Jack told Troy. “I can make a ton more prints if I want to.” “Thanks!” Troy clutched the wolf pictures as if it were Christmas and he’d just been given the keys to Wal-Mart. He stared at them for five full minutes as the van wound along the road toward the park’s north gate. Then, with much less ...
The sky was lightening in the east, sending out delicate rays, burning the tips of the piñon pines until they looked as if they were on fire. The air itself seemed touched with gold. A walk-way arced from the parking lot toward a small building; next to it were more pines, more slices of sky touc...
They hovered around the bed where Ashley lay staring up at them, her eyes large, shadowed, and frightened—but no more frightened than Olivia’s. Olivia held one of Ashley’s hands, and Steven held the other, while Jack and Leesa stood at the foot of the bed. “My throat hurts, Mom,” Ashley said. “I ...
She was so bossy! Jack hurried down the hall to the candy machine, halfway eager to hear Bindy’s story, but three-fourths of the way doubting that whatever she told them would be true. After all, Bindy was a known liar. The evening Bindy had arrived at the Landon home, Jack had overheard his pare...
Every few seconds the aurora shimmered with new brilliance, its hues shifting from incandescent greens to soft pinks to blues to luminous white, as though a giant kaleidoscope had been set among the stars. He stood in awe in Denali’s frigid stillness. There was no way he could capture this with h...
They used oyster shells to build mounds, and over the centuries the mounds rose high above water to make islands. Soil piled up on these islands, turning them into rich farmlands where the Calusas lived in harmony with animals and nature. After the Civil War, white men discovered this place. By t...
Think of the money!” But Ryan pushed ahead, following the light of his headlamp as he unfastened a flashlight from his belt. When he turned that on, brightness flooded the cave as though a small sun had risen, and the sudden brilliance burned Jack’s eyes, nearly blinding him. Jack still hadn’t go...
Two of them. They didn’t hurry, they ambled as though they knew where they were going and had plenty of time. Jack was struck by how much their heads resembled the heads of dogs—the long thin snouts, the same intelligence in the eyes. But when the bears opened their mouths, panting, their teeth l...
So that was it. He’d never see Lucky again. His mind choked on thoughts of Lucky’s future and how she was about to be sucked back into a life where people were nothing more than marks and stealing was normal. It was like watching someone drown in cold, churning water while he just stood there, af...
Ashley said. “It isn’t Denise’s Jeep. It belongs to the Park Service, and Mom’s here on park business,” Jack reminded her. “But yeah, Denise is nice. Very cool lady. You ought to be more like her.” “What do you mean? What’s wrong with the way I am?” Ashley demanded. “Oh, only everything,” Jack te...
It sounded so perfect that a real nightingale might have been fooled, but not Alice. Her brother, Roger, had whistled the bird’s song. It was their secret signal. “I’m up here,” she called. “Are you in that tree again?” he cried, seeing Alice in the top branches of a huge sycamore. “You know you’...
Steven looked tired. The skin under his eyes was shadowed, and his shoulders seemed to slump. Straightening himself, he said, “Son, I know you don’t want to do this dance tonight, but I’d like you to make things as easy for Ethan as you can. If he wants to share some of his Shoshone background wi...
That meant the sun rose even earlier than at their home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, hundreds of miles farther south. These thoughts tugged at Jack’s brain while he tried to decide whether to open his eyes. Even through his closed eyelids, he could tell that sunlight was sliding through the mesh-scr...