Six (19 page)

The vast space ahead of them was filled with hundreds of colorful stalls, around which swarmed crowds of equally colorful people moving in all directions. The noise of the place made it feel even more chaotic—the talking, shouting, loudspeaker announcements, and music pouring out of the different stalls each competed loudly for the attention of the people passing by.

Parker looked up at the white ceiling high above him. It was covered in a grid of metal beams from which hung bright spotlights and strobes that swirled around so that the entire space looked as if it were being attacked by thousands of multicolored lasers. It seemed to stretch interminably.

Emma nudged him and pointed to a full-size bright blue jet hanging from the roof in the distance. Parker nodded but didn't say anything—he was too busy working out where they were supposed to be going. He ran his eyes along the orange-and-white numbered signs marking the beginning of each row until he found what he was looking for.

“Let's go,” he said, already walking.

At Parker's request, Brendan kept his distance in case he might unnerve Anteater. Brendan was not, however, going entirely unnoticed. As they made their way to the stall that Anteater had instructed them to go to, Brendan—in his suit and hat—was stopped a number of times by people wanting to compliment him on his likeness to Moldovan's Driver—a character none of them had ever heard of. Brendan corrected them the first couple of times until he gave up and instead started thanking them as he passed.

Parker pushed through the crowds until he reached the stall he was looking for: A46, a stall supplying costumes called Cloaks & Daggers. Parker made sure that Michael and Emma were behind him before he began to search the racks of shields, masks, swords, capes, and costumes for the disguises that Anteater had instructed them to wear. Not finding what he was looking for, he turned his attention to the hundreds of masks covering the back wall.

A young man wearing a faded lime-green T-shirt and a gold cape approached them. “What can I get you?” he asked.

Parker suddenly spotted them. He pointed up to the top row.

“Three frog masks please. The ones with the red crowns.”

The man looked behind him and nodded his approval.

“Not sold one of those in a while. Fans of the Leapers, huh?”

“Yes, sir,” answered Parker. He didn't have a clue who the Leapers were.

“Nice,” said the man as he reached up and pulled the masks down. “Not many people have heard of them.”

He handed them over to Parker. Michael—who had agreed to lend Parker whatever money they needed until they got their father back—handed over the cash.

“Need a bag?”

“No, thanks,” said Parker. He waited until the man left them to talk to another customer before turning to Michael and Emma.

“Put them on,” he said.

Michael was examining the large rubber mask. “Seriously, couldn't he have picked something cooler?”

“I like them,”
signed Emma. She gave a thumbs-up to Michael and then placed her mask over her head.

Parker shrugged. “I'd have worn a pink dress if it got my dad back.”

“And I'd be waiting for you outside,” said Michael. He sighed and put his mask on.

Parker took the phone out of his pocket—Michael had grown bored of passing it over every five minutes—and e-mailed Anteater to ask him what they should do next. The response was almost instantaneous.

“Hall Two. Second row from the back, other end from the doors,” said Parker. He looked around.

Emma pulled his sleeve and pointed to a sign.

“Well spotted,” said Parker. He checked behind him to make sure that Brendan knew they were leaving, and then stepped into the sea of people moving in the same direction.

They barely took ten paces before they came to a standstill. Parker tried to push through.

“Hey, kid, don't cut the line!” said a man in front of him. He was dressed—and painted—entirely in red.

“We're in a line? What for?” asked Parker.

“Trailer screening for
Return of the Amber Dawn Collective.
Hall Two.”

Parker groaned. “Will it take long to get in?”

“Who knows? You just got to learn to love lines at these places.” He wiped his sweaty forehead with the palm of his hand before remembering he had on a face full of makeup.

“Argh!” he cried, and turned to the purple woman next to him. “I
told
you I should have come as a gladiator.”

The woman gave the man a sideways glance. “Quit complaining, Brian. I've just about had it with your whining today.”

Red Brian huffed and turned his back to Parker. He pulled out a mirror and a tube of red face paint from his plastic carrier bag and began to carefully retouch his makeup.

Parker rolled his eyes at Michael and Emma, then remembered they couldn't see his face behind his mask.

“You should send him a message—tell him we're waiting to go in,” said Michael.

“Good idea,” said Parker. He took the cell phone out.

Michael grabbed Parker's arm. “Forget it,” said Michael. “They're opening the doors.”

No sooner had he spoken than the line swept forward in a rush of excitement, taking Parker, Michael, and Emma with it. As they neared the entrance of Hall 2, the crowds started to move faster, and Parker—to stop himself being from trampled on—was forced into a half run that he wasn't able to stop until they were through the doors and the crowds began to disperse in a frenzied rush to grab seats.

They hurried over to the second row from the back and took the seats by the aisle just in time. A few seconds later every seat had been taken and the doors were being closed, to the loud consternation of those who hadn't made it.

“I don't think Brendan got in,” said Parker.

“He saw us,” said Michael. “He'll wait outside. I wonder if Anteater made it?”

Parker shrugged and sat back in his seat. He tried not to make it too obvious as he cast his eyes around him and tried to spot Anteater. He could see Michael and Emma were doing the same. They all seemed to settle on the man in front of them for two reasons: he was sitting by himself, and he was wearing a set of green alien ears and a hat made of tinfoil. It was, thought Parker,
exactly
how he had imagined a member of Cassandra's Army would dress.

Michael nudged him. “Shall we say something?” he whispered.

Parker shrugged again just as the lights in the hall dimmed and a loud, thumping song started blaring through the surrounding loudspeakers.

“Keep looking straight ahead,” whispered a woman's voice directly behind Parker. “Which one of you is Parker?”

Michael and Parker froze. Emma stayed staring intently at the man in front of them.

“Do you know Anteater?” whispered Parker.

