Chapter 6
Early the next morning, Esme, Daniel, and Lillian caught a ferry to the city’s northeast and walked through an enormous park, all the way to the edge of the lagoon. Soon, they were standing on a timber boardwalk parallel to the water, facing a place that looked decidedly unlike a school.
Four long piers jutted out from the wooden walkway, and large warehouses ran the length of each pier. With their post-and-beam construction and double-gable roofs, these salt-licked edifices evoked the hue and cry of stevedores, not school bells, stern voices, and chalk on blackboards. Small boats rocked in the water off each jetty: canoes, dinghies, and two-person sailboats, all with dragons decorating their prows.
‘Are we here?’ Esme asked uncertainly. ‘Is this Pierpont?’
‘Yep!’ said Daniel
