Adjusting her hat, the woman thought. “I’d try Ms. Cartwright,” she said, looking over the cars to the park. “She’s overseeing everything. She’ll be at the green tent.”
My head bobbed. I’d seen Ms. Cartwright in the halls at school, but I didn’t know what she taught.
“Thank you,” I said, and I settled back in my seat, jittery.Damn it, Grace.
Josh crept forward. “Follow the yellow balloons,” he said sourly.
Grace zipped from one end of the cab to the other. “Follow the yellow balloons!”
I sighed, and my camera felt heavy on my chest. “Grace, you’re evil,” I whispered.
“This stuff is easy,” she said smugly. Apparently I’d been forgiven, since she sat on my shoulder and made my ears ring with the vibration from her wings.
Josh eyed the parked cars as we passed, and sighed. “We can’t fight Kairos here.”
Grace giggled, and I made a face. “Nope,” I said. “I don’t think we can leave, either.”
From my shoulder, Grace said, “If you try, you’re going to get a flat tire, Joshua.”
Joshua,I thought, curious. “Don’t try to leave,” I said as we neared the exit. “You’ll get a flat. Miss Limerick here doesn’t want us getting into any trouble.”Puppy presents, maybe we could walk out of here. Grace wouldn’t make one of us break a leg or something, would she?
“Limerick?” Josh asked, and I shook my head.
“You really don’t want to know.”Yeah, Grace would probably break something, laughing all the way.
He was concentrating on the parking lot, and I gripped the door handle when we went onto the grass and lurched in the ruts, following the cant-wise line of cars to the end until we parked in the shade of a spreading oak. The sound of our doors shutting seemed to echo as a handful of other people parked and got out of their vehicles. Josh had his gym bag with him, and my camera bag was over my shoulder. The air was crisp and cool under the tree, and I could sense the excitement as people slowly migrated from their cars to the open field. It had been a long, miserable night watching Josh’s house, but the fact that I was sort of see-through had me worried about going invisible again so soon. I could put Kairos off for a few hours. Take a few pictures. Not be so much of a liar.
“Grace, you stay with Josh. Please,” I added belatedly as the glowing ball of light that was her wings took on a harsh hue. “He can’t do his event with me running beside him.”
Her wings darkened to almost nothing, and a subdued “okay” came out of her.
I didn’t trust her show of meekness, and we slowly wove through the parked cars to the field. Halfway there I brought my camera up and snapped a picture of a child, awe on his face as he touched a clown’s nose. A smile came over me as I looked at it in the viewer. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the clown’s makeup was stark and perfect. Bright and bold.
“Good day for a run,” Josh said slowly.
I nodded, feeling the air in my lungs. “I suppose we can do this awhile,” I said, not wanting a meteor to drop on me if I tried to leave.
“I pledged to run a couple of laps,” he said. “I can’t collect the money otherwise.”
Seeing his desire to run, I shifted my bag higher up my shoulder. It was heavy with my promise. Kairos could wait a couple of hours as long as Grace was watching Josh. “So, see you about noon?” I said as I made motions to head off to the green tent.
Josh smiled, the sun in his hair. “Watch out for Amy.”
I smirked. It took skill to take a good picture. It took more to take a bad one. “You bet.”
He nodded and turned. I waited a moment to be sure Grace went with him, then headed for the green tent and Ms. Cartwright.
Eight
The wind shifted the purple tipsof my hair in front of the camera, and I waited until it cleared. I slowly followed Josh’s loping body around the track, zooming in as he rounded the turn and I could see his face.
He breathed in, and I snapped the shot, immediately moving the camera from my eye to see what I’d captured in the viewing screen.
I couldn’t help my smile. He looked suitably tortured, eyes pinched and mouth open. Sweat made his hair stick to his forehead. Behind him were the blurry and colorful shapes of the other runners. In the foreground was a hazy ball of light anyone else would say was a camera artifact, but I knew it was Grace. Josh would be glad to see some evidence of her.