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"There's a side door," I said. `It might be better if you went out that way and met me out front:'

He nodded, avoiding my eyes. Neither of us seemed to want to acknowledge what we had done. I took him to the door. Just as I opened it, Boggs stepped out of his room and looked at us. Our eyes met, but he didn't speak. He walked off.

"He doesn't seem that bad," Roy said.

"Everyone has his own problems here," I told him. "Be out in a minute."

Roy left and I went through the house, feeling silly about sending Roy out secretly now. The only ones I was hiding him from now were Mrs. Chester and Leo and they wouldn't have gone running to the Endfields with any stories.

I grabbed Randall's umbrella in the alcove and joined Roy in front of the house. We started for the Burbage School.

"It doesn't look like it's going to rain," Roy said, seeing the umbrella.

The sky was partly cloudy and the air was warm.

"You never know here and I've got to return this to a friend anyway," I said.

When we arrived at the school, I told him when I would be finished for the day, and he said he would meet me in front of the school.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I feel like someone still on a merry-go-round," I said. "When it stops, know how I am."

He nodded.

"That's the way I've been feeling for a long time."

He gave me a quick peck on the cheek goodbye and I hurried into the school to class, my mind a maze full of confusion and turmoil. I was hoping it would all settle down before the day at school ended and Roy and I could have a sensible discussion about what had happened.

But Fate had other plans.

Fate was like someone in the wings watching us perform, smiling at us, knowing all along that what we thought was real was just an illusion. We thought we were the players, the actors, but we were really in the audience watching what we thought was ourselves.

When the lights came up, as they always would, we'd find there was no one there.

The curtains would close on just another dream.

15

Last Wishes

.

My mind was wandering like some satellite that

had fallen out of orbit and was drifting aimlessly through space. Mrs. Winecoup's words seemed to become all one continuous note falling farther and farther behind until it was almost gone. In fact, I was in such a daze that it took me a few seconds to realize I was being addressed.

"Rain!" she repeated. I blinked and looked around. Everyone was staring at me.

"Mr. MacWaine needs you," she said when she saw she finally had my attention. She nodded at the doorway and I turned to see him standing there, the expression on his face so severe and dark, it made me tremble just to look at him.

"Please, come with me," he directed.

I rose slowly, picked up my books and left the classroom. When I stepped out, he closed the door.

"Your employers, the Endfields, have sent their car and driver for you," he began.

"Why?"