Page 9 (1/2)
Hazel pursed her lips, as if she regretted raising the subject "Never mind"
That ht be better not to press her He knelt and cupped a handful of white sand "Well…one problem solved, anyway This is lime"
Hazel frowned "The whole beach?"
"Yeah See? The granules are perfectly round It’s not really sand It’s calciu fro his hand into the lime
Suddenly he froze He reoddess Gaea had appeared to hi face ined her closed eyes and her drea in the white calcium
Walk away, little hero, Gaea said Without you, the ship cannot be fixed
"Leo?" Hazel asked "You okay?"
He took a shaky breath Gaea wasn’t here He was just freaking himself out
"Yeah," he said "Yeah, fine"
He started to fill the bag
Hazel knelt next to hiht a pail and shovels"
The idea cheered Leo up He even smiled "We could’ve made a sand castle"
"A lime castle"
Their eyes locked for a second too long
Hazel looked away "You are so uessed
She fell backward "You know?"
"I have no idea who Sammy is But Frank asked me if I was sure that wasn’t my name"
"And…it isn’t?"
"No! Jeez"
"You don’t have a twin brother or…" Hazel stopped "Is your family frouy you used to know?"
"I…It’s nothing You just look like him"
Leo could tell she was too embarrassed to say more But if Hazel was a kid from the past, did that mean Sauy? And ould Hazel think Leo was Sam the bag in silence Leo stuffed it in his tool belt and the bag vanished--no weight, no h Leo kneould be there as soon as he reached for it Anything that could fit into the pockets, Leo could tote around He loved his tool belt He just wished the pockets were large enough for a chain saw, or maybe a bazooka
He stood and scanned the island--bleach-white dunes, blankets of grass, and boulders encrusted with salt like frosting "Festus said there was Celestial bronze close by, but I’m not sure where--"
"That way" Hazel pointed up the beach "About five hundred yards"
"How do you--?"
"Precious "
Leo re easy "Handy talent Lead the way, Miss Metal Detector"
The sun began to set The sky turned a bizarre ht’ve enjoyed a walk on the beach with a pretty girl, but the farther they went, the edgier he felt Finally Hazel turned inland
"You sure this is a good idea?" he asked
"We’re close," she promised "Come on"
Just over the dunes, they saw the worassy field A black-and-chromepie slice removed from the spokes and rim, so that they resembled Pac-Men No as the bike drivable in that condition
The woman had curly black hair and a bony frame She wore black leather biker’s pants, tall leather boots, and a bloodred leather jacket--sort of a Michael Jackson joins the Hell’s Angels look Around her feet, the ground was littered hat looked like broken shells She was hunched over, pulling new ones out of a sack and cracking the oysters? Leo wasn’t sure if there were oysters in the Great Salt Lake He didn’t think so
He wasn’t anxious to approach He’d had bad experiences with strange ladies His old babysitter, Tía Callida, had turned out to be Hera and had a nasty habit of putting hioddess Gaea had killed his oddess Khione had tried to turn him into a frozen dairy treat in Sonoed ahead, so he didn’t have ot closer, Leo noticed disturbing details Attached to the woman’s belt was a curled whip Her red-leather jacket had a subtle design to it--twisted branches of an apple tree populated with skeletal birds The oysters she was shucking were actually fortune cookies