CHAPTER 8

“Oh, no,” said Devin, sinking onto the ground beside Ethan. “We might have just lost our big chance to catch Max.”

“No, we didn’t,” said Gianna, running toward them. “We just need to come back later with something to lure Max toward us. Tuna fish maybe! Remember how Mrs. Applegate said he likes tuna treats?”

“Yeah. Do you think that’ll work?” Devin asked, looking up at Gianna with hopeful eyes.

“Sure I do,” said Gianna. “The main thing is, we found Max. And he’s okay.”

Sort of, Ethan wanted to say. He was afraid to tell the girls about Max’s chewed-up ear. Maybe he did have a run-in with a coyote, he thought with a shiver.

“But what if Mom doesn’t let us come back here later?” Devin asked.

Ethan sighed. “She might not. This is kind of far from home, and she doesn’t like us biking at night—not without an adult.”

“I have an idea,” said Gianna. “Carlo is babysitting me tonight while Mom works. Maybe you could stay at our house, and Carlo could go with us to the cemetery. He’s fourteen, which is kind of like an adult.”

“Yeah,” said Ethan. “That might work.” And it’d be cool to hang out with Carlo.

But first? Family yard work day. Ugh.

So after looking for Max one last time in the grass beyond the gates, they climbed onto their bikes and headed for home.

“This is such a waste of time,” said Ethan. He was crouched over a tomato plant, so his voice came out muffled.

“What is?” asked Devin, taking a bite out of a crisp peapod.

“Hey!” Ethan sat back upright and pointed his finger. “You’re supposed to be weeding the garden—not eating it.”

Devin shrugged and pulled another peapod off the vine. “I need energy to do yard work. What’s a waste of time?”

“Weeding a garden that’s just going to have more weeds in it tomorrow,” he said. “What’s wrong with weeds, anyway? Some people eat dandelions. Did you know that they’re weeds?”

Devin shook her head. “Did you learn that from Pokémon GO?” she asked, giggling.

“I wish,” said Ethan. “What I really wish is that we could set a lure here in the garden so that while we weed, the Pokémon would come to us. That would at least make family yard work day more interesting.”

“Yeah,” said Devin. “But Mom would kill us. So that would be kind of a waste of time, too.”

“I guess.” Ethan bent back over the tomato plant, and then he popped back up.

“Wait a minute,” he said. “I think I earned a lure module when I hit Level Eight.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking first to make sure Mom and Dad were still trimming trees on the other side of the yard. Then he checked his items.

“Yes, I do have a lure!”

“Ethan, you can’t use that right now,” Devin scolded. “I already told you—Mom will kill you. We’re supposed to be working. And besides, you can only place those at PokéStops.”

“I’m not going to use it now,” he said. “I was thinking we could set it at the graveyard tonight to try to draw in some Pokémon.”

“Oh.”

So take that, Miss Pea Eater, Ethan wanted to say.

“But if you set a lure, then lots of people will come to the cemetery. And they’ll scare Max away!”

Ethan hesitated. Devin was right—he knew she was. He hated it when that happened.

“Okay, then, how about some incense?” he said. “That would lure Pokémon toward us, but no one else would see it.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Devin.

“Yeah,” said Ethan. “It’s brilliant. Except I happen to be fresh out of incense.” He sighed and reached for another weed.

The next hour stretched into two, and after a lemonade break, into almost three hours.

“Is it ever going to end?” grumbled Ethan as he pulled yet another thistle out of the ground.

“Probably not,” said Devin. “Probably never.”

Then they heard a yelp from Dad. He was using a weed trimmer around the base of a tree.

“Are you hurt?” Ethan heard Mom call.

“No,” said Dad. And then he mumbled something about a Spearow.

“Hey, are you playing Pokémon GO?” asked Ethan, standing up to look. “No fair!”

“Not a Spearow,” said Dad, wiping something off his head. “A sparrow. A real-live sparrow just pooped on my head.”

Ethan nearly choked on his laughter. He could tell that Mom was fighting back giggles, too. And Devin didn’t even try. She was laughing like crazy, rolling around in the dirt like a wobbly Weedle. Everyone thought the sparrow incident was the funniest thing ever—except for Dad.

He ran into the house to get a tissue. And that was pretty much the end of family yard work day. Hurrah!

But the sparrow that Ethan thought was a Spearow had just given him an idea. He pulled off his work gloves and started jogging toward the house.

“Devin, come on!”

He waited until they were safely in his room before he shut the door and told her his plan.

“Remember how I said that the gym at the library is pretty much worthless?”

Devin shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, I was wrong,” said Ethan. “I still have a Pokémon at that gym—my Spearow. And any time you leave a Pokémon at a gym, you get a Gym Defender bonus.”

Devin’s ears perked up at the sound of that.

“I have a Pokémon at Dottie’s gym,” she reminded him. “I left my Pidgeot there.”

“Right,” said Ethan. “So every day or so, you and I each get a Defender bonus—Stardust and PokéCoins to spend in the shop!”

“What?” said Devin, her jaw dropping. “Why has no one ever told me this before?”

Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know—because we’re pretty new at this, and we probably don’t have that many coins to spend yet. But maybe we have enough for incense to use at the cemetery tonight. Let’s check!”

They grabbed their phones and clicked on the “Shop” icon.

“There,” said Ethan. “See the shield in the top right corner? Mine has the number two in it, because I left two Pokémon at gyms—one at Dottie’s and one at the library. Yours has a number one, for your Pidgeot.”

“Yeah, but how many PokéCoins do we have?” asked Devin. She tapped on the shield and nearly fell off the bed. “A hundred and twenty PokéCoins? Whoa, I’m rich!”

Ethan didn’t tell her that he had twice that amount—and six thousand Stardust. He felt pretty rich, himself.

Take that, Moneybags Brayden with the fat allowance! he thought with a grin. I have plenty of PokéCoins to buy incense.

He could hardly wait to get to the cemetery and use it.