They decided to go hang out at Martin's house for a while, since it had been a short school day and his mom wouldn't be home for at least a few hours. It was a fifteen-minute walk to get there, and to his surprise and relief, talking to her was easier than he expected. Actually, Audrey did most of the talking, and by the time they got there he knew more about her than he figured he would ever need. Her dad was a lineman for the power company; her mom died when she was three; her middle name was Alicia; she was allergic to cows; her favorite color was purple; she could sing "Yellow Submarine" in three languages.

When they got to Martin's house, they headed straight for the kitchen, sat down at the table, and started fixing themselves a couple of peanut b.u.t.ter and jelly sandwiches.

"Jade never lets me eat stuff like this," Audrey declared. Jade, she had told him on the way over, was her seventeen-year-old sister, an eleventh grader at Menominee Springs High.

"Why?"

"She says it's junky. I think it's okay, though. I mean, nuts, fruit...healthy, right?"

"I guess so."

There was a brief silence as they both spread the strawberry jam across the bread.

"So what's the deal with the pencil?" he asked.

"What about it?"

"It's always there."

She shrugged. "You never know when you might need to jot something down." Her eyebrows went up. "Speaking of which..."

She pulled a little notepad out of her skirt pocket, touched the pencil tip to her tongue, and started scribbling.

He leaned over to try to get a peek, but she pulled it back. He tried leaning in farther, and she pulled back even more. She smiled, and they both giggled.

"Quick, what's this?" She pocketed the pad, stuck her fingers in the sides of her mouth, and twisted her face into a jack-o'-lantern.

"What."

"Donald Grimes on a really good day."

They both had a good laugh at that one. Martin realized he wasn't feeling quite so tense anymore.

"So what do you wanna do?" she asked.

"Well...we could watch The Simpsons."

"Mm, nah...that's boring. Anyway, Jade says too much TV rots your brain."

"Jade is like your mom, huh?"

"Yeah...my dad's always working, so she takes care of me. Stinky job, but somebody's gotta do it, right?"

They both smiled, and then went quiet again. Not one to let a silence stand, Audrey spoke.

"So what do you do when you're not at school?"

"Hmm, well...some days I work at the Trout Palace."

"Yeah? I've never been there. Is it fun?"

"It's okay," he said with a tiny shrug. "What about you?"

"Well, let's see...I like to read, and I like to write. I'm working on my first great novel."

Martin nodded. Now the pencil made sense. He was about to ask her what her novel was about, but she spoke up first.

"Your turn. What else?"

"What else what?"

"What else do you do, dummy?"

"Oh, you know...this and that."

"Like?"

"Just...whatever."

"Martin..."

"I collect stuff."

"What kind?"

"Rocks...bugs...leaves."

"Can I see?"

"Mm...not that much to see, really."

"You're being modest, right?"

"No."

"I want to see. Let me see."

Martin wasn't so sure he wanted anybody else in that barn. It was his private s.p.a.ce.

On the other hand, he was proud of his collections, so why not show them off for a change? And as for Rufus...well, he was safely locked away on the lower level, so there was no reason to worry that the big secret would get out.

So off they went to the barn.

- As Martin showed her his collections, he found himself doing a lot of talking-well, for him, anyway. He was kind of surprised that Audrey actually seemed interested, even when he called things by their scientific names. She loved the b.u.t.terflies, especially the tiger swallowtail and the red admiral. And when he opened up the rock collection, she immediately gave a little gasp and picked one of them up, a beautiful, sparkling crystal.

"What's this one?"

"Amethyst."

"Wow! I love purple," she reminded him.

"You can have it."

"Really? No."

"It's okay. I've got another one."

"Wow. Thanks, Martin!" She scanned over the other stones in their mounting boxes. "This stuff is so cool. Where did you get it?"

"Out in the woods."

"You go in the woods?"

He nodded.

"My dad would never let me do that. He thinks the woods are full of, like, mad killers and whatever. What's this?" She picked up Rufus's growth chart, which Martin had completely forgotten was sitting on the table in plain sight. He s.n.a.t.c.hed it away and put it facedown on the shelf.

"Oh, that's nothing. Just...one of my...projects."

He just knew she would start asking questions, but another thought grabbed her.

"Oh! I should probably call Jade."

"Okay."

"I don't have my own phone. Can I use your-"

Yerp!

The sound was kind of like a chirp from a big bird, or maybe a bark from a small dog.

"What's that?"

"Hm?"

He knew exactly what it was, but he was almost as surprised by it as she was. Rufus had never made a sound like that before. And when he did make noises, it was only when Martin went down there. Rufus must have heard the voices, and was wondering where his supper was.

Yerp!

"There!" said Audrey. "That."

"I didn't hear anything. Know what, I left my phone in the house. Let's just-"

He tried to hustle her out of there, but Rufus was not cooperating.

YERP!.

"Martin! There's an animal in here."

"Oh, that? No, that's just...um..." Martin desperately needed a good lie. But his mind went totally blank. So he said the only words that came into his head. "That's my, um...lizard."

"You have a lizard? Can I see him?"

"Ohhhh...nah, you don't wanna-"

"Yes, I do. I love animals. Come on, Martin. Let me see your lizard."

Martin realized that his big secret was about to be a secret no more. But he also knew, in the back of his mind, that maybe he kind of wanted it to happen this way. He really needed somebody he could trust, and even though he wasn't totally sure that Audrey was the one, she was the only candidate just now.

He led her to the other end of the barn and unloaded a few bricks from the top of a pile. Underneath was a stack of unopened cans of Fido-Nummy.

"You can see him," he said as he lifted out one of the cans, "but you can't say one word to anybody, okay?"

"Why not?"

"I'm not supposed to have a pet."

"You feed your lizard dog food?"

"He's not your usual lizard."

They stepped over to the trapdoor and Martin lifted it open.

"You don't have to be afraid of him. He's big and he looks kind of mean, but he's not dangerous or anything."

"Martin, I'm not some delicate petunia. I'm not afraid of an old lizard."

He climbed down the creaky wooden steps, and she followed. They reached the floor and stood facing each other, the shafts of afternoon sunlight streaming in through the high, recessed windows. For a few seconds, it was very quiet.

"So? Where's the cage?" she said.

"He's not in a cage."

"Okay, so...let's see him."

"Don't turn around real fast."

"Ha ha, funny. Come on, just show-"

A puff of moist air washed over the back of her neck, and she froze.

Rufus was right behind her, sniffing out this odd new creature in his lair. Standing on his st.u.r.dy hind legs, he was now a good four feet tall-not much shorter than they were-and with his full array of claws and sharp teeth, there was no mistaking what kind of beast he was.

So when Audrey slowly turned around and found herself face to face with a wide set of razorlike choppers and a pair of red reptilian eyes, she did what any normal girl would do: she let out a piercing scream that could wake the dead.

Rufus gave a loud hiss and bolted in the other direction, trying to climb a pile of junk but just stumbling around clumsily. Audrey, meanwhile, darted behind Martin.

"Get it away get it away get it away!"