Reluctantly, Maisie agreed.
But when she got into her sleeping bag, she couldn’t fall asleep. Her mind was too full of things. First, there were the weddings. Great-Uncle Thorne’s and her father’s. How she wished her family had stayed together, that there was no wedding to Agatha the Great, that Penelope Merriweather didn’t want to get married so old. Then there was the play. Her excitement about getting the lead didn’t quite assuage her stage fright. Finally, there was being here. Where were they? And who was Meelie or Pidge?
Maisie sighed and closed her eyes. Already, Felix was breathing softly beside her, asleep.
But almost immediately her eyes popped open.
The Ziff twins! Where are they? And are they all right?
She shivered remembering the gorillas and the lion.
“Felix,” she said to her sleeping brother.
“Mmmmm,” he murmured.
“Felix!” she said louder.
Felix mumbled and turned over, away from her.
How can he sleep when so many things are happening? Maisie thought.
She poked Felix until he swatted her hand away and grumbled, “What?”
“The Ziff twins,” she said.
Felix rubbed his eyes and struggled to sit up. “I know,” he said, feeling guiltier than he’d ever felt in his life. “I know.”
“I was so afraid back in Africa,” Maisie said, “all I could think about was getting out of there. But now that we’re here and safe . . .”
She couldn’t say it out loud, but she didn’t have to.
“They might be dead!” Felix blurted.
“Or worse,” Maisie added.
“What’s worse than dead?”
“I don’t know. Mauled by that lion or held captive or a million terrible things,” Maisie said.
“Stop!” Felix groaned.
“Of course, it’s possible that they’re okay,” Maisie offered.
“Sure,” Felix said, unconvinced.
“It’s possible that they found Dr. Livingstone and gave him the map and are back in Newport already,” she continued.
As she spoke, that possibility seemed more likely.
“Yeah,” Maisie continued, nodding as she spoke, “that’s what happened. For all we know, they even met Amy Pickworth! In fact, I bet they did!”
Feeling much better, Maisie snuggled back into the sleeping bag. Felix was going on and on about how unlikely that was and how the Ziff twins might even have malaria or some other disease.
“Uh-huh,” Maisie said, certain that the Ziff twins were home in their beds.
The next thing she knew, sunlight streamed in the shed’s window and it was morning.
Felix stretched and unzipped his sleeping bag.
“I’m going to peek outside,” he told Maisie.
Slowly, he pushed the door open.
Out of nowhere, the biggest, shaggiest dog he’d ever seen jumped on him, knocking him backward.
Felix yelped in surprise.
The dog began to lick his face.
“Yuck!” Felix said.
“A dog!” Maisie shouted happily. She ran over to Felix and the dog and petted the big, shaggy thing.
“What’s your name, buddy?” she cooed.
“His name is James Ferocious,” came a girl’s voice from outside the shed. “And at my command, he’ll bite your head off.”
Maisie and Felix peered outside.
The freckle-faced girl called Meelie stood there in blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up, a red-and-white-checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and a straw hat over her pigtails. She was chewing on a piece of grass and studying them as hard as they studied her.
“I think your dog is actually very friendly,” Maisie said. “He wouldn’t bite us, even at your command.”
“Don’t test that theory,” Meelie said.
Pidge’s head popped out from behind Meelie.
“Did you sleep in the shed?” she asked in disgust.
“Yes,” Felix admitted.
“But why?” Pidge asked, coming out from behind her sister. She was dressed identically, except her shirt had blue-and-white checks. “Why would anyone sleep in a shed?”
“We . . . um . . . ,” Felix began, glancing over at Maisie. But Maisie was completely mesmerized by James Ferocious.
“Are your parents somewhere else?” Pidge continued.
“Yes!” Felix said. “Exactly!”
Pidge nodded solemnly. “Like when we stayed in Kansas, and Mama and Papa came here to Iowa,” she said to Meelie.
“Iowa,” Felix said to himself. Another one of those big states in the middle. He vowed to memorize every one of them when he got home, right after he looked up the Anglo-Boer War.
“But we stayed with our grandparents. Not in a shed by ourselves,” Meelie said, keeping her eyes on Felix. “Where’re your grandparents, boy?”
“Dead!” Felix announced.
“Oh,” Pidge said. “That’s sad.” She patted his arm sympathetically.
It was already clear to Felix that these two sisters were very much alike. Except that Meelie was obviously the leader, and Pidge her follower. Kind of like him and Maisie, he thought uncomfortably.
“So your parents are—” Meelie began.
“Somewhere else,” Felix said.