The Moon Tells Secrets by Savanna Welles Page A

rolled the ball to Pinto, who, as frail as he was, managed to catch it. Not a perfect playmate, but close enough for now.
    Pinto licked Cade’s hand, receiving a quick pat on the head in return. “Looks like you gave him a good workout. He needs some exercise.”
    â€œHe’s pretty fast for someone his age.” Davey gave a low whistle, which brought the dog back to his side. “Can we come back tomorrow? I mean to play. There’s more space here than at Luna’s. I mean if we’re still around?” Warily, his eyes sought my permission.
    â€œSure. Anytime you want to. But you might be coming back next week anyway. Your mom will talk to you about that.”
    Davey’s grin said he was glad we’d be staying here for at least a week, and he nodded at me with grateful eyes. Cade placed our coffee cups in the sink and left to join Luna in the room down the hall. Davey sat down in the seat he’d left.
    â€œSo we can stay?”
    â€œFor a while. A couple of weeks, maybe.”
    â€œWhat about—?” He didn’t need to finish.
    â€œWe’ll figure something out.” It felt good to say that, telling him that we wouldn’t run, at least not right away. But his quick, doubtful glance told me otherwise, and I nodded, acknowledging that we couldn’t talk about it here, not in front of anybody. I told him then what Cade and I had talked about, explaining that he had gotten too far behind at school and needed to catch up. He scrunched his lips, letting me know whom he wanted to blame for that, even though I knew he really didn’t blame me, except on bad days when he needed someone to be mad at.
    â€œSo what’s he going to teach me?”
    â€œAnything you want to learn. Stuff that will help you next time we need to—”
    â€œBut you just said we wouldn’t have to leave again!” Anger sparked in his eyes. “You just said it!”
    â€œI know what I said, and I didn’t say that, not exactly.”
    â€œAlmost exactly. So where did Luna go?” He was defiant now but hid it. Like Pinto, Luna was quickly becoming an ally. I’d heard the two of them laughing together when I came downstairs for breakfast. I had no idea what they were talking about, but it had been good to hear his laughter. He was as at ease with Luna as he was with her dog, and I was reminded again how narrow our lives were, how thin and devoid of fun. Except for school, I was his only company.
    When Anna was alive, she’d been there for him, too, in ways I never could. She’d understood him because of the bond—the shifting “gift”—they shared. He would tilt his head sometimes, in the weeks after she died, listening for a sound sung or whispered at a timbre I couldn’t hear. It scared me at first, that some unspoken secret seemed to be calling him, a thing that shut me out. I’d wondered how deep those family ties went, how deeply he was bound to Anna, even after death.
    Recently, the listening had grown less. Only every now and then would I catch him picking up his head, waiting for the voice of someone gone. But then he’d drop it when he saw me looking, unwilling to let me between them. Maybe Luna could become like Anna, with her own strange song to sing my lonely son, yet safer. Luna was bound to me by blood, so I’d be part of that song; I would hear it, too.
    â€œSo what were you and Luna laughing about in the kitchen this morning?” I asked, knowing he wouldn’t tell me. Secrets were too big a part of our lives.
    â€œBetween me and Luna. So where did she go?”
    â€œDown the hall,” I said, letting him have his space. “But knock if the door is closed.”
    â€œWhy would the door be closed?” With Pinto at his heels, he headed down the hall, and I heard him rapping hard, then entering when nobody answered.
    â€œDon’t come in here!” Luna yelled, too late.
    He had