* * *
Sawyer woke her up the next morning to ask if she wanted to come to breakfast with him and Maddie. She got dressed quickly and joined them as they walked. “How was babysitting last night?”
“It was actually really fun, wasn’t it, Maddie?” said Sawyer.
Maddie gave him a dark look. “There was nothing fun about it at all. It lasted forever, and we didn’t get back to our tents until too late to do anything else.”
“I thought it was fun,” said Sawyer. “We organized a really big game of hide and seek. Maddie came up with a pretty cool hiding place, and I couldn’t find her for almost an hour.”
Maddie brightened a little. “It was a nifty hiding place, wasn’t it? And you were really good at finding people.”
“Yeah,” said Sawyer. “If only I was that good at finding out the person who opened those portals in Helicon. Then we’d all feel safer.”
“Oh,” said Nora. “That reminds me.” She recounted to them the conversation she’d had with Alexander earlier. “What do you think? Do you think he was only saying that stuff because he didn’t want to seem suspicious?”
“I don’t know,” said Maddie. “Maybe. Did he seem like he meant it?”
“He really did,” said Nora. “I wanted to believe him.”
“Maybe we’re completely wrong to suspect him,” said Sawyer.
“But then we’re back at square one,” said Nora.
“Well, there hasn’t been a portal opened in a while,” said Maddie. “Maybe it’s over.”
Sawyer suddenly grabbed Nora’s arm. “Hey, Nora, what happened?”
Nora looked down. The place where Owen had gripped her arm so tightly last night had turned into an ugly, greenish bruise. She yanked her arm away, pulling her sleeve down over it as best she could. “I, um, have no idea. I must have run into something in the woods last night when Owen and I were walking.” She could try to explain to them, but somehow, she didn’t think they’d understand. He hadn’t meant to do it. He really hadn’t. But if she said that out loud, it would sound like he was some kind of abusive person or something, and he wasn’t.
“It looks like marks made by fingers,” said Sawyer.
“Does it?” Nora laughed. “Weird.”
“Nora,” said Sawyer, his face serious, “did Owen—”
“No!” said Nora. “Owen would never do anything like that.” She was going to have to put on a long-sleeved shirt after breakfast. Maybe she’d be hot, but she didn’t want to deal with anyone else asking questions about it.
Dancing Days Page 19
