by Sheela Chari
“Um sure, you want some?”
“Dude, hand it over before I starve to death. I barely had time for breakfast.”
“Do you want to come in?”
JP clamored in through the window. “Thought you’d never ask.”
Two cans of Sprite and several bags of chips later, JP and Mars were sitting on the floor next to each other.
“What’s going on, JP?” Mars said. “Nothing makes sense anymore. Maybe Aurora and Jonas are fine and it’s me. Maybe I’m better off in Cleveland. All I do is get everyone in trouble.”
“Are you kidding? That’s definitely not what you do.” JP wiped the crumbs from their fingers. “Here’s why. Every day I have to decide what I’m wearing. You think that’s easy? It’s not. I want to be me. So maybe it’s the color orange. Or sweats. And a sparkly scarf, too. I like mixing it up, bro. Because maybe I’m not exactly one thing. Why do I have to choose?”
“You don’t,” Mars said. “That’s what’s cool about you, JP.”
“Then at school, I have to keep reminding people — I’m not a she, I’m not a he, I’m a they! And every teacher, except for maybe Mr. Q, gets it wrong. But it’s more than what pronoun I use. It’s also, Who am I? Because everybody wants you to make choices. They want you to check boxes.”
“Yeah,” Mars said. “I hear you.” When he had to fill out school forms, there were always spaces to write about his dad — name, occupation, contact info. And Mars always had to leave them blank. He hated that. If only his mom would tell him a few things, but his dad was one of those forbidden topics. “But I still think I’m the one getting everyone else into trouble.”
“Keep listening, Mars. I have a point. Do you remember two years ago, when some people started calling me boy-girl? ‘There goes JP — which bathroom are you going to use, boy-girl?’”
“Clyde, you mean,” Mars said.
“Exacto. Then he and his loser friends started teasing Toothpick. Now, people can do whatever they want with me, but they don’t mess with my friend. Remember the first week of school in fourth grade? We were in the cafeteria, and they started making fun of Toothpick. Do you remember that?”
Mars nodded. “Sure.”
“And I’m getting so mad you know I’m going to cream Clyde any minute.”
“You would have been expelled, JP. You’d already punched him in the face once.”
“OK, so I really don’t like being called boy-girl.” Even now, JP bristled at the memory. In fourth grade, that’s when Clyde Boofsky kicked in with all his evilness. It was like the birth of the Boof.
“And I didn’t want you to get expelled,” Mars said.
“Yeah. I know that’s why you dropped that stink bomb in the middle of the cafeteria. I don’t even know why you had that thing with you, Mars!”
Mars smiled. “Fourth-grade science project. Eggs, vinegar, milk. Seal in a mason jar for a week, and bingo — you have a stink bomb. Good thing I had it with me in my backpack.”
“Well, it was smelliest science project I’ve ever smelled. A million lunch staff had to clean it up. Pandemonium everywhere. The Boof out of the picture. You did that to save me. I knew it then. I know it now.” JP took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m here, Mars. You take care of me. I’ll do anything for you. You know that.”
“I know,” Mars said softly.
JP looked at him. “So what do we do now? About Aurora and Jonas?”
“You mean that?” Mars asked. “You’ll help me?”
“You tell me.”
Reaching under the bed, Mars pulled out the envelope JP had found in Jonas’s closet.
“You still have that?”
“I hid it inside my shirt when the police came. It’s just like the one I got from Pruitt Prep.”
“And you think it’s important.”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. We have to find out. But . . . I need help.”
“Well, duh. Look no further. You’ve got us.”
“But Caddie won’t talk to me. I don’t know where Toothpick is. And —”
JP jumped up. “Leave that to me. What we need is a plan, Stan.”
“Who’s Stan?”
JP rolled their eyes. “Get with the expressions, Mars.”
For the next few minutes JP and Mars mapped out what they were doing next. Now they needed to talk to everyone else.
