Seven

Finn

“But it’s not even the alphabet!” Finn complained.

“It’s not our alphabet,” Emma corrected.

And then suddenly she closed her hand over Chess’s palm and the coin, and she yanked Chess’s arm back down to his side.

“What are you looking at?” a voice asked behind them.

It was Rocky Gustano.

He was a little shorter than Chess, but somehow he seemed to cast more of a shadow. A more menacing shadow.

But that’s just because you know Chess, and you know he’s always nice, Finn told himself. Maybe Finn and Emma Gustano see Chess and think he’s scary.

“We’re not looking at anything,” Emma said, totally sounding like she was lying.

“Don’t you know where the bathrooms are?” Rocky asked. “Or did you get lost?”

“We just stopped to admire . . . the clock,” Chess said weakly.

Finn loved his sister and brother more than anyone else in the whole world besides Mom. But they were both terrible actors.

“We have this game, see?” Finn said. “Every time we come here, we pick an animal and count how many times that animal shows up on the clock. Today we’re counting monkeys.”

Rocky cast a quick glance at the clock.

“Thirty-two,” he said.

Emma gasped. “You figured it out that fast?”

Rocky rolled his eyes.

“No,” he said. He flipped back the dark hair that hung down into his eyes. “I’m just messing with you.”

Huh, Finn thought. Rocky is good at lying.

But then Rocky’s face went soft and defenseless. “You guys can still do that?” he asked. “Play silly baby games? Even after everything that happened when we were all . . . in that place?”

Finn tried to decide if he should be offended by the term “silly baby games.” But Emma said, “Sometimes we pretend to,” and Chess said, “Not very well,” and it was clear that they weren’t trying to act anymore.

“None of you had to go to the bathroom, did you?” Rocky asked.

“No,” Finn said. “We needed to talk.”

“Is your mom okay?” Chess asked Rocky.

Rocky snorted.

“She’s better off than our dad right now,” he muttered.

Sometimes it was a jolt for Finn to be reminded that other kids had two parents in their lives, two adults who meant everything to them. Or, sometimes, even three or four.

But the feeling was even worse around the Gustanos. With them, his brain kept flipping between They’re so much like us and They’re totally different.

It seemed even more unfair with them that they still had their dad, and the Greystone kids didn’t.

“Forget going to the bathroom,” Emma said. “Let’s go back and hear what the moms are saying.”

All four kids went back into the room with Mom and the rest of the Gustanos. Finn snuggled against Mom, practically crawling into her lap.

Across the table, Finn Gustano was on his mom’s lap.

“I am trying to help you,” Mom was saying. “But there’s certain information . . . certain facts . . . it’s hard to know what’s safe to tell you. Or what you can bear hearing.”

“Look, my kids were kidnapped, and I didn’t know where they were for an entire week,” Mrs. Gustano said. “And now my husband’s been accused of planning the whole thing. I’ve already had my worst nightmares come to life.”

“That’s not the worst that could happen,” Mom said. It almost sounded like she was choking. Finn peered up at her face. Tears trembled in Mom’s eyelashes as she stared directly at Mrs. Gustano. “Your children came home. Your whole family was reunited. Your husband’s still alive. Mine . . . isn’t.”

“Are you threatening my mom?” Rocky asked, scraping his chair back like he was ready to fight. “Threatening my dad?”

“No,” Mom said. “I’m trying to save your whole family. So I’m warning you all. I’m trying to be kind.”

“What do you want me to do?” Mrs. Gustano asked in a strangled voice. “What would you do if you were me?”

“I’d jump on the offer I’m about to make you,” Mom said. “If I were you, I’d take my husband and my kids and run away. I can recommend someone who will help. It’d be like . . . your own private witness protection program. Change your names, move somewhere new, start a new life—that’s the only way to make sure you’re all safe.”

“Wait, what did you just say?” Emma Gustano gulped. “Do you mean—”

“But I like my name,” Finn Gustano moaned.

Mrs. Gustano patted his arm comfortingly and studied Mom’s face like she was memorizing it.

“That’s what you did, isn’t it?” Mrs. Gustano asked Mom. “Ran away? I still don’t understand how you and I are connected, or why we look so much alike. Or what you did to offend whoever your enemies are—is it organized crime? Drug dealers? But I’m guessing you took your kids and you ran away . . . did you take part of my identity for yourself and your kids? Is that how I got involved?” Mom started to protest, but Mrs. Gustano waved her objections away and kept talking. “Regardless, how’s that working out for you? You look just as haunted and exhausted as I feel. Your eight-year-old is cowering in your lap just as desolately as mine is. Your ten- and twelve-year-olds—”

Finn did not wait to hear what she said about Emma and Chess. He scrambled up and shouted at Mrs. Gustano, “This isn’t Mom’s fault! She didn’t just run away—she kept trying to fix the other world! And Emma, Chess, and me—we want to fight against the bad people from the other world, too! And you should help us!”

“Finn . . . ,” Mom whispered. “Don’t—”

But Rocky bolted upright.

“Other world?” he repeated. “You weren’t lying about that before? And there’s a way to fix things? To fight back against the people who kidnapped us?” He swiveled toward Finn. “I’m in!”