“I am Anteater, numskull. And don't say my name out loud.”

“Oh. Ohhhh,” said Parker as he realized that Anteater had never actually said whether she was a man or a woman. “Sorry.”

“Are you Parker?”

Parker nodded. “Yes.”

“Keep your voice down! You didn't tell me you were kids.”

Parker wasn't sure how to respond to that. He said nothing.

“Were you followed?”

Parker kept his eyes to the front. “No,” he replied. “We checked.”

“Okay, good. I can't take any risks. . . . Hey! Turn around, kid!”

Parker had been so distracted that he hadn't noticed that Emma was now facing the other way with a strange look of delighted shock on her face. He quickly unmuted Effie—having completely forgotten to do so earlier—but not before Emma had signed,
“I love it!”
in Anteater's direction.

Parker leaned over and grabbed Emma by the shoulder to spin her back around.

That's Anteater! It's a girl!
said Parker.

Emma was looking straight ahead as she replied.
Oh!
Wow. Sorry. She's dressed as Dissenta! How cool is that?
Dissenta—Warrior of Justice—was, unsurprisingly, Emma's favorite superhero. Emma had had three Dissenta-themed birthday parties in a row before their dad had finally insisted on a new theme the previous year.

“This isn't a joke,” said Anteater. “I'll leave right now if you don't do what I tell you again.”

“My sister's deaf,” explained Parker. “She didn't know it was you.”

There was a slight pause. “Right, well, I didn't know that. Sorry.”

“That's okay.”

“When did your dad get taken?”

“Monday morning. We need to find Solomon Gladstone.”

“I can't help you with that. He disappeared three years ago.”

Shocked, Parker snapped his head around and found himself face-to-face with a woman hidden under a green hood that obscured all but her mouth and the gold eye mask that she was wearing.

“But we came all the way here!”

“Turn around!”

Parker jumped back around. He was furious. “You said you could help us.”

“I heard rumors. They say he was locked up in an asylum when he started objecting to the work they were doing. I don't know if that helps. What do you know about SIX?”

“Nothing. Just what you wrote.”

“This might help.”

Parker felt something being pushed into his shoulder. He reached up and took the object. It was only when he placed it on his lap that he was able to see what it was: a black memory stick.

“It's the best I can do,” whispered Anteater. “Let me know how it goes.”

“Your dad went missing too?” asked Parker.

“Yeah. His name was Thomas Green. He's not coming back—none of them are.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once they're gone, they're gone. If your dad's already been sent, he's not coming back either.”

“That's not very nice,” Michael whispered loudly.

“Nothing about this is nice. It's just the truth.”

Parker felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. “I hope you find him, kid. Keep in touch.”

And with that she was gone. Parker, Michael, and Emma all turned and watched as the billowing green cloak hurried across the back of the room in the direction of the doors.

So that's that,
thought Parker. He couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed as he watched Anteater talking to the two security guards at the closed doors. She must have been asking them to let her out, as one of them nodded and turned to open the door, only to be interrupted by a loud shout from the front of the room.

“Stop her!”

Parker and the entire audience in the hall turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Parker felt his heart jump at the sight of the two policemen by the steps of the stage, both pointing in Anteater's direction. He looked around and watched as Anteater reached forward to open the doors, but the security guard was having none of it. He pulled her away and closed the door as the two policemen ran up and threw Anteater to the floor.

Emma gasped and jumped up before Michael pulled her back down into her seat. The three of them watched in frozen panic as the policemen wrestled Anteater's arms behind her and cuffed her. And then the crowd began to cheer.

It took Parker a moment to realize what was happening.

“They think this is part of the show!” he said.

Michael's eyes widened as the excited crowd around them began to shout.

“Diss-en-ta! Diss-en-ta!”

The shouting turned frenzied as, just for a moment, Anteater managed to slip free and leapt up.

“Noooo!” screamed someone near the front, and everybody laughed as one of the cops lunged forward and brought Anteater back down to the floor.

As the air of excitement grew, the audience members began to jump up one by one from their seats until the entire room, except for Parker, Emma, and Michael, were on their feet. Parker moved desperately around in his seat trying to find a gap to look through. When he finally found one, he was not able to see much: just the head of one of the cops scanning the faces of the audience.

Parker ducked down in his seat. “I think they're looking for us!”

Michael and Emma both turned and looked at Parker in confusion and then panic. They ducked down in their seats too. For a moment none of them moved. Parker had a feeling that Michael and Emma were waiting for him to tell them what to do. The problem was, he had no idea.

“What's happening now?!”
signed Emma.

Parker peered around and caught a glimpse of Anteater resisting wildly as the cops lifted her to her feet. Though they were both struggling to keep their grips, neither was looking at her. They were both staring intently at the audience. Parker realized that if the crowds were to sit down, they would be easily spotted. It was possible they weren't even looking for him, but it was not a risk Parker was prepared to take.

“Let's go!” said Parker.

With the crowds as cover, Parker slipped out into the aisle, followed by Michael and Emma, and ran forward to the fire exit near the stage.

“Justice for Dissenta!” shouted someone. The crowd changed their chant to join him. “Justice for Dissenta! Justice for Dissenta!”

Parker reached the exit and glanced around. Everybody was facing in the opposite direction, punching the air in unison as they chanted.

“Quick!” he said. He pushed down on the metal bar, and the door swung open. Parker rushed out into the busy corridor and waited for Emma and Michael to join him before slamming the door shut. The shouts of the crowd disappeared.

“We have to find Brendan!” said Michael.

Parker nodded and was about to break into a run when a thought occurred to him. He pressed the memory stick into Michael's hand.

“In case something happens to me,” said Parker.

Michael looked like he was going to argue and then seemed to change his mind. He took the memory stick and stuffed it into his pocket. The three of them began to run.