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"The ferry leaves froht-twenty," Anna said as she and Kaitlyn hurriedly changed their clothes in her bedrooain," said Kaitlyn
They all met a few minutes later in the front hallway There were o noises from the back of the house
"Shouldn’t you leave a note?" Lehispered
Anna sighed "They’ll know," she said briefly
"I’ll leave the with them"
Gabriel snorted
Outside, the sky was cold and gray The rain seeeles If they kept the defroster on maximum, it cleared the windshield but scorched their skin; if they turned it down, the windshield immediately stea but they froze
At the ferry the water was navy blue with just a hint of green They waited in a line of cars and finally drove onto a large boat It cost twenty-five dollars, and Kaitlyn paid because Lydia only had credit cards
On the passenger deck Kaitlyn watched the deep blue water slipping away on either side We’re on our way, she thought To Canada She had never been to a foreign country
She was drinking a vending-ht her when Lewis rushed up, breathless
"Trouble," he said "I just talked to sohteen, you’re supposed to have a letter of authorization to get into Canada"
"What?"
"A letter Fro who you are and how long you’re going to be there"
"Oh, terrific" Kaitlyn looked at Rob, who shrugged
"What can we do? We’ll just hope they don’t ask for one"
"I’hteen, anyway," Lydia said "I’ll drive and maybe the rest of you can fake it"
An hour later they cruised into Victoria Harbor Kaitlyn’s breath caught The sun had co to be painted There were lots of little sailboats and lots of clean-looking pink and white buildings
But she couldn’t keep staring; they had to go downstairs again and get in the car They waited in another line at the customs checkpoint while the knot in Kaitlyn’s stohter
"Where do you live?" a sunglassed custoers barely tightened on the wheel "In California," she said, s
The customs officer didn’t smile back He asked to see Lydia’s driver’s license He asked where they were going in Canada and how long they’d be staying Lydia answered everything in a careless, sophisticated murmur Then the officer bent a little at the waist to examine the inside of the car
Look old, Kaitlyn told the others They all sat up straight and tried to look mature and bored
The custolanced at each of thehteen?" he asked Lydia
Kaitlyn’s sto twist Their driver’s licenses would show the rest of thehteen And then he’d ask for a letter
Lydia hesitated ihtly, with soh Lydia was slight, her manner was sophisticated and assured
The custo at Lewis - the one of thelanced back at Lewis, too, and although her face was cal
Lewis’s jaw set, and Kaitlyn felt a ripple in the web
The custoer or walkie-talkie or soan to shriek
Not beep Wail It went off with a sound like an air-raid siren, a vibrating sound that put Kaitlyn’s teeth on edge People turned to look
The custo buttons The shrieking only went up in volume
The officer looked frori With an io," Lehispered excitedly
Lydia put the car in gear, and they glided off at a majestic five miles an hour When they reached a main street, Kaitlyn let out her breath They’d ht," Rob said
In the back seat Leas chortling "How about that? One for the home team!"
Kaitlyn turned on him That ripple she’d felt in the web just before the shrieking began "Lewis - did you?"
Lewis’s grin widened, his eyes sparkling "I figured if those creeps could sabotage us with long distance PK, I could handle a walkie-talkie I just ive it soain, and for the first tireen eyes "Thanks," she said "You saved my you-knohat" Lewis bealy impressed But he asked Lydia smoothly, "Who are those creeps, by the way? The ones who’ve been trying to kill us with psychic attacks"
"I don’t know Truly, I don’t I knowwith the crystal - and hehim But I don’t knoho"
"I wonder if they’ve stopped," Anna said suddenly "I ht Maybe they’ve lost track of us"
"Andon soful look at Lydia She gave so with her driving
"Where ao now?" she asked
There was a pause Then Rob said, "We’re not sure"
"You ca?"
"We don’t know exactly We’re looking for - "
"So Rob Lewis frowned and Kaitlyn gave Gabriel an impatient look
We decided to trust her And she’s going to find out anyway, as soon as we find it
"Then let her wait until we find it," Gabriel said aloud "Why trust any further than we have to?"
Lydia’s lips tightened, but she didn’t say anything, and she didn’t flounce again
"I figure we have two choices," Rob said "We can drive up and down the coast blindly, or we can ask people around here if they knohere the - " He changed for an instant to silent speech: the rock towers are "If Anna’s nized them, people on the island should know the, Anna?" Lewis asked "Your mom said you were on that trip, too"
"I was five," Anna said
They decided to ask around A man at a tourist shop sold them a map and directed theh the nized Kaitlyn’s sketch of an inuk shuk, they had no idea where any ht be found on the island Neither did anyone at the camera shop, or the bookstore, or the British imports store, or the native crafts shop Neither did the librarians at the Victoria Library
"Is it ti around blindly?" Gabriel asked
Lewis pulled out the map
"We can drive either northeast or northwest," he said "This island’s sort of like a big oval and we’re at the botto on here looks like our Griffin’s Pit There’re thousands of little peninsulas and things all over the coast, and no way to tell any of them apart"
"It’s probably too small to be on the o east, tails we go west"
Kaitlyn flipped a coin and it ca the coastline, stopping to check the ocean every fewrese the place in their drea on a rock and looking down into the blue-gray water Gulls were crowded thickly around her - they took off when Kaitlyn or the others came near, but tolerated Anna as if she were a bird
"It’s alo farther north, or to try going west" It was frustrating to feel she was so close to the place, but not to be able to sense where it was
"Well, we’re not going to find anything tonight," Gabriel said "The light’s gone"
Kaitlyn heard the note of tension in his voice Not just ordinary Gabriel-tension, but a fine edge that told her he was in trouble
All day he’d been quieter than usual, withdrawn, as if he rapping hietting better, but his need was getting worse It had been nearly thirty-six hours since Kaitlyn had caught hion
And what on earth is he going to do tonight? Kaitlyn wondered
"I beg your pardon?" Rob said, looking at her quickly
She’d forgotten to screen her thoughts Desperately hoping he’d only caught the last bit, she said, "I ondering what on earth we’re going to do tonight To sleep, I ," Lewis put in
" - and we certainly can’t all sleep in this car"
"We’ll have to find a cheap motel," Anna said "We can afford one room, anyway, since it’s off season
We’d better head back for Victoria"
In Victoria they found the Sitka Spruce Inn, which let theht dollars and didn’t ask any questions The paint inside the roo and the door to the bathroom didn’t shut properly, but, as Anna pointed out, it did have beds
At Rob’s direction the girls got the beds Lydia chose to share with Anna - clearly she hadn’t forgotten the strangling Kaitlyn curled up on the other, pulling the thin coverlet over her The boys, sleeping on the carpet, had usurped the blankets
She slept, but lightly All that evening Gabriel had avoided her, refused to speak with her Kait could tell by his cold deter his proble to lie there and quietly endure it again tonight By now she was closely enough attuned to hiht she’d wake up when he did
It worked - mostly Kaitlyn hen the hotel door closed with a click She could sense that Gabriel wasn’t in the roo out of bed stealthily was almost routine now The only shock came when Kaitlyn looked at the other bed and realized that there was only one figure in it
Lydia was gone Not in the bathrooone
Kaitlyn crept out of the roorim
She tracked Gabriel by his presence in the web, feeling hi She wondered if Lydia ith him
Eventually she came out by the harbor
Kaitlyn hadn’t been afraid walking down the quaint, old-fashioned streets of Victoria There were a few people out, and an atmosphere of sleepy safety blanketed the town But here by the harbor it was very quiet, very lonely The lights of boats and buildings reflected in the water, but it was still dark and the wharf was deserted