I peek into the hallway and, luckily, it’s empty. I slip out of the room, closing the door behind me. It’s not the silent exit Ash would have made, and that only makes me feel crappier about the whole thing as I dart into the stairwell toward my room. This is the first time anyone has ever suggested that I’m not confident enough to do something, and it’s screwing with my head. He didn’t say I wasn’t good enough. He wouldn’t have brought me if he didn’t think I was capable. But that piece of grass was a huge oversight.

I tiptoe down my bedroom hallway, careful to avoid all the creaky boards. I drop to my hands and knees and crawl across the living room floor until I get to the back of the couch.

“I can hear your breathing, my onesie-wearing spy,” Aunt Jo calls from the couch, where she’s playing cards with Dad.

I stand up. “Dang it.”

“And I saw you slinking around on the floor, Nova,” Dad says. “What have I told you about that?”

I put my hand on my hip, annoyed that I have to repeat things back to him like a little kid when I’m almost eight. “That my small size is an advantage, but not if I can’t stay completely hidden.”

“And how would you have stayed hidden?” he asks.

I huff. “By staying in the hallway and not coming all the way to the couch.”

He nods.

“But I couldn’t hear you as well from there,” I protest. “And the floor in the hallway is cold.”

“But you could hear us,” he says. “And yet by coming all the way into the room, you’ve been caught, letting Aunt Jo and me know that we’re being spied on. So what good did it do you?”

“None,” I say, annoyed.

“It wasn’t a bad effort, though, little one,” Aunt Jo says, and puts her elbow over the back of the couch to get a better look at me. “And I’m entirely flattered that you would go through all that trouble to get out here just to overhear our conversation. I won’t leave you empty-handed. For your efforts, I’ll reward you by letting you know that I’m beating the pants off your father in rummy.”

Dad shakes his head. “The imagination is an amazing thing, Jo.” He looks at me. “Now, back to bed, Nova.”

“Fine,” I grumble, and Aunt Jo gives me a kiss on my forehead. She looks down at my ankles and laughs because I’ve unevenly cut the noisy skidproof plastic feet off my onesie.