Boots by Kate Hannigan

Author:Kate Hannigan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2021-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Five

WE STARED AT THE NOTE as Akiko smoothed it out on her knees. The penciled letters were neat and clear. I squinted at them, imagining the words I could form if I scrambled them up. I heard Akiko and Mae doing the same.

“ ‘Gas,’ ‘sag,’ ‘sage,’ ” Mae suggested.

“I think I see a bad word in the top line,” said Akiko. “And on the bottom line, there’s ‘use,’ ‘vest,’ ‘rest.’ ”

I shook my head. This secret message seemed different. I didn’t think it was a word scramble. There was something more here.

“Should we hold it up to a mirror?” I asked. “Or check for invisible ink?”

The walls shook again. Akiko, Mae, and I scooted closer together on our stretch of the train tracks. I noticed one of the little ones next to us began to cry, while the moms and the other siblings tried to cheer him up. My heart squeezed in my chest imagining Baby Lou crying. I hoped Vinnie was there to make him feel safe. I’d be home with them again soon, and when I was, I’d make sure to read them all the comic books they wanted. Especially ones with Nova the Sunchaser, Hopscotch, and Hauntima.

Time passed as we finished Akiko’s chocolate bar and kept on trying to crack the message. Was it an hour? Longer?

Finally Mae perked up. She grabbed the note and stared closely at it, her nose nearly touching the paper. Akiko had nodded off on my shoulder, so when I jumped to attention, she did too.

“What is it?” Akiko asked groggily. “Can we leave now?”

“I think I’ve got it,” whispered Mae excitedly. “Have you got a pencil and paper, Akiko?”

We knew she did. And once they were produced, we watched Mae’s pencil scratch across the page. She wrote out each letter, just as it was on the original paper. Then she began drawing lines from letters in the top row to the ones below, connecting them in a long zigzag.

“It looks like you’re drawing a backyard fence, Mae,” I whispered, watching her link one letter to the next, up and down.

“That’s exactly what you call this kind of cipher!” she exclaimed as quietly as she could. “It’s a rail-fence cipher! Or at least I think that’s what this is. Look!”

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