12

Every time someone slammed a locker door the next day at school, Eddie felt like jumping out of his skin. His heart raced when Ms. Phelps asked him a question about ratios. Out of the corner of his eye, Eddie thought he saw someone watching him in the mirror while he washed his hands in the boys’ bathroom, but when he turned to look, no one was there. The past couple days had taken a toll on his nerves.

Part of him was relieved that he had lost the books the night before. If it weren’t for Harris, Eddie thought he might want to take a big break from anything having to do with Nathaniel Olmstead. But the other part of him felt terrible that all the work they had done so far was gone. Now, even if they were actually smart enough to figure out what the code meant, they couldn’t!

They met after third period outside the gym. When Eddie saw Harris, he gasped. Harris looked terrible. His hair was greasy, his eyes were glazed, and he looked like he’d just crawled out of bed.

“What’s wrong?” Eddie asked.

“I couldn’t sleep,” said Harris. “I kept wondering where we might have lost the books. I know last night you said you didn’t want to, but the only thing I can think to do is go back to the house and look for them.”

They heard a sneaker squeak on the linoleum behind them. When they turned, Maggie smiled. For the first time since he’d met her, Eddie thought she looked happy to see him. She brushed her dark hair out of her face and hiked her bag up on her shoulder. “Can I come?”

Eddie and Harris were speechless.

“Look,” said Maggie, “that was some crazy stuff up there in the woods last night. I can’t stop thinking about it.” When the boys didn’t answer her, she said in a playful tone, “Then I guess it’s not really worth showing you what I found.”

Harris rolled his eyes. “What did you find?”

“You’re not interested. Forget it.”

“Maggie …,” said Eddie, sounding more pathetic than he wanted to.

“This whole boys-only thing is so fifth grade,” she said. She smiled again. “Promise you’ll let me come, and I’ll tell you.”

Eddie turned to Harris. Somehow, he was certain what she had to offer would be worth it. They both nodded. “You can come,” they said at the same time.

“Great.” Maggie slapped their shoulders. They both winced.

“So tell us. What did you find?” Harris said.

Maggie slipped her bag off her shoulder, reached inside, and dug around. “In the house last night, I overheard everything you said.” Harris started to protest, but Maggie interrupted. “Get over it.” Harris folded his arms but listened. “After you read that story about that creepy old woman, Eddie, you mentioned something about a code that matched up a couple of books you guys had.” She pulled two books out of her bag. “These books, right?”

“Oh, geez,” said Harris, turning pale, throwing his hands to the ceiling. “Thank goodness.”

“Whoa,” said Eddie, relieved.

“Guess we don’t really need to head back up to the woods, after all,” she said, smiling, and handed the books to Eddie. “You left them in my dad’s pickup,” she said. “He found them this morning. We were all pretty out of it last night when he gave you a ride home, so I guess you didn’t notice that they’d fallen on the floor. Still, if they’re so important, you might want to keep closer watch on them.”

“We’ll try,” said Harris, slamming his locker.

The second bell rang. They were all officially late.

“I’ve got to go,” Eddie said, inching down the hall.

“But I solved your code,” said Maggie smugly.

Eddie wasn’t sure if he heard her correctly, but when he saw Harris’s mouth drop open, he figured that he had. The hallways were slowly starting to empty, and Eddie’s heart started to race as he realized that the hall monitors would soon be at their stations.

Maggie shoved another loose piece of hair behind one ear and said, “How do you guys feel about cutting class?”