The Phanatic picked him up?I thought vaguely, the gears in my head turning before grinding to a very abrupt halt.The. Phanatic. Picked. Him. Up.
Not to be super dramatic, but that scene inHerculeswhere Hades’s cool blue hair flames into a furious red? Yep, that was me right about now. My sister’s name was on the tip of my tongue, ready to be screamed at the top of my lungs.
Grace!!!
“Yes, I think someone took a photo,” I told Abigail calmly, because I waspositivesomeone would’ve. Mrs.Flamporis, if I had to guess. “I’ll text him to find out.”
“And can you tell him that I miss him?” his little sister asked. “We always watchNational Treasuretogether when I’m sick, but today I have to watch it with my mom.”
“Sure, Abigail,” I said. “I will absolutely tell him.”
“Okay, thank you,” she said. “Bye.”
“Bye,” I replied, and then leaned back in Mrs.Emerick’s chair like a boss. A seriously pissed-off boss, but a boss nonetheless. Everett was not in school, and he was not at home.
Which meant hewaswith Grace and Isa. Because thanks to TikTok, I knew a Pennsbury High School student had won the Phillie Phanatic contest earlier this month—she’d vlogged her entire day. And theonly personwho knew I’d stashed Uncle Jeff’s old Phanatic costume in the attic was Grace. “Do I want to know?” she’d asked while watching me heft it up the ladder (it weighed way more than expected). Almost out of breath, I’d answered, “Only if you want to ruin the surprise.”
The surprise was still in the planning stages, but in short: a harmless, if not slightly childish, prank on Everett’s mom.
Something stitched in my side as I mentally summarized what I’d pieced together of Grace’s day so far: pull off an elaborate fake illness plot, successfully convince her best friend to skip school, and then steal my mascot costume to fool the administration and break her other partner in crime out of class.
But this ismyarea of expertise,I thought.She didn’t want my help?
Clearly not.
Teeth gritted, I dashed off a quick note to Mrs.Emerick that I had made a miraculous recovery and was returning to class (or something to that effect).Thank you for always caring so much about my well-being,I wrote, totally sucking up.
I had to admit, Grace was good.
Now I just had to figure out where she was.
Where theyallwere.
Chapter 12
Isa
“Really?” Everett and I said, both with quizzical expressions and cute sleeping masks dangling from our fingers (as I’d told Grace, I would be keeping mine, thank you very much). “Thisisit?”
I will say that “it” wasn’tnothing.Independence Hall stood proudly in front of us, its bell tower and steeple shining in the blue sky. If we’d been at school, only a few rays of sunlight would stream into classrooms. People would contend for window seats.
Indeed,Independence Hall seemed to say.History was made here!
“Yes.” Grace nodded. “This is it. Our first stop.”
“Out of how many?” Everett asked.
Grace didn’t answer; instead, she turned and started walkingacross the lawn, toward the park’s visitor center. Everett and I fell into step behind her, briefly glancing at each other. His soulful brown eyes made my heart twist, because I knew we were thinking the same thing. “You’re going to Hershey Park?” I remembered Everett’s dad saying when the four of us were eleven. The Barbours were hosting dinner, and we fifth graders had presented our parents with permission slips. “What happened to the historic Philadelphia field trip?” He gestured to Grace’s dad. “That’s where our school took us in fifth grade.”
James had shrugged. “Times have changed, Mr.Adler.”
“Yeah, it’s no longer 1776.” Grace exchanged a smirk with her brother. They’d played off each other so easily back then. Tag-teaming was their specialty.
“This is ridiculous,” Mamá said after Mr. and Mrs.Barbour slapped smartasses Grace and James with dishwashing duty. “What educational value does the school see in an amusement park?” She shook her head as my eyes started to sting, worried I’d be the only one without a signed permission slip. “I’m going to call the principal—”
“Hold on, Pilar,” Everett’s dad said. “Do the kids deserve to ride a few roller coasters?” He pretended to consider, then winked at us. “Definitely, but I agree about the importance of an immersive learning experience.”
And so, one spring Saturday, Mr.Adler took James, Grace, Everett, and me on a field trip to historic Philadelphia. He even let us craft our own itinerary. “We should start here,” I remembered saying as James drew a big star on a map. “And after that, I think we should go…”
