess we just have to have faith. In your father. That reminds me. Here’s something for you to take with you. A good luck charm, I guess. Don’t lose it. It was Alex’s. He asked me to give it to you. If you got this far.” He took a beautiful mother-of-pearl whistle, carved into the shape of a sea turtle, down from a nail on the wall. I felt the cold metal of his clockwork hand as he handed it over. I could hear it click and whir faintly as it moved. The whistle was bigger and more beautiful than the ones I’d seen at Coleman’s. I hung it around my neck and tucked it beneath my shirt. He looked up quickly. “There they are. Get down to the boat. Now. This is goodbye for a little while, I think.” He pulled the scarf up over his face and turned away. “Go. Good luck.”
On my way back to the water, I took the whistle out and held it, rubbing my thumb over the carved designs, feeling the cool smoothness of the ocean. It felt heavier than the ones at Coleman’s house and the surface was soft and dense, like soap. I tried it out, blowing a single, clear note as I went.
I reached the harbor to find everyone standing around on the dock. “Sorry,” I panted. “She spilled Ribby Fruit juice all over me and I had to go clean up.”
I scanned the group, confused. “Where’s Mr. Wooley?”
M.K. hoisted her backpack onto one shoulder and met my eyes. “He isn’t coming. He’s too sick, and he said it wouldn’t be safe for him to be in charge when he can’t stand to be up on deck.”
I turned to Sukey. She just nodded, looking grim.
“It’s true,” Zander said.
“So who’s coming with us? Who’s our chaperone? They wouldn’t let us go alone, would they?” I felt panic wash over me.
We’d come all this way. We were ready to go. And now they were going to cancel the expedition because Mr. Wooley couldn’t keep his lunch down.
There was a long silence. Suddenly, I knew the terrible answer.
Leo Nackley, wearing a white linen suit, a black scarf tied jauntily around his neck, was standing on the quay, ordering around a group of fishermen who had been hired to help get the last of our gear loaded. In the bright tropical sun, his black hair shone, his mustache gleaming like obsidian. When he heard my voice, he turned around and gave me a triumphant grin.
“I was so sorry to hear about Mr. Wooley’s difficulties,” he said. “But I was more than happy to step up to the plate. After all, it is my duty as an Explorer of the Realm to help the new generation of Explorers seek out their own discoveries.” He rubbed his hands together and put an arm around Lazlo. “Aren’t we all going to have fun?”