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Halfway there, he figured out the answer to the third clue

It ca stick in theon the cold ground, he looked at the soles of his shoes, which were caked with chunky black sludge He wondered where they’d gotten so dirty and had just had the thought that itsnohen both of the important phrases from the third clue see across hisbut not correct

Opposite of wrong but not the word correct The word right!

Soul is stronger than er than ht shoe

Not bothering to get up from the sidewalk, Tick whipped out his journal and turned to the page where he’d written the words from the audio tape He’d er than his The real as sole, not soul, h to protect his foot, his right foot, as he hit the ground with it ten tihts down then stood up, his blood surging through his veins Though he still felt so clueless it was ridiculous, he’d taken another sic words that he didn’t know then stoht foot ten times

As he ran the rest of the way home, he couldn’t help but marvel at how completely stupid that sounded

Three days passed with no reply froh he’d neverterrible had happened to her Or that iven up and burned the letter fro once and for all Tick could barely think of anything else, losing his focus in school; he actually got a B on a test, shocking his English teacher beyond words Everyby the library every chance he got

When an entire week had passed in silence, his heart felt coive up on her

The Thursday before Christmas vacation started, he walked hoh the falling snow They’d had a couple of weeks’ break froht before and hadn’t let up Tick didn’t complain, of course, he loved the heavy snow But he couldn’t cheer up, feeling sad about Sofia and the lack of anythe patch of woods where he’d ht his eye on the other side of the road A wooden sign had been hastily nailed to a sharpened stick and haround Some words were painted on it inlike blood He couldn’t tell what n said from his position, but two of the words stood out like a pair of leprechauns in a hainbottom

Chapter

14

Shoes and Mittens

Tick ran over to the sign, squinting his eyes through the swirling snow to read the smaller words underneath his naain, ale the second tiht he was used to how bizarre his life had becoe that seeinbottoht is a backwards dim

Don’t look for a her ’cause I am a him