Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6)(44)

“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Let’s search the park and find where the witches went. They could be anywhere or disguised as anything, so everyone keep a sharp eye out. Speak up if you see something even remotely suspicious.”

His friends nodded, and they formed a tight circle, just as they had when searching the library. They found a cement path beside the grassy hill and cautiously followed it deeper into the park. Central Park was enormous, and each time they passed a new directory they were shocked by how little ground they had covered since the previous one. Every now and then they would step through a clearing and see the city’s skyline peeking above the trees, but other than the twinkling buildings, they found nothing out of the ordinary. There wasn’t a witch or a Scout in sight.

Conner found a discarded map on the ground and used it to navigate the labyrinth of pathways snaking through the park. They agreed that the witches had most likely retreated to the heart of the park after battling the Marines, so Conner guided his friends down a trail leading to the park’s center. The closer they got to the park’s core, the more densely the air filled with smoke and a rich aroma.

“Does anyone else smell that?” Jack asked.

“Yes,” Goldilocks said. “It smells like gingerbread—fresh gingerbread.”

“The witches are probably building gingerbread houses to lure the Boy and Girl Scouts of America,” Bree said.

“If so, that is such a witch cliché,” Red said.

“Not all witches are cannibals, though,” Conner said. “Whatever they’re cooking, I don’t think it’s houses.”

The group eventually came to a large fountain on the edge of a small lake. The fountain had a wide, circular pool of shallow water and an angel statue perched at the top. It faced an impressive terrace that was flanked by two enormous staircases. Underneath the terrace was a spacious walkway that was lined with arches and pillars. The area looked like a piece of Rome.

“What’s this place?” Jack asked.

“The Bethesda Fountain and Terrace,” Conner read from the map.

“It’s pretty iconic,” Bree added. “They use it in a lot of movies and television shows.”

“New York is such a strange place,” Red said. “One minute I’m completely repulsed, then the next I feel right at home. Did the Old York inspire such mood swings?”

Before Conner could answer her, he was distracted by something moving underneath the Bethesda Terrace. A thin woman wearing a headband, a bright pink tank top, and matching sneakers was peeking out from behind one of the pillars in the walkway. The woman nervously eyed the park around them and frantically gestured for Conner and his friends to join her.

“Pssst,” she whispered. “Come over here—quick!”

From the way she was dressed, Conner assumed the woman was a native of the Otherworld. Still, he and his friends approached the walkway with the utmost caution. The woman in pink led them into the walkway, and they discovered she wasn’t alone. A man in a headband, a green tank top, and matching tennis shoes was hiding behind another pillar. Another man wearing a blue helmet and black biker shorts was ducking behind a trash can. A third man, in a janitor’s uniform, was crouched in the corner and staring into space with his hands over his head.

“It isn’t safe to be wandering around the park in the open like that,” the woman in pink told them. “If they find you, they’ll capture you and take you back to their base.”

“You must be talking about the witches,” Conner said. “Do you know which part of the park their base is in?”

“They’re gathered somewhere between the lake and the reservoir. On the Great Lawn, I suspect,” the man in green said. “But they search the park every couple of hours to look for escapees.”

“What are you guys doing in the park so late?” Bree asked.

“My husband and I were out for a late jog,” the woman in pink explained. “We used the Seventy-Ninth Street Transverse as a shortcut to get home, and that’s when the shield went up. We tried to get through it, but it zapped us.”

She and her husband showed Conner and his friends the burn marks covering their arms.

“We searched the park for help and saw the witches wandering through it,” the man in green said. “So we hid in Belvedere Castle, and that’s where we met him.”

He nodded to the janitor in the corner.

“I was working a night shift at the castle,” the janitor said. “We tried calling the police but couldn’t get a signal or a dial tone on any of the phones. When the coast was clear, the three of us made a quick dash to Tavern on the Green.”

“And that’s where they met me,” the biker said. “My friends and I were cycling around the perimeter of the park and also took a shortcut to get home. After the shield went up, we hid from the witches in Tavern on the Green with other people who got trapped in the park. We thought we were safe there, but eventually they found us. We’re the only four who escaped!”

“The rest were captured and taken to the witches’ base,” the woman in pink said. “We’ve been hiding under the terrace ever since.”

The janitor began to laugh, but not because he was amused. He started rocking back and forth as if he was on the verge of losing his sanity.