“Okay, I can’t believe I’m actually about to say this,” said Abby as we finally settled down in Fort McForterson, “but this is magic, isn’t it?”
“Oof.” I shook my head. “We don’t know that for sure. And calling it magic makes us sound like third graders. Let’s just call it linking, like you did before.”
“Got it,” said Abby. “So, how do we think this linking happened?”
“Well, let’s start with what we know,” I said. “We know I had a fort the whole time you were gone and it never linked anywhere. Now you come home, we build your fort, and suddenly they’re connected.” I looked at her seriously. “Maybe it’s you.”
“Me?” Abby’s eyes went wide. “We learned a ton of stuff at Camp Cantaloupe, Mags, but we didn’t learn that.”
A loud knocking floated through the link from Abby’s room. “Hello? Girls?”
“Oop!” Abby sat bolt upright. “We’ve got company. Back to Fort Comfy!” She dove through the link. I scrambled after her.
“Hey, Dad. What’s up?” Abby said, poking her head out of the fort.
“Hey,” said Alex, as I smooshed in beside her. “Oh, hi, Maggie. I must’ve missed you coming back over. Were you two telling ghost stories or something in there?”
“Yes,” Abby said. “Ghost stories. Absolutely.”
“Ghost stories,” I said. “Yes.”
“Absolutely.”
“Sounds good,” said Alex. “But I hope they weren’t too scary; it’s just about time for lights-out.”
“I still need to brush my teeth,” I said.
“All right, but five minutes to bedtime, okay?”
Alex left, and we changed into our pajamas.
Abby was already in bed as I came back from the bathroom. I switched off the overhead light and settled into the fort. Abby rolled up on one elbow. “Dude, I seriously cannot wait for tomorrow,” she said. “Can you even imagine how much fun our camp is gonna be now? I was worried the rest of summer might be boring after Camp Cantaloupe, but this changes evvvv-ry-thing.”
I froze, halfway snuggled in. I couldn’t believe my ears. Did Abby really just say she’d thought the precious, glorious half of summer she got to spend reunited with me was going to be boring?
“Seriously,” Abby said, rolling over. “Camp Pillow Fort for the win.”
I clicked off the lamp and lay back, staring up at the ceiling. Old Abby didn’t know the meaning of the word boring, but it looked like New Abby did. She’d really changed a ton at camp, or maybe camp had changed her.
At least we were together now, though. That was the most important thing. And we had weeks and weeks to have adventures in. Just the two of us, like always. Like it should be. New Abby would come around.
I stretched my feet through the link and wiggled my toes back and forth. My house, Abby’s house. My house, Abby’s house. It was just like that time my mom and I drove to Idaho, and I spent a full ten minutes hopping back and forth over the state line. Only this border here included the obvious potential for midnight kitchen raids, neverending sleepovers, and glorious prank wars on cute teenage older brothers.
I rolled over and grinned into the dark. We were going to get into so much trouble.
Four
Alex was leaning against the counter eating cereal as Abby and I stumbled into the kitchen the next morning.
“Hey, it’s my favorite girls!” he said. “You two are up early. Big exciting plans today?”
Abby caught my eye. I tried to hide my smile in a yawn.
“Not really,” Abby said, pulling bowls out of the cupboard. “We’re just going to hang out at Maggie’s and work on our cabins.”
“Oh, that’s right. You’re heading back to camp,” said Alex. “Well, I’ll miss you. Don’t forget you promised you’d stop by from time to time.”
Abby nodded. “We’ll be around. Today’s just for setup, anyway.”
“Just reinforcing the links,” I said, getting out spoons.
“That’s very poetic, Maggie,” said Alex. Abby snorted into the fridge.
“Do you have big exciting plans today?” I asked Alex.
“Oh, I thought I’d work on the lawn, and then I’ve got some errands. And, uh.” He looked down. “Tamal’s coming over for dinner tonight.”
“Yeah?” Abby said, her head popping up. “Are you two dating now or something?”
Alex’s cheeks arced into a grin, and he knocked over the cereal box. “Um, yes,” he said, hastily fumbling it back upright.
“Finally,” said Abby, handing me the orange juice. “I like him.”
Alex smiled adorably down into his bowl. “So do I,” he said.
Breakfast didn’t take long, and soon Abby and I were settling into the arts-and-crafts corner of Fort McForterson to hammer out the details of our new game.
“I can’t believe how many postcards you have,” Abby said, running a finger over the shoe box. “Did I really send you all these?”
“Mostly,” I said. “The ones in back are from my uncle Joe. He’s been up in Alaska since April, doing this whale research project.”
“Ooh, cool,” said Abby. “Can I read one?”
I shrugged. Abby pulled out a card with a picture of a snowy mountain range on the front.
April 29th
Dear Maggie, there was a meteor shower last night. The whole top of the sky filled with shining trails of silver. It was unbelievable. If I ever get tired of whales, I’m going to become an astronomer. There’s already a whale constellation, so I could start there, although I would miss writing hundred-page papers about whale poop. I hope you get a chance to come see this place someday. You would totally love it.
Love, Uncle Joe
“Aww, he misses you,” said Abby, shoving the card back into the box. “Do you think you’ll go visit him?”
I handed her a pen and a pad of paper. “Nah, my mom would never let me go. He’s in this remote cabin way up on
