Theo didn’t even bother opening his mouth because he knew he’d say the wrong thing, like asking if this woman had any parrots, or if she was planning on getting some, because they would look really great with her earrings, in his inexpert opinion on fashion. Tess opened her mouth and closed it several times, as if conjuring up then discarding one lie after the other, lies that maybe other people might believe but this tall goddess wouldn’t buy for a second.

Jaime said, “I think we found part of the Underground Railroad.”

“What?” said the tall woman and the smaller woman simultaneously.

“We did?” said Theo and Tess simultaneously.

Jaime told the women that he and his friends had been exploring a construction site and found a way into the basement of the building next door. In that basement, hidden behind a pile of rocks, there was an opening to a very old tunnel leading down underneath the building. They knew they shouldn’t, but they decided to enter the tunnel. They walked that long, stone tunnel and noticed that there were names scratched into the stone on the walls, names like Sam and Beulah and Solomon, but also a lot of Xs. He couldn’t be sure, Jaime said, but somehow he got the most powerful feeling that those were the names and marks of people trying to escape something terrible, and they wrote their names and made their marks just in case they didn’t make it, even if it was a risk to do so.

For some reason, the story didn’t sound vague or even that strange when Jaime told it. It sounded right, and true.

The tall woman, Janice, considered Jaime for what seemed like a very long time.

Finally, she said, “What’s your name, young man?”

“Jaime Cruz, ma’am.”

“You wouldn’t be lying to me, Jaime Cruz, would you?”

“No, ma’am.”

“So if I were to walk down those stairs and into that tunnel, I would find those names and those Xs scratched into the stone?”

“Yes, ma’am. You might find a lot of other things, too.”

Janice took a deep breath, brushed some of her curly, smoky-blue hair back from her face, hair that seemed elegant rather than silly or shocking on her. “A part of the Underground Railroad leading straight to Jennings. I shouldn’t be surprised at all. And I’ve always wondered why we were so far east. So near the docks.”

“Wait,” said Jaime. “This is Jennings?”

“Where else?” Janice said, as if Jennings were the only good and right place the tunnel could have led them. Except Theo had no idea what Jennings was, even though the name sounded familiar.

“My grandmother has talked about this place,” said Jaime. “She said that she’s going to come straight here to have a dress made when I get married.” Jaime’s brown cheeks went the slightest bit rosy.