The Last Last-Day-of-Summer Read online

  Petey’s fingers intertwined with hers. “Your dad is still saying I stole you out of Fry.”

  Anna shook her head. “No one can steal me. I go where I want. And I wanted to go with you. I knew you were destined for big things.” She punched Petey’s shoulder, playful. “When we’re done here, let’s take Dad for a ride in the Lev-Port. He loves seeing the other side of the clouds, so he’ll forgive you for one night.”

  Petey said, “Duty calls, fellas.”

  “Wait.” Sheed pointed to the Lev-Port cabin, “Can I see inside?”

  Otto’s heart sped up. Please say yes, Petey.

  “Sure.” Petey said, “You too, Otto?”

  “No thank you. I’m all teched out.”

  Sheed frowned. “Suit yourself.”

  He leapt into the vehicle, leaving Petey admiring the landscape with Anna, and TimeStar looking at Otto warily. “You want to talk.”

  Otto said, “Come on.”

  Leading TimeStar, Otto circled the Lev-Port as if admiring the exterior, in case Sheed could see them from inside. That vehicle was the farthest thing from Otto’s mind. He flipped his pad open with one hand, referred to his notes. “I’ve figured it out, you know.”

  “Figured what out? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” There was lightness to TimeStar’s words, the sound of playing dumb. Otto expected as much.

  “You lied about a bunch of stuff. I think you had to because there are real rules to time travel, and you were skating dangerously close to breaking them. The things you’re not supposed to change. Things. You said it over and over again for a reason.”

  “Yes,” TimeStar confirmed.

  Near the Lev-Port’s tail, away from prying eyes, Otto faced the traveler. “And you lied about coming back to see us battle the Laughing Locusts.”

  “Why on earth would you make such an accusation?” A grin was starting to form.

  “Because your device takes you to the same location in the past or future. It’s why we had to lure Mr. Flux to the auditorium, so we could be in the auditorium the day Petey created him. That means in the future, you opened your portal on Harkness Hill to drop in on Mr. Flux. You meant to be on the hill. Today.”

  TimeStar rocked back and forth on his heels, crossed his arms, puckered his lips as if he might start whistling casually. Faking innocence.

  Otto flipped through his pages quickly, checking notes and deductions from the day. He continued. “When we were on the roof with Witching Hour, you said the time freeze gave you wiggle room with the rules of time travel. You chose today so you could do something you wouldn’t be allowed to do on a day when time was functioning normally.”

  TimeStar twiddled his thumbs, having fun now. “Time travel is heavily regulated in the year I’m from. So much so that when anyone attempts it, our Time Bureau can easily track them to almost any day and place and snatch them right back.”

  Almost any day. “They can’t track you here. Because of all that happened.”

  “Here and now confuses their equipment. You can’t ever say Logan County strangeness isn’t good for something.”

  “Why all the lies? The superhero nickname, the fake year, made-up stories about sightseeing trips through time?”

  “You know. Be honest.”

  That was the tough part, wasn’t it? “I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me the truth.”

  TimeStar said, “You—​we—​need to deduce things on our own. We don’t trust information that comes too easily. Even on a day when time froze, I didn’t have time to try and convince you why I was here when I knew you’d figure it out on your own. And was I right? Did you?”

  Otto did. “When Leen Ellison confirmed your device still had the ability to travel backwards in time, you didn’t object when I suggested Petey go back and talk to his younger self to fix his life, even though you’d said over and over that you’re not supposed to change things about the past.”

  TimeStar’s grin faded, his gaze seemed to pierce Otto. “So, what’s that final deduction?”

  Otto flipped to a specific page, the one he’d written on back at Mr. Archie’s store, when he and Sheed found the upside-down car. He reread it, asked himself if he was absolutely sure. He was. “You can’t change things about the past,” Otto reiterated, then showed TimeStar his answer.

  Entry #39

  DEDUCTION: People aren’t things.

  Otto said, “Old Petey gave Young Petey just a little information, and Young Petey changed. Look what happened. Flying cars!”

  “And?”

  “You want me to change. To be better, less selfish, less jealous.” Otto could hear Sheed squealing over whatever cool thing he’d found inside the Lev-Port. “So I can save him.”

  TimeStar clapped slowly. “Deducing has always been my favorite.”

  “How? You said the sickness is in his blood. That he can’t be saved.”

