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the chimney. Lights were on, glowing through the windows.
    Tinker and Loren parked their snowmobiles near the porch and the kids jumped off. Tinker carried Natasha up the snowy front steps. A Christmas wreath hung on the door.
    Loren opened the door and everyone clattered in.
    “Boots off, you two!” a voice called from another room. “And you said you’d be home by eleven!”
    Tinker kicked out of his boots, then laid Natasha on a rug in front of thefireplace. Four stockings hung from the mantel. In the fireplace itself, a small wood fire crackled. Dink noticed a Christmas tree in one corner, with a few wrapped presents arranged on a red cloth.

    “Mom, I have a surprise for you!” Tinker yelled toward the next room. He grinned at the others.
    A tall woman stepped into the room. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt with a parrot on the front. She stopped when she saw five strange kids dripping snow onto her rug.
    “Usually he brings me baby squirrels or orphaned birds,” she said. “Who do we have here?”
    The five wet, cold kids introduced themselves.
    “We found them in a snowbank!” Loren said. “Their dog led us right to them!”
    “What dog?” her mother asked.
    Loren pointed to the blanket on the hearth.
    Her mom knelt by the dog and carefully unwrapped the blanket. She forced Natasha’s eyes open, then her mouth.“Loren and Tinker, find some dry-clothes for your friends.” Loren followed her brother to the second floor.

    “Will she be all right?” KC asked.
    The woman sat back on her feet. “Yes, sweetie,” she said. “Your dog’s just exhausted and very cold. We’ll have her fixed up in a jiffy.”
    She took a close look at the five kids. “Lordy, you all look like you’ve been through a war!” she said.
    “We got kidnapped!” Marshall said.
    “Wait, we want to hear!” Tinker said. He rushed into the room with an armful of sweatpants. Loren was right behind him. She dropped a pile of sweatshirts on the sofa.
    “Okay, you kids all get into warm stuff now,” Loren and Tinker’s mother ordered. “Loren, why don’t you make a pot of hot chocolate? Tinker, we need more firewood.”
    “Um, Mrs.—” Dink started to say. “I’m Molly Makepeace,” the woman said.
    “Mrs. Makepeace, could we make a couple of phone calls?” Dink went on. “Our parents don’t know where we are.”
    “Sure, sweetie,” Molly Makepeace said. “Use the phone in the kitchen.”
    The five kids quickly pulled on too-large sweatshirts and pants. Dink and KC went to the kitchen to find the phone. “You first,” Dink said, then he went back to wait in the living room.
    Everyone was gathered around Natasha, who was sitting up and licking faces.
    KC stepped into the room with the phone. “Um, my stepfather wants to know what town we’re in.”
    “Tell him Maple Crossing, Virginia,” Molly Makepeace said. “We’re number fifteen Fox Run Drive.”

    KC repeated the address into the phone, then listened for a reply.
    “He wants to know if there’s a place to land a helicopter,” KC said.
    “Your dad has a helicopter?” Tinker said.
    “There’s a big field behind the house,” Molly said. “Plenty of room to land there. Tell him we’ll have lights on.”
    KC finished and hung up. “They’ll be here in a half hour. He promised to call your father at the hotel,” KC told Dink. “And your parents are at the White House already, Marshall.”
    Dink smiled. He could just see his dad chatting with the president.
    “White House? Kidnapped?” Molly Makepeace said. “What’s going on here?”
    “Well, the president is—” KC started to say.
    “Wait!” Loren said. “The hot chocolate. Don’t say anything till I get back!”
    Soon they all had mugs of hot chocolate. Natasha was sitting up against KC’s knees.
    “Okay, kids, tell us how you know the president,” Molly Makepeace said.
    “He’s my stepfather,” KC said. “Last year, he and my mom fell in love and got married.”
    “So