“Hey, look what I found in the attic.” He was holding a shoebox. “Uncle Rick’s old toys. Plastic boats.”

Gran laughed. “Don’t I throw anything away?”

“You’re too old to play with boats,” I said.

“Says who? Let’s go put them in the pond.”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to go outside with Rowan.

“Yes, go on, Maisy,” Gran said. She was wearing an apron and holding a wooden spoon in her hand. It was covered in chocolate.

“Do I got to?”

“Yes, you do. It’s a beautiful day, and the doctor says you need fresh air.”

Rowan took the shoebox full of toys and we went out the back door. Gran had a big backyard with a tall fence all around it. We went to the bottom of the yard and Rowan opened up a gate. There was a path behind it, and woods, too.

“I don’t want to go in there.”

Rowan took my hand and tugged me. “You can’t be afraid of everything, Maisy.”

The gate clicked shut behind us.

Some of the trees had sharp needles, but the other ones were tall and leafy with white trunks. When I looked up I saw some of the leaves were turned yellow. The woods felt kind of sleepy and quiet. I still didn’t like it.

“Guess what?” Rowan said. “I made a buddy yesterday.”

“How?” I said.

“One of Gran’s friends. She has a grandson. We grabbed burgers, and his little sister happened to come along. And guess what? She’s the same age as you.”

“Oh.” I kicked some pebbles, and dust came up.

“I bet you’d like her. And don’t worry, she’s the exact opposite of Shar.” Rowan smiled. “Would be good to have a friend for when you start school.”

“We’re going to school here?”

“Of course we are.” He bumped me on the head, but not hard. “We missed a few weeks, but it’ll be okay. And we’ll be in the same school, Turtle, if anyone bugs you. It goes all the way to grade twelve.”

“Oh,” I said again.

We walked along a wide path. It turned through the woods and at the end there was a small pond. Soft grass went all the way around it, and lily pads floated on the top. It wasn’t very deep and I could see all the way to the bottom.

“There’s glass in there.” I pointed at the water. “Broken bottles.”

“Who cares, Turtle? We’re not getting in.”

Rowan found a stick on the ground and he went over and poked the trunk on one of the trees with needles. Then he came back and scraped shiny gunk onto the back of the boats.

“Now watch.”