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Rafe had stuht in front of his pissed-off family, stumbled to the funeral, and then slept stretched out on the freshly filled grave It hadn’t o home

Rafe took out his wallet and unfolded the train schedule from the billfold He had a little time He was always careful not to miss the last train He looked at the s on his pinkie It held a secret comparte When Lyle had given it to hiers had been so slender that it had fit on his ring finger as easily as the curl of Lyle’s hair fit inside of it

As Rafe rose to kiss his , Mary thrust open the screen door so hard it banged against the plastic trashcan behind it

"Where’s Victor? Is he inside with you? He’s supposed to be in bed"

Rafe shook his head Hisand walked through the house, still holding the dishrag, calling Victor’s name Mary showed theh he hid her son froone"

"Maybe he snuck out to see soht Not for a ten year-old

"Marco couldn’t have co him," Rafe’s father protested

"He’s gone," Mary repeated, as though that explained everything She slumped down in one of the kitchen chairs and covered her face with her hands "You don’t knohat he ht do to that kid Madre de Dios"

Rafe’s mother came back in the room and punched numbers into the phone There was no answer at Marco’s apartment The cousins came in from the back yard They had mixed opinions on what to do Soht that Mary didn’t have the right to keep Victor away fro Rafe got up and went to the , looking out into the dark backyard Kidsfarther than theyacross the lawn "Victor!"

But he wasn’t there, and when Rafe walked out to the street, he could not find the boy along the hot asphalt length Although it was night, the sky was bright with a full hts

A car slowed as it came down the street It sped away once it was past the house and Rafe let out the breath he didn’t even realize that he had held He had never considered his brother-in-law crazy, just bored and maybe a little resentful that he had a wife and a kid But then, Lyle’s grandfather had seeht about the train schedule in his pocket and the unfinished sketches on his desk The last train would be along soon and if he wasn’t there to ht with hishe could do here In the city, he could call around and find her the nuood lawyer--a lawyer that Marco couldn’t afford That was the best thing, he thought He headed back to the house, his shoes clicking like beetles on the paveraveyard the night after Lyle’s funeral It had clearly creeped Teo to find his little cousin sleeping in the ceone" Teo had squatted down in his blue policeman uniform He sounded a little impatient and very aard

"The faeries took him," Rafe had said "They stole hi else in his place"

"Then he’s still not in this graveyard" Teo had pulled on Rafe’s arm and Rafe had finally stood

"If I hadn’t touched him," Rafe had said, so softly that maybe Teo didn’t hear

It didn’t matter Even if Teo had heard, he probably would have pretended he hadn’t

This time when Rafe walked out of the house, he heard the distant fireworks and twirled his father’s keys around his first finger He hadn’t taken the truck without permission in years

The stick and clutch were hard to tiroaned, but when he hway, he flicked on the radio and stayed in fifth gear the whole way to Cherry Hill Marco’s house was easy to find The lights were on in every room and the blue flicker of the television lit up the front steps

Rafe parked around a corner and walked up to theof the guest bedroom When he was thirteen, he had snuck into Lyle’s house lots of ti room because his sisters shared the second bedroo until the television was off and everyone else had gone to bed Rafe excelled at waiting

When the house finally went silent and dark, Rafe pushed theIt was unlocked He slid it up as far as he could and pulled himself inside

Victor turned over sleepily and opened his eyes They ide

Rafe froze and waited for him to scream, but his nephew didn’t move