The Ruby Moon by Trisha Priebe

were honest, that would have been fine with her. “How did you know where to find me?”
    He laughed. “I’ll take that as a welcome.”
    But when he stepped toward her, Avery stepped back. “Answer me. Who told you I was here?”
    “Does it matter?”
    “It does if I’m going to trust you.”
    Edward’s smile vanished. “We were friends. What’s happened?”
    “Everything’s happened. Earlier today your sister disappeared.”
    Avery waited for this news to alarm him, but it didn’t.
    “Why are you here?” she pressed.
    And then it hit her.
The carrier pigeons! He sent them. Of course! They belonged to my father, and Edward is still squatting in my family home.
Why had it taken her so long to figure that out?
    Edward began to answer, but Avery put up a hand. “Can you prove my family is alive?”
    He smiled. “Smart girl. I thought you might ask.” He reached into his shirt pocket and extended a fist to her. He slowly opened his fingers.
    Henry’s paper boat!
    She reached for it and gently turned it over to survey the smudges where Henry’s pudgy fingers had folded and refolded it, so important had it been to him to get every detail right. Their last day in the woods, he had tucked it in his pocket to take to a nearby stream. He chattered nonstop about it as they walked.
    “Do you think it will float?”
    “What makes boats float?”
    “You should make one so we can race!”
    She had been annoyed by his jabbering, sulking that she had to spend her birthday taking care of him. Now she swallowed a tide of emotion. They’d never made it to the stream, and she would give a hundred birthdays just to spend one afternoon racing paper boats with Henry, questions and all.
    “Where is he?” she asked.
    Edward cocked his head. “You know the rules. You agree to help me, and I return you to your family. I need to know you’ll uphold your end of the bargain.”
    “How do I know this isn’t a trick?” she asked.
    “You don’t, but what do you have to lose?”
    “Why do you need my help?” she asked. “You were a scout, and you know I botch every attempt to be helpful.”
    Edward smiled. “Best to have on one’s side those with the most to lose if you fail. You, dear girl, are fighting for your family. What could be more important than that?”
    Avery desperately searched Edward’s face. “Please tell them I love them and that I’m coming for them as soon as I can.”
    “Tell them yourself,” he said with his trademark confidence. “Meet me in the chapel on the other side of the Salt Sea in five days, and I promise to reunite you with your family before month’s end.”
    Avery turned the paper boat over and over and sighed. “I’ve heard so much about that wonderful place, I actually began to wonder if it really existed. How do I get there?”
    But when she looked up, Edward had gone, his footsteps fading.

    The next morning Avery met with Kate, Kendrick, and Tuck and said, “We need to find where they’re holding Babs.”
    The others looked at each other before Kendrick finally spoke. “Avery, you need to face the reality that they’ve probably already executed him.”
    “But if not? He told us to find him!” she said. “We have to at least try. What if he’s still alive and counting on us?”
    Kate nodded. “She’s right.”
    “Fine,” Kendrick said. “But don’t get your hopes up. I’ll see what the scouts can do to help, but getting into the Tower will be dangerous.”
    “We owe it to him,” Avery said. “And there’s something else. I don’t believe the king is dying of natural causes. He’s being poisoned, and I need you to help me prove it.”
    “No one is poisoning the king,” Kate said with a wave. “You know how difficult it would be to slip anything into his food or drink? Everything is first tested by a taster.”
    Avery nodded. “Which is why whoever’s poisoning him has to be someone he trusts—like Angelina. Look at his symptoms. It’s not