Exit Point

Read Exit Point for Free Online

Book: Read Exit Point for Free Online
Authors: Laura Langston
Tags: General, Juvenile Fiction, JUV000000
singing it: “And I’ll Be Your Lover Too.”
    I turn to go. When I look back at Hannah, she is smiling.
    “You said it would be tough; you didn’t tell me it would be impossible.” We are back in the park, Wade and I. The cheeseburgers have not erased my anger. Neither has the hot fudge sundae.
    “It’s not impossible,” he insists, “just difficult. I told you, the living have to be willing to see the signs.”
    I glare into his blue-and green-eyed gaze. “And the dead have to be able to make them.”
    He smiles back. “It takes time to master a new skill, Logan. Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re still recovering from your death.Overall, you’re doing well. Your presence in Amy’s dream was excellent. You touched your mother and father. You even managed to get that song on the radio at just the right time.”
    “It’s not enough.” I flop onto the grass and stare into the milk-glow sky. Wade knows the words I have left out: It’s not enough to stop a rat bastard.
    “This isn’t a swim meet,” Wade says. “You aren’t going to lose if you’re two seconds late.”
    But Amy will lose if I don’t keep her away from Herb. And time is running out.
    I sit back up. “That reminds me, what’s with the time thing? Every time I go back, more time has passed. When I saw Amy at school, they thought I’d been dead a month. I’ve only been dead a few hours.”
    When Wade laughs, his frizzy hair bounces and his snake tattoos twist and turn. No wonder this guy gave me nightmares when I was four.
    “It’s not that funny,” I mutter. “What’s going on?”
    “Time’s relative.” He grins. “If you’d beenpaying attention in physics, you’d know that. What takes the blink of an eye over here can take days down there.”
    Leavenworth is next weekend. Does this mean next weekend is minutes away?
    “Relax,” Wade says. “Nothing’s gonna happen just yet.” Another hot fudge sundae appears in front of me. “Eat,” he says.
    I have to trust him. So I do.
    Wanting to hedge my bets, I enter into Hannah’s dream that night.
    Wade is annoyed with me. He doesn’t say so, but I can feel his disapproval. He thinks I need time away from the living.
    Hannah is thrilled to see me, but not surprised. She has been waiting. I kiss her and we talk, but when I tell her about Amy and Herb, Hannah does not want to listen.
    Hannah is so far from the dark side that she cannot recognize darkness in others. You have to protect Amy , I tell her. You have to tell my parents what’s going on .
    But when Hannah wakes up, I am afraid she won’t remember our dream.
    Next weekend is here.
    I don’t need to see it to know. I feel Amy’s terror, her panic that I am not there to protect her.
    At first I do not react. After Hannah’s dream, Wade called the robed ones back. They fed me colors and turned me fuzzy calm again. I needed to rest.
    But now Amy is in trouble. Her fear is an alarm clock going off in the pit of my stomach.
    I am with her in an instant, standing behind her, hands on her shoulders. We are in Susan and Herb’s driveway. The sky is blue; the ground shines with frost. It is Saturday, early December. Instead of rain, Seattle is in the middle of an unusual cold snap.
    I know all of it. Just like I know the horror that’s to come.
    My parents wave to us as they pull out. Dad has another brown Lexus. The insurance company settled. I know this too.
    Amy trembles; her shoulders shake beneath my hands. I wrap myself around her and hold her close. It is not enough but it is all I can think of to do.
    “Let’s get this weekend underway!” Herb claps his hands together and smiles his ugly wolf smile. My cousin Brad stands beside him, looking lost in the shadow of his father.
    It is the first time I have seen Herb since that time in the cockpit. It is hard to look at him. But when I do, I am relieved. His evil is weaker when there are good people around.
    Aunt Susan knows that Amy is unhappy. “We’ll run

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