The Syndrome by Ridley Pearson

Author:Ridley Pearson [Ridley Pearson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781484725757
Goodreads: 22540276
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Published: 2015-03-03T05:00:00+00:00

AMANDA

The empty note frustrated me. Jess’s sketch of burning bones scared me. I felt completely unsettled. Though tempted to whine about it, I got up and walked around the small room, trying to calm myself down.

“Do you think someone took the note?” I asked.

“No,” Jess said. “If someone else found the can, they would have thrown it out or kept it for themselves. They wouldn’t steal only the note.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Mattie said, “but I do think that makes sense.”

I wanted to tell them about the heart and the initials carved into the tree, about how Finn had managed to find some old lovers’ symbol and had chosen that place to leave his watch. The romance of it cut me through me. Everything he did for me seemed to be unspoken statements and promises. They filled me with such happiness I could hardly think; I would nearly laugh aloud—at nothing.

Now that same rush of giddiness translated to something darker. The missing note tortured me. I wanted to read whatever it was he’d written.

“Maybe he had second thoughts,” I said aloud. “Maybe he wrote an explanation, or even another set of clues, but thought they gave too much away. So at the last minute he took the note out. I’m not sure why he would leave the envelope, but he did.”

“He was going to mail it,” Mattie said. “He had it stamped and ready.”

“Okay,” Jess said. “Maybe the note was supposed to make sure you found the can, but in the end he didn’t think mailing you something was safe, so he was counting on you to figure it out without the hint.”

“I like that explanation,” Wanda said. “That’s something to consider.” She hesitated and then spoke quietly, intimately. “Amanda, how much—if any—of this stuff means something to you and Finn? In other words, is it personal, or is it as strange to you as it is to us?”

“I don’t understand any of it,” I confessed. “Toys, a glove, a cigarette lighter. As if any of us smoke! I mean, come on! What’s with that?”

“Fire?” Jess said, her voice quavering.

Jess had dreamed of fire once before, and the results had been catastrophic—Disneyland in flames.

“At worst, he means to set toys on fire. Nothing to worry about. What we’re missing is the larger message,” said the daughter of Wayne, a man who always saw the bigger picture. “There’s something here. He’s gone to too much trouble.”

“One thing,” I said. “Finn thought they might end up in SBS. Why else leave the note in his pocket, the can on Tom Sawyer Island? He went to tons of trouble to pull this off. That means it’s important. But how do all five of them end up in SBS? Let’s not forget: Maybeck and Philby were both captured and ended up in SBS. Would Philby risk crossing them all over at the same time on anything less than something super important? But clearly Finn knew they were taking a risk. He prepared for that!”

“So, for now, we’ll assume they’re on a dangerous mission,” Wanda said.

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