While the drive continued, Kyle was still reeling from the information Bryson had told him.
Charlotte had more or less gotten used to the fact they were in Oz, but Kyle was still asking questions, asking if it was some kind of joke, if everything was a special effect. Bryson calmed the boy by promising he would get him home.
Thankfully, both the children in the back began to calm down and take in the atmosphere, to appreciate the land in front of them. They asked numerous questions about the land and Bryson and Dorothy were happy to answer to whatever they had to ask.
But they were children, of cours. And they naturally grew more and more impatient sitting in the car.
"Are we there yet?"
"I gotta pee again."
"I want to get out!"
"Yeah, I wanna look around!"
"I wanna see the Yellow Brick Road!"
"I wanna see the fields! I wanna see it all!"
Those were just a few of the many remarks made by the children in the back, and Bryson suddenly knew how his parents felt when he and his sister used to yap in the back.
After the confrontation with Mombi, Dorothy revealed that she swooped up something that fell from Mombi's dress after she shot herself.
It was a paper that had some sort of map along with it. Just a vague road with some marks around it, some spots. One of the spots had a circle with a jungle on it. It was around the label that said "SOUTH, right where they were. Bryson just hoped it meant something important. Perhaps Tommy was there. Regardless, it must have held some importance if Mombi was holding onto it.
"I still can't believe you managed to outsmart her. Making her shoot herself. Think she'll stay put like that or..?"
"I don't know. She's a witch.. and I've never seen a witch get shot before. All I know is that it was all I had left to do in that moment." Dorothy said softly.
"Are you alright from earlier?" Bryson asked, worried.
"I'm alright. Still, though. That... hurt. A lot. But then it just.. went away out of nowhere." Dorothy said.
"Huh?" Charlotte asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion.
"Woah, someone got shot?!" Kyle asked, almost bouncing in excitement. "I thought I heard something earlier!"
Bryson sighed. These kids naturally got riled up easily in a situation like this and he had to as gently as possible tell them to calm down. "It's nothing. Just.. let's keep admiring the scenery."
The two kids continued to nag for a bit, but they eventually piped down and admired the outside. That didn't stop them, however, from asking if they were there yet.
"Where are we, anyway?" Charlotte asked. "Are we lost? Are we almost there?"
"I'm not sure where we are. But I'm sure we'll know when we get there." Bryson responded. It felt odd for him to talk like this. He was used to being the younger person asking questions, now he was in the opposite position. He almost felt like his dad when his family would travel, which felt odd.
He was just glad there wasn't any constant arguing and nice things to actually look at outside the car unlike the times when he would travel with family.
"Maybe we should try to find someone to ask for directions." Dorothy suggested.
"Yeah, but I don't know if we're gonna find anyone at this point." Bryson replied, Dorothy always being the more optimistic of the two.
"I need a vacation." Charlotte sighed.
"You're telling me." Kyle agreed, running his hands through his long, wavy brown-reddish hair. "We're all gonna die out here. Next to that desert. All the buzzards will come and peck our eyeballs out and eat our flesh." He huffed.
"Sorry, he can be very goulish at times." Charlotte said with a nod.
"Eh, don't worry about it. I used to do the same to my sister every now and then. A little gruesome, but ya know.." Bryson said in an understanding manner. "I don't think there's any buzzards in Oz, though, so I think we're safe from that." Bryson smirked, turning to Dorothy. "There aren't any buzzards in Oz, right?" He asked, his smirk dropping.
"Not as far as I know." She said with a chuckle.
"I'm just worried about Tommy." Charlotte stressed. "We haven't seen him since he got carried away by those winged monkeys."
Dorothy turned around, offering Charlotte a warm smile. "It's alright, darling. We'll find him. I worry, too. It's okay to worry. But here in Oz.. I've found everything works out okay in the end." Dorothy assured, rubbing Charlotte's foot in a comforting manner.
Bryson had to admit, he was just as worried about Tommy, as well as Finley and Lion were still presumably captured. But Dorothy's words assured him. They always did.
"Hey, what's that?" Kyle suddenly asked, pointing out the window.
A few feet ahead, there was a large cave.
"It's a cave. I've been here before, too." Dorothy noted.
"You've been everywhere." Kyle noted casually.
"Well, she IS Dorothy." Charlotte mentioned.
