Reach

Chapter 1

My life changed forever when I met a magical tree, a talkative ponderosa pine to be exact. If you haven’t ever heard a tree speak, you might have a lot of questions. So let me start with how I ended up in the forest.

I first noticed the trees through the car windows as we pulled up to the lodge where Mom and her new husband, Jeff, would be working for the summer. In the two years since Mom and Dad had split up, Mom had managed a coffee shop, started a craft store, and run a bed-and-breakfast. She said she was trying to find out where she fit, but I’d always thought she fit great with me.

Her latest job attempt had brought us to White Pines, Idaho. While I wasn’t thrilled about this, I had to admit the way the lodge sat at the base of the mountains, with the forest reaching out, was pretty amazing. Harlan saw me looking at all the trees, which of course meant he had to look too. And that eight-year-old stepbrother started making plans that interfered with mine.

My plans:
Finish my robot design for the fall competition.
Make a friend my age in White Pines.
Keep Harlan from ruining my summer.

Harlan’s plans:
Follow me everywhere.
Mess up everything.

I would say Harlan succeeded first.

We got out of the car, the gravel making a satisfying crunch beneath my sneakers as I picked up my box of robotics supplies.

Harlan carried the sad remains of the rotary phone Papa J had given him. Papa J was Harlan’s grandpa, who knew that Harlan liked to take things apart.

“Denver”—Harlan moved a little too close to my robotics box for my liking—“can I work on your robot with you?”

I held the box out of his reach. “This is my club project, and I have to do it myself.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but no way was I going to let Harlan sneak into something else that was mine. Ever since Jeff and Mom had gotten married, and Harlan had moved in, I hadn’t had my own room, my own space, or time to myself. When my robot was finished, it was going to be a sentry. The alarm would go off whenever Harlan approached it.

“Please,” Harlan whined, trying again to see in the box. I held it higher. He gave up in a huff and followed Mom and Jeff as they grabbed our suitcases and headed for the lobby.

The doors to the lodge were large and wooden and twice as tall as me. They creaked like my robot’s metal joints when they needed a bit of grease. If I could open the doors and Harlan couldn’t, I might get to enjoy a summer without him following me everywhere.

Harlan dragged the pieces of his rotary phone over to a fish tank in the center of the lobby. I kept an eye on him while Mom and Jeff met with the blue-vested lodge employees. They gathered around, and Mom pointed out everything she loved about the lodge’s decor—rustic beams across the ceiling, antique brass lights, wildflower-print pillows on leather chairs, and a mural of wild horses.

The aquarium was the only thing that didn’t fit the Old West theme. Luckily, Harlan was mesmerized by the fish and, for now, staying out of trouble. I set my box on one of the coffee tables and checked on my robot. It had shifted on the drive, and a leg appeared loose.

I’d finally joined the robotics club with Adelaide and Isaac near the end of the school year. Earlier in the winter, when Mom had decided to marry Jeff, we’d moved to another apartment in the city. It was the middle of the year, so everyone already knew each other, while I was the new kid. I wanted to join a few clubs right away, but Mom said I had to watch Harlan after school until she and Jeff figured out a different schedule. It took me a lot longer to make friends that way.

Our teacher, Mr. Adjei, was continuing the club through the summer. But since Mom and Jeff had taken the job managing the White Pines Lodge, I’d be joining club meetings remotely on Jeff’s laptop.

A startling kerchunk brought me back to the present. Harlan had yanked open the cabinet doors beneath the aquarium and was staring wide-eyed at the equipment. Mom and Jeff hadn’t noticed, but I unfortunately recognized that look. I knew better than anyone that Harlan was the Breaker of All Things, and someone had to stop him. And, as usual, that someone was me.


Chapter 2

I lunged forward as Harlan stretched his fingers toward the filtration pump. “Don’t touch that. If you break it, the water won’t be clean, and the fish might get sick.”

“Oh,” Harlan said. “But I want to know how it works.”

“Not now,” I said, closing the cabinet latch.

