“I miss seeing everyone,” Laurie said quietly. Aside from Fen, she only really got to see her dad’s family when she passed them in town. Fen was in her class, so they saw each other at school, but there were no family barbecues, no parties, no even stopping by for a chat. Her mother stayed clear of the Brekkes, and since her dad was off on one of his never-ending trips, Laurie wasn’t able to be around the family, either.
“Everyone misses you, too… and Uncle Stig.” Fen didn’t mention her half brother, Jordie, or her mom, of course. The Brekkes hadn’t quite rejected Jordie, but he wasn’t familyto them. He was proof that her mother and father had separated, that her mother had tried to move on, but that hadn’t worked out. Now, her mom let her dad move back in every time he came to town. Hetreated Jordie like a son, not as much as he did with Fen, but still he accepted Laurie’s brother. The rest of the Brekkes weren’t that cool.
“Has Uncle Stig called lately?” Fen asked. There was so much hope in his voice that Laurie wished, not for the first time, that her dad would try to remember to call Fen, too. Of course, he didn’t remember to call her most of the time, so expecting him to do much else was silly.
“A few weeks ago. He’s coming to see me soon. That was what he said, at least.” Laurie ducked her head.
Fen nudged her with his shoulder. “He’ll come.”
“Unless he doesn’t,” Laurie added. Both were equally likely. Her father came and went as the mood struck him; he called or sent presents if he thought of it.
“Maybe he’ll stay for a while,” Fen suggested.
And Laurie knew the part he didn’t say, and then I can stay with you. Fen had no real home. Uncle Eddy had been locked up the past few years for some crime no one would talk about in front of either of them, and Aunt Lillian had packed her bags years ago. Fen moved between the relatives like a bag of hand-me-down clothes. When Laurie’s father was around for a while, he was likely to invite Fen to live with them. Once he left, Fen moved out. Laurie’s mother never saidhe had to go, but Fen always did—and her mother never stopped him.
“Can you just try not to fight with Matt? Or anyone?” she blurted.
Fen stopped, gave her a look, and then resumed walking.
“It’ll be easier if you don’t fight with him.” She grabbed Fen’s forearm. “Mom worries about your influence on Jordie, and if Dad does stay, it’d be nice if you came home, too.”
They rounded the corner and were almost at her apartment building. The drab beige building sat like a squat stone giant from one of the stories that they all had to learn in sixth-grade English class. Fire escapes that the landlord insisted were scenic balconies clung to the side of the building. The red and blue swaths of spray-painted graffiti were the only colors to be seen.
Fen gave her a quick hug, a sure sign that he was feeling guilty, before he said, “I’ll try to keep out of trouble, but I’m not going to sissy out.”
That was the best she could hope for. Fen didn’t really look for trouble, but it found him—and her—more often than not. Or maybe they simply didn’t resist trouble very well. That was what her mom thought. Ican stay out of trouble, though.She’d had a few visits to Principal Phelps and that one little misunderstanding at the lockers, but mostly, she’d stayed out of trouble lately, which would totally change if she started spending more time with Fen.
He didn’t have many friends, so she always felt bad when she didn’t hang out with him, but she felt just as bad when she was grounded all the time. He didn’t get into half as much trouble when she was around him, but she got into twice as much. Like tonight, all she knew for sure was that he’d said he needed her with him, and she’d come along. She wasn’t sure if he was trying to break the shield or take it. With Vetrarblot—the big festival for the start of winter—coming, either one would be a problem.
Laurie ran up the stairs to her apartment. Her mother was working nights at the hospital, so one of the neighbors, Mrs. Weaver, stayed with them after school, but she didn’t really enforce the whole get-home-right-away thing. She did, however, insist that Laurie be in the apartment before Jordie went to bed. Laurie took a couple more deep breaths as she ran up the rest of the steps to their fourth-floor apartment. It wasn’t quite high enough to have an elevator, but it was enough steps to complain about, as far as she was concerned. If they ever got hit by a tornado—which was a risk in South Dakota—she was pretty sure they’d all die. The apartments all had storage units in the basement, and her mother swore they could get downstairs fast enough if the time came, but that was five floors’ worth of stairs. They’d waited a couple storms out in the storage unit, but mostly they stayed upstairs in the apartment, waiting and listening, and planned to run down all those steps if necessary. It was a bad plan.
She thought about that as she reached her floor, unlocked the door, and went inside. The lights were off, and the flicker of the television cast strange flashes of light into the room. Even though Mrs. Weaver would be leaving soon, Laurie still locked the door.
“You’re late,” Mrs. Weaver said as Laurie walked into the living room.
“Is Jordie asleep?”
Mrs. Weaver shook her head. “Unless he’s started snoring in the sounds of explosions and spaceships, no, he’s not asleep.”
“Then I’m not late,” Laurie pointed out. “Curfew is before Jordie’s asleep, so—”
“Nice try, missy.” Mrs. Weaver’s mouth was trying not to curl into a smile, though.
Laurie opened the door to her little brother’s room. Piles of books and toys were everywhere, but Mom wouldn’t yell at him. Jordie was her “little angel,” the baby who didn’t worry her. If his school called, it was to say what a great job he did or what award he was getting. He should’ve been a Thorsen.
“Good night,” she said. “Stop blowing things up.”
“A volcano blew up for real!” Jordie squirmed in his bed, flopping over so he could see her.
“A what?”
“Volcano.” Jordie made another explosion noise. “The whole top blew off like a rocket. Isn’t that cool? Lava and smoke and—”
“Mom doesn’t like you watching the news.” Laurie sighed.
“And she doesn’t like you being out this late. I won’t tell if you don’t,” Jordie said, with the sort of bargaining powers that had kept him in gummy bears for months.
She rolled her eyes, but she still said, “Deal.”
After she’d pulled the door shut, she went back out to the living room. Mrs. Weaver had gathered up her knitting needles and was slipping on her shoes. They said their good-nights, and Laurie curled up on the sofa with her math homework.
The sound of the lock turning woke her. Sort of. Sleepily, she let her mom direct her to bed. It wasn’t like Laurie usually worried, but the whole episode with Fen tonight had freaked her out a lot. If Matt would’ve stayed out of it, she could’ve talked Fen into leaving the shield alone. Maybe.Either way, though, Matt didn’t need to throw that light thing or whatever it was he did.
“Saw Fen,” she told her mother.
“Laurie…” The tone that her mom always had when she talked about Fen was already there; even half-asleep, Laurie heard it. It meant Fen’s bad news, stay away from him.
“He’s family,” Laurie murmured as she crawled into her bed.
Her mother pulled a cover over her. “One of these times he’s going to get you into the sort of trouble you aren’t ready for. Then what will you do?”
“Handle it.” Laurie snuggled into her bed. “I can handle it.”
A few hours later, Laurie woke with the vague sense of suffocation, which wasn’t entirely unexpected because she had woken up as a… fish—a salmon, to be precise.