She hadn’t, actually. Cora had dropped her off at the gate and Dee had snuck through the brambles and bushes, and slipped on a patch of moss. Knees muddied, hair even frizzier than usual, she had nearly managed to get into her dorm—until a teacher spotted her.
Dee had made up some quick story about needing samples of pond water for a biology experiment—and thankfully she’d been let off with a warning.
She explained as much.
“Ah, boarding school,” said James, smiling. He glanced over his shoulder, then merged into a faster lane. They were southbound, heading down I-5. “That’s kind of cool. The only boarding school I know about is Hogwarts.”
“You are aware that Harry Potter isn’t real, right?”
He shrugged. “Well, I mean, in the movies the dorms looked cool.”
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen the movies.”
“You read the books, then,” he said, with a knowing little nod. “You would be a book reader.”
“I do read. But I never read Harry Potter.”
His fingers jerked on the steering wheel. “But everybody’s read those books.”
“Not me.”
He made a sound of distress. Actualdistress. “I can lend you the books if you want them.”
She made no attempt to hide her own skepticism. “I don’t read fantasy.” It was too close to fairy tales. Trying to change the subject, she said, “So, are you a big reader, then? You in school?”
He laughed. “I dropped out when I was seventeen. And don’t look at me like that, I got my GED. It’s just… I didn’t really like school all that much. I went to quite a few of them. Moving around as a foster kid will do that to you.”
“Foster kid?” she repeated.
He nodded. “Parents gave me up. No idea who they were. It wasn’t terrible—I mean, I’m sure other kids had it worse. Some of the parents were fine, and others… well. It’s hard to feel like you’re wanted when you’re told you’re only there to up their paycheck. And I think I went to five different schools in as many years. After a while, I gave up. I ended up getting my GED and leaving.”
“How old are you?” she asked, confused. He didn’t feel that much older than her.
“Eighteen. Nineteen in two months.”
He pulled off the highway, taking them to one of the many state parks that bordered the Willamette. This park was situated with a parking lot and a long concrete ramp, leading into the river. Clumps of trees were clustered near several picnic tables, and there was a familiar large sign over a wastebasket, reminding them to keep Oregon clean.
James parked the car, then reached into the back and snatched up two burlap sacks. Dee frowned, confused. “And what are we doing with those?”
“I told you we were collecting rocks,” he said.
She took one of the bags and gazed at it. “I thought you were kidding.”
James began to laugh. “Come on. It’s easier with two people.”
She got out of the car and followed him toward the river. It was a rather nice day to be outdoors—streams of sunlight lit up the billowy clouds, and the greenery was still damp and fresh. The scent of the river hung heavy in the air. It being a Saturday, the park was already occupied. That made her feel safer; nothing truly bad could happen while there was a herd of toddlers trundling about like slightly drunken wildebeests. A bedraggled woman was attempting to corral them onto a worn blanket laid out on the damp grass. There was another person, a man with one of those large cameras, snapping pictures of birds in the overhead trees. And two twentysomething girls were perched on the rocks near the river, passing a cigarette back and forth.
James trotted down the inclined pavement, reaching to unlace his shoes as he went. He kicked them off, wading into the river with bare feet.
Which, considering this was the Willamette, was inadvisable. But Dee wasn’t going to lecture him on tetanus.
She kept her flip-flops on, her jeans rolled up to her knees. Stepping into the water was an act of will—it was painfully cold, and the pebbles felt unsteady beneath the rubber soles of her shoes. She kept wobbling, trying to stay upright despite the current and uncertain footing. “This is your idea of an easy errand,” she said, following him out until they were knee-deep in the water.
“Hey, we’re working for a demon,” James replied. “We could be disemboweling virgins or something.”
“That’s… a good point, actually,” she said reluctantly.
He beamed at her, then bent over at the waist and began scrabbling around in the water. “Try to find rocks about the size of your fist. Any smaller and they won’t have any effect. Any bigger, and whoever is carrying the load will get tired faster.”