Bryson bit his lip, hoping she wouldn't spill anything about Dorothy being fake.
It was already hard enough to talk over them if they ever began to mention anything about Oz being fiction in their world.
They were distracted, however, when Bryson continued to drive and they spotted another sign.
It was so professional looking, clearly designed and built by a team of professionals.
He couldn't help but wonder just how many people were behind this whole plot to expose Oz.
The cave read:
"JUNGLE TOUR."
"Great. Yet another area turned into a money grab." Bryson scoffed under his breath. "Turning Oz into every Hollywood cash grab, milking it for all its worth." He scoffed lowly again. As an entertainment and movie buff, he couldn't help but let that side of his personality show at times.
"Is that good? Uncle Henry and Aunt Em don't really have money to see very many pictures with me." Dorothy said, confused.
Bryson smirked slightly. There was a cuteness about the fact she lived in such an older time period.
"Let's just say it's bad in this case." He said softly as he examined the sign to try and get any more clues, ultimately coming up with nothing.
"All I know is this sign certainly wasn't here when I came through here." Dorothy mumbled, both she and Bryson seeming to notice the sign was brand new.
He looked down at the map Dorothy had taken from Mombi.
This was in fact the area that had been circled.
Maybe Tommy was here.
Bryson slowly began to drive into the cave.
"It looks dark in there.." Charlotte whispered, sounding timid as she clutched to Copper closer, who panted in her arms.
Bryson turned on his headlights, shining some light to the cave, which seemed to ease Charlotte.
They drove through the cave for a few moments before coming into a steep jungled area.
But it wasn't like the normal woods in Oz. This looked like an actual tropical jungle.
Bryson looked around through the car, trying to take in everything in his view.
"Woah, check it out!" Kyle exclaimed.
"Where are we?" Charlotte asked, peaking her head as far as she could.
"This in the Lion's Jungle Kingdom. He became king over here after he saved its animals from a giant spider monster." Dorothy said with a nod as if it were the most casual sentence in the world.
"Five years ago, that sentence might have sounded odd." Bryson quipped, more then used to Oz at this point.
"You think we can get out? And look for Tommy?" Charlotte asked.
Bryson looked down again at the map. If they were reading it correctly, this was the place that had been circled. It wouldn't hurt to look.
"Sure. But we need to stick together." Bryson said, peaking out to make sure the coast was clear. "Don't get out yet, though. Dorothy and I will help you."
Bryson slowly opened the door, sliding his backpack onto him, unzipping quietly enough so the sound wouldn't alert anyone.
He pulled out his axe, ready to strike if he needed to, wary when they were out in the open like this.
Dorothy got out next, and the two opened the doors for Charlotte and Kyle.
"Don't run off on us, now." Dorothy advised.
"That's so cool that you have an axe!" Kyle exclaimed, reaching upward to touch it.
"Careful." Bryson whispered. "This is a very dangerous weapon, okay?"
"Alright, alright." Kyle grumbled.
"Just don't wander off too far. Something might try and get you." Bryson sighed.
"Well, I don't see any animals around.." Charlotte interjected, circling the area. "Except for Copper." She said, holding up the pup.
"Yes, it's strange. This place was litered with animals when I was here.." Dorothy said, clearly distraught.
"Well.. it's a big place. Don't get lost." Bryson said, distracted knowing all the animals had basically vanished.
Aside from the lack of animals, Bryson looked around the jungle and noticed how beautiful it was. It looked more tropical then anything he had seen back home, the sun shining brightly around the area with colorful leaves and plants that popped out of the landscape. He had seen jungles in TV and in books, but this was such an eccentric, unique and gorgeous land.
The gang proceeded to look for Tommy after looking around, sticking close together. Bryson advised the children not to yell for him in case anyone heard them, and they thankfully agreed.
Several minutes passed and their search had been all for nothing, it seemed. Tommy, or really any sign of life outside of a few passing butterflies.. were just completely absent from the area.
All of the sudden, as they walked, Copper began to wiggle out of Charlotte's grasp.
"Copper, no!" Charlotte scolded as the dog leaped from her arms and ran into the steep jungle.
Charlotte gasped. "COPPER!"
"Don't scream!" Bryson scolded, all of them chasing after Charlotte and Copper immediately.
