THE NEXT day, Rose, Ally, and I climb over the new, charred tree bridge to the island. We carry certain items in our hands. This is our last full day together.
They came to my house for breakfast. Dad made us Mickey pancakes, and Zora sat in Rose’s lap the whole time. It made me realize that Zora will miss Rose, too. Mom took a Polaroid picture of the four of us shoving pancakes in our faces, one of our best pictures ever.
On our way to the island, we passed Mrs. Hale’s house. Girl Detective was going back to New York today. She gave me her e-mail and told me to keep in touch. Now that I will be corresponding to New York and London, it’s time to get an e-mail address.
We also passed Romeo, Joey, and Connor riding their bikes. They stopped and Rose said her good-byes to them. She seemed really okay with everything. She even pulled Romeo aside and whispered something into his ear.
I am so glad all of that is over.
Ally carries the pool-house shovel over her shoulder, and I carry the clue box and a small plastic bag. Rose holds a canvas bag with a drawstring handle. We step onto the island and walk to our usual spot under the willow tree.
“Where should we do it?” Ally asks.
“How about up there?” I say, pointing toward the bush at the high point on the island. “Where we found it.”
“Yeah,” Rose says. “It should be there.”
We hike up to the spot where we dug up the clue box at the beginning of the summer. The hole is mostly filled in now. So Ally starts digging.
It’s a hot, sunny day, so I sit down on the grass. Rose joins me and we listen to the sounds of the shovel.
“You ready?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Rose says, then gives me a pout. “But no. Not really.”
“Maybe we can come visit,” Ally says between digs.
“Or you can come visit us,” I say.
“Sure,” Rose says and draws little circles with her finger in the grass. We sit there silently, weighed down by the knowledge of what’s coming next. What’s coming tomorrow. And then what’s coming after that. Rose looks up, her blue eyes more vulnerable than I’ve ever seen, and says, “You won’t forget me, will you?”
Ally throws down the shovel and sits beside us, forming our familiar circle. “Are you kidding?”
“It happens,” Rose says. “People move away and things change. It just happens.”
“It won’t happen with us,” I say.
“Not a chance,” says Ally.
“You promise?” Rose asks.
“We promise,” Ally and I say at the same time.
We look at one another as if we are searing this moment into our minds. So we can reach back to it time and time again like a talisman or a good luck charm.
“And in ten years, we’ll be twenty-two,” I say.
“Or twenty-one,” says Ally.
“Either way, we’ll be old enough to meet here again. No matter what.” I open the silver Open If You Dare clue box and place it between us. “This will forever be our Open If You Dare box. Our time capsule. To remind us—”
“Of us,” Rose says.
“Of us,” echoes Ally.
“As a testament to our last summer together.” I smile, then ask Ally, “What do you got?”
She digs into her shorts pocket and pulls out two things. She holds up the first item—a red, white, and blue tassel—and says, “This came off Joey’s dad’s convertible on the Fourth of July—the day you guys saved me from being a total embarrassed joke.”
“Yay,” I say as she places the tassel into the empty clue box.
“And this”—she shows us a piece of tissue with something wadded up inside of it—“is the piece of gum I was chewing—”
“Ewww!” Rose interjects. “That’s disgusting, Al.”
“Hold on,” she says. “It was the piece of gum I was chewing when I got my period on the pitcher’s mound and you guys rescued me for the second time this summer. So I truly believe this piece of gum has sufficient sentimental value to qualify.” She looks at me and I nod.
“Okay,” Rose concedes, too.
Ally drops the piece of gum into the clue box beside the tassel.
“Thanks, Ally,” I say. “It’s perfect.” Then I turn to Rose.
She pulls open the top of her canvas bag and reaches inside. “I have two things, too. First”—she opens her hand—“this small unused stink bomb.”
“No way!” I exclaim.
“And you were giving me crap about my gum!” cries Ally.
“Okay. Okay,” Rose says. “But this stink bomb is a symbol of our friendship, too. Birdie came with me when I perpetrated my stink bomb crime.” She looks at Ally. “And, Al, you didn’t.”
“I didn’t help you,” Ally says. “How is this a symbol of our friendship?”
“Because you stood up to me and told me I was wrong. And Bird, you told me I was wrong but did it with me anyway. Both were acts of friendship. Both of you had my back in different ways.”
“Okay,” I say.
“Yeah, it’s good,” Ally says to her.
Rose places the stink bomb carefully inside the box, then slips her hand back in the bag. She pulls out the next item, which is tied together with a piece of string. “Did you know that a violin bow is strung with the hair from a horse’s tail?” Rose says.
“No, really?” Ally asks.
“Really. This is from my violin bow. To remind me of how you stood by me and Viking-funeraled my violin when I was really mad and needed to get back at my mum. You didn’t stop me. You joined me. Even when it was probably wrong.”
I smile to myself. I’m glad Rose realizes it was probably wrong.
She places the lock of horse hair into the box and says, “And you want to hear something stupid?”
“Yeah,” I say.
“I sort of miss my violin.”
“You do not!” I say.
“I actually do. Looks like I’m going to have to be cool with Mum buying me a new one when we get to England. Is that messed up or what?”
“That’s freakin’ hilarious is what that is,” Ally says.
“Yeah, well. What are you going to do?” She smiles at both of us, then asks, “What about you, Bird?”
“Right.” I reach into my plastic bag and pull out the mood ring.
“Not the haunted ring!” Ally says.
“It’s not haunted. It was Girl Detective’s mood ring and I think it belongs back in the clue box. Because—”
“You don’t have the knife in there, do you?” Rose asks.
“If you want, I could go get it. Along with some animal bones.”
“Funny,” Rose says. “Go on.”
“Because this ring represents my friends going on this strange journey with me even when you thought it was crazy.”
“Oh yeah, it belongs in the box, then,” Rose says.
“Yeah, definitely,” Ally says, and they both laugh.
“And this.” I pull out the Polaroid selfie we took on my birthday. It’s of the three of us at my kitchen table when my mom was bringing in my birthday cake. “This was one of my happiest moments this summer. I want this picture to go into our time capsule so that when we open it ten years from now, we’ll see how we are now. How we were then. Whatever.” I grin. “We’ll be reminded of this.”
Together, we gaze at the photo, taking it in. Then I place it in the box with the tassel, the chewed gum, the stink bomb, the horse hair, and the haunted ring.
I hold out my hand, palm down, between us. Ally puts her hand on top of mine, then Rose, and we stack all of our hands together. Our eyes search one another’s.
“We three friends. Wherever we go,” I say and look to Ally.
“Whatever we do and whoever we meet.” Ally looks to Rose.
“And whatever land or sea stands between us,” Rose says.
“We will always be bound by this time and place,” I continue.
“Of our own special island,” Ally says.
“Of our own special world,” says Rose.
We look at one another, making it sacred, and together we pledge, “Us three forever.” Then throw up our hands.
I’m happy and I’m sad. I lock this moment into my heart—the sights, the feelings, the sounds. And even though it’s unsaid, I know we’re sharing the same secret fear. That a moment like this might never come for us again.
I close the clue box, latch the lid, and place it at the bottom of the hole that Ally dug. I shovel in the loose soil, and we pat it down with our shoes and the back of the shovel.
And I wonder what we’ll be like the next time we dig up this box and Open If We Dare.