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Chapter One

Kendra stared out the sideof the SUV, watching foliage blur past When the flurry of aze on a particular tree, following it as it slowly approached, streaked past, and then gradually receded behind her

Was life like that? You could look ahead to the future or back at the past, but the present moved too quickly to absorb Maybe so an endless two-lane highway through the forested hills of Connecticut

Why didn't you tell us Grandpa Sorenson lived in India? Seth complained

Her brother was eleven and heading into sixth grade

He had groeary of his handheld video game- - evidence that they were on a truly epic drive

Moer Enjoy the scenery

I'ry, Seth said

Mo full of snack food Peanut butter and crackers?

Seth reached forward for the crackers Dad, driving, asked for some Almond Roca Last Christmas he had decided that Almond Roca was his favorite candy and that he should have so Nearly sixhis resolution

Do you want anything, Kendra?

I'm fine

Kendra returned her attention to the frantic parade of trees Her parents were leaving on a seventeen-day Scandinavian cruise with all the aunts and uncles on herfor free Not because they'd won a contest They were going on a cruise because Kendra's grandparents had asphyxiated

Grand relatives in South Carolina The relatives lived in a trailer The trailer had soas leak, and they all died in their sleep Long ago, Grandma and Grandpa Larsen had specified that when they died, all their children and their spouses were to use an allocated suo on a Scandinavian cruise

The grandchildren were not invited

Won't you get bored stuck on a boat for seventeen days? Kendra asked

Dad glanced at her in the rearview gs, the works

We're not all that thrilled about the trip, Morandparents envisioned an accidental death when they made this request But we'll make the best of it

The ship stops in ports as you go, Dad said, deliberately redirecting the conversation You get to disembark for part of the time

Is this car ride going to last seventeen days? Seth asked

We're nearly there, Dad said

Do we have to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson? asked Kendra

It'll be fun, Dad said You should feel honored They almost never invite anyone to stay with them

Exactly We barely know them They're hermits

Well, they were my parents, Dad said Somehow I survived

The road stopped winding through forested hills as it passed through a town They idled at a stoplight, and Kendra stared at an overweight wo up her minivan The front windshield of the minivan was dirty, but the wo it

Kendra glanced up front The windshield of the SUV was filthy, seed it when they last stopped to refuel They had driven all the way from Rochester today