“I won’t, all right?”
“We need a plan,” Penny says.
“We have a plan!” Baz is firm. “We wait for a town.”
“Thereareno towns!” I say.
Penny: “We need a battle plan!”
Me: “Agreed!”
“Listen to yourselves!” Baz shouts almost soundlessly. (We can hardly hear our own voices.) “We can’t afford to fight!”
“There are three of us,” Penny argues.
“There might be three of them!” he says. “And even if we’ve got more power, we can’t afford another scene!”
“Look around—” She waves her arm at the dark nothingness around us. “There are no witnesses!”
“They could be recording us right now, Bunce!”
“Well, we can’t just go on like this,” I say. I’m going mad, waiting for something to happen. I’ve never waited this long for a fight.
“This is safe!” Baz says. “This is de-escalation. No one is being hurt.”
The truck moves closer to us than it’s come before, its headlamps whitening Baz’s pale skin. He blocks his eyes with his hand. The lights blink off again, dark for a few beats, then on.
“Fuck this.” I change gears and press the accelerator to the floor.
The noise is monstrous. Penny and Baz hold on with both hands.
BAZ
I used to admire these two for getting out of so many tight spots.
Now I know firsthand that they make so many great escapes because they walk into so many traps! This is the behaviour that drove Wellbelove to California.
The Mustang sounds like a bat on its way out of hell. And Simon is its getaway driver. Fourth gear on a gravel road, his blue eyes narrowed to slits. My mother’s scarf catches the wind and slips off my head. Snow whips out his hand to rescue it. He glances over at me, for just a second, holding it like a banner.
SIMON
The silver truck falls back again, but it keeps up with us.
I take another ninety-degree turn. We’re back on pavementand picking up speed. Probably too much speed. I couldn’t stop now if I had to—the road is coming at me before I’m ready for it.
Baz has his wand out, and Penny has her right hand raised.
“Slow down!” Baz screams.
But I don’t. I don’t want to. I’m tired of this standoff. I’m tired of beingchased.
Suddenly my wings explode out of my back—I don’t know why, a bell didn’t ring. The force pushes me into the steering wheel, and the convertible careens back and forth.
Baz is casting a spell, but I can’t hear it. Then he’s shouting at Penny. She tries a spell, too.
“There’s no magic!” Baz shouts.
“It’s a dead spot!” Penny hits my shoulder. “We can’t stop here!”
