Lila seems worried. No. Lila seems scared. But then I can’t help myself. I think about what the cops said, what I told Jamie. Spence was killed by someone on that island, but it wasn’t Alexei, I know it in my soul.
Lila was on the island. For the first time, I let myself wonder: What did she see? What does she know?
Does she know about the prime minister and what the Society has already covered up this summer? Does she know that the Society is likely what got my mother killed? Does Lila know about the treasure that may or may not be hidden in the hills or beneath our feet? Somehow, I don’t think I’ll ever know.
“Alexei was the first friend I made in Adria,” Lila says then slowly turns to me. “It was three years ago, and our father had just been posted here. Mother had already come. It was during the divorce, and Noah and I knew no one. We were citizens of two countries, but in so many ways we were without a home. Then Alexei became our friend.”
“Ms. Chancellor says he should leave the country and I should stop sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong. If I were smart, I’d probably do what they tell me for once, but —”
“You’re new,” Lila says. It’s almost like an accusation.
“I’ve been coming to Valancia every summer since I was born, so I’m not new.”
Lila doesn’t seem mad. She just shrugs and goes on. “You’re new to us. To me and Noah. You didn’t know us. Before.”
“Before what?”
“Before our parents got divorced? Before they relocated to Adria? Before our world turned upside down? Take your pick. You didn’t know us before everything went to pieces and Noah learned how to please everyone.” Lila pierces me with a glare. “I learned there’s no use trying to please anyone.”
“So?” I ask.
For the first time I can remember, Lila actually smiles at me.
“So if the Society isn’t going to help and the police think he’s guilty, and his own father was willing to throw him to the wolves … what are we going to do about it?”
“We?” I ask.
“Alexei was my friend long before you came back and started stirring up trouble. So, yes, what are we going to do?”
Are you sure this is a good idea?” Noah asks as he looks up and down the deserted stretch of beach. We’re too far from the city gates for tourists or even the locals to bother us. The sun is high and there’s no wind coming in off the sea. It’s the hottest day of summer so far, and I’m starting to sweat, but even though we haven’t seen a soul in ages, I can’t blame it entirely on the heat.
“I mean, are you absolutely certain?” Noah asks again.
Is he asking if I’m sure I wasn’t followed out of the tunnel that took me from inside the US to the alley behind a mosque deep in the heart of the city? Is he wondering if this is the best use of our time and limited resources? Or maybe Noah, like the rest of us, is just terrified that this is yet another in a long history of Grace’s Very Bad Ideas.
I’m not certain, so I look at Megan.
“According to my sources,” Megan says, which I’m pretty sure is code for I hacked into the police mainframe, but please don’t tell my mom, “the police are finished on the island. They’ve combed every inch of it for clues, and no one is planning on going back.”
Which is good because it means nobody is going to bother us.
Which is bad because it means that there’s probably nothing out there to find.
But the police weren’t there that night. They never met Spence. They don’t know Alexei. And as long as there’s a chance, no matter how slim, we have to take it.
“Besides,” Megan adds with a shrug, “if the police do show up, well … we’re not the first kids to go out to that island. I think the whole world pretty much knows that by now.”
I look at the island in the distance, floating and shimmering like a mirage. Spence died there. Part of me never wants to set foot on those rocky shores again. Part of me knows I won’t sleep until I do.
“Should I go get the boat?” Megan asks, but I shake my head.
“We have another ride coming,” I say.
“Who?” Rosie sounds concerned.
But there’s already a boat on the horizon coming this way, and coming fast. A silky black ponytail waves in the wind, and before the boat even slows down, Noah starts shaking his head. He’s actually backing away.
“Grace, you can’t be serious.” Noah stares at his sister, slack-jawed and a little afraid.
“Lila is going to help us.”
For a second, my friends stand silent.
Leave it to Rosie to say what everyone else is thinking. “Are you sure we can trust her? I mean, she was there. Maybe she killed Spence? I mean, could Lila kill someone? At least I think Lila could kill someone.”