“Don’t call me Tiny,” said Coco. “I’m normal. You’re just—big.”
Ollie barely heard their sniping. She had remembered something. “When I met her by the creek, Linda Webster was talking about making a bargain.”
“With the smiling man, maybe?” Brian asked. “Just like Jonathan? Her soul for—?”
Ollie’s lips pressed together. “Not her own soul. Ours. That’s why we ended up here. One busload of kids, signed, sealed, delivered, for—whatever he gave her.”
“That doesn’t seem fair,” said Brian. “No one asked us.”
Ollie thought of a torn-up field in the rain. “A lot of things aren’t fair,” she said. “What now?” She glanced down at her watch.HOUSE, it said.
To their right, a narrow, covered footbridge crossed the creek, high above the racing water. On the other side of the creek lay cornfields, a vegetable garden, berry patches, hog pens, a cattle shed. Only it wasn’t a tidy collection of buildings like yesterday. This farm was old, worn. They couldn’t see any signs of life, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any.
There were alotof scarecrows. They jutted out of the field; they clustered around the house. “You sure they aren’t dangerous before dark?” Brian muttered.
“Mostly sure,” said Ollie.
“Do you think there are any answers over there?” Brian asked. “’Cause honestly, that’s a lot of scarecrows, and there’s notthatmuch daylight left. Maybe we should stay on this side of the creek.”
“Yes,” said Ollie. “I think there are answers over there.” She took a deep breath. “So, guys, there’s something I haven’t told you. And it might be just my imagination, but...”
Ollie explained about her watch.
Neither Brian nor Coco said anything for a moment. Then Coco said, logically, “Well, if Cathy Webster’s here, then I’d bet anything your mom is here too. Helping us.” She smiled. “That makes me feel better.”
“Me too,” said Brian.
“Really?” said Ollie, enormously relieved.
“Yup,” said Brian. “Guess we’re going to the house. Coco?”
“Let’s go look,” said Coco nervously. “But we have to find somewhere to hide before dark.”
They headed for the footbridge. As they walked, Ollie saw that Coco’s stupid heart-printed sneakers were soaked. She’d probably had cold feet for the whole day but hadn’t complained, not once.
Coco is all right,Ollie thought.
Aloud she said, “Come on. An hour until sunset.”
“It seems like the day should have been longer,” said Brian. “Yesterday too. It got darkreallysoon after we left the bus.”
“Bad Narnia,” said Ollie. “I guess it’s darker here.” Below them, Lethe Creek ran fast and cold in the evening light. A mist was just gathering in the cornfield.
18
OKAY, MAYBE MS.WEBSTERtraded us to the smiling man, and so we ended up here. But how do we get out of here? How do we get everyone out of here?
Ollie didn’t know. But she felt, urgently, that sheoughtto know, that there was a piece of the puzzle that had escaped her. It was one thing solving puzzles in math class. But now their lives were on the line and Ollie didn’t have a clue.
Brian and Coco had gotten to the opening of the covered footbridge. They stopped. Ollie caught up to them. The covered bridge, which had looked okay from far away, was actually pretty rotten, its planking splintering into the creek below. They could see the water through the holes.
Coco said, unhappily, “I didn’t know there would be so many scarecrows on the farm. Or that the bridge would look like that.”
“We have to hurry,” said Ollie. “So we can get there before dark. The bridge isn’t that bad.”
A dubious silence. The entrance to the bridge looked like a hungry black mouth.
“Okay,” said Brian, taking a deep breath. “Great.” Without another word, he started across. The timber groaned under his feet. Once he slipped and grabbed a beam so he wouldn’t fall into the water. Coco said, “Oh,God,” and followed him across.
