Purple, white . . . this world, that world . . . hope, fear . . .
Chess’s stomach clenched. Last time they’d gone into the other world to rescue Mom, they’d only ended up losing Ms. Morales and Joe.
What if something even worse happened this time?
Four
Finn
“What’s the plan?” Finn whispered to Natalie while Mr. Mayhew put the baseball gloves and ball away. “How are we going to ditch your dad? Or are we telling him everything and taking him with us?”
“We’re not putting Dad in danger,” Natalie said firmly. “And . . . we’re not giving him a chance to be overprotective and refuse to let us go rescue our moms. We’re keeping him in the dark.”
“Okay . . . ,” Finn said, waiting. Sometimes Natalie could be like a general giving orders to her troops. You didn’t rush her.
Mr. Mayhew came back from the garage. Finn saw how Natalie, Chess, and Emma were lined up in the foyer. All three of them were bright-eyed and rosy-cheeked—totally transformed from the gloomy, droopy kids they’d been before.
Finn elbowed Natalie, and she had the sense to slump a little. Finn raced over to wrap his arms around Chess and Emma.
“I missed you!” he pretended to wail. “I’m glad the two of you didn’t disappear like Mom!”
He took a quick peek over his shoulder. Mr. Mayhew was gulping and looking away. During one of their pitch-and-catch sessions, he’d told Finn he never knew what to do when anyone cried.
“Hey!” Mr. Mayhew said, too loudly. “Want to go out for dinner tonight? I’m thinking the Rusty Barrel would be fun. What do you think?”
Natalie looped her elbow through Mr. Mayhew’s.
“That’s a great idea!” she said. “But can we stop on the way? I have that science project on leaves due tomorrow, and we get extra credit for having certain ones. Chess and Emma told me about some weird trees by the pond near their house—maybe I can find the leaves I need there.”
Finn let go of Emma and Chess just in time to see Mr. Mayhew frown.
“I’m not sure we should—” he began.
“Are you worried about us, Mr. Mayhew?” Emma said. “Chess, Finn, and me, we’ll be fine. It won’t bother us to be back in our old neighborhood. We can just wait in the car. No problem.”
Emma was really, really good at about nine billion things, but acting wasn’t one of them. Finn didn’t know the plan yet, but he could tell that Emma had no intention of waiting in any car.
Fortunately, Natalie was maneuvering her dad toward the door, and he probably didn’t notice.
“Let’s go before it gets dark!” Natalie said.
Mr. Mayhew didn’t have an SUV like Natalie’s mom, or a station wagon like Mom. He had a little red sports car with barely any back seat. That meant that when Natalie sat in the front with her dad, the three Greystone kids had to fit themselves into an area that was probably not meant for anything bigger than a briefcase. Chess’s legs were so long that his bent knees came up to Finn’s ears; Emma solved the space problem by curling into a ball and wrapping her arms around Finn in the middle.
Finn actually loved riding in the back of Mr. Mayhew’s car. He loved being squashed together with Emma and Chess. It made him feel like they were all puppies or kittens, jumbled together. Like they were still a family, even without Mom.
It also made whispering easier.
“We’re all sneaking over to our house, right?” he whispered to Emma as she hugged him close, because there wasn’t room not to. Her arms were like a second seat belt. “How—”
“Shh,” Emma said, glancing worriedly toward the front seat. “Just Chess and me. You and Natalie stay by the pond with Mr. Mayhew and keep him distracted until we get back.”
“I always have to do the distracting!” Finn protested. “You promised—” Finn couldn’t help himself. His wail rose over the music Mr. Mayhew always kept pumped up in his car. Today it was about someone being wanted, dead or alive.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Mayhew,” Chess shouted toward the front seat. “Emma and I are taking care of Finn.”
Mr. Mayhew nodded. But maybe he was just nodding along with the music.
“No one’s going back to rescue Mom yet,” Emma hissed into Finn’s ear. “We’re just picking up . . . supplies. The right tool.”
Did Chess and Emma know the right tool for getting back to the other world and rescuing Mom? Had they figured out that much?
That was enough to make Finn beam at Emma. And then he was the one who had to duck down and hide his smile.
But when they pulled up by the pond in their own neighborhood, Finn felt a weird little gurgle in his stomach. The last time they’d seen this pond, it had been the other world’s version, and Finn, Emma, Chess, and Natalie had been running away from a big, scary place alongside three kids they’d rescued from being kidnapped.
There was a secret about those other kids that Finn didn’t like thinking about. Those other kids, who were named Rocky, Emma, and Finn Gustano, had been kidnapped and taken to the other world because some bad guys thought they belonged to Mom. If the bad guys had really known what they were doing, they would have kidnapped Chess, Emma, and Finn Greystone instead.
The Gustanos’ mom and Finn’s mom were just the two different worlds’ versions of the same person. And it was the Greystones, not the Gustanos, who actually belonged in the awful other world.
Finn tried not to think about any of that. All he wanted to think about was getting Mom back.
No—he only wanted to think about having Mom back. It would be okay with Finn if they all skipped ahead in time, past all the danger of going back to the other world and rescuing Mom. It’d be great if they could get the rescuing behind them, go back to their normal lives here in this world, and totally forget that the other world even existed.
Just like the Gustanos had been able to go back to their normal lives, reunited with their parents. They didn’t have to think about the other world anymore.
Don’t worry about the pond, Finn told himself. It’s just water. You’re not afraid of water. You know how to swim!
This pond was also pretty, with flowering bushes around it, and picnic tables and a swing set off to the side. The version of the pond they’d seen in the other world had looked dead and gloomy—maybe it was even poison, because nothing grew around it.
Finn’s stomach wasn’t gurgling because he was scared of this pond. It was because being near the pond reminded him how scared he was of the other world.
If a stupid old pond could scare him, he was kind of glad he didn’t have to go back to their house with Chess and Emma.
But I’d do it if I had to, he told himself. I’d do anything to get Mom back.
Mr. Mayhew turned off the car, and Natalie whirled around to face Finn.
“Chess and Emma, we’ll be quick, I promise,” she said. “Finn, you never like sitting still, do you? It would help if you come with Dad and me. Dad could hold you up to get leaves from the tallest trees. You wouldn’t mind doing that, would you?”
“Sounds like fun!” Finn made himself exclaim.