Free Spirit’s Key by Edith Cohn Page B

food. I leap off my front porch toward Sky, excited to try my experiment. But I have to scramble back, because Nector skids on his bike nearly running over us. “Watch it!” I yell. I’m guessing his bike would go right through Sky, but last time I checked I wasn’t invisible.
    â€œSorry,” he says. “I was going so fast … and the sand is slick.” He stands over his bike like he might ride away with his tail between his legs.
    I remember my offer for supplies. “Do you need something?”
    â€œWhat kind of cereal do you have?”
    I set down the bag of kibble. Telling my invisible baldie to stay would probably freak Nector out, so I tuck the dog tag in my pocket and Sky disappears.
    â€œWe order one box a week, and it was Yasmine’s turn to pick. Hers is too sweet for me. Not to mention that it’s pink.” Nector makes a face. “It’s enough to make me not want to wake up tomorrow morning.”
    â€œI’m sure we have a few choices.”
    He smiles and gets off his bike.
    â€œCome on in.”
    He hesitates at the door like he isn’t sure he should step inside a dingbatter’s house. Of course Nector has never been inside my house, because his mother thinks we bite. Or she thought Sky would. I wonder what Nector would say if he knew seconds ago Sky was standing beside him. Would he run away screaming about devil spirits?
    â€œGo on.” I give him a little push. “We don’t make deliveries.”
    â€œHa-ha.” He steps inside. “Wowzers. It looks like you just moved in.”
    â€œYeah.” Lucky for Nector, I happen to remember seeing cereal while I was looking for soup, so I take him to the green room.
    â€œYou keep cereal in the bedroom?”
    â€œDon’t you?”
    Nector shakes his head. He doesn’t get the joke.
    â€œI’m kidding. I know it’s weird. We have more food than will fit in the kitchen.”
    â€œIt’s crazy how much stuff you have.” Nector steps around the open boxes. “If you saw it, you’d think our house was empty.”
    â€œI did see. I was in your house once.” I decide to ask about his loose floorboards even though I’m scared of the answer. “Why does your floor open like a trapdoor?”
    â€œHelps the house handle a hurricane. The water rushing in has to go somewhere. Mom makes us keep blow-up rafts by all the beds, too. So we can float out.” He shrugs. “When it comes to the weather, we know our future.”
    â€œWhy do you think hurricanes chase your family?” I dig through some boxes and pull out three different kinds of cereal.
    â€œBecause I’m such a fast swimmer?”
    I’m a fast swimmer, too, and hurricanes don’t chase me. I almost say so, but Nector cracks a smile.
    â€œHa-ha,” I say. Who knows why, right? Maybe instead of a gift, the Hatterasks got a curse. Our gift feels like a curse at the moment, with Dad too sick to get out of bed.
    Nector studies the cereal boxes.
    â€œI’m sorry. I guess we only have three choices,” I say. “Cereal goes bad after a while. Dad has a tendency to order more of the nonperishables like canned goods.”
    â€œCan I have this one?” He holds up a box that comes with a free airplane toy.
    â€œSure.”
    He pulls out some dollar bills. “How much do I owe you?”
    â€œNo, silly. You can have it. We’re not the general store.”
    â€œAre you sure I can’t give you something for it?”
    â€œWill you let me do a reading for you? I need to practice, and I don’t have anyone to practice on.”
    â€œI heard about how your dad lost his sight.”
    â€œHow did you hear that?”
    Nector shrugs. “It’s a small island.”
    â€œYeah.”
    He passes over his house key.
    As soon as I touch it, I get a jolt of nausea, so I take it to Dad’s special card table and lay it down,