“I used to be a maid at the Plaza Hotel,” Annette said. “Late one night, I went into the Presidential Suite for the turndown service. As I was making up the bed, the room began shaking. All the furniture was knocked to the floor and the guests’ belongings rolled everywhere. The next thing I knew, a forest appeared out of thin air. It hovered in the sitting room for a few minutes and then vanished. The guests returned shortly after; they saw all their belongings scattered around the floor and accused me of stealing their things. They reported me to the hotel manager and I was fired. Nobody wanted to hire a maid with a history of theft, so now I live down here.”
“I was on the verge of a comeback when I saw the forest,” Judy said. “I had just been cast as Nurse Number Seven on the soap opera The Cute and the Complacent. Anyway, I was sitting in my dressing room at Rockefeller Center—that’s where they film the show—when it was hit with a terrible tremor. The forest appeared over my vanity and I screamed for help. By the time a producer came to check on me, it was gone. They thought I was crazy and had my character written out of the script. I’ve become the laughingstock of the Screen Actors Guild and haven’t been hired since.”
“I was a teller at National Bank on Forty-Fourth Street,” Jerry said. “I was working late one night and went into the vault to store a deposit. Suddenly, the vault started to rattle. It was so powerful it knocked all the deposit boxes open and money spilled onto the floor. The commotion set off the alarm and police arrived within the hour. Had they showed up just a moment sooner, they would have seen the forest for themselves. My boss fired me for carelessness and I couldn’t find another job. I told my wife what had happened, but she didn’t believe me and threw me out of the house.”
Everyone turned to Roxie Goldberg, anxious to hear her story next.
“Why are you looking at me? I never saw a forest appear. I live down here because I hate paying taxes.”
Conner sensed there was a pattern to the homeless people’s encounters. He paced back and forth as he thought about the information they had provided.
“How long ago did each of you see the forest appear?” he asked.
“Four months ago,” Rusty said, then scrunched up his brow. “As a matter of fact, it was four months ago to this very day.”
“What a coincidence,” Annette said. “I saw it exactly two months ago.”
“Precisely one month ago for me,” Judy said.
“Two weeks,” Jerry said.
“And how long did the apparition last?” Conner asked.
“It only lasted a few seconds at the castle,” Rusty said.
“It was quick, but I’d say a minute or two,” Annette said.
“Fifteen minutes at least,” Judy said.
“About forty-five minutes, I suspect,” Jerry said.
“Interesting,” Conner said. “So the sightings are happening faster and faster, and each time the apparition appears, it stays twice as long. If it continues in this pattern, that would put the next sighting tonight and it could stick around for an hour or two. I just wish we could tell where it’s gonna be.”
An idea popped into Bree’s head and she gasped—startling Jack and Goldilocks beside her.
“Actually, I think the locations may be just as predictable,” she said.
Bree looked around the tunnel and snatched a map off a sleeping homeless person. She spread it against the wall of the tunnel and had Jack and Goldilocks hold it in place.
“Mr. Oswald, what street was National Bank on again?” she asked.
“Forty-Fourth and Fifth Avenue,” Jerry said.
“And Ms. Harlow, where is Rockefeller Center located?”
“Between Forty-Eighth and Fifty-First,” Judy said.
“And the Plaza Hotel?”
“It’s at Fifty-Ninth and Fifth,” Annette said.
“And Rusty, I know there are no streets in Central Park, but if Belvedere Castle were on a street, what would it be?” Bree asked.
“That’s easy,” Rusty said. “It’s just north of the Seventy-Ninth Street Transverse.”
Bree pulled a marker out of her pocket and made a note of all the locations. Once she was done, she took a step back and studied the map.
“Just what I thought,” she said. “The bridge first appeared on Seventy-Ninth Street at Belvedere Castle. Next, it appeared at the Plaza Hotel—exactly twenty blocks south of the castle. After that, the forest appeared at Rockefeller Center—exactly ten blocks south of the hotel. And finally, it appeared at National Bank on Forty-Fourth Street—exactly five blocks south of the center. The bridge is traveling in a semistraight line through New York City, and each time it appears, it covers half the ground it did before.”
“So everything is a pattern!” Conner said. “That means we can trace when and where the bridge will appear next! According to the formulas, that would place the next appearance tonight at two and a half blocks south of National Bank on Forty-Fourth Street.”
Goldilocks gulped. “So what’s located between Forty-First and Forty-Second Street?”
Conner and Bree traced the map, and their fingers arrived at the same spot at the same time. They exchanged a long, fearful glance before turning to the others.
“The New York Public Library,” they said in unison.
“This practically confirms everything we’ve suspected,” Bree said. “Whoever took Alex to the library definitely knows about the bridge between worlds. But this time, I don’t think it’s going anywhere. Just like the Sisters Grimm predicted, this might be the bridge’s final stop. Tonight may be the night when worlds collide!”
Conner’s eyes filled with panic. “Rusty, you’ve got to take us to the library,” he said. “Now.”
CHAPTER NINE
THE SCARIEST VILLAIN OF ALL
Conner and his friends charged down the Calvin Coolidge Express tunnel as Rusty led them deeper through the abandoned subway. The homeless man ran so fast he could barely keep his flashlight steady, but even in the dark, Rusty knew the tunnel like the back of his hand. Eventually they arrived at the construction site of a small subway platform that had never been finished. Ladders, tools, and paint buckets had remained untouched since the project was halted in the 1920s.
“See that hatch above the platform?” Rusty asked, and aimed his flashlight at a circular door in the ceiling. “Climb through it and it’ll take you into the lower level of the library.”
“Thanks for bringing us here, Rusty,” Conner said. “If we’re able to save my sister, it’ll be all because of you. I wish I had something to repay you with.”
“It’s been a long time since I felt useful,” the homeless man said with a smile. “That’s all the thanks I need. Good luck finding your sister, kid.”
Conner and his friends shook Rusty’s hand and climbed onto the unfinished platform. Jack retrieved a ladder and positioned it directly below the hatch. He climbed up the ladder and attempted to open it, but the door wouldn’t budge.
“It’s stuck,” he called down.
“It’s been nearly a century since it was opened,” Rusty said. “It may need a good push.”
Taking his advice, Jack pressed his back against the hatch and pushed against it with all his might. The door opened with a loud crunch, and pieces of wood fell from the ceiling. Opening the hatch punched a large hole through the floorboards and carpet above it. Jack climbed through the hole and then helped the others through the floor of the library’s lower level.