“Climbing into that well was brave, too.” She handed me something balled up in her fist. “Take this. You need it more than I do.”
I could barely make out the object in my palm, until it caught the light from the buzzing fluorescent motel sign outside. It was the round silver medal Alara always wore around her neck. Up close, I could see the symbols etched into the surface, with what looked like pitchforks pointing away from the center of the pendant.
[ART TO COME]
“It’s called the Hand of Eshu. It protects the person wearing it from evil. Maybe it will keep you from getting yourself killed.”
“Thanks.” I knotted the cord around my neck, wishing I could think of something more meaningful to say.
Within minutes she was asleep.
I stared into the darkness. A sliver of light crept from underneath the bathroom door.
I thought about all the ways Jared could hurt me.
How much pain could I withstand before I finally broke?
CHAPTER 21
Sunshine
In the morning, we stopped at 7-Eleven for coffee and batteries. Alara gave each of us five dollars in an attempt to ration our funds. Priest headed straight for the candy aisle and cleaned out the stock of watermelon sours. He had moved on to chips by the time I made it over there.
Candy wasn’t really my thing. But when I was little, my dad used to bring chocolate bars home from work.
He fished the candy bar out of his jacket pocket. It had a red wrapper with 100 GRAND printed in white block letters across the front.
I wanted to open it, but I knew I wasn’t allowed. “It’s almost dinnertime.”
“Today is upside-down day. That means you can have dessert first.” My dad opened the wrapper and handed me one of the two pieces inside. We bit into our halves at the same time.
The red wrapper was permanently stamped in my mind, like so many other things I couldn’t erase. I wanted one of those stupid candy bars more than anything right now.
I was still deciding if a stomach full of chocolate was a good idea at nine in the morning, when I noticed the guy behind the register staring. His eyes darted from the small TV on the counter and back to me, as my black and white yearbook photo flashed across the screen.
Jared walked down the aisle toward me, his back to the clerk. I didn’t move, my eyes fixed on the racks.
Please don’t say anything.
Another step and Jared’s body blocked the guy’s view.
“The guy behind the counter recognized me. Keep walking,” I whispered, careful not to turn in Jared’s direction. “I’ll meet you behind the school we passed on the way here.”
The cashier didn’t take his eyes off me.
Jared walked by and stopped in front of the coffee machine at the end of the aisle, where Lukas and Priest were filling up Styrofoam cups. Jared said something, and they all laughed and elbowed each other. When Alara heard Jared laughing, she snapped to attention and zeroed in on him like he had flashed the Bat Signal.
The cashier picked up the phone.
Lukas shoved his brother and the cups slipped out of their hands, coffee splattering onto the floor.
“What are you doing back there?” The guy was off his stool and halfway down the aisle, the phone receiver still lying on the counter.
“I’m really sorry.” Lukas grabbed a bunch of napkins from a nearby dispenser. “We’ll clean it up.”
“And you’re gonna pay for those,” I heard him say as the door closed behind me.
I climbed over the Dumpster behind the 7-Eleven and followed the main road back to the elementary school, careful to stay off the shoulder in case the cashier decided to call the police. Behind the school, I huddled on a bench listening for sirens.
If he did call, would the police tell my aunt I was okay?
Even though I didn’t like her, she had offered to take me in after my mom died, and I owed her something for that—at least a message to let her know I wasn’t lying in a ditch. I had considered calling more than once, but if the police believed someone kidnapped me, her phone would definitely be tapped.
A disposable cell phone might throw off the police, but I wasn’t sure about a demon. Vengeance spirits had already followed me to the warehouse, and I wasn’t willing to make any more mistakes.
The sirens never came, just boots crunching across the dry leaves. “Kennedy?”
“Over here.”
Jared scanned the playground until he saw me, and his tense expression broke into a rare smile. “That was way too close.”
“No argument here.” I glanced behind him. “Where is everyone?”
“In the van. I thought four of us wandering around might look suspicious.” He sat down on the other end of the bench. “How did you know that guy in the store recognized you?”
“He was watching TV, and I saw my picture on the screen.”
Jared leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and looked back at me. I wanted to reach out and touch the scar above his eye—to ask him how he got it.