Chapter 19: Short-Circuit

"But why would DogDay tell us about the morning star?" Elli questioned Nathan. "That weapon has never been covered in History, and Mommy hasn't told us about it before."

"Good point," Rez agreed. "Besides, we don't know if Kissy and DogDay are obeying the factory workers or Mommy and Miss Delight, let alone if Miss Delight and Mommy are working together or separately."

"Maybe Poppy might know," Elli assumed.

"No, we can't trust her," Nathan said.

"Why not? She's helped us so far."

"It could be an act to lure us into a false sense of security. We don't even know why she's in the PlayCare to begin with."

"She said she tried to help some other kids escape a few years ago."

"And did they succeed?"

Elli shook her head. "No, they didn't."

"Then how do we know she didn't get them caught after pretending to be their friend? And why have we never seen her before?"

Fighting hard to control her temper, Elli responded, "Poppy said she originally came from another part of the factory."

"Did she say where?" Nathan asked.

"No."

"I rest my case. We can't trust her unless she proves herself to us."

"Rez! Elli! Nathan!" Mommy's voice cried. "Where are you? It's time for dinner!"

"Let's put this issue aside for the time-being and concentrate on my plan for getting into that locked room in the library during Parent-Teacher Conference Day," Nathan decided.

"Why are you so obsessed with getting in there?" Rez asked. "Just because it's locked doesn't mean it'll have something that'll help us escape."

"And that's why we have to check," Nathan said. "Because if it holds something that'll either explain what's going on in the factory, validate the stuff Poppy said to Elli, or even help us escape, I'm willing to take the risk of getting in there."

Following another quiet dinner, Elli snuck out of Home Sweet Home around dawn and went to the electric panel with the poppy flower. As she promised, the little doll Poppy showed up.

"Did you find out what Nathan is planning for breaking into the locked room in the library?" Poppy asked.

"Not exactly, but I thought I should let you know that Miss Delight tried to trick us into holding tracking devices disguised as coins," Elli said.

"Which one?"

"The one who runs the library."

"I see. Did you get rid of the tracking devices?"

"Nathan threw them in a trashcan when DogDay asked about them after claiming they were candy wrappers."

"Smart move. Though it won't be long before the tracking devices are discovered by the factory workers when they take the trash out in a few days."

"Is there anything we can do to stop them from finding the tracking devices?"

Poppy looked around before saying, "Can you show me which trashcan Nathan threw the tracking devices in?"

"Sure."

Elli picked up Poppy and brought her over to the trashcan near the Toy Store. To Elli's surprise, Poppy leaped into the trashcan. After some rummaging, she emerged from the trash holding the handful of metallic tracking devices.

"Why did you do that?" Elli asked.

"I have an idea for getting rid of them permanently," Poppy said, clearing the filth out of her hair. "But I'll need your help to do it."

Then Poppy walked over to a pool next to the Playhouse that had three bumper boats shaped like yellow rubber ducks. With the tracking devices clutched in her tiny hand, she dipped them in the pool while using her other hand to hold the pool's edge so she wouldn't fall in.

"You know, it just occurred to me that I've never introduced myself to you properly," Elli realized. "But you seem to know me and my friends very well."

"A quick peek at the school records told me who you and your friends were, Elli," Poppy explained. "I snuck into the school and checked on them the night we first met."

"How did you not get caught?" Elli said before realizing she was staring at the answer to her own question. "It's because you're small, isn't it?"

"Correct. My small size makes me practically invisible to the big toys, including Miss Delight. Now I want you to take these deactivated tracking devices and throw them onto the train tracks as you head to the Game Station."

Kneeling to Poppy's level, Elli took the tracking devices from Poppy. She immediately noticed the red lights on the devices were completely dim.

"Did you short them out with the water from the pool?" Elli guessed, remembering a lesson Miss Delight taught in Science where she showed the conductive properties of water and its ability to short-circuit electrical devices.

"That's precisely what I did to deactivate them. I'm surprised you figured that out quickly."

"What's that supposed to mean? Did you think I wasn't smart?"

"No, I didn't mean that. But from what I saw of your school record, your friends are smarter than you."

"I know, though I make up for it in other ways."

"Like what?"

"Well, I'm fast, strong, and catch on pretty quick to stuff."

"And it's for those reasons I chose to talk to you first and not either of your friends."

"Because I'm not as smart as them?"

"Smartness will only get you so far. If you and your friends hope to escape successfully, you need to be sensible as well as smart. The previous kids who tried to escape were smart, but they weren't sensible and that's how they got caught."

Thinking back to the hidden messages, Elli asked, "Was one of them responsible for hiding a tape of a missing Smiling Critters episode?"

"Was this after you found a book with numbers in it?"

"Yeah."

Poppy briefly looked away, like she was trying to repress a painful memory.

"Ollie," Poppy muttered. "I almost forgot how much trouble he went through to hide that tape, after he found it in Claire's room."

"Claire?" Elli exclaimed. "What do you know about her?"

To be continued…