“WHOTHEHOLYGAHMCNARYIOUSWAHHH!” EMMET shouted. He couldn’t help it. It was pitch-black on the street and someone had just reached out and grabbed him.

When his feet landed back on the ground, he remembered his karate lessons and took a defensive posture with his legs spread and his hands up. Now recovered from his shameful display, he was determined that Dr. Newton was not going to take him down without a fight.

A small flashlight clicked on, revealing Calvin.

“Did someone order a ninja?” Calvin said.

“Dude! Why do you keep trying to give me a heart attack?!” Emmet complained. Though he relaxed his posture, a small part of him was disappointed it was Calvin and not Dr. Newton. If it had been Dr. Newton, he at least could have demanded answers.

“What are you doing?” Emmet said. “Does your mom know you’re here?”

“Does your dad?” Calvin countered.

“No fair. And I asked first.”

“So we’re back to being six again? No, my mom does not know I’m here. She told me what happened and called Mrs. Clawson to come over while I supposedly slept. Mrs. Clawson is nearly deaf. She had the TV volume up so loud there was no way she was ever going to hear me climb out my window. I hopped on the bus, and here I am,” Calvin said.

“How did you know I’d come here?”

“Because you are so obvious.”

“I’m not obvious.”

“Emmet, you can’t do this. What do you think is going to happen? Knock on the door, unmask Dr. Newton, and get Apollo back? It’s dumb. You’re not dumb.”

“What would you do? I can’t just sit there and wait. He’s got Apollo….” Emmet couldn’t say the words.

Calvin didn’t say anything. Not for several moments.

“Did I ever tell you about my ancestors? About the Seminole Way?”

“No.”

“Back in the 1800s we fought the U.S. Army to a standstill for forty years. Made them spend millions of dollars. The tribal leaders did it by making the soldiers come to them, and by never fighting when or where or how the U.S. military expected.”

“Calvin, I know this is important to you, but right now —”

“You didn’t let me finish,” Calvin said, holding up his hand. “There were only a few thousand Seminoles all together. And they fought a bigger, stronger foe to a draw. You did the same thing when you went and got your dad.”

“What? I’m sorry. You lost me,” Emmet said.

“Do you think Dr. Catalyst ever thought a couple of kids in a canoe would come and rescue Dr. Doyle? Did he think for even one minute you’d figure out where he was hiding or how he was doing it? Not in a million years. But you did it. So do it again.”

“What? I just got lucky. He’s not in the swamp this time….”

“So figure out where he is. Tomorrow is Saturday. There’s no school, so we can find him. You come up with something, and of course no one will listen to us, therefore we’ll just skip the part where we try and convince anyone, and go right to saving Apollo.”

“But this was my something. Dr. Newton is my only lead.”

“We’re going to go home. Get your dad to drop you off at my house in the morning. Then we’ll figure out where Dr. Catalyst is and go get Apollo,” Calvin said. He put his arm on Emmet’s elbow and steered him down the street. A few minutes later they were back at the bus stop.

“Calvin?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you helping me this time? Last time you were all ‘There’s no way’ and ‘What if you’re wrong?’ and now you actually want to jump in with both feet. Why?”

Calvin shrugged. “I really don’t like people who pick on dogs.”

As Calvin and Emmet waited for the bus, they did not see the Lexus that had been shadowing them with its lights off ever since they left Dr. Newton’s house. It pulled over to the curb and stopped. Inside the car, Dr. Newton punched a button on his steering wheel, and the phone connected after two rings.

“We’ve definitely got a problem,” he said.