“I know,” I say, smiling. “And you recognized it. Remember? You said the sycamore tree reminded you of the Council Tree. I bet it was. And the stream was the Ivory River, and Throne Rock was Fernlace. It’s funny, I never thought about any of that until you pointed it out. But you saw it right away.”

“I guess sometimes you can’t see things that are right in front of you,” she replies. “I mean, your own grandmother—she invented the Goldengrove. Aren’t you freaking out?”

I laugh. “It’s weird. I probably should be, but I guess . . . it doesn’t feel like that much has actually changed. I always knew Gram was amazing at coming up with stories.”

“Yeah, but I mean, don’t you wish she’d told you? That she came up with that story?”

“I don’t think so,” I say. “Because she couldn’t have told me without telling me about Madeline, could she? She didn’t want to betray her friend. Besides, if I’d only ever thought of the Spinney as the Goldengrove, I never would have come up with my own stories, you know?”

“Okay, good point,” Fina says.

I feel someone looking at me, and sure enough, when I glance around, there’s a girl standing by the flagpole, staring. It’s Skyler, the same girl I caught staring at me in math class last week. I try to ignore her.

“Were your parents mad?” I ask.

“A little,” Fina says. “But then my mom found out that my dad still hasn’t gotten a turkey for tomorrow, and she kind of forgot to be mad at me anymore.”

“Um,” squeaks a voice.

We both look up. Skyler has moved closer. She’s standing almost right next to me, clutching her books tightly to her chest. “You’re Emma, right?” she says. “I think we have math together.”

“Yeah,” I reply, glancing at Fina.

“I’m Skyler,” she says. “I, um, I like your boots.”

“Oh, thanks.” I look down. I’m wearing the same boots I wore yesterday, and they’re still splattered with mud from walking up and down Briar Hollow Lane. I have a feeling that Skyler did not come over here to talk about my boots.

“You guys are new here this year, right?” she says, her ears turning scarlet as she speaks. “I just started this month. This girl in my gym class, Ruby, she said—well—it’s stupid—but she said I should come talk to you.”

By now, Skyler’s voice is little more than a nervous whisper. She watches as Fina and I exchange a bewildered glance. Ruby sent Skyler to talk to us? But why?

Fina waves to Skyler. “I’m Fina.”

Skyler tries to wave back and ends up dropping some of her books. Fina and I both lean down to help her with them.