“I don't know,” Marisa heard Sam say. “We're such late entries, we're the festival's dark horse.”

“Patrick,” Marisa said, holding him and looking up into his clear blue eyes.

“You were amazing,” he said.

“Thank you,” she said.

“That song was the most beautiful I've ever heard. . . .”

Marisa gazed up at him. She wanted to tell him how he had made the words and notes flow.

But for now, they had something much more important to do. Singing the song, staring down the hill at Lily's shop, knowing that loyalty and friendship were what had saved Marisa and Jessica these last months—everything had built up like a tidal wave in Marisa's chest.

“Patrick,” she said. “We have to go.”

“What do you mean?”

“To Connecticut,” Marisa said.

“To help Lily and Rose,” Jessica said. “Is there room for all of us? Me, Mom, and Aunt Sam?”

“Of course,” he said, his eyes glinting.

“We'll take my car. Let's leave right away, this minute—so we can get there in time,” Marisa said.

Patrick kissed her, drowning out the roar of the crowd, letting her know that they were on their way.

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Early Monday morning, Liam, Lily, and Rose went to stand on the rocks in front of the house. Liam and Lily were both dressed for court. Rose stood in front of them, then crouched by the edge of the bay. No one spoke for a few minutes, but they were all scanning the blue surface, rippled with the butterscotch light of the early-morning sun, looking for Nanny.

“She's not here again today,” Rose said sadly.

“Not that we can see,” Liam said.

“But if she was here,” Rose said, “she'd have to come up for air.”

“She might come up for air at the very minute you turn your back.”

Rose peered over her shoulder at him for a long minute, taking him in. Then, as if in those seconds she feared she'd miss Nanny, she whipped her head back.

“Did I miss her?” Rose asked.

“No,” Liam said.

“But she's not here, is she?” Lily asked, her voice low and worried. “If she were, she'd show up on your tracking screen, right?”

“Her transmitter might have gotten lost,” Liam said, taking his eyes off the water just long enough to gaze into Lily's eyes. “The battery could have died; I've known that it was time to replace it, but I don't have my equipment here. It's all back in Cape Hawk.”

“So she really could be right here?” Lily asked. “And we've somehow not seen her the last five—”

“Six,” Rose interrupted.

“Six days?” Lily asked.

“It's possible,” Liam said, scanning again.