“And school,” Ruby chimed in, causing Simon to make a face.
“And the garage,” Daisy said, then lifted her chin. “By the way, tell your dad he’s just missing one of the currents.”
Ruby frowned. “What?”
“On his invention,” she said. “If he adds an electrical charge to the input, it should work like a charm.”
“That’s it?” she asked, and Daisy nodded.
“That’s it.”
Simon’s mouth was open, and he turned to Ruby. “Does that mean we’ll get to stay?”
She looked back at the farmhouse, huddled beneath the starry sky. An owl cried out from somewhere near the barn, and the crickets were loud all around them. It felt like they’d been away for so much longer than just a day, and Ruby realized how good it was to be home.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “I guess it probably does.”
“Good,” Daisy said, beaming. “Because I’m counting on having you guys around from now on. It’s actually sort of nice to have some company.” She stepped over to give them each a hug. “See you at work tomorrow?”
Ruby grinned. “We’ll be there.”
Simon walked over to Otis and extended his hand. “Thank you,” he said with a little nod. He looked so much older than he had just days ago, standing there shaking Otis’s hand, his back straight and his shoulders squared. He seemed taller, more grown up, and Ruby wondered if she looked different, too. She certainly felt that way.
“Couldn’t have done it without you,” Otis said, and when Simon started to protest, he shook his head. “You’re the one who made the difference. Really. It’s like a stove that we couldn’t get to light. I might be the flame, but you’re the one who sparked the fire. You’re the match.”
Ruby could see the pride in her brother’s eyes as he nodded. “Thank you,” he said again.
“And I promise to teach Otis some sports metaphors before you see him next,” Daisy teased. Otis laughed as he moved on to Ruby.
“Here,” she said, holding the barometer in her flattened palm.
He smiled when he saw where the needle was pointing, but he shook his head. “You keep it,” he said. “In case the winds ever shift again.”
Ruby’s gaze was unwavering. “I know why,” she said, and Otis tilted his head to the side in question. “I know why it says change. I know why the compass picked you. It’s not about the most powerful Storm Maker, or even the one with the most potential. At least not anymore.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, the wrinkles showing at the corners of his eyes.
“Yeah,” she said. “This time it went to the one with the best intentions. The one who’ll replant the forests and soften the big storms. The one who’ll help the most and hurt the least.” She paused, smiling. “You.”
Otis shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded thoughtfully. “Well, don’t think it means I’ll be cooped up in an office all day,” he said with a grin. “If I get too stir-crazy down there, I might just have to hop a train and come up for a visit.”
“Just don’t pick the wrong train,” Ruby said, and he laughed.
“Don’t be surprised if I show up in the barn again.”
“It’s all yours,” she told him, then glanced down as he pulled his hands from his pockets, both of them empty. “I’m sorry about your hat.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “Maybe it was time.”
“But you said you wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
“Well, maybe it wasn’t quite the world,” he said with a small smile. “But I think it was a pretty good trade all the same, don’t you?”
An image of the tornado flashed through Ruby’s mind, the spiraling air like a guided missile, and Otis, uncowed and unafraid, ready to sacrifice everything to save them all.
He leaned down as she reached up to give him a hug.
“Yeah,” she whispered into his shirt. “It was a very good trade.”
When they’d all said their good-byes—“Just for now,” Daisy kept repeating, “just for now”—Ruby and Simon backed up to let them turn the car around. They lifted their hands to wave, then stood there as the red taillights grew distant.
After a moment, Simon turned to her. “I feel sort of like Dorothy, you know?” he said. “Right after she woke up.”
“But it wasn’t a dream,” Ruby said, shaking her head in wonder.
“You might need to remind me of that in the morning,” he said. “Otherwise, I’m gonna have a hard time believing that really happened.”
She laughed. “Which part?”
“All of it,” he said as they began walking toward the house, their backpacks slung over their shoulders. When they were close enough, they could see their parents in the kitchen, Mom making tea at the stove, Dad hunched over his diagrams at the table.
Ruby came to a stop, watching the scene before her. She thought again of what Otis had done today, and what she and Simon had done, too. How they’d all been willing to put themselves in danger for the sake of others, how there are things far more important than magic or even science, things that have the power to save you. And as if the two thoughts were one, Ruby was suddenly grateful for her family, for Mom and Dad and Simon and the life they’d managed to carve out for themselves here on this farm.
“What’s wrong?” Simon asked, pausing to wait for her.
Ruby shook her head. “Nothing,” she said with a smile. “I’m just happy to be home.”
When Simon turned the knob on the front door, the dogs began to bark, rushing over to greet them both, all wriggling bodies and wagging tails.
“Toto, stop,” Simon said, ducking one of their slobbering tongues.
