Inexplicable

“How’d he move so effin’ fast?!”

Behind the set dressing bush, pointed at by plenty of curious children as their parents struggled to keep them moving along, the explorers spied on Denny as he challenged guests to a competing ring toss game against himself, allowing them to bet whatever they like and winning every time.

“Is he cheating? Or like, scamming people?” Katie was more concerned with the details than the explanation.

“Staff don’t seem to care if he is.” Frankie eyed a man in the uniform of khaki shorts and a light-green shirt just twiddling his thumbs as this Bozo-serving bastard robbed people out of house and home.

“Frankie, we should challenge him! He probably has a lot of tokens! That’s what you said, right?”

The blonde gripped the leaves of their stealth bush tightly.

“I… no. We can’t.”

“Why not?” She returned to a whisper.

“Okay, look. I know this is only gonna sound like I’m scared of getting recognized- but really, that’s not it. We take him on, what do we get? A big chance of losing everything, that’s what. We can only bet him what we have, and that’s if it’s even possible to win. No. Chances are, we take him on, we lose all… how many was it again?”

“Fifty-two.”

“Fifty-two of our coins. Absolute best case scenario, we beat him and double our supply, at the cost of our time. But… if we find that hidden treasure the more was talking about? That’s 252 tokens total in our stuffed pockets, with no risk of losing a single one in the process.”

“Okay. When you put it like that…”

“Quick. Let’s move.”

Everyone around the sisters watched as they “nonchalantly” and “unnoticeably” rose from the plant, “blending in” to the crowd in seconds.

“Thanks for following along with my spying plan, Katie.”

“I like your plans. They’re funny.”

Frankie grumbled. The two struggled to take in their surroundings as an argument quickly formed during their walk through the open safari park.

“The question still remains… just how did he get here so fast?!”

“What’s it matter?” Katie slapped her hand on her little sister’s shoulder. “The odds have always been against us from the start. The less we think about it, the better.”

The girl hesitantly nodded, wanting to believe in her sister’s inclinations of optimism for once.

“Anyway- I wrote the treasure note down on my phone while we were on our way here, but- I’m still not really getting it. I mean, it’s clearly official, but the thing’s just plain confusing. It’s stupid, but… geez, as far as stupid roadblocks go, this one’s up there.”

“Let me see.” Katie offered, taking the phone in hand and analyzing the text for herself. “Hm… no, I think it get it just fine. You’re overthinking.”

“What’s your read?”

“A “locked-up” cage? Keys? That part’s probably just literal, right? They wouldn’t use that kind of similar language if it were something figurative.”

“Are you sure?”

“I may not have written six novels worth of Percy Phytoplankton fan fiction, but I’m pretty sure on this, sis.”

“Okay then.” Frankie breathed, letting herself listen to her sister. “Anything else?”

“I’m most interested in this part… “the keys are hidden within the park’s past.” What’s that mean? They’re not scattered throughout the entire park, are they?”

“They wouldn’t do that.” Frankie hoped. “The reward would have to be way higher for anyone to attempt a park-wide search for some keys or something.”

“Mhm… that makes more sense. It looks like most people are looking here.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Suddenly, Frankie looked around. She began to see them. Guests not acting in the way they usually would. People strayed further from the routes- climbed into enclosures, crawled around on the floor. Dozens of them. They weren’t the only ones on the prowl for this treasure. No, they weren’t even close.

“Katie…” Frankie started, holding her sister’s hand. “I don’t think this is going to be nearly as easy as I thought it would be.”