Tinny and Lefty scampered down to retrieve the small horse and brought it to Ollie. The toy sensed the naval spirit of the mission and reported thus:

“Pegasus reporting for duty, sir!”

“Tell us what you can, Pegasus!” said Ollie.

“Well, Captain,” the toy replied, recognizing Ollie’s leadership role. “The hostiles brought President Billy to this point and then smuggled him aboard a large wooden swan and sailed the swan down the canal and out of sight.”

President Billy? That sounded right. To a kid’s toys, their child does seem like a president.

Tinny and Lefty looked up to Ollie for direction. Ollie sensed his crew had confidence in him, and that gave him a surge of braveness. So much braveness that it scared him, because Ollie knew they didn’t have a plan. Ollie had been Billy’s second in command for many pretend attacks and invasions, and he kind of knew the words to say, like “Charge!” and “Cover me!” and “Use the Force Luke!,” but he had never imagined that he would ever be leading a real mission. Yet here he was.

A real boy—his boy, President Billy—was captured by real bad guys. Guys who did so much illegal and mean and cruddy that Ollie’d have to be the bravest and best Grand High Safemaster of any kid ever in all of history. He had to do this for Billy, even if Billy had chucked him away. It was the Code of the Toys. And this kind of Real was a little scary. Actually, this kind of Real was REAL scary.

Ollie stared down into the dark, watery tunnel. They all did.

“Man, it’s dark in there,” said Topper.

“Really dark,” agreed Reeler.

“So dark I couldn’t see my thumb in front of my palm,” said Lefty.

Tinny had followed the Creeps into the tunnel when they Billynapped Billy, and even he couldn’t help but shake a little at the thought of going back. And his shaking made the other cans shake. And then the knives and forks were shaking. Then Keys started typing lots of question marks. And the music from the merry-go-round started sounding kind of spooky in the breeze. And now, the all-terrain mobile-junk attack vehicle was rattling and clattering so loud. You could actually hear their fear.

What do I do?! Ollie thought. Even his own bell was ringing! I’m not made of brave. I’m just . . . stuff! But he KNEW what he had to do. He had to find Billy.

The breeze calmed, and the merry-go-round sounded less strange, and then, at the entrance of the tunnel, tiny dots of light began to appear. First, a dozen or so. Then more and more. Fireflies! Hundreds of them, some drifting all around them, but more gathering around Ollie, so many it was almost blinding. “I think they’re here to help us,” said Ollie. And though the Junkyard Gang could barely see Ollie for all the flickering, they weren’t afraid anymore: they all knew that there was nothing to fear from fireflies. Then the little glowing insects began to drift away, away from Ollie, and back toward the tunnel. They darted into the dark entrance, lighting it up. Just enough. Just enough that Ollie and the others could see. See what was ahead.