1 Uncle Archie was a liar. Professionally. He could spin a story from nothing, weav-ing the threads of it together so expertly that the person being lied to might never see the seams. Big lies, little lies. Uncle Archie had mastered them all. I''d seen him lie to bankers and bakers and lawyers and police. I''d even seen him lie to a priest, though I kept my distance when he told that whopper. Just in case.
But every liar has a tell, and though Uncle Archie didn''t know it, I had discovered his. Right before Uncle Archie was about to lie, he checked the time. Usually it was nothing more than a glance at his watch or phone, over and done so quickly that it was easy to miss. I''d been with Uncle Archie half my life, and it had taken me a couple of years to spot the pattern. But once I''d noticed it, I couldn''t help seeing it each and every time. "Didn''t you hear me, Samantha?" Uncle Archie said. "Go fish." Oh, I''d heard him.
I''d also seen him glance at the time on his phone right after I asked if he had any eights. Usually watching Uncle Archie lie was like watching from backstage while a magician worked, but I hated when he lied to me. I tossed my cards face up on the folding table. "Why are we even playing this silly game? I''m not six anymore. Are you afraid you can''t beat me at a real game?" Uncle Archie set his cards face down and folded his hands in front of him. He looked like a librarian and had the patience of a kindergarten teacher. "When playing against a superior opponent, sometimes the only way to beat them is to choose a game you know you can win." "Even if you have to cheat?" "When the stakes of the game are life and death, there are no rules.
" I rolled my eyes. "Oh boy. Another lesson." I stood and walked to the small cooler against the unpainted wall and grabbed a water bottle from inside. The floors were dusty cement, and the unfinished, abandoned office building smelled like mildew, but it was five stories tall and offered unobstructed views of our surround-ings. "These lessons may save your life one day." "I''m tired of lessons." I crossed back to the huge holes in the exterior walls where the windows should''ve been and looked across the street to an empty lot littered with garbage, overgrown with weeds and grass, and encircled by a six-foot-tall chain-link fence.
"We should be there," I said, pointing out the window. "Dealing with the furax." "We''re observing," Uncle Archie said. "Observation is potentially the most im-portant aspect of our work. Proper observation and identification prevents us from blundering into situations we''re unprepared for and putting our lives, and the lives of those around us, in mortal peril." With his boring suit and haircut, no one would have guessed that Uncle Archie worked for a clandestine organization that investigated strange phenomena and creatures that most people thought only existed in myths and fairy tales. No one would''ve guessed it about me, either, because they saw me as just a kid, but I could change my appearance. Make people believe I was anyone I chose.
I''m not saying I had superpowers, but it was a power and I was pretty super. "Seven people have reported walking into that lot, finding a strange house that no one else can see, going inside, and leaving an hour later ten years older." I turned back to catch Uncle Archie''s eye. "Do you know a creature other than a furax that eats years the way you gobble Oreos?" "No," Uncle Archie said. "However, that doesn''t mean it doesn''t exist. It wasn''t long ago that you were unaware there exists an entire world parallel to ours where lost people and objects sometimes wind up." He had me there. While researching rumors of a ghost at St.
Lawrence''s Catholic School for Boys, we''d discovered Hector Griggs, a sixth grader who thought he could turn invisible but who could actually travel to the place where lost things went. We also found a monster living there that had been preying on the students for decades. "Okay, but this is definitely a furax." Uncle Archie sighed. "That might be, but our orders are to observe and report back so that a proper team can dispatch the furax--or whatever else it may be." This was our third straight day of observation. We''d played a thousand hands of go fish, I''d completed my schoolwork for the next month--our Kairos teachers didn''t give us summers off--and I''d been forced to listen to Uncle Archie tell stories I''d heard a dozen times before. I wasn''t sure how much more observing I could take.
"You know I''m good enough to be an agent already." "I know you''re twelve, Samantha." "Going on thirteen." "Which is still too young to be chasing monsters on your own." "I''m not a kid," I said. "I''ve known about this world since I was six. I''ve been help-ing you in the field since I was eight." Uncle Archie pinched the bridge of his nose.
