I never should have let Alex say yes, Ava realized. She ripped off her bonnet, cradled her mom’s glass bowl, and raced after her sister. What was going on? Halloween was supposed to be spooky, not crazy!
Ava craned her neck, searching for a fluffy black dog. If she could just find Harvey, then Alex wouldn’t have to try whatever it was she was going to try. She felt guilty. If she’d only told Alex about the bracelet, her sister might not have been so quick to say yes.
Or maybe she would have. Ava never knew with Alex. Alex liked to help others. She also liked to be the center of attention. And she definitely seemed to believe they had telepathic powers. Did she know something that Ava didn’t?
She followed the others into Charlotte’s backyard.
“Ava!” Alex waved her over. The group had gathered on the patio.
Ava eyed Ben’s basketball, abandoned on the court. She’d so love to shoot some hoops right now. Instead she spun in a slow circle, surveying the Huangs’ large yard. “Harvey! Hey, Harvey! Here, boy!” Ava yelled.
“What are you doing?” Corey asked.
“It seems like the logical way to start.” Ava almost laughed. How ironic! Now she was the logical twin!
“I’ve called him a zillion times. Try using your psychic powers,” Charlotte begged Alex as Ava continued to call for Harvey. “Please.”
“I need Ava to help me,” Alex said.
“Do you have Harvey’s leash? Or a favorite toy?” Emily asked Charlotte.
“Why?” Ava asked.
“So you and Alex can pick up Harvey’s vibe. Kind of like how the police have search dogs sniff a missing person’s clothes,” Emily explained. “It will help you locate him.”
“The Sackett twins are now the search dogs searching for a dog!” Xander hooted.
“Not funny!” Ava gave him a light punch on the arm.
Charlotte ran inside and quickly returned with a blue braided leash. She placed it in Alex’s outstretched hands.
“I’m ready.” Rosa positioned her phone to videotape.
“Ava?” Alex didn’t have to ask. Ava knew the question. She couldn’t say no. Not now. Not in front of everyone.
“Fine. We’ll try,” Ava agreed. She turned to Rosa. “But no filming. I’m serious.”
Alex nodded. “Ava and I have to be alone. Someplace quiet so we can focus.”
“We’ll go by the swing set,” Ava said. “You guys should look for Harvey. Yell for him. Search the neighborhood.”
Corey gave her a fake salute and headed off with Xander in one direction. Charlotte ran off alone in the other.
Ava scrambled up the ladder that led into an enclosed area at the top of the slide. When her head bumped the log-cabin-like roof, she sat. Alex followed, her long skirt tangling around her feet.
Ava stared out the cutout opening for the slide. “What now?”
“We hold Harvey’s leash and hold hands and try to see where he is,” Alex said matter-of-factly. “Visualize him.”
Ava intertwined her fingers with Alex’s.
Alex began to hum. A low sound, as if she were really concentrating.
Ava thought about Harvey. Harvey. Harvey. Where was he? The last time she was here, he’d sprinted to the Whittakers’ big house. Wait! Someone should check there.
“Hold up.” She dropped Alex’s hand and her end of the leash. She peered down the slide. Rosa and Emily waited below. Lindsey lounged on a cushioned chair on the patio, playing on her phone with a scowl on her face. “Someone needs to go to the Whittakers’,” she called down to the other girls. “They’re a couple of houses away. Harvey ran off there the other day. Maybe he went back.”
“I’ll do it,” Rosa offered. “I know them.” She took off with Emily, and Ava returned to Alex.
“We need to really focus,” Alex reminded her. “You need to be totally in tune with me. And Harvey.”
“I am.” Ava held on to her sister’s hand and the leash.
Five minutes, she decided. If Alex doesn’t get some sort of vision-thing in five minutes, I’ll tell her that the Power doesn’t work. That it never worked.
Ava thought about Harvey. All at once, her stomach growled. Now all she could think about was food. She hadn’t eaten since the banana this morning before practice. She wished she’d bought a hamburger at the game. The stadium snack bar had surprisingly good burgers. And there were sweet pickles at the condiment bar you could put on them.
Stop it! she scolded herself. Think about poor Harvey.
And then she recalled the smell of barbecue when they’d chased Harvey to the Whittakers’. Yum! She’d love some barbecue now.
Hey! Maybe Harvey went back there today to find more barbecue. Maybe the dog was hungry. Maybe he liked Texas barbecue.
