er get moving; Josh and Brian might be coming back any sec

w she'd woken up. What had she been thinking? Some nonsense about silver cords and destiny and a guy who wasn't like any other guy. But that was all ridiculous. The stone in her hand w

'd held it, and the skin he'd touched with his fingertips felt different from any other part of her

ont door behind her. Then she paused. She could hear her mother's voice fro

he willow slimness of her mother's figure. With that and the fall of long, dark hair worn simply clasped at the back of her neck, Mrs. Brown could have be

conversation. Mrs. Brown was upset, and at intervals she said

ed and went t

g vaguely what was going on with her mother. But she cou

tell, Victoria was sure of that. But without h

ll face it right now. Even if she did find out his name, she

words didn't bring a surge of comfort and hope. She put the rough little

Did you say

were off the phone." When her mother continued to look at her inquiringly, she add

sh of repressed pain. Her large black eyes had dark cir

s wrong?" s

You remember how I was planning for us to

st here. From Boston down to the Cape it was the south shore, and from Boston up to New York it was the north shore, and if you were going to Maine it was

said. "I

e's old, Victoria, and she's not doing

rn. It was something about her mother leaving home, but that was all her mother would ever say about it. In the past few years, though, there had been some letters exchanged, and Victoria thought that unde

ard for her to get around some days." The sunshine fell in strips of light and shadow across her mother's fa

blems, but we're still family, and she hasn't got

reely about the estrangement bef

I didn't want to follow. She thought she was doing the ri

something else. A trickle of alarm started by the look on her mother's face, which wa

o do. And I'm sorry, because it will mean such a disruption of your life, and

get ready for school by myself. It'll be easy; Sophia and Mrs. Walter will help me - " Victoria's mother was shaking her head, a

t this. I know you'll miss your friends. But we've both got to try to make the best of thin

till. "Mom, what are

to Reseda. We're going to my home, to move in with yo

could only say stupidly, as if this were what ma

the window. Her eyes seemed bigger and dar

d quietly. "The town i

by the window, staring blankly. Her mind

.. to stay in

n, something inside her proclaimed, and it was glad. But it was

if the guy is here in Massachusetts somewhere? You don't k

he voice deepest inside, the one that had been glad

your fate to spend your junior year in New England, that

one, all the oth

felt any hope of seeing the red-haired boy again sl

o back, just to say good-bye. But Mrs. Brown had said there was no money and no time. Their airline tickets woul

feel worse about leaving again. This way at least it will

nd Mary the class wit. Add to that shy and dreamy Victoria and you had their group. So maybe they weren't the in-crowd, b

d wandered around the room in such a vague, preoccupied way, that Victo

right. But she couldn't. The small, hot coal of resentment burning in her chest wouldn't let her. However worried her mother migh

new desks, she thought. New faces instead of the friend

ad just silently turned away to the window, and this was where she'd been sitting ever since, w

realized she'd forgotten all about the chalcedony lucky piece. She reac

toria and her mother wer

home?"

zed she didn't want Taraji to find out she was staying in New England. She couldn't stan

e. "Yes," she said, and flicked a quick glance over to where her mother

e staying until th

was startled by the coldness there. "Not that I didn't have a

d. "Maybe you'd better stay out west from now o

n on the beach. This was the time for one of those devastatingly witty remarks that she thought of at

oncluded, and with one last

mbarrassment, and anger, but she couldn't let this chanc

ha

and I just wanted to know... I jus

se n

heeks, but she went on doggedly. "His name

t into Victoria's, the pupils contracted to mean little dot

was

istinctly and levelly, and then she turned on her

pe. There was a forest growing on either side of the highway. In C

slightly to follow a stand of particularly graceful trees. "And those shorter ones are red mapl

want to see the trees in the fall

Victoria watched quaint little towns and wharves and rocky beaches slip by. She suspected they were taking the s

ompartment and pulling out a map supplied by the car rent

It's been a long time since I drove up

etts, Orleans was the only one she could think of that she wanted to see. Its macabre history appealed to her mood right now.

ople who happened to be disliked by their neighbors." Her mother's voice was tired and

a's eyes. "Where is this town, anyw

. "It's a small town; quite often it's not shown on

isla

ere's a bridge t

sland. I'm going to live on an island.

s lifted a little when she saw that it wasn't. There were regular stores, not just tourist shops, clustered together in what must be the center of town. There was a D

h loosen. Any town with a dancing pa

her road that rose and got lonelier

e it, the sun glinting red off the windows on a group of houses at the top of a bluff. Sh

aged, but ancient. And although some were in good repair, others looked

pretty yellow house with several towers and bay windows. But her

side-down T, with one wing facing the road and one wing sticking straight out the back. As they came around the side Victoria could see that the back wing looked nothing like the front.

chimneys looked crumbling and unstable, and the entire slate roof seemed to sag. The windows

never seen a more depressing house i

heerfulness, as she turned into a gravel driveway

fury and resentment inside her was swelling bigg