Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach Page A

tracking mud or leaving water rings on a table here. Two of the walls were lined with bookshelves, and the large wood table at one end of the living room held several teetering piles of books and papers. An enormous map hung over a desk in one corner. When Henry walked over for a closer look, he saw that it was a patchwork of pastel colors, covered with tiny lines and numbers.
    â€œIt’s a geological survey map of this area.” Emmett stood behind him. “Those numbers are the elevations: how high the land is at each point.”
    â€œCool,” Henry said, studying the cluster of wavy, numbered lines that marked the slopes of the mountain.
    â€œWow!” Jack cried from a distant room. “Look at all these ROCKS !”
    Henry could hear Simon hiss something in rebuke.
    â€œYou found my office,” Emmett said, unconcerned. Henry thought the living room looked like an office too, cluttered as it was with books and papers.
    Jack emerged from a back hallway with Simon close behind him. “How come you have all those rocks?”
    â€œIt’s what I do,” Emmett said, pointing to the desk, where Henry noticed a shallow tray full of rocks. “I’m a geologist.” He scanned the bookshelf and plucked a familiar-looking pale pamphlet from a batch at the end of a row of books. “Is this what you were looking for?” he asked, handing it to Henry.
    â€œYes!” Henry wanted to flip to the missing page, but he restrained himself. The booklet was crisp and new. “Thanks,” he said, feeling shy.

    â€œYeah, thanks,” Simon echoed, pushing Jack ahead of him. “We should head home. We’ve been riding around for hours.”
    They crowded onto the porch, where Delilah stood at the bottom with her bike leaning against her hip, looking both nervous and annoyed.
    â€œIt’s time to go. We’ve been here too long,” she said to Henry in an accusing voice.
    â€œYeah, I know,” Henry agreed. “We’re leaving now.” He turned to Emmett with the pamphlet in his hand. “Does this have everything? All the people who’ve disappeared?”
    Emmett hesitated. “It’s as complete as we could make it. We went back and looked at the records from the late 1800s, though of course that time isn’t well documented. So many of those disappearances aren’t confirmed. But it’s got pretty much everything, except…”
    â€œExcept what?” Delilah asked. She took the booklet from Henry and placed it in her basket with the library books.
    â€œWell…” Emmett hesitated again. “There have been disappearances on the mountain that aren’t recorded in the book, because the people were found eventually.”
    â€œFound alive?” Simon asked. “That doesn’t count, then. It’s not a disappearance if they turn up.”
    â€œRight,” Emmett agreed. “That was my argument for not including them on the list. Although … well, they were found, but they weren’t the same. They came back from the mountain changed.”

CHAPTER 15
    THE LAST PAGE
    H ENRY STARED AT HIM. “What do you mean?”
    Emmett took a deep breath. “This stuff only feeds the rumors about the mountain. It’s why your parents are so worried about you going anywhere near it.”
    â€œWhat stuff?” Simon demanded. “What are you talking about?”
    Emmett rubbed his forehead. “Have you heard anything about Sara Delgado?”
    They looked at him blankly.
    â€œDo you know what a fugue state is?”
    Henry thought fugue sounded like a cloud of smelly perfume.
    â€œA fugue state is kind of a walking coma,” Emmett told them. “In other words, the person is out of it, can’t remember anything that’s happened to them, doesn’t know who or where they are, but is able to function normally otherwise.”
    â€œLike amnesia ?” Henry asked. He once