“No dog in the Whittakers’ yard!” Rosa’s voice called up to them a few minutes later.
Ava groaned. She’d been sure they’d find Harvey there.
“Al?” she whispered.
Alex opened her eyes. “Did you see him? Did you get a vision?”
“No.” Ava felt horrible. Alex sounded so hopeful. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
And then Ava remembered. Not far down the street from Charlotte’s gated community was Fighting Tiger BBQ, the main competitor of Jimmy’s Pit Bar-B-Q, where her family often ate. If Harvey really did like barbecue, it’d make sense for him to run to Fighting Tiger. Everyone raved about their baby back ribs and oak-smoked brisket.
“I have an idea! Come with me!” Ava slid down the slide. Alex slid after her.
“Did you do it? Did it work?” Emily asked.
“Do you know where the dog is?” Rosa cried.
“We’ll be right back!” Ava called. “Stay here.” She grabbed Alex’s hand and pulled her toward the road.
“Do you know? Do you?” Alex cried. She ran alongside Ava. Her long, colorful scarves rippled behind her like the tail of a kite.
“Maybe. I hope so,” Ava said. “Hurry!”
“I’m trying!” Alex called, as she tripped on a scarf and nearly face-planted.
“These have to go.” Ava grabbed the scarves and gave a yank, and they both heard a loud rrrrrip.
“You tore my skirt!” Alex cried.
“Sorry,” Ava apologized. “Your costume was slowing us down.”
“I can’t believe you! What am I going to wear to Lindsey’s party?” Alex demanded.
“We’ll figure it out later. It’s not like you were going to wear the same costume twice today,” Ava pointed out.
“You didn’t know that,” Alex said, inspecting the tear.
“I did. I know you, remember?” Ava said. “Come on. Let’s find Harvey.” She began to sprint again. Alex followed, running a lot faster now.
“This place?” Alex asked, as Ava stopped in front of Fighting Tiger BBQ. “Did you visualize a tiger?”
“Not exactly.” Ava looked around. The parking lot was packed with fans from the game. The smell of tangy barbecue sauce wafted out of the restaurant and made her stomach grumble again. Going inside would be dangerous.
“You go ask about Harvey inside. I’ll check the parking lot,” Ava told Alex.
“But you haven’t told me why we’re here,” Alex protested. “How did you do it?”
“Later,” Ava promised. “Harvey! Harvey!” she called as she searched by each and every car.
Alex met her in the lot behind the building. “No one inside has seen him.”
“He’s not in the parking lot either.” Ava sighed. Her idea hadn’t been right, after all. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Alex asked.
Ava couldn’t keep it from her sister any longer. She told Alex about how she’d really found Rosa’s bracelet. And why she’d brought them to the barbecue place.
Alex was quiet for a long time.
“Aren’t you going to yell at me?” When Alex was quiet, it made Ava nervous. She always had something to say.
Alex shook her head. “You don’t think it’s a little bit possible that we have powers?”
“Were you able to see the bracelet or see Harvey?” Ava asked.
“No, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t telepathic,” Alex protested. “I feel it. I do.”
“I guess.” Ava noticed a stone path behind the restaurant. They walked along it. Park benches lined the path. The path led to a large concrete plaza with a covered bandstand at one end.
“What’s this place?” Ava asked.
“Maybe they have concerts here?” Alex guessed. “What am I going to tell Emily? And Charlotte? I let them call us psychic. They’re going to think I made it all up.”
Ava didn’t answer. A shadow had caught her attention.
She inched her way along the side of the bandstand. Slowly, quietly. She crouched down, extended her palms, and called softly. “Here, boy!”
In an instant Harvey was sniffing her hands. Ava petted his curly black fur.
“He was looking for barbecue! You’re a great detective, Ava!” Alex cried.
Ava grinned. “I don’t think he was looking for barbecue. I think he was looking for concrete.”
“Concrete?” Alex repeated.
Ava pointed to a puddle on the ground. “I think this feels more like home. Harvey’s not used to grass.”
“Gross!” Alex cried.
“Let’s get you to Charlotte and Ben,” Ava said, grabbing Harvey’s collar.
“Hey! Hey!” An older man in a sauce-stained white apron waved to them as they walked back through the parking lot. “Good! I see you found your dog. Are you two the Sackett twins?”
Ava nodded uncertainly. How did he know them?
“I’m Jay Grasing, owner of this place here.” He beamed at them, his gray-blue eyes bright. “Please tell your dad that that was one amazing game today. I played for the Tigers back in the day. His use of the defense was inspired. You girls must be very happy with the big win.”
