Page 58 of The Vanishing Place
“Cake,” shouted Four.
Twelve felt like an important age. Like Effie could manage anything. She was no longer a little kid. No longer naive and immature. The last year had been good. They still visited Koraha every three months, and Dad hadn’t left as often. And when he did, Effie knew how to take care of the young ones. She knew how to fix them dinner, something warm with vegetables, and how to teach Aiden his numbers and words. Effie read to them for fifteen minutes each night, getting them to answer questions about the pictures, just like Mum had taught her. And when Dad came back, he read with the boys and Effie readHarry Potterto Tia. Lewis had used his savings from cleaning at the motel to buy her the fifth book. It was the longest and the best so far. Almost eight hundred pages.
“How’s my birthday girl?” Dad wrapped an arm around Effie’s shoulders and kissed her forehead.
“Hungry.”
“Excellent.”
She frowned. “Are you sure the cake’s edible?”
“Yes.” He smiled. “Definitely maybe.”
He kept his arm around her as they walked back through the trees. Tia had begged to go for a swim in the river, even though it was Effie’s birthday. But Tia had a smile that was hard to say no to, which was usually super annoying. The river had been fun though. The water was the bright turquoise color of summer, and there’d been a white heron that watched them the whole time. Tia and Aiden had swum with Dad while Effie let Four paddle at the edge. Then they’d skimmed stones and had a picnic.
As they neared the hut now, Tia stopped. Then Effie felt it too, that something was different. Tia held out a hand, making them stay, then she looked back at Dad.
“Someone’s in the hut.”
Dad pulled free of Effie and moved forward. No one knew the way to the hut. Not even June. Dad had sworn them to secrecy.
Not even Lewis, Effie. Promise me.
I promise.
It’s important. This is our special place.
Dad lifted Four, who didn’t cry—he knew not to—and handed him to Effie.
“Stay here.”
The bush hummed as Dad neared the hut, the piercing burst of cicadas vibrating in Effie’s chest. Four clung to her, his little arms crushing her neck as a heat prickled her spine. A warning. Dad’s body had that look, like every muscle in him was held tight with anger. The look that told Effie to keep her distance. She rubbed Four’s back as Dad reached for the door handle.
Effie jumped as the door burst open and a tall boy, a man maybe, filled the frame.
“I thought I heard someone,” he said.
The tall man-boy smiled like there was no anger in Dad at all, like he wasn’t staring down the barrel of a rifle.
“Hi.” He held out a hand. “I’m Asher.”
Stupid name.
He was real pale, like the freckled girl at school. Even his hair, which reached his shoulders, was blond, and he had a short beard that circled his lips. Effie disliked him straightaway. Not the pale thing—that was kind of cool, like a Sindar Elf—but the rest of him. It was dangerous, him being there, seeing things that his tiny brain wouldn’t understand. Looking at them—at Dad—with his judging outsider eyes and making stupid assumptions.
His eyes.
Effie flinched, momentarily fascinated.
Far out.
The man-boy’s eyes were totally different. One of his eyes was bright blue while the other was black. A swirl of ocean and a pit of dirt.
“This is our home,” said Dad, without taking his hand.
“Sorry, yes.” The stranger with the strange eyes stood aside. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
“Why are you here?”
