“I’mfine, Snow.”
“All right, but I’d still like a sandwich.”
Baz says it’s safe for me to drive on the motorway. “It’s easier than driving in town.” He’s right—though merging into traffic at fifty miles per hour is fairly terrifying, and I do something that makes the engine whine like a dog.
But then we’re out on the road, and it’s cracking. With the top down, driving feels almost like flying, warm wind in ourhair and against our skin. My T-shirt is flapping, and Baz’s black hair whips around his face like a flame.
Penelope is still lying across the back seat. I can tell something’s wrong and also that she doesn’t want to talk about it. She hasn’t touched her sandwich. I can only guess that she and Micah got into a row.
14
BAZ
Something is very wrong with Bunce. She’s collapsed in the back seat like a dead rabbit. But I can’t really focus on it because ofthe sunand alsothe windand because I’m very busy making a list.
Things I hate, a list:
1. The sun.
2. The wind.
3. Penelope Bunce, when she hasn’t got a plan.
4. American sandwiches.
5. America.
6. The band, America. Which I didn’t know about an hour ago.
7. Kansas, also a band I’ve recently become acquainted with.
8. Kansas, the state. Which isn’t that far from Illinois, so it must be wretched.
9. The State of Illinois, for fucking certain.
10. Thesun.In myeyes.
11. Thewindin myhair.
12. Convertible automobiles.
13. Myself, most of all.
14. My soft heart.
15. My foolish optimism.
16. The words “road” and “trip,” when said together with any enthusiasm.
17. Being a vampire, if we’re being honest.
18. Being a vampire in a fucking convertible.
19. A deliriously thirsty vampire in a convertible at midday. In Illinois, which is apparently the brightest place on the planet.
20. The sun. Which hangsmilescloser to Minooka, Illinois, than it does over London blessed England.
21. Minooka, Illinois. Which seems dreadful.
