Don’t tell him!whispered the other.
The other had a point. My mom hadn’t believed me, so why did I think Abe would be any different? Did I really want to go through the whole thing again, the whole explanation, only to be shot down withMaybe he just looks a lot like his dad? I knew the difference between two people looking like each other and two people actually being the same person who never aged.
I mean, didn’t I?
“Wow,” Abe said.
“What?”
“It’s just that when you think so hard, I can actually see the smoke coming out of your ears.”
“Shut up.”
“Seriously. Like an actual cartoon. With the train noises and everything.”
“Whatever.”
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Okay, fine.” Deep breath. Another deep breath. And one more, for good measure. “I think Sam is immortal.”
Abe’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He took a tiny sidestep to his left and leaned his elbow on the counter, but other than that he didn’t even act like he’d heard me. Now I could see his brain working, something spinning behind his eyes.
“Huh,” he said. “Is that why Aunt Helen wanted you to have that book?” he said finally.
I almost didn’t remember what he was talking about, but then something clicked in my brain, and I bolted past him for the stairs. I ran into my room, breathless, and grabbed the weird history book my aunt had sent me to pick up from Leonard at Magic Grooves.
The Search for Eternity: A History of Juan Ponce de León.
I opened it, flipping through the pages until I found what she’d written, which hadn’t even really registered with me until now—
The wordsFountain of Youthwere circled, with a line leading to where she’d writtenS.W.!!!
This whole time her letters had been spelling it out for me. I’d missed every single hint.
I heard Abe walk into my room behind me. I held the book out to him, and he took it and read what Aunt Helen had written.
“What’s Sam’s last name?” he asked.
“Williams. Sam Williams.”
“And you think he’s... I mean, Aunt Helen told you he was immortal?”
“Yeah,” I said to Abe. “She did. Yeah. Wait—do you believe me, then? Or do you believe that he is... you know.”
“Do I believe that the Fountain of Youth actually exists and that your boyfriend drank from it and is now immortal?”
“He’s not my boyfriend. But yeah to all the other stuff.”
“Well, not really, no,” Abe said. “But I guess it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing in the world. Have you ever googled a blobfish?”
“No.”
“Well, you should. Just not before bed.”
“You don’t seem that freaked out.”
“Because I don’t really believe it. What’s your proof? Besides Aunt Helen leaving you a book about Ponce de León, I mean. Because that doesn’t mean anything. Aunt Helen did weird stuff all the time.”
