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After a fuel-up of convenience-store corn dogs and soda, we’re packed and ready to head out. Drew’s managed to fix the Caddy, but it looks tired. It’s coated in sand and road dust. Somebody has finger-written WASH ME across the back window. I wish it were coated in more dust. Every cop in Florida’s probably looking for that car now, and I just hope we can stay one step ahead of them.
Gonzo’s wearing Drew’s I GOT CRABS AT JOE’S SURF & TURF T-shirt.
“Mohawk’s cool,” I say.
Gonzo runs his hand over his head, watching Drew who’s letting Balder take his picture with the Party House in the background.
“Hey, you don’t have to come with me, you know,” I say. “If you wanna stay, ride out the rest of spring break, it’s cool.”
“He’s got my e-mail and cell and all that.”
“Seems like a cool guy,” I say.
“He is,” Gonzo says, and there’s a little sigh under it.
“You sure you don’t want to stay?”
Gonzo elbows me in the side. I elbow him back. He elbows me again till I cry “Ow.”
“I said I’m riding shotgun, I’m riding shotgun,” he says.
I nod, and we stand there watching Balder bark out orders to Drew to crouch lower and lower, till I know his head will be nothing more than a small human icon down in the left-hand corner of the photo.
Dulcie waves to me from behind a green station wagon. I slip away from the guys and go to her. “You coming along?”
“I’ll catch up,” she answers. When I look disappointed, she adds, “Don’t worry. I’ll be sticking close.”
“Because I’m a badass who saved the universe, princess?” I brace myself for the smackdown to come.
“Yeah.” She laughs and kisses me on the nose. “Something like that.”
I made a promise to Balder back on the cul-de-sac that we would get him to the ocean to search for Ringhorn so he could try to get back to his own world. I just didn’t know we’d be so short on time. My E-ticket meter is down to its last bar—Tomorrowland—and fading.
“Do not worry about me, Cameron. You must do what is right for your mission.” Balder’s expression is stoic.
Gonzo gives him a little pat on the back. “You could stay with us, dude. I could teach you to play Captain Carnage.”
“Yes. Thank you,” Balder says, trying to smile.
But I can see in Balder’s eyes that he’s homesick, and we’re by the beach right here, right now. “Who wants to play in the surf?” I ask.
Balder’s eyes light up. “But your mission, Cameron?”
“Can wait for a few hours,” I lie.
“When I am once again in the company of Odin and Freya, I shall tell them of the two bravest souls I ever met. Your names shall ring in the golden hall of the gods,” Balder says, sniffling a little.
“Just don’t tell ’em you keep your runes near your gnomy bits, amigo,” Gonzo jokes. “’Cause that is seriously off-putting.”
We drive down a few miles to a quiet part of the beach. No college revelers here. Just a few families with their kids, a handful of old people camped in their beach chairs facing the late-day sun. We move far away from them, not that they’re watching us anyway. They’re enjoying their own paradise bubbles.
Balder’s back in his surfer uniform. He pulls up the leggings, takes off his flip-flops, and wades out to the edge of the water. A wave nudges his toes.
“Oh my,” Balder says. I’ve never seen him so happy. “That is … wonderful.” He cups his hands over his eyes to cut the glare and keeps watch for his ship.
A piece of driftwood has washed up on shore. I take it and write my name in the sand. The water rushes over my name, makes it into some new word, then erases it completely. Using the driftwood as a walking stick, I hike along the shore, thinking about Dulcie, about the way her wings felt, smooth and soft except for the spines in each feather. Nestled into all that velvety down was something solid but supple, something hard to break, hundreds of them fanning out around me like the softest, most improbable shell. It makes me smile to know she’s in the world. That’s all.
A feather drops onto my head, followed by another, and another. Feathers fall like snow from the sky. A great big pillow fight of feathers coating my skin, the beach, the water, till all I can do is twirl and laugh in them, a character in my own broken snow globe.
