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"The coolest Re inside hi with us?"
I do "But here’s the thing In Henri’s letter he says that Sam’s dad actually was abducted, or adorians"
We sit in silence watching the sun slowly cos out of the forest and rolls onto his back to have his belly rubbed "Hey there, Hadley" He flips onto his feet instantly when I say it, tilting his beagle head "Yeah," I say, ju down to scratch his chin with both hands "I know" Sam walks out His eyes are red He sits next to Six on the bench
"Hi, Hadley," Sam says to Bernie Kosar BK barks in response and licks his hands
"Hadley?" Six asks
The dog barks again in approval
"I always knew it," Sam says "Always Froht all this time," I say
"Do you mind if I read the letter?" Six asks Sae and turn on its light She reads the letter in its radiance, then folds the pages and hands them back
"I’m really sorry, Sam," she says
I add, "Henri and I wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for your dad"
Six then turns to me "You know, it’s ridiculous that your parents were Liren and Lara Or it’s ridiculous I didn’t realize that myself Do you remember me from Lorien, John? Your parents and my parents--their names were Arun and Lyn--they were best friends I knoeren’t around our parents all that often, but I re to your house a few times You were just a toddler at the time, I think"
It takes me a few seconds to reotten back fro in love with one another After she left, Henri and I were eating dinner and he said, Though I don’t know her number, or have any idea where she is, one of the children who cahter of your parents’ best friends They used to joke that it was fate that the two of you would end up together
I al how that conversation cas back the sauilt I’ve felt since Six and I went for our walk
"Yeah, that is pretty crazy I don’t really reardless, this is some heavy stuff about the Elders and hoe’re supposed to assus are so relentless," she says
"Definitely o back to Paradise," Sahs "What we need to do is find the others soet back on that laptop Train souys We have to go back Ifbehind, that transmission device, I think I kno to find it When I was seven, he told me that my future wasabout, and he’d just say that if the dark stars ever fell, I was supposed to find the Ennead and read the map by my birth date on the sundial"
"What’s an Ennead?" I ask
"It’s a group of nine deities in Egyptian y"
"Nine?" Six asks "Nine deities?"
"And what sundial?" I ask
"It’s starting toaround the picnic table as he puts it together in his head, Bernie Kosar nipping at his heels "I used to get so frustrated because he was always saying all this weird stuff that only he understood A fewa well in our backyard and he said it would collect the rainwater froutters and whatever; but after the concrete was poured, he put this elaborate-looking sundial on the stone lid Then he stood looking down at the well and he said to me ‘Your future’s mapped on the sundial, Sam’"
"And you never checked it out?" I ask
"Sure I did I twisted the sundial around, tryingever happened I thought it was just a stupid ith a sundial on it after a while But now that I read Henri’s letter, the part about the dark stars, I know that it has to be some kind of clue to all this It’s like he toldme," Sam beams "He was so smart"
"So are you," I say "This could very well be suicide, us going back to Paradise, but I don’t think we have much of a choice now"
Chapter Nineteen
I WAKE WITH CLENCHED TEETH, A SOUR TASTE IN ht, not only because the Chest is finally in my possession and I’ it with , but also because I revealed too acies on full display How much would they all remember? Will I be exposed before breakfast? I sit up and see Ella in her bed Everyone is still asleep in the room, except for Gabby, La Gorda, Delfina, and Bonita Their beds are eround when Sister Lucia appears in the doorway, her hands on her hips, her mouth twisted into a frown We make eye contact and I lose my breath But then she takes a couple steps backwards and allows the four girls from the nave to wobble into the room, dazed and bruised, their clothes ripped and dirty Gabby stumbles to her bed and falls face-first onto it, the pillow enveloping her head La Gorda rubs her double chin and lies back onto her bed with a grunt, and Bonita and Delfina slowly crawl under their covers As soon as all four girls are et up "And that means everyone!"
As I try to pass by Gabby on the way to the bathroom, she flinches
La Gorda stands at thethe discoloration of her skin When she sees my reflection over her shoulder, she i her hands I can get used to this I don’t really want to intiht be left alone