Night of the Purple Moon Read Online Free Page A

had proposed. “Your mom will keep her job in Boston and visit on the weekends. If we like it, she’ll look for a new job in Portland. If we don’t like it, we’ll move back to Cambridge next summer.”
    Abby had hated the idea from the start. “All my friends are in Cambridge,” she’d argued. “We can’t go in the middle of the school year …” She had even suggested that Dad should move to the island, and they would all visit him on weekends.
    Jordan bit his lip. What if Abby had had her way and the family stayed in Cambridge? Would they all be safe now?
    Just then a light blinked on at the Couture’s house across the street. It was in a room on the second floor. Jordan’s jaw dropped. Then he wondered if the light was on a timer. In Cambridge some homeowners set lights to turn on automatically whenever they were away on vacation. It discouraged burglars. But there was no crime on Castine Island, no reason to have timer lights.
    Gulping, he raced to the bathroom and pounded on the door. “The Coutures are alive,” he shouted. “They’re alive!”
    * * *
    Abby told Kevin to get long-sleeved shirts. “You’ll find some in my dad’s closet,” she said. Abby was cutting up a sheet to make masks for them to breathe through when she and Kevin crossed the street to the Couture’s house. She didn’t think the masks or shirts would do much good, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
    The moment Kevin disappeared Jordan shot her a look. “I was the one who saw the light! I should go with you.”
    “One of us has to stay with Toucan,” she told him.
    “Kevin can.”
    Why did Jordan pick the worst times to be stubborn?
    “Jordan, she’s our sister. We’re responsible for her.”
    He pointed to Emily on the couch. “She’s Kevin’s sister. What’s the difference?” He folded his arms, a signal he wasn’t going to give in.
    “Jordan, if something happens to both of us, who will take care of Toucan?”
    “I’ll go with Kevin,” he said. “You stay with Touk.”
    “Have you ever been inside the Couture’s house?”
    Abby knew the answer was no. She didn’t think he had ever spoken to the elderly couple. But Abby had spoken to them and had been inside their house. Mrs. Couture invited her over for cookies two years ago. It was weird experience. Mr. Couture had pointed a shaky finger at her whenever he spoke, and Mrs. Couture sprayed Lysol on her “to keep the germs down.”
    Jordan grumbled. “Fine, be the boss. Next time, it’s my turn to go outside.”
    They discussed signals. If Abby waved the flashlight side to side, everything was good. Up and down meant trouble. She told Jordan to pull down the bedroom shade if he needed help.
    He huffed. “Nothing’s going to happen.”
    Abby and Kevin buttoned up the long-sleeved shirts and tied their masks in place. They added pullover wool caps and work gloves.
    “Trick, treat!” Toucan squealed.
    How Abby wished this were Halloween and she were going out for candy rather than searching for someone alive.
    Before stepping outside, she looked at her sister and brother as if it might be for the last time. She swallowed hard and tried to drive this sad, frightening thought from her mind. She told herself that she was not allergic to the space dust. None of them were. “We’ll be back soon,” she told them. “Mr. and Mrs. Couture will know what to do.”
    A briny odor hung in the damp air, and light from the purple moon outlined tree trunks and their leafless branches, springtime still a month away. The first stars were out, twinkling purple, but the comet had yet to appear. A block away, toward the harbor, a single streetlight was shining, casting a ghostly lavender cone of light.
    Their footsteps crunched on the driveway made of crushed clamshells. Despite the chilly temperature, perspiration dripped down Abby’s neck and chest, and soon her mask was soaking wet from her breath.
    The adrenalin coursing throughout her body sharpened her