Page 67 of Where Roads Lead

I took a step farther, pausing when something crunched beneath my boot.

“Oh, yup, that’s a Pop-Tart.” I nodded in acceptance, watching the gooey center coat both the rug below and the rubber sole of my shoe.

A cat ran between my ankles, leaving behind paw-print sized blotches of paint in its wake. Ava ran in after it, nearly colliding with me in the process.

“Elsie!” she breathed in relief, and I could swear it was the happiest anyone had been to see me in weeks.

“Hey, Ava.” I waved, only slightly amused by how red-faced and breathless she looked. It was nice to know that even Ava was human after all. “I have a question.”

“What is it?” she asked, disgruntled, still staring off after the cat.

“Why does it look like Kevin McAllister lives here?”

“What?”

“Nothing.” I clapped my hands together. “What can I do?”

“Uh,” she said faintly, “find Max?”

My eyes widened. “You misplaced him?”

“No!” she was quick to reassure. “I can still hear him. It’s more of a visibility thing I’m having trouble with. I think he’s hiding from me.”

“Why?”

“Because,” she whimpered, “he wanted to go to the beach and didn’t quite appreciate me telling him that October wasn’t ideal swimming weather.”

That explains the boogie-board.

“Okay, Ava, go take a breath. I’ll find him,” I told her, pushing her in the other direction.

“Max?” I called up the stairs, making my ascent slowly in case he really had boobie-trapped the place. “It’s me, Elsie. Can you come out?”

“Elsie?” Max popped his head down from a hole in the ceiling.

“Is that the attic?” I reclined my head to gaze up at the crevice he was emerging from. “Where did you get a ladder?”

Ava appeared at the end of the banister, holding onto it for dear life as she gasped in horror.

“Tell him to get out of there right now!” Ava shrieked. “If he gets bitten by a bat, we’ll have to spend the night getting rabies shots.”

“Awesome!” Max’s eyes gleamed.

“No, Max. Not awesome.” She shook her head furiously. “Not awesome, in the slightest.”

“Did you know to test for rabies, they cut the bat’s head off and dissect its brain?”

I shuddered, holding his hand as he climbed down the steps of the ladder. “Well, I’m an animal lover, so let’s spare the bats that tragic fate and just close that little hole up. Okay?”

“Okay!” he chirped. “Catch!”

“Max!” I fought the urge to shut my eyes against his body falling through the air and landing, miraculously, into my arms.

I lowered him gently to the floor, readying myself to run in case he took off again.

“So, Max…” I started cautiously. “Have you eaten dinner yet?”

“No,” he said, “that girl is making food, but it’s taking forever.”