later, his best friendâs long, thin face filled the screen.
âHey, man, whatâs going on? You still grounded?â
âThey have to invent a new word for whatâs happening to me. Grounded doesnât begin to cover it. Tell your dad Iâm sorry I woke him up the other day.â
âHe was already up. For Fajr .â
That was even worse; heâd interrupted Mr. Shamoonâs morning prayers.
âHey, look, Khalid, can Iââ
âOh, hey! Moiraâs on! Hang on!â
Before Zak could say anything else, a still image of Moira popped up as she loaded into the conversation. Zak couldnât help himselfâhe grinned as soon as he saw her. That was his default reaction to Moira, and even as depressed as he was at that moment, he still grinned.
An instant later, the image moved and she was on with them.
âNow, laddie,â Moira said, mimicking her old Irish brogue, âwhy are ye misbehavinâ so? Donâtcha want to be playinâ and gambolinâ with your wee friends in these fine summer days before schoolâs startinâ again?â
She was laying it on pretty thick to amuse him. It wasnât quite the same as Mrs. OâGrady, but it still made him feel a lot better. âIâm trying, believe me. Iâm trying.â
âWhat happened ?â Khalid asked. He was always the one who put the camera too close to his face; now he was so eager and so excited that he had positioned it mere inches away, and Zak and Moira had a distressingly close look at his upper lip and nostrils. âI heard Pop and Mom talking about it, but I didnât get the whole thing.â
âWhat did they say?â
Khalidâs image moved in a way that made Zak think heâd shrugged. âNot much. Just that maybe I shouldnât hang with you so much for now.â
Not much. Not much? That was everything!
âFortunately, weâre not listening to parents these days, are we?â Moira chimed in.
âWhy start now?â Khalid asked.
Zak could only nod. His throat had clogged, and he couldnât speak.
âSo, you went to the tower,â Moira said. âWhatâs going on, Zak?â Her voice had lost its playfulness. Khalid would be concerned but never let on; Moira wasnât afraid to get serious.
Zak shook his head and swallowed down the ball of hot emotion that had congealed in his throat. âI donât know,â he whispered. âI didnât mean to do it.â
Khalid furrowed his brow. Moira frowned. âWhat do you mean?â she asked.
âIf he doesnât want to talk aboutââ
âWas I asking you, Khalid?â
âI think I sleepwalked.â He was grateful to Khalid for trying to spare him, but also grateful to Moira for making him talk about it. He had the two best best friends in the world. âI donât remember anything before waking up there.â
His friends absorbed that for a moment. If that freaked them outâand it should, shouldnât it?âthen what would they say if he told them the rest? If he told them about Tommy and Tomás and the boat and the gulls and the storm and the sky?
âWell, thatâs new,â Khalid said.
âAre you sure you sleepwalked?â Moiraâs bottom lip was chapped and rough from her constant gnawing at it; she had it between her teeth now as she thought through the situation. âMaybe someone came and took youââ
That was even scarier than the idea that heâd sleepwalked! âNo. The cops have video of me going in and out of the subway.â
All three fell silent and pondered that. Zak decided to risk a little more.
âDo you guys know anything about boats?â
âMy people have the ship of the desert, the camel!â Khalid chortled in a very broad, fake, heavy accent, clearly glad for an opportunity to joke.
âI mean real boats, like sailing