“Okay,” Reuben said into her hair, which was tickling his nose. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Jack had found the hidden channel. The water was surprisingly calm, and he eased the fishing boat quite close to the shore before cutting the engine and dropping the anchor. He produced a small inflatable raft from below, and soon the three of them, their legs all knocking against one another’s, were paddling the remaining distance to shore. Jack leaped out and pulled the boat up onto the spit of sand, tethering it to a stunted evergreen the size of a fire hydrant.
“There’s no path,” he told them. “You just make your way up however you can.”
It wasn’t very difficult. The hill was steep, but Jack quickly identified where the footing was best, and in single file the three of them made their way up. A few lizards scampered out of their way. Some kind of large insect buzzed past Reuben’s ear and headed out to sea. He watched it disappear. Maybe it knew of another island, he thought. Or maybe it was making a big mistake.
At the summit of the hill they were greeted with a stronger breeze—Penny’s hair was flying all about—and a view of the ocean around them, an endless sparkling expanse. Between the two islands the water churned menacingly but was a beautiful shade of green. Penny knelt by her backpack and took out, first, a cap with which to tame her hair. She wrestled it onto her head. Then she reached in again and came out with what appeared to be two softball-sized rocks.
She had disguised the watches. They were hidden within an exterior of concrete, painted with pitch and mixed with bits of shells. They looked as if they belonged on the bottom of the ocean. Not even a fish would doubt it. But inside them were the fabulous inventions of a mind more brilliant than any other, inventions with secrets of their own.
“Secrets within secrets,” Penny said, and Reuben and Jack nodded appreciatively.
Jack withdrew, leaving the children to their tasks. The wind blew and blew. They moved to different points on the bluff overlooking the water, and after only a few paces Reuben could no longer make out the words Penny was saying to him; the wind in his ears was too loud. But he could tell from her expression and gestures what she meant. They should throw the watches at the same time. Together.
They regarded each other for a long minute, and then, as if reading each other’s minds, they both nodded. They counted together, though Reuben could hear only his own words. One. Two. Three.
He turned and flung the watch out over the water. It seemed to fall for a long time, and then it plunged through the surface. In the immensity of water the splash seemed tiny, the most minuscule of disturbances. And then it was gone, as if it had never happened, as if Reuben had done nothing.
But I did, Reuben thought, and he turned back to rejoin his friends. Nobody can see it, but I did it.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Rivendell Writers Colony, in particular Carmen Toussaint Thompson, for offering me precious time and a beautiful space to work on this book; my friends Paul and Bridgett Galvin for a snowier version of the same; and my editors Megan Tingley, Bethany Strout, Kheryn Callender, and Barbara Bakowski for their wise counsel in bringing this particular secret to light.
CONTENTS
COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
PART I: THE TICKING CLOCK
Walking Backward into the Sky
The Delicious Smell of Fear
Time to Plan, Time to Dream
Knowing Otherwise
Hidden Movements
Moment of Truth
Power and Price
Following Directions
The Edge of the Precipice
Reuben’s Dilemma
Looking for Light
An Elaborate Deception
The Staring Stranger
PART II: THE MEYER LEGACY
A Riddle and a Ruse
The Tale of Penelope
The Tale of Penelope (Continued)
The Keepers’ Secret
Strength and Stealth
The Rabbit Trap
The Hunters in the Night
The Ghosts of Other Children
Into the Dark
An Unexpected Alliance
PART III: HOME AND NOT HOME
Mrs. Genevieve’s Instructions
A Stillness Before the Storm
Enter the Counselor
Tricks and More Tricks
Traps and More Traps
Reuben the Thief
The Race and the Chase
Mortal Cares
If Things Should Go Wrong
The Trembling Rope
The Last Secret
The Opposite of Midnight
The Open Gate
The Most Mysterious Thing in the World
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 © 2016 by Trenton Lee Stewart
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Diana Sudyka
Cover art © 2016 by Diana Sudyka
Cover design by David Caplan
Cover © 2016 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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 permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: September 2016
ISBN 978-0-316-38956-3
E3-20160820-JV-PC