had stayed when their former families moved away.
âWeâll just watch them until we can find better homes for them,â Gabeâs father had said each time. No one believed him, and no one in the family had ever tried to find those alternate homes.
Zora flew from Gabeâs head to Sir Tobyâs haunch. The fox swiveled his huge ears and opened one eye, which looked like a little sphere of frozen ink. The bird walked up and down his spine. The fox closed his eyes and stretched, enjoying the bird-foot massage.
Gabe sat on the floor. There wasnât very much floor. His bed took up most of the space.
Sir Toby made a yip-grumble at Zora, no longer enjoying his bird-foot massage. She didnât seem to notice. Gabe reached over, dislodged the bird, and then pretended to sneeze. She sneezed back at him. Fake sneezes were her favorite noise to make.
âFood!â Dad shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
Gabe left his door open, just in case any of the pets wanted to leave, and went back downstairs.
Mom came home just as Dad set the kitchen table. They all talked about nothing much in Spanish, English, and Spanglish.
Lupe, the eldest, came in late with apologies. She wore all black, as befitting a waitress. Her place at the table was already set. She slid smoothly into her chair, and smoothly into the conversation. Her full name was Guadalupe, but she never used it. She never liked it much, even though it sort of meant âRiver of the Wolf,â which Gabe thought was unspeakably cool. She had been born on their grandmother Guadalupeâs birthday, so she couldnât avoid inheriting that name.
The Envoy watched them all from inside a cupboard. It had squeezed through mouse-chewed holes in the walls to get there. It watched, listened, and paid particular attention to Gabeâand it noticed how Gabe paid attention to everyone.
Gabeâs mother shifted her posture, suddenly tense. She stared at the food as though trying to scry the future in it.
Lupe looked for the salt. She loved salt. But it always annoyed Dad to add any salt to his already perfectly balanced collage of flavors, so she didnât actually ask forthe salt. Gabe noticed anyway and passed her the saltshaker. It was shaped like an Olmec statue head with a great big helmet. Both the salt-and pepper shakers were cheap gifts from Gabeâs grandparentsâreminders to his mother that she could just come home to study ancient civilizations if she still wanted to be an archeologist.
Gabe thought the helmeted heads looked like astronauts. Mom said they were probably ancient ballplayers, and she insisted, firmly and often, that they were not astronauts.
Gabe made sure that Dad wasnât looking when he passed the salt to Lupe. Dad and Lupe loved to argue about anything and everything, but Dad took actual offense where his cooking was concerned.
Little Andrés dropped his spoon and started fussing, even though he never actually used the spoon to eat with. He still wanted it back. No one noticed but Gabe, so Gabe picked up the spoon, wiped it off, and gave it back to his little brother.
âI need to run errands tomorrow,â Mom said, still watching her food more than eating it. âYou donât have a shift in the morning, do you?â she asked Dad.
âNot until noon,â he said around a mouthful of curry.
âGood,â said Mom. âIâll need your help lifting things. I can drop you off afterward.â
âI could help,â said Lupe.
âNo,â said Mom. The word was a high fence tossed up between them. âSummer classes start tomorrow. Remember?â
Lupe started to say something angry and dismissive, stopped, started to say something else, and then stuffed her mouth to keep herself from saying anything.
Gabe wasnât sure why his mother and sister caught fire every single time they spoke. He just wished they would stop. The two of them did not love to argue, not