Ruby laughed. “That’s Oz,” she said, rubbing Toto’s ears. “Maybe that’s why they’ve never liked you. Because you’re always mixing them up.”
“Nah,” Simon said. “I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m magic.”
“Oh yeah,” Ruby joked. “The Great and Powerful Simon.”
They heard voices from around the corner, then footsteps, and Mom and Dad appeared near the stairs, both of them looking surprised to find their kids rolling around on the floor with the dogs.
“I thought you were sleeping over,” Mom said, stooping to give them each a kiss on the forehead. “How come you’re back so early?”
“I guess we just missed you,” Ruby said, and Dad laughed.
“I’m going to choose to believe that,” he said, putting Simon into a playful headlock, “even though it sounds like a load of malarkey to me.”
“What happened to your arm?” Mom asked Ruby, and everyone looked at the white bandage.
“Let me guess,” Dad said. “You hit the ball out of the park and went sliding into home to win the game?”
Ruby glanced over at Simon with a grin. “Something like that.”
“Anyone hungry?” Mom asked. “I just finished making some cookies.”
Simon nodded. “Always.”
In the kitchen, they sat at the table while Mom poured them glasses of milk and set out a plate of cookies. Ruby eyed Dad’s sketches over the rim of her cup, and when she’d finished drinking, she wiped her mouth and pointed. She was about to tell him what Daisy had said about the invention when she caught Simon’s eye. He was looking at her with such undisguised hope that she dropped her hand and gave him a little nod. He should be the one to say it. He’d earned at least that much.
With a grateful smile, he turned to Dad. “You know,” he said, gesturing at the crumpled pieces of paper, “all you’re missing is one of the currents.”
Dad stared at him openmouthed.
“Yeah,” Simon continued. “You just need to add an electrical charge to the input, and then you’ll be all set.”
“How did you figure that out?” Dad asked, looking from Simon to Ruby in surprise.
“Science,” Ruby announced at the same time that Simon said, “Magic.”
Mom laughed, but Dad shook his head. “No, they’re right,” he w
as muttering, reaching for a pencil. “If I just connect this here,” he said, making dark lines on the page, “then this will work better over here, and then it might just…” He looked up, his eyes shining. “We should go try it out tomorrow,” he said. “All of us.”
Simon beamed at him.
“I have a good feeling about this,” Dad said. “It’s all coming together.” His hand was still busy on the page, sketching as he talked. “And did you feel how it’s already cooling off out there?” He paused to glance up and wink at Mom. “I wouldn’t start packing just yet.”
He looked so pleased that Ruby almost wanted to tell him that he was right, that the drought would soon be gone, nothing more than a footnote in the record books. But he’d never understand how she could know something like that.
Still, by the next morning, the heat would have already lifted. Ruby would wake before anyone else, just as the orange ball of sun was rising—almost as early as it ever would, on the day before the summer solstice, the longest day of the year—coloring the fields a fiery shade of pink. For the first time in weeks, there would be a sharpness to the air, a coolness that would follow her into the barn, where she’d pause in the doorway, her heart lifting with possibility.
But for now, Dad was laughing at their good fortune, and Mom had walked up behind him, her arms circling his neck, her face pressed close to his. As Simon reached for another cookie, Ruby swiveled to look out the window at the farm that would be their home for some time now.
Tonight, though, there were no fields. There was no barn, and no scarecrow; no wheat or corn; no roads or trees. There was only their family, reflected back at her in the warm glow of the kitchen, the four of them gathered around the table, a small island of light in the darkness. She watched them there for a moment, their silhouettes dancing across the windowpanes, and then, once she was ready, she turned around to join them.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are so many people who helped make this book possible. I owe a great deal of thanks to MY AGENT, JENNIFER JOEL, AND MY EDITOR, JULIE SCHEINA, AS WELL AS MEGAN TINGLEY, ELIZABETH BEWLEY, JOANNA KREMER, LIZ CASAL, DAVID CAPLAN, AND EVERYONE ELSE AT LITTLE, BROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS. I’m also very lucky to have had so much support and encouragement from STEPHANIE THWAITES, BINKY URBAN, CHRISTINE BAUCH, NIKI CASTLE, JENNI HAMILL, AND EVERYONE AT ICM, CURTIS BROWN, AND RANDOM HOUSE. This book has been made immeasurably better by BRETT HELQUIST’s gorgeous illustrations, for which I’m incredibly grateful. And finally, none of this would be possible without MY FAMILY: MOM, DAD, KELLY, AND ERROL. Thanks for always being there—rain or shine.
Contents
Front Cover Image
Welcome
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Jennifer E. Smith
Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Brett Helquist
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First e-book edition: April 2012
ISBN 978-0-316-20291-6
The Storm Makers Page 21