They stopped suddenly when Charlotte was hunched over Copper.
Copper was sniffing a pale brown backpack, smaller then the one on Bryson.
"What is it?" Dorothy asked quietly, bending over to get a better look at it.
"This was Tommy's backpack! He was carrying it the whole time we met him." Charlotte told her. "Hey, that is it!" Kyle agreed.
Bryson grew worried. Had something happened to Tommy? Or did that just mean he was close by? Excitement and worry peaked in his body. "Well, come on! We have to go find him as soon as possible!"
"Wait a minute." Kyle said. "Do you hear breathing?"
They all went silent for a minute.
"That's crazy. Plants don't breathe. But.. I do hear something." Charlotte responded.
"Well, in Oz, a lot of things are living. There's even a group of living trees around here. Maybe the jungle is alive, too." Dorothy suggested.
"Yeah. There's even a living sign post around here." Bryson remembered.
"If that's the case, maybe we can find some and ask if they've seen Tommy." Charlotte suggested.
"That's alright, that's alright!" A familiar voice interjected, stepping out of the bushes, the voice immediately alarming Bryson, the other man lowering his gun.
The figure that stepped out was Bruce.
Bryson was instantly shook to his core.
He had said if he knew of Bryson's interference he would kill Finley.
What if Finley was a goner now?!
Bryson began to panic, then noticed Bruce's clothes.
He was now in a bright green suit complete with a green top hat.
He even had on a rainbow tie.
"What's with the outfit, dude?" Kyle asked, having no idea who the man was.
Bryson's heart dropped and he gave a horrified look, Dorothy looking at Bryson quickly, seeming to instantly know the man was trouble by the look on her face.
"Oh, outfit?" Bruce asked, looking down at his own green suit. "Oh, this? Well, how else do you expect the wizard of Oz to dress?!"
"Wooah!" Kyle and Charlotte exclaimed at the same time.
"You're the wizard?!" Charlotte gasped.
"That's so cool!" Kyle said back.
Bryson shook his head in disgust.
He knew what Bruce was doing.
"He's not the wizard.." Bryson growled, shaking his head sternly.
"Oh, but I am!" Bruce said in return, putting on a fake smile and pulling out a huge lolipop from his jacket.
"FOOD!" Kyle gasped.
"I want a sucker! I'm hungry! Can we have it, Mr. Wizard? Can we have it and then you can take us home, please? I've seen the movie you can take us home, right?" Charlotte asked.
Bruce smirked slightly, his smirk a little too warm. "Of course. You kids must be starved."
"We are! We haven't eaten in almost a daaaaaaaaay." Charlotte whined.
"Charlotte, Kyle! Don't listen to him!" Dorothy warned.
Bruce suddenly pulled out a wand.
"I think your parents really miss you, too." Bruce said in a nice voice, a far cry from his rough and tough Brooklyn accent.
Bryson noticed it wasn't any wand.
It was Snowmella's wand.
Theodora had it earlier.
How did Bruce get it?
"Let's see.. how did this work again.." he mumbled as he began to twirl it and suddenly, a vision played from the wand.
What Bryson saw had him fuming.
Two visions.
The first one had Bryson clenching his fists.
"Kyle.. Kyle.. where are you?!" A female voice cried out. The voice suddenly took form. Kyle gasped and began to reach out. "Mom!"
Then another vision..
"Are you there?! Charlotte! Oh, Charlotte! Where are you?" The male voice said next. It also took form. Charlotte's father.
"Daddy!" She yelped out, trembling and reaching out for the vision.
"Okay, that's enough!" Bryson jumped out in anger, outraged at the obvious manipulation of poor innocent young children. He was practically snarling.
Bruce held him back. "Woah, woah, there, sir. I'm just showing the children their way home."
Charlotte and Kyle began to cower next to each other, clearly scared and tired of the situation.
"Come on now, children. We've got tons of candy and food at the shops we're building. There's one just near the cave. Come on, now." Bruce ushered them forward, kneeling down to talk to their level. "I also know where your friend is, if that helps. He's been with me and my wonderful friends! He's been exploring all the roller coasters and the rides.. eating all the cotton candy, walking down the Yellow Brick Road. He's been having a small tour of Oz! Away from all those mean men chasing everybody. After his tour, Tommy is ready to go home."
