CHAPTER 4

Ethan spun the scrap of paper around in his hand and studied the map that he and his friends had been piecing together on the ground. They’d been at it for fifteen minutes now, but it was slow going.

He sat back on his heels. “This is really hard. It’s like trying to put together a puzzle without all the pieces.”

“And no box, so we can’t even see how it’s supposed to look when its finished!” said Devin, sounding just as discouraged as Ethan felt.

When Dad wandered over, Ethan barely noticed, he was so into the puzzle. “Whatcha doing?” Dad asked, leaning over.

“Trying to solve a puzzle,” said Carlo, holding up a piece. “We found part of a fishing map.”

“Oh,” said Dad, studying the piece. “Does it look like this one?” He pulled something from his pocket: a smooth, crisp, freshly folded fishing map.

The same fishing map.

“Yes!” said Ethan, blowing out a breath of relief. “Where did you get that?”

Dad pointed toward the information center—the giant wooden sign near the parking lot. “There are about a hundred of them in a box near that sign. Free for the taking. Do you want me to go get you one?”

“No,” said Devin. “Those aren’t exactly like this one. This one has a secret code on it.”

“Sounds mysterious,” said Dad. “What kind of code?”

“A Magikarp Code,” said Ethan. “Or at least a fish code. We think it might tell you where to catch the big one, Dad.”

Dad’s eyes lit up like a kid in the candy shop. “Well, in that case,” he said, “how can I help?”

An hour later, Ethan and his friends had found every piece of the map that had the Magikarp Code drawn on it. And they’d taped those pieces over the matching parts of Dad’s new map.

It wasn’t perfect. They’d had to use the lure tape from Dad’s tackle box, which was sparkly and kind of distracting. But now they could clearly see which parts of the map were coded with groups of fish.

“I’m pretty sure the places with three fish are where we want to start fishing,” said Gianna.

“What do you mean we?” asked Carlo.

“I’m going to help Ethan and Devin’s dad!” said Gianna. “Maybe I can be the navigator.”

“Great!” said Dad, nearly bubbling over with excitement himself. “We could rent a boat.” He nodded toward the racks of aluminum fishing boats near the boat launch. “It’ll be fun.”

Ethan’s stomach suddenly flip-flopped with nervousness. Sometimes when Dad used the words It’ll be fun, he jinxed whatever they were about to do.

But the big one was out there waiting somewhere. So if Dad needs help, Ethan thought, I'm in!

The fishing boat had two seats and two oars. Ethan and Gianna squeezed together on one seat, while Dad rowed from the other.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Gianna called to Carlo, who had decided to stay onshore.

He just tossed his hair and shook his head. He was already hunting for Pokémon.

But Ethan thought Devin looked pretty disappointed as the boat left her behind onshore. She lifted Mystic’s paw and gave a tiny wave.

NO DOGS ALLOWED IN BOATS. That’s what the sign at the rental counter had said. So Ethan had agreed to trade places with Devin after a half hour in the boat. He was secretly hoping that Dad would have bagged his Northern by then.

“Where to?” asked Dad, glancing over his shoulder at Gianna. She had the taped-up map spread out on her lap.

“That way,” she pointed. “Toward the reeds. That’s a three-fish zone.”

Dad rowed hard, zigzagging toward the reeds. By the time they reached the marsh, he was out of breath. But he dropped the anchor into the water with a smile. He hummed while he chose his lure, and did a little dance as he cast his line over the side of the boat.

Then they waited.

Ethan stared at the bobber for so long, he started to imagine that maybe it had moved—at least a little.

But Gianna assured him that it had not.

Time ticked down on the stopwatch Ethan had set on his phone. Ten minutes left, then nine minutes, then eight …

Finally, it happened. The bobber dunked under the water and popped back up.

“You’ve got a bite!” shouted Gianna.

Dad quickly reeled in the line, smiling from ear to ear. “It feels heavy,” he said. “This could be it!”

Ethan held his breath and watched the line grow taut. Whatever was on the hook was fighting. Hopefully it’s not a carp, he thought.

It wasn’t.

The little orange fish that broke free from the water looked more like a goldfish. But Ethan wasn’t going to be the first one to say it.

“What’s … that?” asked Gianna.

Dad sighed. “A Pumpkinseed,” he said. “The perfect pan fish.”

The only person who was even remotely excited about the Pumpkinseed was Devin. When they got back to shore to pick her up, she admired the orange fish—and then compared it to Mystic.

“I’m going to call you Pumpkinseed,” she said to Mystic as she handed the puppy’s leash to Ethan. “Because you’re little, orange, and loveable.”

Ethan tried to hide his irritation. But as soon as Devin was on the boat and out of earshot, he said, “Her name is Mystic.”

Carlo laughed from a few feet away. “Got it,” he said. “I just got a Poliwag, too—one of those tadpole-like Pokémon. The rocks over here are crawling with them!”

“Whatcha catching?” a voice called from the bridge up above. “Tadpoles for bait?”

It was a fisherman—the one with the bright white hair that Ethan and Devin had seen yesterday.

“Not real tadpoles,” Carlo explained. “Poliwag. Pokémon.”

The man nodded, but Ethan was pretty sure he had no idea what Pokémon were. There are people here catching fish, and people here catching Pokémon. But there aren’t a lot of people doing both, he realized.

“Can I watch you catch a Poliwag?” Ethan asked Carlo. “I’m trying to work on my throw.”

“Sure,” said Carlo, kneeling. “There’s one now.” He showed Ethan how he waited for the circle around the Pokémon to shrink about halfway down. “If I throw the ball now, I can hit the Pokémon right in the chest—when the circle is at its smallest. Then I’ll get the excellent throw bonus.”

He almost did, too. His throw was only slightly off. It bounced off the Poliwag’s head. “Great!” said the screen.

Ethan practically turned green with envy when Carlo collected his extra fifty experience points.

“Gia is the real expert,” Carlo admitted. “You should watch her new technique. She holds the phone upside down when she throws the Poké Ball!”

“No way!” Ethan spun his phone around to try to catch the Poliwag. But every time he threw a Poké Ball, Mystic tugged on the leash, and the ball flew off the screen.

Who am I kidding? I can’t even throw a Poké Ball when I’m holding my phone the right way, he thought with disgust.

He finally gave up and sat back on a rock, watching the boats bob on the water and the fishermen casting lines from the bridge above. He saw kids running around the lake with their phones out, too. They were Pokémon hunting like Carlo.

When Mystic tugged at the leash again, Ethan sighed. “What?” he asked. “What’s so freaking exciting?”

That’s when he saw the dead worm on the nearby rock. Mystic’s nose was twitching toward it as if she smelled a turkey dinner.

“Ew!” said Ethan. “No! You get into the grossest things. How am I going to teach you not to go after dead fish and slimy worms?”

Mystic wagged her tail and kissed his hand. Ethan tried not to think about everything that had been in her mouth today. Instead, he returned the kiss—on the top of her head.

Then she barked toward the boat.

When Ethan glanced up, he saw Dad standing in the boat. What does he see? Is it the big one? Ethan wondered.

No, Dad was looking down at something in his hand. His phone. Was he playing Pokémon GO?

As he took a step toward the front of the boat, he stumbled over an oar.

Ethan watched in horror as Dad tumbled over the edge of the boat and plunged into the lake below.