[ the second book in the drops of sunshine series ]
As much as she ended up loving her first one, AJ Hood never wanted to go on another quest. But somehow, she ended up on one anyway. And this time, it's not going to have a pretty ending... but at...
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~ ☼ ~
When Kiera, the person I'd eventually woken up to take over my guard position (it was not Aria. We really needed to get her more arrows.) woke us all up too, it was past dawn. Blearily, we got our bags back on, looking around the mall, which was eerie in the daylight.
Somehow more than it was at night. At night, it felt like a horror movie, but the contrast between birds chirping outside and absestos (I really hope it wasn't actually asbestos. I didn't want the fox to be diagnosed with mesothelioma!) falling inside was uncanny.
None of my friends noticed the radio set up. I had mixed feelings about this. In the light of day, I was kind of embarrassed, but I also wanted them to all clap me on the back and tell me that was really thoughtful of me.
Call me self-absorbed, but I call it being an insecure 15 year old. Either way, when they all headed out, I decided to tell them to go on ahead, pretending I'd forgotten something inside.
Instead, I walked over to the radio and put on Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. As the sweet, dulcet, sorrowful bass line of Helena started, I felt a deep relief in my chest. I wished I had thought to write him a note or something, but I didn't. So I just left it running and ran after my friends, happy I'd found a kindred spirit once again.
~ ☼ ~
"Well," said Lucas, as we stood at the edge of the Merrill Park Mall parking lot. "I have no money left at all."
He pulled out his cargo short pockets, and indeed, all were empty. He was carrying all the camping gear, which at this point we might be able to sell off for money because we'd only used it once. I imagined putting it on E-bay with the description, Personally used by the Goddess Artemis! But I didn't think that would attract the kind of buyers I wanted.
"What the heck do we do, then?" I asked.
"Hitchhike," suggested Kiera, through a yawn. We all stared at her. Then I shrugged.
"Yeah," I said. "At this point, okay."
So we set off to try to hitchhike.
~ ☼ ~
Hitchhiking, by nature, is a very dangerous activity. Even more so when it's by kids. Actually, I would dare to say that kids should never, ever hitchhike. But we figured with all four of us together, we'd be fine. Hopefully.
We stood at the edge of the ramp onto the highway, watching the sun rise, with our thumbs out. Occasionally, Kiera would jump and try to catch a particularly nice-looking car's attention. But after an hour, we'd had no luck, and we were all getting restless.
"Come on," said Lucas, as Kiera and I moaned together. "Just a little bit longer. There has to be someone."
Indeed, like he'd predicted it - maybe he was the psychic one - just a few minutes later, a pick up truck slowed down beside us. It was red and horribly rusty, probably at least a couple decades old. The guy who was driving it looked exactly like you would think an old pickup driver in Ohio would look like. For a second, I wondered if I was in Children of the Corn instead of my life, then I remembered all the villains in that were kids.
