Riddle Me This?

Chapter 4

The riddle is finished and waiting, hidden in light, and I have hidden the key where it can be found by those who care to remember.

I frowned at the yellowed paper and leaned back from where it rested on top of the book I'd brought for reading. A riddle, a key. And what was Skyrren? Some code for a real place? Maybe just a name you've never heard. That's all.

Who was the neighbor that Gavin worried about? Friend or enemy? Figure it out, the letter said. Read between my lines. Who was the child they'd been expecting, in relation to me?

Wish I had the rest of these. They might have answers.

But if this one was any indication of how the rest of them were written, there wasn't much chance of that.

This is just the middle chapter. I want the rest of it. I glanced up at the clock. 2:59. Time's up for this. I slid the letter into the paperback.

Tick. Tick. Tick. The second hand finished out its minute, and the bell rang.

Miss Whitley spoke over the combination of our noise and the joyful cries from the hallway. "Have a good summer!"

I folded the letter carefully and shoved it between the pages of a notebook. Definitely going back to get the rest of those today. If I have to go by myself, I will.

Students hollered as I made my way down the hall to where Matt reclined against the plaster.

He stood straight as I got near. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." A familiar profile a few yards ahead crossed my vision, the swagger back in full force. "Hey, Brandon!"

He stopped and looked around. I waved. He waited there, shifting from one foot to the other, as I rushed to catch up.

The easy grin was gone, replaced by a tight grimace, and his eyes flicked away and back to us. "Yeah?"

What's his problem?

Matt spoke first. "Where'd you go last night?"

"You bailed on us," I added.

Brandon sighed. "I just really wasn't feeling it." He paused. "Changed my mind. Felt like sitting out."

"Why?" The question jerked from my mouth.

Calm down...

"I don't know." His eyes narrowed. "You going back?"

Matt nodded. "Yeah, probably."

He strolled backwards. "I might go with you then, but I gotta get going. I'll see y'all around." Without another word, he turned back around and walked away, leaving us standing on the sidewalk.

I'll see y'all around.

"Okay." What else could I say?

"Ever seen him like that before?" Matt asked as we walked, pace slower, to the lockers.

"No." He wasn't feeling it? What did that mean? "He just...he's never backed out on us before like that. Just suddenly not wanting to go and leaving us in that creepy house—"

Matt grabbed my arm. "Calm down. You're turning red."

I pulled away from Matt's grip. "Well, yeah, whatever. If he didn't want to come the first time he could have just said no. And now he wants to tag along when we go back."

"I really don't think he set out to offend you personally."

"Then what's his problem?" A few other students glanced my way. Too loud.