Yes,she realized. Almost all summer she’d been tagging along with Logan and his friends. Hoping for …somethingto happen. Anything new or different. And now she’d found it.
Opal glanced at Nico, and found him watching her. Before she could think of what to say, Tyler called out from across the room. “Yo! Genius Boy over here found a map of Still Cove. It shows how we can paddle out of this nightmare.” He sauntered down the aisle with a scroll in his hands.
“Time to go,” Nico said, and Opal felt a door slam shut between them. “My dad gets home tonight, and he’ll freak out if I miss dinner.”
“Boooo.” Emma moaned. “Okay, fine. But wearecoming back. Like, tomorrow, right?” She nodded in answer to her own question before glancing at Opal, eyes curious. Not inviting, but not rude either.
Nico snorted. “Like we could stop you.”
“Back into the cove again.” Tyler rubbed his eyes. “Mercy. Let’s just get this boat ride over with.”
“It’ll be fine.” Nico pushed Tyler’s shoulder. “Nothing ate us the first time, right?”
Tyler groaned, but Emma giggled. Even Opal cracked a smile. They all headed for the door, leaving behind a herd of dusty footprints and a swirling, mist-green jar.
5
NICO
Breakfast was cold cereal again.
Nico didn’t mind. He liked cereal, and his father knew enough to stock more than one box when he went away. But the milk had gone bad, so Nico had to eat it dry. It was better than nothing.
He glanced at the calendar tacked to the kitchen wall. His brother had gone to Gonzaga this year and wouldn’t be home until Thanksgiving, which was both a relief and a drag. Rob could be moody—he liked to rub Nico’s face into the carpet as a joke—but he also used to make the backup grocery runs. Now Nico had to do it.
They’ll all stare at me in the supermarket. Whispering. That’ll be fun.
Nico shook off the unpleasant thought. There was nothing he could do about it.
He put his bowl in the sink, grabbed his brother’s oldSonics pullover—hispullover now—and slid into his ratty backpack. Shutting off the TV in the small den, he left by the side door, making sure to lock it behind him.
His father had been due back last night, but he’d spotted something up by the timberline that needed checking out. At least, that’s what his text message said. No big deal. Nico got himself ready for school every day anyway.
His mom had died when he was three and he didn’t remember much about her. Just feeling loved and warm, a kind voice, and sometimes a gentle face. He avoided pictures of his mother because he didn’t want to replace that. The memories were flawed, but they werehis.Nico wanted to keep it that way.
They were just the Holland boys for years, one big and two little. But now Rob was gone and his dad worked all the time. Lately, Nico felt like he was on his own.
The wind outside had turned cold. Next door, Mr. Murphy was sweeping leaves off his front porch. Their eyes met as Nico walked by, and he felt the old man’s glower burn into him. Nico looked away, hurrying toward the sidewalk. Mr. Murphy had been a shift foreman at the mill before the layoffs. He wasn’t now.
It was seven blocks to Timbers Middle School. Lately, it felt like a million. Not everyone was as hostile as Mr. Murphy, but neighbors watched him from their bungalows with closed-off faces. Nobody called down hellos anymore. Nicobegan to breathe easier once he reached the park three streets down. The rolling fields and evergreen trees were an oasis of calm before the even rockier shore of the school yard.
He’d lived here all his life. Timbers was a quiet little mill town, nestled between the bluffs of Skagit Sound. There were three big roads and two traffic lights, with everything running along Otter Creek down to the docks. Too remote to be a true tourist destination, Timbers relied on ferry traffic to keep its businesses open, though it was often a struggle. Things had gotten worse since the mill cutbacks, but Nico tried not to think about that.
He was always trying not to think about that.
Nico spotted the school ahead, and his spirits dropped again. He glanced right, down a steep lane plunging toward the docks, and left, at a dirt road climbing into the mountains. Either option would be better than going to school. Hiking, fishing, scanning for birds. Whatever. But his father would crush him if he skipped school. Warren Holland didn’t understand how it was for Nico, or he chose not to care. Nico couldn’t decide which was worse.
Heaving an enormous sigh, he hitched his pack and headed into battle.
He avoided the playground crowd and slipped into the building, beelining to his locker. For once there were no nasty surprises inside. Nico grabbed his physical science textbook. It was his favorite subject, and Mr. Huang was the one teacher who seemed openly sympathetic to his predicament.
He closed his locker. Wheeled around. And nearly barged into Opal.
Had she been waiting behind him? Or was it pure coincidence?
“Hey, Nico.” Opal’s hand rose to tangle itself in her shimmering black hair. As a kid Nico had been fascinated by Opal’s hair, though he’d usually expressed it by yanking on her braid and giggling as she slugged him for it. That was a long time ago.
“Hey,” he said back. The uncomfortable moment stretched as they both examined their shoes. Nico cleared his throat, but nothing followed.