Another tell, this one indicating that he was frustrated. "And sometimes I wonder if allowing you to do so was in your best interest." "Why?" "You deserve a family, Samantha. You deserve the chance to be twelve going on thirteen, neither of which you''ll get working for Kairos." "But I want to work for Kairos," I said. "Because it''s what you want or because it''s all you''ve ever known?" I started to say that it was what I wanted, but Uncle Archie didn''t give me the chance. "You''re smart and resourceful. You would make a brilliant agent, but you would also make a brilliant teacher or computer engineer or politician.
" "Do you want me to leave Kairos?" Uncle Archie rested his hand on my shoulder. "I want you to know that the world won''t end if you do. I want you to know that you have other options, and that I will support you no matter what you choose." I didn''t know what to say. Kairos was my home. It had been my home since Uncle Archie carried me out of the house I was born in, which had been on fire at the time. Even though I doubted it was true, I felt like he was telling me he didn''t want me around anymore. Uncle Archie pushed himself up from his chair with a groan.
"I''m going to the sandwich shop to use the facilities and purchase our evening meal. Would you like your usual?" I gave him a sarcastically enthusiastic thumbs-up. Another dinner, another turkey and cheese sandwich. Yay. "Don''t forget, Samantha, we''re here to observe. If you see something, make note of it, but do not go near that lot." "Yup," I said. "Got it.
" I leaned against the windowsill, listening to the sound of Uncle Archie''s footsteps as they faded and disappeared. I didn''t understand why Uncle Archie was question-ing my commitment to Kairos. Did he think I wasn''t ready? Did he think I couldn''t handle myself? I knew more about the creepy things that existed in the cracks be-tween our world than most adult agents. I sometimes wondered if Kairos was only using me for my power. I wasn''t allowed to investigate the furax, but Uncle Archie and the Director had no problem sending me undercover to an all-boys school to search for a ghost or to a coding summer camp to question a werewolf or to a baking competition for kids to try to recruit a girl who could control yeast with her thoughts. I hadn''t minded that last one so much. I''m a terrible baker but a world-class taste tester. Helping Hector Griggs save his school from the gelim, a terrifying tentacle mon-ster that had been masquerading as a sweet old lady, should have proven to Uncle Archie and the Director that I could handle myself.
Before that, I''d saved the entire town of Fairview from a glowing rock that made anyone who touched it hear the most annoying song they knew until it drove them into a murderous rage. I''d helped relocate an angry old tree that was giving residents of a community in Or-egon nightmares, and had helped a famous young actor come to terms with his ability to taste the history of anything he put in his mouth. I was ready to do more than observe. I just had to convince Uncle Archie and the Director of it. Movement by the empty lot yanked me from my thoughts. A man in jeans and a hoodie was walking past the fence. That''s it, buddy. Keep going.
The man slowed. He brushed the chain-link fence with his fingers. He cocked his head to the side like a dog listening to a sound only he could hear. I stuck my head out the window and shouted, "Hey, you! Guy in the green hoodie!" The man ignored me. He wore a dreamy, distant expression as he turned around and walked back toward the gate. Uncle Archie had chained it shut and secured it with a padlock, but the man easily scaled the fence, swung his legs over the top, and hopped down on the other side. "I told them they should''ve put up barbed wire," I muttered to myself. The man walked toward the center of the lot and then vanished.
He wasn''t gone, though. Furax were masters of camouflage, blending into their surroundings by taking the forms of houses or office buildings or cozy hotels--whatever would be most inviting to their potential victims. I turned to run down the stairs but stopped when I heard Uncle Archie''s voice in my head, reminding me that I was only supposed to observe. Except, surely he couldn''t have meant for me to stand by while the furax stole a few birthdays from an innocent person''s life. The man wasn''t going to die--not right away--but he''d die a decade soo.