  “Under normal circumstances, that’s absolutely true.” He spread his arms wide, as if to hug all of Logan County. “But look where we are. I mean—​and this is just a wild thought—​what if you weren’t so concerned with picking adventures that would get you more Keys to the City?”

  Otto pondered that. “You’re saying I should focus less on adventures that would make us more legendary, and more on stuff that might help Sheed?”

  “I didn’t say that. You did. Though I guess that’s kind of the same thing, right?” He winked and unclipped the time travel device from his belt, made adjustments. “I think it’s time I got back now.”

  “Wait! Grandma says that bending rules isn’t that different from breaking them if the rules matter. Are you going to get in trouble with the Time Bureau when you get home?”

  TimeStar shrugged. “Some trouble’s worth it.”

  Triggering the device, a portal opened, an electric blue rectangle.

  Otto said, “You’re not going to say bye to Sheed?”

  Deadly serious, TimeStar said, “If you do your job, I’ll never have to.”

  Otto nodded, accepting the mission.

  TimeStar stepped halfway through the portal, then stepped out again. “You know, if I’m already in trouble, I might as well give you a freebie.”

  Otto fought a chill, braced for potentially horrifying revelation. “What?”

  “Wiki Ellison,” TimeStar said, “ain’t so bad.”

  “Wiki?”

  A crackling arc of electric blue lightning snapped from the doorway to the silver ring on TimeStar’s hand. The wedding ring.

  “Wait. You don’t mean—”

  “Good luck, Otto. It was great seeing you again.” TimeStar jumped fully through the door, it winked shut behind him, leaving Otto with the same unbroken view he’d started the day with.

  It was so much stranger now.

  41

  Maneuver #3

  The breeze rustled the grass across the fields between the boys and Grandma’s house. In the sky, Petey’s Lev-Port became a smudge over it all, growing smaller and smaller, until it vanished in a cloud, leaving Otto and Sheed alone for the first time in what felt like a long while. The longest last day of summer ever.

  “At least Petey said ‘peace out.’” Sheed scrunched his face. “That TimeStar jerk just has no manners.”

  “He did a lot for us today,” Otto said. “Could you try to go easy on him?”

  “Why do you care? You know something was off about him. He had shifty eyes.”

  Otto nearly protested—​his eyes were not shifty—​but decided to let it go. There were more important matters. Instead, he said, “You’re still wearing Mr. Flux’s suit. Grandma’s going to have questions.”

  “Unless you distract her and let me sneak in.”

  “Maneuver #3? Sure, that could work.”

  “Not yet, though.”

  Sheed sat on the hill, a great westward view of the sun sinking over distant trees. The golden light—​the best of the day—​reminded Otto of something. Digging through his pocket, pas
t his notepad, he touched a slim, stiff piece of paper. Pulling it free, he read the newest souvenir—​a business card they’d be adding to their bedroom shelves.

  GOLDEN HOUR, A.M.

  “Your Best Look Now”

  Sheed said, “What do you think happened to the Clock Watchers?”

  “I guess they went back where they belonged. Time’s moving again, so they’re probably busy. Especially now.” The sunlight at this hour cast everything in streaking bronze, making it all picture worthy. Otto wished for a camera, then immediately regretted it. He’d rely on his memory, at least for a while.

  Staring down the hill at the dancing grass beneath them, there was a flickering shimmer in the air. For just the slightest moment, Otto thought, perhaps, he saw the hazy, yellow-clad outlines of his friends, A.M. and P.M., waving at him. The light shifted, however, and there was nothing there. Sadness hit, then hit him again when he turned to Sheed to ask if he’d seen them, too.

  I’m going to save you, Sheed, Otto thought. Though not today.

  Today they’d enjoy summer as it was meant to be. A temporary thing made richer by its inevitable end. Tomorrow, a new adventure. And the next day. And the next.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Sheed said. “Like goofy?”

  Otto lied. “I was thinking about how many Keys to the City we need to shoot for so the Ellisons never catch up.”

  “You really have an ego problem. Good thing I’m here to keep you in check.”

  “I agree. Let’s go see what Grandma’s cooking. After I sneak you in.”

  “Cool. If it’s pie, you can have my slice.”

  “Really?”

  Sheed reconsidered. “Part of my slice.”

  They talked pie, and new adventures, and the Ellisons all the way home with the love of cousins.

