Chapter Sixteen

The drive only got worse after that. Alex tried to start conversations, but the grumbled one-word answers, if she got any at all, weren’t worth the trouble. At least when they stopped for lunch, she had Aunt Sophie to talk to.

Strolling down Digby’s main street, Alex saw scallops on the specials board of a café. “Let’s go in here!”

Alex raced ahead through the dark interior and picked a table on the balcony overlooking the harbour. Everyone settled into the rattan chairs and ordered iced teas. A sailboat whizzed along close to shore, on its way to deeper water. Its bright red and yellow sails billowed full in the breeze.

“Scallop Days are a lot of fun here. You should come for that sometime,” Aunt Sophie said.

Neither of her parents responded. Alex felt like she had to say something. “Sounds like fun,” she muttered lamely.

“We have a big bike rally here in September. It’s quite a sight, motorcycles everywhere you look.”

Alex could tell Aunt Sophie was trying to make things more comfortable. Her mom was staring off in one direction, her dad another.

Alex scanned the menu. There were some odd things on there—Solomon Gundy, dulse, Digby chicks?

“Ready to order there, hon?” The waitress smiled at her.

“Um, what are Digby chicks?” Alex wrinkled her nose. Who would eat little baby chicks? Gross.

The waitress laughed. “It’s not what you think. They’re smoked herring.”

“Herring?”

“Early settlers couldn’t afford poultry. Renaming the herring must’ve made it sound better.” The waitress shrugged.

“Ick! It would still taste the same.” Alex shook her head. “No chicks for me.”

Aunt Sophie and her mom chuckled. Even her dad cracked a smile. It broke the solemn mood for a bit. Their meals came and they passed around the tartar sauce and ketchup, raving about how good the food was. It was nice.

Afterward, Alex and her aunt strolled along the boardwalk. Her dad was making calls on his cell phone and her mom had gone into a craft shop. Alex was in temporary food heaven, slurping a triple-decker butterscotch ripple ice cream. Aunt Sophie had a maple walnut.

Alex felt almost bouncy in her sneakers—especially not having to curl her toes like she did in Adam’s shoes to keep them from falling off. No toe cramps.

All kinds of boats were tied up at the wharf. The coolest were the fishing boats. Some had long horizontal arms and rigging that looked like angel wings as they bobbed back and forth on the choppy waves. The wind blew in off the water. Alex tucked her dark, wavy hair behind her ears to keep it from whipping around her face.

She gazed out at the water, troubling thoughts looming inside her head. “Aunt Soph, what’s the matter with my parents? You and Mom talk all the time. You know, right?”

Her aunt’s footsteps slowed. “What do you mean?”

“They’re always fighting.”

“Well, adults argue from time to time.”

“I’m not a kid—I know grown-ups fight,” Alex said. She thought of the mean words and looks that seemed to be her parents’ only interactions lately. “But this is different. Ever since…Adam…they talk to each other like Craig and I do. He’s a guy in my school—and we don’t like each other one bit.”

“Well, they’re having a tough time too, you know.”

“I guess.”

“They miss your brother—just like you do. And they’re very sad, and angry too, that he’s gone.”

Alex sat down on a bench facing the harbour. “I know they’re sad. But why do they have to fight?” She didn’t know why she was bothering to ask the question. She knew why her parents were fighting. It was because of her, because of what she did.

“It’s hard for everyone, Alex.”

Alex looked up into her aunt’s blue eyes, searching for the blame that should be there. Her aunt must think it was her fault too, right? “Do you think it’ll be okay, Aunt Soph?”

“I hope so, kiddo. I sure hope so.”

Aunt Sophie sat down beside Alex. They stared at the waves in silence as they finished their ice cream cones, waiting for Alex’s parents to join them.

It turned out that her dad had to go see a client, so they roamed the town for most of the afternoon. Alex didn’t mind, although she was pretty tired. But her mom was complaining to Aunt Sophie that this was typical, and why couldn’t he have told them beforehand. When her dad finally met up with them, it was almost suppertime and plans had changed.

“I have to drop by to see another client. It could take a while, so you should go down with Sophie and I’ll meet you there.” Her dad popped the trunk and began transferring the bags to the other car.

“Really, Douglas?” Her mom was tapping her foot on the pavement. “More calls? On a Saturday?”

“Look, Colleen, I told you. I missed a lot of time. I need the calls when I can get them right now.”

“It’s okay, Dad,” Alex jumped in. Her stomach was churning as her parents’ voices rose. “We’ll go with Aunt Sophie!” She wrapped her arms around her father’s waist and hugged him tight. Please don’t fight. Please don’t fight, she repeated in her head.

He was stiff as a board for a minute. Then Alex felt him relax as he hugged her back. “Love you, Munch,” he whispered. His voice sounded raspy. “See you tonight.”

She looked up at him, but couldn’t see his eyes behind his dark glasses. He seemed to be watching her mom. He stood there for another minute before getting into his car. Gravel flew as he sped out of the parking lot.

Aunt Sophie squeezed Alex’s shoulder before sliding into the driver’s seat of her car.

It wasn’t until they were boarding the second ferry, the one at Freeport on Long Island that took them to Brier Island, that Alex’s gloom lifted slightly. The car tilted forward as they descended the steep bank. The last time they had driven onto the ferry, it had been almost even with the road. The tide seemed to be all the way out today.

She hopped out of the car. The cool air was a shock, a big difference in temperature from Digby. Leaning against the metal railing, Alex found herself face to face with a wall of periwinkle shells and the seaweed her aunt called bladder wrack clinging to the wooden dock. She looked up—way up.

“Impressive, huh?” Aunt Sophie said. “The difference between high and low tide here is almost twenty feet. Highest tides in the world. That’s a lot of water every six hours.”

Alex nodded, remembering the tall stilts of the garage buildings covered with barnacles and seaweed.

“It’ll be good to get back, huh, kiddo?” Aunt Sophie sighed.

Alex’s gaze drifted to the village of Westport on the other side of the passage. She squinted, imagining she could see Eva’s café. The lodge was clearly visible, high on the cliff.

“I was talking to Eva last night. She and Gus have been worried sick about you. It would be nice if we could pop in there first. Are you feeling up to it?” Aunt Sophie brushed her fingertips lightly against Alex’s hair. “It’s been a long day.”

“We can go. I’m okay.” Alex didn’t mention the headache that was pulsing behind her eyes. But she didn’t want to go back to Aunt Sophie’s right away. She knew that as soon as her dad arrived her parents would probably start arguing again. “Where’s Mom?”

“She stayed in the car.”

The engine roared and they began to pull away from the dock. Alex tilted her face into the wind. They’d barely cleared the end of the wharf when Alex noticed dark forms in the water.

They were back in the other world that was Brier Island. The world of whales.