Page 8 (1/2)

I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, but all her teaered into so, and I wanted the last word "Fine, but when Sea-World, Incorporated or whatever sends a letter to Duke University saying that miscreant Quentin Jacobsen broke into their facility at four thirty in thewith a wild-eyed lass at his side, Duke University will be o to Duke You’re going to be a very successful lawyer-or-soet married and have babies and live your whole little life, and then you’re going to die, and in your lasthooddao Roth Spiegelh school At least I carpe’d that one diem’"

"Nocteain You’ve regained your throne Now take me to SeaWorld"

As we drove silently down I-4, I found ray suit showed up dead Maybe that’s the reason she chose ht And that’s when, finally, I res-- and about herself and the strings

"Margo," I said, breaking our silence

"Q," she said

"You saidWhen the guy died, you said s inside him broke, and then you just said that about yourself, that the last string broke"

She half laughed "You worry too much I don’t want so in Jefferson Park" She waited a beat before delivering the punch line "I’hed, relieved, and exited the interstate We turned onto International Drive, the tourism capital of the world There were a thousand shops on International Drive, and they all sold the exact salass turtles, Florida-shaped refrigerator os, whatever In fact, there were several stores on I-Drive that sold actual, literal ar, the tourists were sleeping The Drive was co else, as we drove past store after parking lot after store after parking lot

"SeaWorld is just past the parkway," Margo said She was in the wayback of the ot all these satellitefind theht past the parkway, and on your left there will be this souvenir shop"

"On my left, there are about seventeen thousand souvenir shops"

"Right, but there will only be one right after the parkway"

And sure enough, there was only one, and so I pulled into the e lot and parked the car directly beneath a streetlight, because cars are always getting stolen on I-Drive And while only a trulythe Chrysler, I still didn’t relish the thought of explaining toin the sainst the back of theto ain, as if people I couldn’t see were looking at ut ached froo had found her ht of the street laertip traced our route "I think there’s a fence right there," she said, pointing to a wooden patch we’d hit just after crossing the parkway "I read about it online They installed it a few years ago after soht and decided to go swi with Shamu, who prouy can make it in drunk, surely we can make it in sober I mean, we’re ninjas"

"Well, maybe you’re a ninja," I said

"You’re just a really loud, aard ninja," Margo said, "but we are both ninjas" She tucked her hair behind her ears, pulled up her hood, and scrunched it shut with a drawstring; the streetlight lit up the sharp features of her pale face Maybe ere both ninjas, but only she had the outfit

"Okay," she said "Me part of the half-o had plotted for us was the le One side was protected by a road, which Margo figured was regularly patrolled by night watchuarded by a lake that was at least a e ditch; from the map, it looked to be about as wide as a two-lane road And where there are water-filled drainage ditches near lakes in Florida, there are often alligators

Margo grabbedto get caught, probably, and e do, just let me talk You just look cute and be that weird mix of innocent and confident, and we’ll be fine"

I locked the car, tried to pat down my puffy hair, and whispered, "I’o to hear, but she piped up "Daed across I-Drive and then started bushwhacking through a thicket of tall shrubs and oak trees I started to worry about poison ivy, but ninjas don’t worry about poison ivy, so I led the trail,aside briars and brush as alked toward the moat Finally the trees stopped and the field opened up, and I could see the parkway on our right and the ht ahead of us People could have seen us froether we took off running through the brush, and then o said, "No!" and I dashed across the six lanes of highway Even though it was e across a road that big

We rass beside the parkway Margo pointed to the strip of trees between SeaWorld’s endlessly gigantic parking lot and the black standing water of thethat line of trees, and then Margo pulled on the back of my shirt, and said quietly, "Now the uest," she answered

And I didn’t think about the alligators or the disgusting layer of brackish algae I just got a running start and jumped as far as I could I landed in waist-deep water and then high-stepped across The water smelled rank and felt slimy on my skin, but at least I wasn’t wet above o ju water all over me I turned around and splashed her She faux-retched

"Ninjas don’t splash other ninjas," Margo complained

"The true ninja doesn’t make a splash at all," I said

"Ooh, touché"

I atching Margo pull herself up out of the hly pleased about the lack of alligators And my pulse was acceptable, if brisk And beneath her unzipped hoodie, her black T-shirt had beco pretty hen I saw in o Margo started to step out of the water, and I could see her Achilles tendon tensing, and before I could even say anything, the snake lashed out and bit her left ankle, right below the line of her jeans