Their faces lit up and the "wizard" gave them each a lolipop from his jacket, seeming to have some built in compartment for sweets and objects.
"Yes, let's get out of here." Another voice said, stepping out of the fields, revealing a woman.
She was a completely random Bryson had never seen before, but she was dressed in a pink Glinda like dress. It looked like the dress from the 1939 movie, but slightly cheaper. It wasn't like the actual Glinda's white dress.
Charlotte gasped. "Glindaaaa! You can take us home, I know you can! I remember the movie."
"Yes, my child." The woman said, doing an over the top Glinda impression. "Let us go and we will explore Oz together!"
Kyle and Charlotte skipped along, Charlotte still holding Copper as the fake Glinda actress led them to the forest, seemingly headed towards the cave.
"GUYS! WAIT!" Bryson yelled.
"CHARLOTTE! KYLE!" Dorothy yelled.
Bruce looked back, still putting on his fake smile to see the kids skipping along with the fake Glinda before slowly turning back with a menacing look towards Bryson and Dorothy.
"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THEM?! YOU EVIL SON OF A-" Bryson rushed forward, prepared to charge after the kids and the fake Glinda, but Bruce pushed him over and made Bryson drop his axe. Bryson gasped and quickly picked it back up, awkwardly setting himself up, stumbling.
"Hey!" Dorothy protested, ready to pounce before being stopped.
Soon, a booming voice shouted out: "FREEZE!"
Before they could even react, a man in a green camo army outfit came out with a small pistol in his hands.
This certainly wasn't an average hunter like they had been seeing. It was as if he was a member of higher authority.
A group of soldiers dressed in green camo army clothes then emerged from the bushes.
They were holding larger guns, surrounding Bryson and Dorothy, the two suddenly feeling very claustrophobic.
"Don't fire. Yet." Bruce said through gritted teeth.
"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO THOSE KIDS?!" Bryson yelled in anger.
"Rellaaax! Jesus." Bruce huffed, adjusting his suit. "I'm not gonna hurt them or anything. But my advisors wanted a test run. See how our target audience would feel about the park. Record their reactions. Show investors. You know the drill. We'll take them home by the end of the day." Bruce said as if it was nothing.
"THEY'RE KIDS! NOT NUMBERS OR METRICS OR AUDIENCES! AND WHAT ABOUT TOMMY?! WHERE IS HE?!" Bryson screamed, irate, his voice almost going hoarse.
"That's for Theodora to decide. I don't know or care about what she wants with him. They happened to be with that kid when Theodora sent him over and we decided to go ahead and use his little friends as a mini test run for the park. If they're this excited when it's unfinished, I can only imagine what it'll be like when we're up and running!" Bruce exclaimed, licking his lips and chuckling to himself.
Bryson was so angry that Theodora not only brought Tommy over to take over his body, but even got his friends wrapped up in all this!
"And what's with the whole wizard thing? And the stupid outfit?!" Bryson growled.
"Well, every theme park needs a mascot or a face. Who better then the man behind everything?" Bruce smirked, circling his hand around his face.
"You're so... ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS MONEY AND FAME! HAVING YOUR FACE ON BILLBOARDS AND ON TV!"
"Well, yes. I imagine I'll be bigger then the president or world famous geniuses all the way from Bill Gates to Einstein. I'm surprised ya don't share my excitement, kid." Bruce chuckled.
"YOU'RE SICK, YOU KNOW THAT?!" Dorothy yelled, huffing and puffing, her face completely red, on her tip toes, her knuckles being squeezed so hard they were as red as her face. "YOU'RE EVEN MORE PUNCHABLE THEN I IMAGINED! THE SICKO BEHIND ALL OF THIS! I OUGHTA KNOCK YOU OUT MYSELF, MY UNCLE TAUGHT ME A FEW THINGS, YA KNOW!" Dorothy yelled, holding up her fists.
Bruce chuckled. "I gotta say, Ms. Garland, you're looking a lot younger these days. What's your skincare routine?" Bruce joked. Bryson knew he was taunting him and that just made him angrier. "Or uh.. Dorothy. You're even more feisty then in the movie."
"WHAT MOVIE?! AND WHAT'S WITH THIS GALRAND THING?!" Dorothy said in confusion, stomping her foot.
