“We’re not telling you to give up.” Dad reached across the desk and gently scooped up the pile of rocks that sat in front of me.
We’d moved most of “Operation: Find the Moonstone” into Dad’s office at the parish because eight people picking through rocks in a church parking lot was bound to bring on questions from townsfolk passing by. Plus, Dad wouldn’t let us keep working out there once it was time for church services earlier today. The others took shifts discreetly bringing in buckets of rocks from the churchyard and dumping them on Dad’s desk for Gabriel and me to sift through. The others had stopped for dinner an hour ago—and had apparently decided to turn against me while they were out.
“We’re telling you to take a break,” Dad continued. “You haven’t eaten, you’ve barely slept, and you’ve got so much caffeine in your system your hands are shaking.”
I glanced at the empty cups from the Java Pot and the several energy drink cans that littered the desk as evidence, and then folded my trembling hands into my lap. “I’m fine.”
“You need to go home and get some sleep,” Gabriel said. He, my dad, and April all stood on the opposite side of my dad’s desk.
I shook my head. I didn’t want to sleep because I knew I’d have that dream of Daniel and me again—the one that told me to find the moonstone. The dream had grown more and more urgent the few times I’d tried to rest my eyes while sifting through the stones, making me wake up a few minutes later, all the more frantic to keep up the search.
Without thinking, I grabbed the coffee cup closest to me and gulped down the dregs.
April snatched the cup out of my hand. “Geez, Grace. You’ve got circles the size of hockey pucks under your eyes. I’m totally going to have to get you some heavy-duty concealer before we go back to school tomorrow. People are gonna think—”
I shot an accusatory glare at April. As my best friend, she was supposed to take my side in this. “I don’t care what I look like, and I don’t care what people think.” At least I wasn’t still in my pajamas. At some point in the last twenty-four hours or so, April had brought me fresh clothes along with the supply of caffeinated beverages. “And I’m not going to school tomorrow. How can I without … ?”
My voice caught in the back of my throat, but I pushed down the rush of emotion that rose up from deep inside my chest when I tried to say Daniel’s name out loud. “How can I sit there next to his empty seat in class and pretend he’s just at home sick?”
That was the story Dad had come up with to explain Daniel’s absence from school so he wouldn’t lose his scholarship now that the midterm break was over and we were supposed to head back to class tomorrow. Dad had filed a “home and hospital” release for Daniel, and as far as everyone else in town was concerned, Daniel had a nasty case of walking pneumonia. I still wondered how Dad had actually gotten a doctor to sign the release without examining Daniel … or if Pastor Divine had forged the report himself.
He never did answer the question when I’d asked.
“You’re not missing school, Gracie.” Dad pulled the rock away that I’d tried to snatch from a pile on the desk. “College applications are due soon, and you can’t afford any more difficulties with your grades. Your future is too important.”