“Very happy,” Ava agreed. It was still so weird when strangers recognized them just because of their dad.
“Wait right there. I’m going to bring you a big bag of barbecue. On the house.” He reached out and patted Harvey’s head. “And a bit of brisket for your pooch, too.”
“Hear that, Harvey? You’re going to get some barbecue, after all,” Ava said.
“So what are you going to tell them?” Alex asked Ava as they walked toward Charlotte’s house.
“About finding Harvey? I’ll tell them whatever you want me to tell them,” Ava offered.
“I don’t want to lie,” Alex said.
“Then don’t.” Ava held the foil-lined bag of meat in one hand. In the other hand, she grasped a long piece of twine Jay Grasing had fashioned into a leash for Harvey.
“But I like how everyone thinks we’re so special,” Alex said.
“Lots of people in Ashland seem to think we’re pretty special, and they don’t even know what the Power is,” Ava pointed out. “Look, we got free food.”
“That’s different,” Alex scoffed, as they rounded Charlotte’s wide lawn.
Alex couldn’t put words to her disappointment. She had truly thought she and Ava had a connection, more than just being twins. She wasn’t ready to give up on it, even though it hadn’t been any psychic power that helped them find the missing bracelet or the missing dog.
“Harvey!” Charlotte shrieked. She flung her arms around her dog. Everyone crowded around. Rosa, despite her earlier promise, filmed the homecoming on her phone.
“You did it. You really did it!” Emily exclaimed over and over. She raised Alex’s arm triumphantly. All her friends gave her admiring and incredulous looks.
Except Ava. Ava raised her eyebrows, questioning Alex.
Alex knew her sister wouldn’t rat her out. But she also knew that Ava trusted her to fess up.
She wanted to tell them. But the words caught in her dry throat.
“You two are the absolute best!” Charlotte wrapped one arm around each twin’s shoulder.
Lindsey shook her head in disgust.
“Wait.” Charlotte stepped over to her. “I’m not done. You are all the best.” She spread her arms to indicate everyone. “You all helped me look for Harvey. I didn’t deserve your help. I’ve been acting horribly.”
Lindsey narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“Why was I acting like that?” Charlotte twisted her fingers. She seemed unable to explain.
“I think I know,” Ava said. “The move to Texas was shoved on you. You were angry, and you didn’t want to be here.”
Charlotte nodded. “You have no idea.”
“But I do. Kind of,” Ava said. “When I moved here, it was strange and scary. Any new place is. But now I like it. I feel like a true Texas kid.”
“Really?” Charlotte seemed surprised. “I wanted you, Alex, and me to be friends, because all three of us were from the East Coast. We’d stick together. Just us.” Charlotte’s voice grew quiet. “If I only hung out with you two, I could forget I was in Texas.”
“I don’t get it. What’s wrong with Texas?” Corey demanded.
“Nothing,” Alex said. She now understood. “Charlotte decided to hate Texas and everyone in it, because if she made Texas friends, then she couldn’t be angry at her family for the move.”
“That’s exactly it,” Charlotte said. “But I was wrong. You guys are really nice. I’m sorry.”
“So no more cheerleader jokes?” Lindsey asked.
Charlotte grinned. “How about no more barbecue jokes?”
“I actually like those jokes. I’m not a big barbecue fan,” Lindsey admitted. “My sister is making mozzarella sticks for my party. I’m thinking about giving up meat altogether.”
“Traitor!” Corey joked, reaching into Ava’s bag of barbecue.
“I love mozzarella sticks.” Charlotte looked at Lindsey. “Can I still come to your party?”
“Definitely,” said Lindsey. “Do you have a costume?”
“Not yet,” said Charlotte.
“Me either,” Ava admitted. “My bluebonnet idea was lame.”
Alex inspected her torn skirt. “I don’t have a costume either.”
“Well, you girls better get thinking! My party is in a couple of hours,” Lindsey said. Then she eyed Alex. “Oh, I just thought of the best surprise for the party. It will blow everyone away!”
“What is it?” Alex hated surprises.
“You’ll have to wait and see,” Lindsey sang, heading off with Rosa. “I need to go get the decorations up.”
“I bet Alex knows what your surprise is right now,” Emily said, following them. “Alex can see into the future.”
Alex stayed quiet. She still couldn’t bring herself to say, “No, I can’t.”