“I know you do,” I said, staring at her in the greenish light of the lantern. “Anyway, it was Sam’s second year. And he was . . . well, he was my little brother. He was annoying. He didn’t like it there as much as I did. And mostly, we got divided into groups at camp. So he was in a cabin for boys his age, pretty far away. But sometimes I’d see him, at the lake or the cafeteria, and he always seemed to be alone. I felt bad . . . but not bad enough to pay too much attention.”

“Was he a loner at home?”

“No. He was exactly the opposite. Sam had a whole little gang of kids he loved to play with, all these boys his age in the neighborhood. But at camp it was flipped. I had my camp friends—Hazel and Tali and Jess—and he didn’t seem to have anyone.”

“Poor kid,” said Jasper.

“Yeah, so I’d look over at lunch or dinner and see him eating quietly. He was never quiet at home. Regular Sam was fast and loud and always making crazy noises and always in a hurry or jumping on people. So much that it was embarrassing! But Camp Sam was quiet and alone. The whole time.”

“That sucks,” said Jasper.

“So one day, the last week of camp, I’m at the lake, with Hazel and Tali. We’re out on the raft, just talking. And I look out. I see him, heading our way. Sort of a cross between a dog paddle and a crawl. He wasn’t a great swimmer.”

I stopped talking for a minute and saw that Jasper was staring at me now, silent. I could see it register, what I was about to tell her. She knew before I said another word. Of course she did. Just like the moment she opened the door to his room. Jasper had a weird kind of magical intuition.

“Oh, God,” she said.

I closed my eyes for a minute. Then I opened them again, and she was still staring at me. I thought maybe she’d tell me to stop, but she didn’t. She sat there. She was ready. And I needed her to be ready. I needed her not to freak out.

“So anyway,” I said. “Anyway . . .” I took another breath. I closed my eyes, and kept them closed as I said, “It only took a minute. I saw him, swimming our way. And I was annoyed, kind of. Not in a serious way. Just, like . . . my little brother was coming to hang out with me and my friends on the raft. Which meant we were going to have to stop talking about whatever it was we were talking about. Which I don’t even remember now, because it didn’t matter at all. But I was annoyed.”

“Yeah,” said Jasper in a soft voice.