Cold air and dust slipped out the door instantly, as if happy to finally be set free, and the rest of us leaned back alittle bit. Whatever was in there, it smelled stale, old,wet—definitely not what I was expecting.
“A junkyard?Are you well in the head?” Seth said.
“I think his gears need a good oiling,” said Erith.
“Actually, I’m perfectly fine, thank you,” Reggie said, perfectly unbothered by the jokes. “Andyes—this used to be a yard some time ago. See this?” He pointed up at the rooftop of the barn. “This was builtafterthe fence was already in place.” He slapped his hand against the wooden walls next. “Probably to hide the things on the other side—but who knows? What matters is, thiswasa yard originally, and so we shall continue to call itTHE JUNKYARD.” He spread his hands in front of him as if he was hoping to magic the letters into the air itself.
The rest of us laughed. He really was a funny guy.
Then Silas produced something from the inside pocket of his long coat—a hand-lantern. The warm yellow light streaming out of the small orb tried but couldn’t fully illuminate the darkness inside the barn.
Silas said, “Now that that’s settled—after me, boys and girls.” And he slipped inside with a grin on his face to match Reggie’s, who followed him closely.
Helen and Levana rushed after them, and March pulled me to follow. My instinct was to remain out here for another minute, to make sure I knew what I was walking into first before it was too late, but my instincts were powerless, it seemed, to guide my body when March held onto my hand the way he did.
I went into the barn with my breath held.
The others behind me whispered—“This is stillnota yard…”
“Is someone else in here?”
“How much trouble are we going to get in if we get caught?”
“Hush—nobody’s going to get caught.”
“Are you guys going to set us up or something?”
Then…
“Are you afraid?” March whispered, his mouth close to my ear, making every inch of my skin rise in goose bumps.
My mouth opened to sayyesbecause I should have been.
Afraid, that is. But instead, I said, “No.” I wasn’t. He was here, and everybody else was here. I wasnotafraid of anything right now.
“Good. Give it a minute.” We stopped, and it was too dark to see anything at all, but I felt the way his thumb rubbed circles over my knuckles perfectly. “Any minute now…”
“What are we waiting for?”
“Light,” March said. “Your skin is so incredibly smooth. Like…velvet.”
My blood rushed and rushed.
Why, I happen to like velvet very much,I said in my mind, but in reality, my tongue was too tied. To speak out all those words seemed an impossible feat just now.
Then came the light, followed by sudden gasps and screams and laughter.
“There, you bastards! There you have it. The junkyard is all yours now, too!” Reggie shouted, his finger pointed at us—at March. “You’re in my debt, Red! I’ll be coming to collect.”
March chuckled. The sound of it traveled through my ears and into my mind and stayed there. It wouldn’t budge, I suspected, for the rest of eternity now.
“You can certainly try,” he called back, and if Reggie said something else, I didn’t hear it because I was already distracted by everything that the light revealed.
The air was still, thick with dust. The space feltendless,with piles and piles of discarded things rising around us—rusted frames, dented orbs, splintered gears, all covered in asoft coat of dust. No structure, no shelves or boxes or anything, only piles.
Devices of every shape, some no bigger than my hand, others towering like statues. None of it made any real sense, though. A chair made of glass arms. A tangle of wires woven like a bird’s nest. A stone basin lined with symbols that looked familiar, like I’d seen them before written in a book or something.
I couldn’t tell whatanythingwas, and neither could anybody else.