Bruce laughed. "Forget about it. The less you know the better. I'm just glad you all had a chance to see more of the park. Welcome to the Jungle Tour, by the way! What you're seeing is a mere preview of the coming future of the park."
"Listen to me." Bryson said slowly, panting. "You don't understand this. I don't know exactly what business you belong to besides that crummy newspaper or who all these people are.." he sighed, pointing at the men holding guns at them. "Oz. Is. Not... a theme park."
"Soon enough it will be.." Bruce mumbled.
"LIKE HELL IT WILL BE!" Dorothy screamed. "My aunt taught me not to curse, but by golly, I swear you'll hear a lot more from me if you keep this up!"
"You kids don't understand either." Bruce began. "This operation isn't just me and a few other ass clowns. This park has been approved by theme park commissions around the world and the states of Kansas and New York where the two main entrances will be located. Clever, huh? Double the states, double the visitors, double the money, double the fame, double the legacy. It's like a domino effect, yeah?" Bruce chuckled.
"You're not gonna get away with this! No one is going to approve you rounding up all these people and taking another world and turning it into a theme park!" Bryson argued.
"Oh, but they have. State governments of those two states I mentioned have. U.S government has given permission to build. And as far as everyone knows, the people of Oz love the idea of a park! Their happy faces will seem pretty real with my men watching over them constantly." Bruce chuckled. "The park is already being built. Workers in every way. Just give it up, kid. You've lost."
"You are so.. careless! You discover this great land and your first thought is to make it a product." Bryson huffed. "Where's your morality?"
"Morality is but an illusion, kid. In the end, everyone's out for themselves. We're just animals trying to survive. And I'm gonna survive. I'm gonna do more then survive. I'm going to build the greatest legacy in the human race as the discoverer of Oz and the creator of Oz World. A greater discover then Colombus." He cackled. "It's gonna be a whole new world now. The greatest achivement in human history. Be honored you're gonna witness it."
Bryson shook his head, speaking lowly, trying to reason with him. "You don't get it.. opening this place as a kid's amusement park will be like letting kids run with scissors.. or a loaded gun. It's a disaster waiting to happen. It will lead to war. Your park won't last weeks. Oz will be finished. Worst case scenario? You're remembered as the man who caused the destruction of the first alternate world known to man. Think about that for a second."
"Yeah, okay." Bruce chuckled, shaking his head. "Ya doomsday nut."
"I'm telling the truth. Open up this park and you'll unleash carnage like you haven't seen before. When people discover something, they don't treat it like they should. They milk it for all its worth, they package it. This will be no different. If we lived in a better world, those happy faces would be real. There would be no use for chains and the people of Oz would accept them with open arms. But we live in a.. dark place. You're playing with fireworks here, Bruce."
"Let me ask ya this, Bryson. What was the last time America took a risk? We used to conquer land. Take what was ours. Develop the newest technology, search our planet, search outside of it. First country to the moon, for god's sake! And now we don't wanna ask questions anymore. We just sit around. Accepting the cynical fact that we're just organisms on a floating rock in outer space. I want to be more then that, don't you? We don't explore anymore! This will push my company to other heights. We can start exploring and developing again! It's not just money!"
"WHEN DID WE EVER GO THE MOON?!" Dorothy screamed.
Bruce chuckled and shook his head. "She's clueless."
Bryson looked on, ignoring his taunts. "Yeah. And that land we conquered back then.. we took it from someone else. Exactly what we're doing now. I'm all for exploring, but not at the expense of this pure world! These poor people that never hurt anybody!" Bryson did admire his passion in soeme way, but not the way it was directed into such bad intentions.
"With the technology we have now? Accidents like that don't happen." Bruce scoffed.
"You can't contain magic. You can't contain this world. If this park happens, you're going to wish we had stopped you now." Bryson said lowly in a last ditch effort to get through to the greedy and power hungry man in front of him.
"I'm sure. Well, it's clear you won't stop. So I see no choice now." Bruce cleared his throat. "Men! Don't harm the girl, but get rid of the boy. This park cannot thrive to the best ability possible with protestors."
"NO!" Dorothy screamed, jumping in front of Bryson. "If you're gonna kill him, you're gonna have to kill me to!"
Bryson was in disbelief, gasping, his heart was pounding.
She was prepared to take a bullet for him?!
He had never known someone so selfless, so full of love.
