Excerpt from Saving Montgomery Sole by Mariko Tamaki, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

"You do real-ize," I explained, with exaggerated teacher tone, "that typically with this sort of technique, a person gets a sense of the thing."

"Well, I'm incredibly gifted at the whole mind-clearing technique," Thomas added with equal exaggeration. "So that probably helps … me. You know."

Naoki giggled.

"Clearly," I said, switching into my best wise, old alien impression, "your sense of sensing objects is stronger than most. Yes."

"It's a gift," Thomas sighed. "It is my gift and … my burden. Also, your Yoda is terrible."

Naoki smiled and hugged herself. "Oh you guys! I love this stuff! Like, sensing! Yes! Your faces were so, um…" Naoki rubbed her lips together, feeling out the word. "Triangulated with the object in the box. I could totally see your third eyes."

No one else I know enjoys herself as much as Naoki does doing just about everything. She's like one of those cartoon teddy bears that bursts out in a rainbow glow when she's happy, which is often.

"What did you see, Monty?" Thomas said, pointing a wiggling finger at me. "Sorry. What did you sense?"

I grabbed at the last image that had danced in front of my eyes. "A circle. Like, a charcoal circle."

"So"—Thomas tapped his chin with his index finger—"not a hair dryer is basically what you're saying."

"Ummmm," I mused. "That wasn't my sense, no."

"Naoki, would you enlighten us?" Thomas asked.

Naoki popped off the lid and pulled the object out of the box. "It's a sunflower!"

Silence.

Thomas and Naoki looked at each other, then at me. It was a look similar to the one I got when we did the telekinesis flash cards (which didn't work). A look not unlike the one I got when I brought in spoons for us to try to bend with our minds (which also didn't work).

I could practically see the little puffy "uh-oh" clouds floating above their heads.

"You know what?" Naoki tilted her head, tipped the flower horizontally, then upside down. "It does kind of look a little like a hair dryer," she offered. "Oh!" she added, pointing at the bumpy brown center. "And there is a circle! Do you think that's what you saw, Monty?"

Thomas raised an imaginary scorecard and said in his best game show voice, "Remote viewing: survey says?"

I shrugged. As one of the only fans of anything as cool as remote viewers, sometimes I just wish this stuff would actually work … better … more.

"I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5," Thomas continued. "Mostly because I'm shocked it wasn't a hair dryer."

"You're a 3.5!" I said, doing my best to keep a straight face but failing.

"You know that's not true," Thomas cooed. He darted over and threw his arms around me in a massive bear hug. "And you know I love your weird experiments even if they never work."

"Sometimes they work," I huffed. "It's complicated."

"Well, I love them anyway," Thomas said.

"You love me," I said.

"Mostly, yes," Thomas said, giving me a small shove. "Even though you are bossy and made me sit on the floor in my new pants."

"What? I'm not bossy!" I grinned. "I'm the chair!"

"Well," Naoki said, lowering the flower back into the box, "I thought it was pretty cool. Now my turn."

* * *

By the time we'd finished remote viewing all there was to view, or not, since no one "saw" any of the articles we brought, it was almost five thirty.

"Sometimes I feel like we enter a time vortex when we do Mystery Club." Naoki sighed happily as she trotted down the front steps.

"Time flies when you're seeing through walls," Thomas added.

"Have we done vortexes yet?" I asked, grabbing my phone out of my pocket to check.

When we got to the curb, Naoki's dad was there to take her to her pottery class.

Excerpted from Saving Montgomery Sole by Mariko Tamaki. Copyright © 2016 by Mariko Tamaki. Excerpted by permission of Roaring Brook Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.