CHAPTER 1

Something wasn't quite right.

Wrinkling her nose, Emily O'Reilly took a step back and staredat the centerpiece she'd just finished putting together. The big blue-and-graycrepe paper C looked lopsided somehow.

"What did you do to that?" Olivia Webster, Emily's best friend,asked with a giggle.

"I followed the instructions ... at least most of them." Atfourteen, Emily thought she could manage a centerpiece withoutdirections, but maybe she should have read them after all.

Olivia giggled again and reached for Emily's pathetic attemptat decorating. "You're hopeless, Em." Within seconds, she had thecenterpiece level and looking like the others sitting on tables acrossthe Rock Harbor Community Center. Olivia was a genius when itcame to that sort of thing.

Emily? Not so much.

"Why are we decorating so early anyway? The celebration isn'tuntil the weekend." Emily shoved the decoration's wrapping intothe bag of trash she'd carried from table to table. "It's only Monday."

"Because we want everything to be perfect." Olivia pushed ina chair, straightened the glitter-littered tablecloth, and lifted thebag of trash. "It's too much to do all at once, and we don't wantanything to get forgotten."

Emily sighed and followed her best friend. How, again, hadshe let Olivia talk her into serving on the homecoming celebrationcommittee?

"It's going to be beautiful." Olivia tossed the bag into thetrash can. "I can't wait."

Emily had to admit that everything did look really nice. Andthe night of the celebration would be epic—lots of food, lots ofmusic, and lots of dancing. Dad and Naomi, Emily's stepmom,would probably slow dance. That would be embarrassing.

"Come on, let's head to my house. Mom and Dad should stillbe at the movies." Olivia led the way out of the front door.

The community center was one of the most beautiful buildingsin town, built by Rock Harbor's early residents during theCopper Queen mining hype. Emily loved the building's reallycool high ceilings and fun corners to explore.

Emily followed as the other volunteers spilled out ontoHoughton Street. "I hope they don't get home sooner than youthink." She jumped onto her bicycle and pedaled after her bestfriend.

A late-fall breeze tugged at Emily's hair, pushing a hint of thedistinct scent of Lake Superior across the parking lot.

"Me too. But the movie isn't supposed to be over for"—Oliviachecked her watch, her bike wobbling—"another forty minutes.It'll take them at least thirty to drive back home." She bumpedover the curb and onto the sidewalk.

They biked down Houghton Street and passed the familiarsights of town. Rock Harbor might be smaller than some townsin Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but it more than made up for itwith the quaintness of the town with its Victorian buildings andcommunity activities. Soon the residents would own the townalone again. The summer and early fall tourist season was almostover now that winter was on its way in.

The girls coasted up Olivia's driveway and propped theirbikes against the carport. Olivia unlocked the side door with thekey she wore on a chain around her neck, hidden safely underher shirt.

Emily shut the door behind them. "I'm so glad Naomi thoughtof using your parents' wedding picture as the design for theanniversary cake. The baker said she needed a copy right awaythough. Do you have any idea where to look?"

"They used to have it out when I was a little girl. I'm not surewhere Mom put it when we moved to this house." Olivia pulledout the top drawer in the desk by the door to the hall.

Emily moved to the bookcase and looked. "Did you knowthe first marriage license was issued in the mid-eighteenhundreds?"

"No, I didn't, and I don't understand why you even knowthat." Olivia shook her head, grinning, then turned back to thedrawer. "You and your random facts."

Emily loved history—the more random, the better. Maybethat's why she loved being on the History Smackdown team somuch.

"Do they have an office?" Emily asked. She should knowbecause she'd spent the night there lots of times, but they usuallyhung out in Olivia's room. She'd been in the living room, thekitchen, and Olivia's room, but nowhere else.

"No. We have this computer desk, but that's about it." Oliviaopened the next drawer. "But I'm not seeing any pictures."

"What about an attic?"

Olivia grinned. "The way you love attics is a little weird. Butwe only have a nasty one that you get to with a pull-down ladder,and it's full of insulation. Dad doesn't store anything up there.Mom says it's a death trap."

"Then where do they store stuff like your Christmas tree?"

"Oh! There's some attic space over the garage. We'll check ifnothing's in the drawers."

Emily glanced through the books in the bookcase but foundno photo albums. "Nothing here."

"Nothing here either." Olivia slammed the last desk drawer."Let's check the garage."

Emily followed her to the garage, and together they managedto get the ladder pulled down. The exertion left Emily huffing."How much time do we have left?"

Olivia disappeared up the ladder. "About a half hour." Hervoice was muffled.

"We'd better hurry then. We'll need to get out of here so theydon't know we came by." The girls were supposed to go to Emily'safter helping out at the community center, but Naomi knew theywere coming by to get the picture.

Olivia's face appeared in the hole above her. "There's nothinghere but the Christmas tree and some boxes of ornaments."

"They have to keep things like this somewhere."

Olivia came back down the ladder, and the girls shoved itback into place. Olivia had a smudge of dirt on her cheek, andEmily brushed it off.

"Now what?" Emily asked.

"I didn't want to go into Mom and Dad's room. They keep itshut. But I think we have to. We don't have any other option, Iguess."

Emily raised her brows. "You never go in there? Not even tocrawl in bed with your mom and watch a movie or something?"

Olivia shook her head. "They don't have a TV in their bedroom."

"Haven't you even taken your parents breakfast in bed orsomething?"

Olivia just shook her head and led the way back inside thehouse.

Emily scrunched up her nose. There was something fishyabout that. Emily and her two brothers loved piling on the bedwhenever Dad didn't have to work. And sometimes even just withNaomi. Emily and Timmy always made Dad and Naomi breakfastin bed on their birthdays and for Mother's Day and Father'sDay. But, Olivia was an only child. Maybe that changed things.Olivia's parents were crazy about Olivia though. And every familywas different.

Standing outside the closed door to the bedroom, Emily'spulse sped up. "What if your mom catches us in here? Will weget in trouble?"

Olivia turned the doorknob. "No, she'll just tell me bedroomsare meant to be private places and should only be entered byinvitation."

"Weird," Emily muttered. If she disobeyed a standing houserule, Dad would ground her. At least take away her phone fora week.

Olivia shoved the door open. "She says it's because she wantsto teach me about boundaries."

"That makes sense I guess." Emily peered past the doorwayinto the bedroom. It was way neater than Dad and Naomi's.The bed didn't have a wrinkle, and the tables and dressers werecleared and held only a vase with fake flowers and a statuette."No pictures here."

"There's one place I want to...