Bruce rolled his eyes. "Men. Trank her and then off the boy."
But then, green smoke began to appear, causing the men to stumble around in a confused and dazed manner.
"Let's run!" Dorothy yelped, grabbing Bryson's hand roughly and running past the men without a care of the guns in their hands.
Bryson couldn't believe how full of courage this girl was...
"Where did that come from?!" Bryson wondered as they sprinted away, struggling to juggle everything as he carried his own backpack on his arms, carried Tommy's small backpack, and the axe in his hand.
Dorothy didn't answer at first, distracted from the running, panting before she stopped and stumbled over herself, Bryson stumbling with her and helping her kneel down steadily.
"I... found.. this.." Dorothy panted, lifting up Bryson's actual car keys. "I saw them on the ground when we were looking for Tommy. I think they fell out of your car. I kept them in case we'd need them. When that awful slime of a man was talking, I just pressed one of the buttons hoping it would do something to that magical car of yours. I guess some of the exhaust smoke came out of it. The same thing that helped us escape those hunters." Dorothy said through all her pants.
Bryson was amazed.
He knew his actual keys were in his car, but he never bothered using them with the Oz key in there.
It seemed his other keys with the buttons to sound off the beepers or lock the car were enchanted since they had been in the car.
"Glinda's really good with these spells.." He panted, smoothing out Dorothy's dress, helping her steady himself. "I'm impressed with you, though. You really think on your feet." Bryson panted as he put the axe back in his bag.
Dorothy was about to reply through her panting, but she was distracted by a structure next to them.
"Is that a treehouse?" She asked, pointing behind Bryson.
Bryson turned around to see a tree covered by bushes, but with a hint of something behind it.
Slowly, he approached it and pushed back the bushes, seeing an entrance carved into it.
Bryson slowly looked upward. The tree was huge and tall. It seemed there were more carvings and openings at the top of the tree.
"Well built tree house.." Bryson mumbled, impressed. "Wonder if this was built single handedly."
"No, the animals and the plants helped me." A small voice said.
Bryson knew that voice and he knew it well.
He turned around, but didn't find what he expected.
Instead, he saw a short figure in a big pale brown cap hat with blue goggles over his eyes with a seemingly handmade pale brown cape.
"Oh, hello. Who might you be?" Dorothy asked, kneeling down to the boy with a big smile.
"Dorothy!" The voice exclaimed excitedly.
Dorothy giggled. "Yes, that's me! Who are you?"
"My name's Tommy." The figure said, shyly removing his hat and goggles to look up at the girl, pushing his hair back with the same innocent wide eyes.
Bryson gasped.
"Tommy!" He exclaimed, instantly kneeling down to him, his heart racing, overjoyed with relief.
He had found Tommy and finally knew he was safe from the Witch!
"Oh my gosh.. I'm so glad you're alright!" Bryson exclaimed before looking over the boy.
"You didn't recognize me, Mr. Bryson?" The young boy asked.
Bryson had to admit, with the stuff he was wearing he wasn't sure at first.
But he also noticed Tommy didn't quite look the same.
His already longish hair was a little longer now, almost slightly feral looking. He almost looked like a hermit.
He wore a white, baby blue short sleeve shirt with three buttons that were unbuttoned, blue pants and black sneakers.
There was suddenly the sound of barking behind the boy.
"Oh, and I found my dog just a few minutes ago! I can't believe he found me here." Tommy said excitedly, picking up Copper.
"That's your dog?" Bryson asked. He just assumed it belonged to Charlotte.
Looking at the young boy cradling his puppy had Bryson seeing himself in Tommy even more now, making Bryson miss his own dog.
He wished Lucky could have seen Oz...
"Yep, he's mine! Kinda. He would just show up around the parkin' lot and I took care of him." Tommy smiled, clutching to the puppy.
"I'm just glad I found you, Tommy. I have so much to ask you.." Bryson sighed out, relieved and exhausted.
"Let's go in my tree house. I'll explain everything!" Tommy exclaimed, making his way over to the tree bark with the hole cut in it, kicking it twice before it opened up, sliding through it with ease with his small frame.
Bryson and Dorothy had to bend down further to get inside the tree house, beginning to crawl through the opening.
He had lost the other two kids for now, but he had at least found the boy who was in the most danger.