Just then the front doors opened with another creak, and a girl who looked about my age walked into the lobby pulling a cooler. The employees seemed to know her.

“What did you bring for us today, Mae?” asked a man in a blue vest.

“My favorite invention,” she replied with a smile.

Invention? I glanced at my robot in its box and back at the girl.

“They’re all your favorite inventions, Mae.” The employee laughed as though this were a regular joke between them.

“I brought Donovan’s Delight and White Pines Wind especially for you, Swar.”

“I hope you brought some for the rest of the lodge too,” he teased.

Mae shook her finger at him and wheeled her cooler across the diamond-patterned carpet toward the restaurant at the rear.

“Hi,” I called out, waving as she passed by.

Mae’s short hair was turned up at the ends. It was a shade of copper I’d never seen before. She’d decorated her thin wrists with stacks of colorful woven bracelets. “Hi there. Checking in, huh?” she asked, referring to our suitcases. She started to turn again toward the restaurant.

“Yeah. Actually, my mom is managing the lodge for the summer.”

She stopped, her eyes widening a little with interest. “For the whole summer?”

“Yeah. The whole summer.” I tried to not sound glum about it, because if I could make a friend on the first day, perhaps the next few months wouldn’t be so bad after all. I took in a deep breath and nodded toward her cooler. “I, um, I heard you say something about being an inventor?”

“That’s right.” She squared her shoulders. “I’m Mae—nature observer, inventor, and flavor expert.”

I’d never heard someone introduce themselves that way. “I’m Denver,” I said. “I invent things too.” I tilted my open box to show her we had something in common. “This isn’t quite ready yet, but I’m going to finish it for a robotics competition.”

“Hey, that’s amazing!” She leaned closer. “What’s the robot going to do when you’re finished building it?”

“Probably alert for intruders. Protect valuables. Stuff like that.”

“Those are important things.”

I was glad she agreed with me on that. “So, what do you invent?”

“A whole bunch of stuff. Some of it is edible.” Mae patted her cooler proudly. “This is the daily delivery of specialty ice cream forthe lodge restaurant. The flavors are all my family’s unique creations.”

“Wow,” I said.

“Yep. You’ve never tasted anything like our ice cream. We have enough flavors to keep you busy taste-testing them all summer.” Her voice suddenly dropped off at the end. “Um, if you really are staying the whole summer.”

“Oh, we are,” I reassured her. I noticed Harlan with Mom and Jeff, pointing my way.

Mae nodded with a look of satisfaction. “Then you should visit our store. The lodge only has a few flavors at a time. If you follow the sidewalk, it will take you to Market Street. It’s called the Sensorium Emporium. You can’t miss it!”

The Sensorium Emporium? I wanted to ask more, but Mom, Jeff, and Harlan were coming over.
“See you around, Denver,” Mae said. She waved at me and wheeled her unusual ice cream inventions into the kitchen.

There was a tug on my sleeve. Harlan. “Denver, are you going to day camp with me? Mom says I have to start today.” Harlan called my mom Mom. I never would’ve called Dad’s wife, Angie, Mom. It was another one of those things that made Harlan and me different.

“Nah. The day camp is for kids your age.” Harlan was eight. I’d be turning thirteen in a few weeks. Sometimes the gap between us felt huge.

“Mom said they have camps for all ages,” Harlan added. “Maybe I could come to yours.”

Before I could figure out a response to that, Mom and Jeff handed me my suitcase. “The manager’s suite is down the hall to the left of the elevators. Suite 112,” Jeff said. “Here you go, Denver.” He handed me a plastic card with the White Pines Lodge tree logo. “I figure you’re old enough to have your own key.”

Sometimes Jeff made it hard for me to dislike him. It had even been his idea for me to use his laptop so I could still attend my robotics club meetings over the summer. But it was complicated. Jeff was also a part of the big change in my family.

“How about my own room?” I pressed.

Jeff shook his head. “You’re used to sharing a room with Harlan anyway. Right? Now we’reall sharing a room. A really big one.”

I sighed.

“Hang in there, Denver. This place will be fun if you give it a chance.”