  Best friends.

  Really, brothers.

  A legendary bond that wouldn’t be broken. No matter what came their way.

  This season, or beyond.

  Appendix: Maneuvers

  Maneuver #1—​Run

  Maneuver #3—​Distract Grandma

  Maneuver #14—​Breaking and Entering (Don’t Tell Grandma)

  Maneuver #16—​Corner and Capture

  Maneuver #19—​Hi-Low-Sit

  Maneuver #21—​Stand Your Ground

  Maneuver #22—​Duck and Cover

  Maneuver #24—​Guarding Flanks

  Maneuver #38—​Rope Wrangling

  Maneuver #42—​Jumping the Creek

  Maneuver #73—​Unstick Our Army

  Maneuver #74—​Bring in the Robot

  Maneuver #75—​Time Travel

  Acknowledgments

  This is new territory for me. Not writing acknowledgments—I’ve certainly done that before—but the kind of off-kilter, kooky fun (and tears) of the pages leading here represent a different sandbox than what I’m used to playing in. It was a joy to write Otto and Sheed, though the joy wasn’t all mine. A lot of people helped, and they deserve some shine.

  First, Adrienne, whom the Interwebz knows as “Dear Wife”—you’re always fun, funny, sympathetic, and patient when it comes to this crazy “book stuff.” May we have many more road trips filled with off-key singing and laughter. Love you!

  Mom, I love you too. Those back-in-the-day library trips and book purchases that probably stretched our available time and money helped make this possible. I will never be able to thank you enough, though I will keep trying.

  Shout-out to the rest of my family. That’s siblings, in-laws, cousins (especially the cousins), aunts, uncles, and so on. There’s not enough space to name you all here, though I will call out two in particular: Aaliyah and Jaiden, my niece and nephew. You were on my mind a lot while I documented the happenings of Logan County and the town of Fry. I hope you have as much fun there as I did.

  Kwame Alexander, I’ll never forget that text from 2016 that set all this in motion. Thanks for always being a great friend and offering such generous advice and opportunities. #TeamVersify.

  Speaking of Versify, thanks to Margaret Raymo for guiding me through the care and maintenance of this manuscript while entertaining my ramblings about time travel, alternate dimensions, DuckTales, and PowerPoint presentations. Erika Turner, thanks for your sharp eyes and insightful questions. Lisa DiSarro, thank you for helping get this book in front of the people who want and need it. Whitney Leader-Picone, thank you for your direction on the super cool design of this book. And Dapo Adeola, man, your art is simply magical. I can’t express how exciting it was every time you took words from the page and turned them into beautiful people and creatures.

  Jamie Weiss Chilton and the rest of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, thanks for constantly guiding me through so many of the intangibles that lead to our joint successes. Eric Reid and William Morris Endeavor, thank you for seeing the potential in my work and opening up new avenues for all of us. Carmen Oliver of The Booking Biz, thank you for making sure I get to go out and shake the hands of the many readers, librarians, teachers, administrators, and conference organizers who support the work I do.

  Meg Medina and Jason Reynolds, thanks so much for reading early drafts of this thing and giving me pointers on how to better approach this world. Everyone knows what incredible writers you both are, and I’m happy to report that you’re also incredible friends.

  Last but not least, thanks to the crew I’ve established along the way . . . there are SOOOO many of you: Ellen Oh, Aisha Saeed, Marieke Nijkamp, I. W. Gregorio, Miranda Paul, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Dhonielle Clayton, Sona Charaipotra, Tiffany Jackson, Daria Peoples-Riley, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Tracey Baptiste, Jeff Zentner, Eric Smith, Gretchen McNeil, Jennifer Wolfe, Preeti Chhibber, Juanita Giles, Alison Green Myers . . . and . . . AND . . . SIGH . . . And if I’m leaving anyone out, it’s the head, not the heart. Thank you all for all you do. Now on to the next adventure.

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  About the Author

  Photo credit: Adrienne Giles

  LAMAR GILES is the cofounder of We Need Diverse Books and a two-time Edgar Award nominee. He is the author of the YA novels Spin, Overturned, Fake ID, and Endangered. The Last Last-Day-of-Summer is his first middle grade novel. Though he grew up in a town very similar to Fry, Virginia, he has not yet figured out how to extend summer.

  Learn more at lamargiles.com

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