“You stay put until I give you the heads up,” JP said. They opened the window and hurried down the steps of the fire escape until they got to the end and leaped to the ground. JP looked up to call out goodbye when there was a thud on the ground next to them. “What are you doing?” JP asked, surprised.
Mars stood up, brushing the dust from his hands. “If you’re going, I’d better go, too.”
“But you’re suspended! You aren’t supposed to be at school.”
He shrugged. “I was never much for rules.”
JP laughed. “Neither am I, bro.”
JP and Mars wanted to meet everyone in the janitor closet, but when they got to school, they discovered duct tape had been placed across the door in a big X, along with a sign that read: OUT OF SERVICE INDEFINITELY.
“Someone knows about our place,” Mars said. He looked up at the tiny cameras lining the hallway. “They probably know that I’m here, too.”
“Then we gotta hurry,” JP said. “Let’s find them quick.”
Toothpick was easy enough. He was in woodshop building a barometer-clock out of maple. On a bathroom break, they pulled him aside and went over the plan.
“Affirmative,” Toothpick said.
Getting to Caddie in chorus class was harder. It meant sneaking into the gym. Luckily everyone was singing loud enough to cover up the sound of the big door opening and closing as JP and Mars slipped inside and crawled under the bleachers where the students were standing and singing. But how to get Caddie’s attention?
’Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
’tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
’twill be in the valley of love and delight.
But before they could figure out what to do, Caddie sensed them and peered through the bleachers. “What are you guys doing there?” she whispered. “You’re going to get me in trouble.”
“Check your texts, Cads,” Mars whispered. “We need your help.”
Caddie’s eyes flickered uncertainly from him to JP.
“We think we know where Aurora and Jonas are,” JP said.
“But to get there, we need you,” Mars said. “You’re the one who makes sure I don’t do anything stupid.”
“And it’s a stupid plan,” JP pointed out.
“Mars, you have to go,” Caddie whispered. “If my parents find out . . .”
“Mars Patel?” a familiar voice cut in. An annoying familiar voice.
Caddie groaned. “Geez, now Epica spotted you.”
Epica was incredulous. “Is that perv trying to look up my skirt?”
“You’re wearing jeans, Epica,” Caddie said, exasperated.
“Cads, will you help?” Mars pleaded. “Will you check your phone? Remember: ad astra.”
Caddie was getting frazzled. “I don’t even remember what that means, and —”
“I know what it means,” Epica said.
“How would you know?” Mars asked.
“I know lots of things,” Epica said in that singsongy voice of hers. “Because I’m smarter.”
“Take a hike, Epica,” JP growled.
“Um, I think you’re the ones about to take a hike,” Epica said. “Mrs. Bradley, Caddie is getting interrupted by someone under the bleachers,” she announced loudly.
The music stopped.
Mrs. Bradley’s voice rang out. “Caddie? Who are you talking to? You missed your solo!”
“Fine, guys!” Caddie whispered, glaring at Epica. She straightened. “Sorry, Mrs. Bradley.” She cleared her throat an
d sang, “When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed!”
“Go, go!” JP urged while Caddie was singing and the music started up again. They bolted to the door.
“Is someone there?” Mrs. Bradley called out. “Now wait a minute! That’s not —”
This time they rushed down the eighth-grade hall until they got to the double doors.
“That was close,” JP said panting as they adjusted their orange scarf. “I almost lost my scarf back there. Not cool.”
“Tonight, nine o’clock,” Mars said. “I’ll text everyone. I hope Caddie comes.”
“Oh, she will,” JP said. “Caddie’s our girl.”
“Mars? What are you doing in school?” Mr. Q stood behind them, dressed in one of his usual plaid shirts, the frames of his glasses dark against his pale face. “You’re suspended.”
“Please don’t tell anyone,” Mars pleaded. “We think we know how to find Jonas and Aurora. But we have to do it together. As a team.”
