Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 Amy's brother was never comfortable in a new place until he committed an act of cluelessness. In Tokyo, it happened the morning after their arrival at the Thank You Very Much Hotel. "Dan, you can't just take that— it's stealing," Amy said, watching him struggle to fit a hotel ashtray in his back pocket. "They won't know it's missing!" Dan protested. "I need it for my collection." Dan collected everything. If it fit in a house and wasn't chained to the floor, he had a collection for it. "Your sister is correct," Uncle Alistair said sternly, stopping to lean on his walking stick on the way to the front door. He smelled of aftershave and powder. On the trip in from the

airport, he had bought Amy and Dan a few changes of clothes and insisted they freshen up and have a long sleep. Amy had not slept for a nanosecond. For one thing, she was too nervous. For another, Dan kept muttering "Mrrp" in his sleep. He was really missing Saladin. But that hadn't curbed his obsession for collecting. Amy held out her palm. Reluctantly, Dan put the ashtray in it. "Okay, but can you get me a Thank You Very Much Hotel matchbook, then?" he asked. Amy returned the ashtray to a table in the lobby, with Dan skulking behind. They still couldn't pronounce the hotel's real name. Instead, they nicknamed it after the only phrase any of the staff ever said to them. Picking up a matchbook from the front desk, Amy smiled at the desk clerk. "Thank you very much!" the clerk said. As they walked back toward the door, Dan eyed Alistair, who was looking away from them. "Let's escape," Dan murmured. "We have to find our peeps. Nellie and Saladin."

"Are you crazy?" Amy whispered back. "Uncle Alistair paid for this hotel stay. He knows Japanese, and he's going to help us around town." "You like him!" Dan said in horror. "He's turned your mind!" Amy whirled on him. "I don't like him or trust him. But without him we're stuck, Dan. So we have to pretend, at least until Nellie finds us." "Or we find her!" Dan grumbled as he and Amy headed toward Alistair at the front entrance. Together they stepped out into a crisp, sunny day. To their left, people in manga-hero costumes greeted shoppers in front of a gleaming high-rise shopping center. The scent of some strange blossom wafted from a park, which was across a busy street filled with car and bike traffic. Tokyo reminded Amy of New York City, without all the people yelling at each other. Dan's eyes were cast upward, gawking at a steel structure that rose above the park. "Cool, someone brought over the Eiffel Tower and painted it red and white!" Alistair smiled. "The Tokyo Tower is taller than

its Parisian counterpart, but also lighter, due to advances in steel construction— advances that were developed, may I add, by an Ekat engineer. My illustrious family. And you see that tall apartment tower with curved sides? It suggests a Japanese flower found in great abundance in Shiba Park. The brainchild of a Janus architect—" "Wait, that park has flowers made of steel?" Dan said. "I know someone with a brain made of tin," Amy replied, then turned back to Alistair. "How do you know so much about your family?" "Someday I will show you my collection," Alistair said. "But let's get to the task at hand. It is a ten-minute cab ride to the Metropolitan Library." "Library. Woo-hoo. Can't wait," Dan said, absently fingering his matchbook. "Hey, I know. You guys go. I'll pick up some snapper sushi and take a cab to the airport. I'll meet you later." "What makes you think Saladin is at the airport?" Alistair asked, walking toward the street. "I figure two things could have happened," Dan

said. "One— the Kabras brainwashed Nellie and are leading her around town trying to find us. Or Two—Nellie managed to subdue them with superior ninja training techniques she didn't realize she had picked up by mental telepathy from me. Actually, I'm betting on One. Either way, Saladin would…" Dan's face darkened. "I— I can't stop thinking of him, still on that conveyor belt, all alone, going round and round…" "I know you love your pet," Alistair said. "But you must think of your own safety first. The Kabras will expect you to come to Japan. They may also expect you to go to the airport in search of your beloved feline and babysitter—" "Au pair," Dan corrected him. "You simply cannot risk walking into a trap," Alistair continued. It made Amy sick not to know where Nellie and Saladin were, too. She'd been trying to contact Nellie on her cell phone since they arrived. She hated telling Dan not to go after them. But Alistair's advice made sense. "Knowing Natalie and Ian," Amy said, following Alistair toward a

taxi stand, "they'll find us." "But—" Dan protested. "We have to move forward," Amy said. "Nellie will land on her feet." Dan sighed. "Saladin, too, I guess. I mean, being a cat and all…" As they threaded their way through the plaza, Dan kept lighting matches and blowing them out. "Will you stop it?" Amy said. "Why?" Dan said, lighting another match. "It's fun. It keeps my mind off the fact that here we are ignoring the only two people we really like, plus we're in the land of ninjas and Mothra and really cool martial arts, and we're going to spend another day in a library." As he approached a waiting taxicab, Alistair said something to the driver in rapid, fluent-sounding Japanese and signaled Amy and Dan to climb in. They sped through the traffic, passing rows of modern steel buildings and an occasional ornate ancient pagoda surrounded with gardens. "Why can't we stay in one of those cottages?" Dan asked. "They are ancient temples," Alistair replied.