The Shadow Girl by Jennifer Archer

Author:Jennifer Archer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-03-04T05:00:00+00:00

Ty sits on the couch, watching me pace as I try to reach Wyatt on his cell.

“Shouldn’t he be in school?” Ty asks.

“It’s a short week for seniors,” I tell him.

“I don’t understand why you’re so upset that he saw us.”

Wyatt isn’t answering, so I put my phone in my pocket. “I don’t want to hurt him.”

Ty cocks his head. “You sure it’s not more than that?”

The concern in his voice brings tears to my eyes. I stop pacing and look down at him. “Does it matter? I mean, you’re leaving soon. We won’t see each other again.”

“Says who? We’ll stay in touch, Lily. And I might come back.”

“I guess, but . . . I’m just confused about everything.”

“Are you talking about the way you played? Or are you talking about us?” he asks quietly.

“Both,” I say.

I walk to Cookie’s pen, and kneel beside it. Reaching in, I ruffle his fur, surprised when he raises his head and his tail starts to wag. I scratch between his ears, and he lowers his head again and heaves a contented sigh. But his tail keeps wagging. What’s got into you, boy? I wonder, encouraged by the change in him.

Standing, I turn to Ty, knowing that if I keep holding everything in—about my dad’s cryptic comments, about Iris, about my mom’s weird behavior—I’m going to go crazy. I’ve always heard that two heads are better than one. Wouldn’t three work best of all? Maybe if Ty, Wyatt, and I all put our heads together, we can make some sense of what’s happening—that is, if Wyatt ever forgives me.

I motion toward the door. “There’s something you should know. Come on. I’ll show you.”

Cookie needs to go out, so Ty carries him down the steps to the yard. His legs are wobbly when Ty lowers him to the ground, but his tail keeps wagging. A few minutes later he follows us to the workshop, making slow but steady progress.

“He acts like he’s feeling a little better,” says Ty, as Cookie plops down on the floor.

I lay the violin case next to the chest containing my mother’s things. “I know. He had a burst of energy, or something. It’s weird.”

I turn my attention to the chest and sit down in front of it, next to Ty.

When the music box is out and open between us, with the note from Jake spread across it, I tell Ty about the conversation I overheard between my parents on the morning of my birthday. I tell him about Dad’s strange words to me after the accident, too. And I relay Mom’s behavior since Dad’s death—how she’s locked herself in here, and how I watched her from the window going through this chest. I describe the sketches tucked away in tubes on the upper shelf of the storage closet. I decide not to tell him about the strange effect the music box song had on me. I’ve known Wyatt forever, and he didn’t believe me, so why would Ty? I don’t want him to think I’m psycho.

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