Would Mr. Q rat them out? He was carrying a bag of bird seed and garden shears, headed for the front lawn. He was the only one who cared about the birds and the hedges. And them. “Go,” he said. “I never saw either of you.”
Mars flashed a grateful look and disappeared through the double doors.
“You’re the best, Mr. Q,” JP said. “I’d hug you, but yo, I’m not the type.”
He smiled faintly. “Noted.”
Mars
We meet 9 sharp @ dock - JP carries water and food supplies
JP
Will do
Mars
Pick print a map of school plus anything else useful
Toothpick
Roger that
Mars
Caddie u in
Caddie
Ya I’m in
JP
yayyyyy
Toothpick
Second that
Mars
Cads thank you!!!
Caddie
What do u need from me
Mars
rest your mind we need it to spot danger
Caddie
what danger
Mars
Wear dark clothes don’t tell anyone
Caddie
Do u think we’ll find them
Toothpick
We won’t know until we try
JP
let’s rock this mission
Mars
Oh ya delete these texts
Mars
We made a plan
To come get u and jonas
like maybe in a few hours
the whole mystery will b solved
and I’ll find u
u know u can count on me right
a promise is a promise
Caddie knew Mars was right about Gale Island. She hadn’t told him or anyone, but the island was pulling at her. It had been pulling at her for a long time. She didn’t know whether they would find Aurora and Jonas there. But now that they were all going, she knew they would find something.
She also found that getting out of her second floor bedroom window was easier this time. On her climb down the trellis, she jumped to the right of the rosebush. There was a fine mist in the air when Caddie got on her bike, and the night smelled sweet. She could almost taste it, the sweetness, and then something unexpected happened — she started to feel excited. By the time she got to the dock, it was full-out raining which was fine since she was wearing her raincoat (she’d checked the forecast), and she was literally shaking with excitement. The pulling feeling was getting stronger with every minute.
Toothpick and JP were already there. Toothpick was wearing a coat, too, and some kind of vest with a bunch of gadgets and equipment inside all the pockets. He called it his survival gear. Meanwhile, JP was getting drenched.
“I HATE being wet,” JP whined.
Toothpick offered to make a raincoat out of an empty trash bag in his backpack.
“No, thanks,” JP said. “I don’t need to be garbage. Where’s Mars?”
“I’m here.” Mars pulled up on his bike. “Sorry I’m late. I was checking the ferry schedule. It comes at nine o’clock. Which is like —”
“Three minutes ago,” Toothpick said. “But there’s no sign of a ferry.”
Mars peered into the dark water. “Why is there no ferry? The schedule says there’s supposed to be one.”
“Well, there is a boat,” Toothpick added slowly. “A small boat.”
Mars brightened. “OK, now we’re talking.”
“Hold on,” JP said. “I thought we were getting to Gale Island on a ferry. A ferry is a whole lot bigger than a boat. Did I mention I hate getting wet?”
Caddie sighed. “Mars, we don’t even know what kind of boat,” she said.
Toothpick led everyone to the edge of the shore. A small boat bobbed in the water, tied to a cleat on the dock with a piece of rope. In the dark it was hard to tell whose boat it was or what shape it was in.
JP bunched up their fists like they were going to deck someone. “That’s it? That’s the boat?”
Mars looked at Caddie. “Are you getting any bad vibes, Cads?”
She looked out over the water. The pulling feeling was even stronger here at the shore. But before she could say anything, JP butted in.
“What about me?” JP fumed. “I’m getting bad vibes. Listen, Mars, I’ve gone along with everything else. But me getting in that puny boat? NO WAY. Because if you don’t know by now, I HATE BEING WET.”
Caddie’s eyes met Mars’s.
Five minutes later, cold and wet, they were in the rowboat to Gale Island.
The rain made plinking sounds as they rowed across the inky water. No one could see except Toothpick, who was using his flashlight to look at his compass and say which way to go. Meanwhile Caddie and JP were stuck rowing as Mars listened to his podcast, and Toothpick kept getting up to peer ahead.
