You bury the trilobite deep in a cluttered drawer in your room where it will be out of sight and, less likely, out of mind. It's only a tiny fossil, but it brings up memories you don't have time for and questions that you don't have answers to.
Lola comes to rest by your bed while you sit there, trying to sort through your thoughts.
"Arbor Isle is a weird place," you tell her. "You don't care about the fog, do you? Did you know there are people trying to drive me crazy and hunt me down in the fog like serial killers? Maybe we should've trained you to be a guard dog."
Lola rolls onto her back and snorts at you. She's lying on top of a crinkled piece of paper. You bend over and tug it out from under her.
It's just the summer reading list for History. Your teacher this year is Mrs. McGlynn. You've never had her for anything before, but people generally say good things about her, though some have also made fun of her for being overly enthusiastic about the subject she teaches. There was a party at school when her book about Maine's history was released. Those people from the ghost hunting show even interviewed her for the episode they did on Arbor Isle. She probably knows more than anyone else what kind of bizarre and tragic things have actually happened here. Her phone number is listed on the corner of the sheet.
You should leave it alone, though. As if you don't have enough nightmare fuel in your life already. It would probably be a bad idea to dig any further into the stuff Ennis has been talking about.
You call her first thing in the morning, of course. You can't help it, you barely got any sleep because of all the questions racing through your head.
You almost hang up as the phone is ringing, but she answers on the third ring.
"Hello?" says the voice on the other end.
"Hi. Is this Mrs. McGlynn?" you ask.
"Yes, this is she."