Free The Secret Sea by Barry Lyga Page B

guilt-tripped your parents.”
    â€œAnd then we used the door,” Khalid reminded them. “The door was important to the plan, and I don’t understand why you’re downplaying it. Without the door, we literally would not be here.”
    Moira sighed in aggravation and awkwardly crossed her arms over her chest. “How are you, Zak? Really.”
    â€œI’m okay. The doctors say I’m going to be fine.”
    Khalid perched with one hip on Zak’s bed. “Did you seriously have a heart attack?”
    â€œI think so. Or maybe not. They called it a ‘cardiac event.’”
    Khalid tilted his shades down and looked out over the top. “That sounds fun.”
    â€œTotally. Want to try one?”
    â€œMaybe later.”
    â€œIs this connected to your sleepwalking?” Moira asked abruptly.
    Zak startled, and his heart monitor emitted a sharp bleat. He’d almost forgotten that Moira was there. When she wanted to, she could be so quiet and still that it was easy to overlook her, especially amid Khalid’s antics. But she stood right next to him, gazing down at him with concern.
    â€œWhat makes you think—”
    â€œIt’s a weird coincidence,” she interrupted, “that an otherwise normal, healthy person would suddenly have two medical crises in a row. Maybe there’s a connection.”
    â€œScience Girl rides … again!” Khalid sang.
    Moira ignored him and touched Zak on his shoulder, where Dad had hours before. This time, Zak didn’t mind so much. “What are they saying? Have they told you anything?”
    Zak drew in a deep breath. An otherwise normal, healthy person , Moira had said. But she didn’t know.
    â€œDon’t tell.”
    That was fine advice for ghosts. But Zak was alive and had friends.
    â€œI need to tell you guys something,” he said. “Something big and serious.”
    â€œI live for big and serious,” Khalid said, leaning forward eagerly.
    Zak started to talk.
    *   *   *
    He told them everything.
    Every. Thing.
    He was tempted to hold back some of the details, some of the crazier things. But it was all connected—his brother, the World Trade Center, the ship, the sleepwalking, the “cardiac event,” the voice, the dreams. The flooded subway that suddenly wasn’t. Trying to talk about one part of it without talking about the rest of it would be like walking on a single stilt—good luck keeping your balance. And your perspective.
    As Zak spoke, Khalid paced, never taking off his sunglasses—he was deeply committed to the weird experimental theater of his own life. But Zak could tell from his cheeks and eyebrows that his eyes were growing wider and wider as the story went on. Moira stood completely still the whole time, staring through her thick lenses at Zak, her arms folded uncomfortably over her chest. I like you ironically kept flashing at Zak.
    â€œThat … is … crazy,” Khalid said when Zak finished, and Moira immediately and quite seriously slapped the back of his head. Hard. Khalid yelped.
    â€œDon’t call Zak crazy,” she remonstrated.
    â€œI didn’t call him crazy! I called his story crazy.”
    â€œEither way.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” Zak said quietly. “I know how it sounds. And I wouldn’t blame you guys if you didn’t believe me, but don’t tell my parents, okay?”
    â€œWe believe you,” Moira said. “Well, I do.”
    â€œYou don’t think I’m nuts?”
    â€œOf course not,” Moira said. “How could you have opened the safe without knowing the combination? A ghost actually makes sense. And besides—the boat was right where you said it would be.”
    â€œI just believe you ’cause I’ll always believe you,” Khalid said. And then he intoned solemnly, “Three Basketeers.” When they’d been younger, one