The Secret Sea by Barry Lyga Read Free Book Online Page A

later, his best friend’s long, thin face filled the screen.
    â€œHey, man, what’s going on? You still grounded?”
    â€œThey have to invent a new word for what’s happening to me. Grounded doesn’t begin to cover it. Tell your dad I’m sorry I woke him up the other day.”
    â€œHe was already up. For Fajr .”
    That was even worse; he’d interrupted Mr. Shamoon’s morning prayers.
    â€œHey, look, Khalid, can I—”
    â€œOh, hey! Moira’s on! Hang on!”
    Before Zak could say anything else, a still image of Moira popped up as she loaded into the conversation. Zak couldn’t help himself—he 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.
    â€œNow, laddie,” Moira said, mimicking her old Irish brogue, “why are ye misbehavin’ so? Don’tcha want to be playin’ and gambolin’ with your wee friends in these fine summer days before school’s startin’ again?”
    She was laying it on pretty thick to amuse him. It wasn’t quite the same as Mrs. O’Grady, but it still made him feel a lot better. “I’m trying, believe me. I’m trying.”
    â€œWhat happened ?” 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. “I heard Pop and Mom talking about it, but I didn’t get the whole thing.”
    â€œWhat did they say?”
    Khalid’s image moved in a way that made Zak think he’d shrugged. “Not much. Just that maybe I shouldn’t hang with you so much for now.”
    Not much. Not much? That was everything!
    â€œFortunately, we’re not listening to parents these days, are we?” Moira chimed in.
    â€œWhy start now?” Khalid asked.
    Zak could only nod. His throat had clogged, and he couldn’t speak.
    â€œSo, you went to the tower,” Moira said. “What’s going on, Zak?” Her voice had lost its playfulness. Khalid would be concerned but never let on; Moira wasn’t afraid to get serious.
    Zak shook his head and swallowed down the ball of hot emotion that had congealed in his throat. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
    Khalid furrowed his brow. Moira frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked.
    â€œIf he doesn’t want to talk about—”
    â€œWas I asking you, Khalid?”
    â€œI think I sleepwalked.” 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. “I don’t remember anything before waking up there.”
    His friends absorbed that for a moment. If that freaked them out—and it should, shouldn’t it?—then 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?
    â€œWell, that’s new,” Khalid said.
    â€œAre you sure you sleepwalked?” Moira’s 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. “Maybe someone came and took you—”
    That was even scarier than the idea that he’d sleepwalked! “No. The cops have video of me going in and out of the subway.”
    All three fell silent and pondered that. Zak decided to risk a little more.
    â€œDo you guys know anything about boats?”
    â€œMy people have the ship of the desert, the camel!” Khalid chortled in a very broad, fake, heavy accent, clearly glad for an opportunity to joke.
    â€œI mean real boats, like sailing