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instead.
    “The trap you’re cheerfully walking into isn’t one either of you will come out of.”
    “What do you suggest we do?” Cindy asks. “Not like we can escape Farah here.”
    “Better if you die now then have wizards capture you.”
    Cindy makes the sound of a buzzer from a game show. “Wrong answer. Sorry. I don’t do dying. Besides, once these guys realize we have no magic, they’ll let us go.”
    “Unlikely.”
    “Well then, we’ll escape. I’ve dealt with guys like this before, it’s no biggy.”
    I stare at her for a few seconds in horror. “Oh yeah. We’re going to die.”

Chapter Five
     
    “He’s turning,” I say while pointing out the window at the truck. The turn signal flashes and he’s clearly slowing down. “Don’t lose sight of him, remember? Go go go.”
    “Yeah, I see. Shut up.”
    “Well, maybe if you got a little closer...”
    “When you get your license, then you can criticize my driving. Wait, no. You can never criticize my driving, now shut up.”
    I clamp my mouth closed as she takes the turn a little too fast and squeals the tires on driveway. Despite how dark it is out, I can see there’s a house at the end of the road, along with a few old barns that should have fallen down years ago. Weeds and grass have overtaken the field off to the right and trees block in our left. As we get closer to the house, the chipped and faded paint job and electrical wiring not attached to the side of the building tell me no one’s lived here for a long time. At least no one with electricity. Mom would not approve.
    The man in the trench coat climbs out of the truck as Cindy puts the car in park. He pulls our door open and tells us to get out and follow him with a single jerk of his head.
    “Relax,” Cindy says. “Guys like this are all show.”
    I think she’s actually trying to be encouraging, but it’s not helping. All I want to do is run and scream and hide under the covers of my bed. I clutch my necklace as I get out of the car, both to keep Al from being jostled around too much, and for comfort.
    “He said he’s working for someone,” Al says quietly enough I don’t think Cindy hears. “He shouldn’t do anything to you until the other person says so. You should be safe for now.”
    Instantly I feel a little bit calmer. It’s stupid since he’s not telling me everything will be okay, only we might have time. Still, it’s better than anything Cindy said so far.
    We’re led toward one of the barns rather than to the slightly less frightening house as I expected. The wood walls stink of mould, mildew and other smells I don’t recognize and don’t want to think about. Is this where the creature has been living? It seems comfortable as it goes directly to a corner of straw, circles three times and curls up into a ball. I would say it went to sleep right then and there, except the eyes on one of the heads stay open and stare directly at me.
    I shudder and pretend the thing isn’t there.
    As I look around the old barn—at least what I can see in the light of the three lanterns strategically placed around the open space—our captor walks over to a workstation where a bunch of rusted tools and a few waterlogged cardboard boxes rest. He reaches into one of them without seeming to worry at all about it being full of rats or spiders and digs out some rope.
    Something hard and a little bit sharp presses into my hand and I have to force myself not to scream. Cindy makes a face to tell me if I utter a sound, she’ll beat me to a pulp. Although I doubt she can. Then again, she does fight dirty.
    “Why’d you—”
    A punch to my arm later and I shut up, clenching the object in my hand hard to keep myself from punching her back in reflex. Once it’s pressed into my skin, I recognize the shape of her keys. She barely moves her head toward the door, but I get what she means. I still don’t understand why she’s given them to me. She’s never let me look at them before, let