“Pick, sit or you’ll capsize the boat!” JP growled. “Ugh, I can’t believe we’re in this boat.”
“My compass works better when I’m standing,” Toothpick said. “Head due north.”
“I don’t know which way north is,” Caddie said. The rain was making her glasses foggy. “But I think I know where to go.”
“By the way, I’m still wet!” JP called out. “Sit down, Pick, or I swear I’ll strangle you. And Mars, stop listening to that podcast. I’m strong, but I can’t be the only one rowing.”
“I’m rowing too,” Caddie said. “And we’re veering too far to the left.”
“Wow, Caddie is better than my compass,” Toothpick said, sitting down finally.
“We’re veering,” JP seethed, “because somebody is on his phone instead of rowing.”
Toothpick stood up again. “Yeah, we’re still veering.”
“You don’t get it. I need to listen to the podcast,” Mars said. “Sometimes Oliver Pruitt . . .” he hesitated. “Sometimes he gives clues.”
“Are you serious?” JP asked.
Caddie could feel the knot in Mars’s stomach. She was feeling one in her stomach, too. Was that pulling she felt from Gale Island a good thing or not? It was hard to tell with everyone bickering. “Oliver did say something big would happen,” she said to everyone, “right before the Code Red.”
“And remember,” Mars said, “that’s when Jonas disappeared.”
“Next you’ll say he made that Code Red happen,” JP muttered.
“Oliver Pruitt giving us clues on his podcast,” Toothpick mused, “means he is observing our every move. Which means he would need highly specialized satellite technology.”
“Listen, everyone,” JP said. “I hate to break this to you, but Oliver Pruitt is not watching us. He’s got a massive empire and a buttload of smart kids in his school. He’s not interested in a bunch of delinquents from H. G. Wells drowning in the middle of Puget Sound.”
The boat tottered wildly.
“Pick, sit down!” JP and Mars shouted at th
e same time.
“Stop it, all of you!” Caddie glared at everyone. “Don’t you see? We’re all we’ve got,” she said. “We can’t be fighting with each other. It’s not normal that Aurora and Jonas are gone without a trace. Mars is right. And whoever is responsible could be after one of us next.”
There was a pause. Caddie could feel the tension softening around her. JP stopped thinking about the ham sandwich in the fridge back home. Toothpick stopped trying to get the compass to work and tried to trust his friends instead. And Mars? Would he ever stop thinking about Oliver Pruitt? At least it had stopped raining.
“Gosh, Cads,” JP said. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too,” Toothpick said. “You’re right. The boat is progressing in the right direction.”
“Thanks, Cads,” Mars murmured, putting his phone in his coat pocket. You balance us out. He didn’t say the words, but she could feel them.
“You’re welcome,” Caddie said. Just then the bottom of the boat scraped the shore. “Good timing,” she said. “Because we just reached Gale Island.”
As soon as everyone got out, they looked for a place to tie the boat.
“How about the dock?” JP said. The dock was a narrow set of planks jutting out from the shore with GALE ISLAND on a sign so small it would be easy to miss.
Mars nodded. “On the count of three, let’s all pull —” Before he could finish, JP had already grabbed the end and dragged the boat forward.
JP grinned. “That felt good. Anybody else got stuff to haul?”
After the boat was tied, Toothpick distributed flashlights to everyone. Then he unrolled his map. He hadn’t been sure his phone would work on the island, so he’d printed it out.
“Good idea,” Mars said. “My connection is dead.”
“Mine, too,” JP said. “You’d think Pruitt Prep would offer free Wi-Fi.”
“So what does your map say?” Caddie asked.
They crowded around as Toothpick explained everything. “See, we go through the woods here. That gets us to the front of Pruitt Prep. These are the science towers and the botany lab. This is the titanium wall surrounding the school. By the way, titanium is strong and highly durable, one of the strongest metals known, used for airplanes, but also for toothpaste.”