The Yellows were blocking the Roman Luck path. The Roman Luck path was the shortcut that led to the Roman Luck house, and the Bell farm, and it was our only way home, unless we wanted to walk three extra miles out on the regular roads. And it was almost dark.
Buttercup and Zoe popped tomatoes into each other’s mouths, bright red lips closing around bright red tomatoes. Their black dresses and striped socks jarred with the lush trees behind them. They both had on matching skull-shaped backpacks, though school was long out. Buttercup’s black hair was in a tight, sleek braid and Zoe had slicked down her short curls and looked like a thirties movie star. They gave us the side-eye while they chewed, tomato seeds on their chins.
Thomas and Briggs were standing with arms crossed and heads leaning away from each other. Deliberately. They must be fighting over Poppy. Again.
Buttercup and Zoe both swallowed, and then spoke at the same time. “Hello, Midnight. Hello, Feral.”
They’d never talked directly to me before. I’d never mattered enough.
Where was Poppy? She put them up to this, no doubt, so where the hell was she?
“If you want to use the path you have to pass a test,” Buttercup said, and nodded her oval face, quick, quick, black braid swishing.
“You have to pass a test,” Zoe repeated.
Thomas and Briggs just stared at us, and ate more tomatoes. Thomas was tanned and blond and attractive in that wounded, sad way that girls always liked. And Briggs was lanky and witty and good at sports and rich as hell. They could have had any girl, but they were Poppy’s pawns, just like I used to be.
I sighed. “What are you talking about, Buttercup?”
“It’s a kissing test. You have to pass a kissing test.” Nod, nod.
“What’s a kissing test?” Wink asked, voice low, hands in deep pockets.
“You both have to kiss each other, and then you both have to kiss Poppy, and then we vote. If we like what we see, we let you enter the forest.” Zoe this time. She took Buttercup’s hand, fingers intertwining. They both turned to us, twin wicked smiles.
Briggs threw a tomato up in the air and caught it in his mouth, perfect and fluid, like he was posing for an All-American Boy poster. “I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before,” he said, still chewing. “It’s brilliant. Tomorrow I’m going to stand on Blue Twist Bridge and make people kiss before they can pass. And maybe charge them money too.”
“Like the Three Billy Goats Gruff,” Wink said. Softly.
“What do you mean?” Briggs’s eyes snapped on hers. “Are you calling me a billy goat?”
Wink just shrugged and looked tranquil.
“I’m not a goat, Feral Bell. You’re the goat. That’s right, Poppy told us about how you and Midnight were up in the hayloft, doing beastly things—”
“It’s a fairy tale.” Thomas stepped closer to Wink, almost protectively. And it kind of pissed me off, because wasn’t that my job? But I understood it too, because Wink had that effect on a guy.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Briggs cocked his head and flared his nostrils.
“The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a fairy tale about a troll that lives under a bridge and tries to eat anyone that passes. Everyone knows that story, Briggs.”
Buttercup and Zoe nodded, very wisely. “Everyone,” they said together. “Everyone knows it.”
“Who the hell reads fairy tales? Fairy tales are for babies—”
Poppy stepped out from behind a tree. Gray dress matching her gray eyes, black boots to her knees. She smiled the same Cheshire Cat grin as Buttercup and Zoe, but she had her hands up in a submissive gesture.
“Peace, everyone. Peace. The next thing we know, we’ll all be so distracted fighting that we won’t notice when these two sneak off right underneath our noses, like they’re the cunning, tricksy heroes and we’re the simpleminded villains in a children’s book.”
She looked at me. Glared at me.
“And I’m not going to let that happen, because I want to see how your little unicorn underwear girlfriend kisses, Midnight. I want to make sure she’s good enough for you. The Yellows are going to watch us all and then help me decide if I can allow a past lover of mine to be with this freckled little barnyard girl.”
My mind started racing with all the fighting things Alabama had told me: Stay relaxed, bend your knees, kicking isn’t sissy, be prepared to run . . .
“Five against two, I don’t care. We’re not doing it, Poppy. I’d let your Yellows beat me bloody before I’d make Wink kiss you.”
But suddenly Wink’s hand was on my arm, and she was moving it back and forth in that gentle way she had. “It’s all right, Midnight. Let’s just do it and move on.” She got on her tiptoes, lips to my ear. “They want you to fight them. Don’t give them what they want. Let’s just play along and act like we don’t care.”
She put her heels back on the ground, turned, and walked up to Poppy. She placed her freckled hands on Poppy’s flawless cheeks, ran her thumbs over Poppy’s arched blond eyebrows, pulled her face down . . .
And kissed her.
No one had ever taken Poppy by surprise before. Not ever.
One second . . . two . . .