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down on a couch or something, Dr. Freud?”
    Coach grimaced, but didn’t answer.
    I thought about his question for a minute.
    “You know,” I said, finally, “how I feel about it is this: maybe it’s the truth. I never really felt like I belonged with my mom, and she really has never taken to me, so maybe the part about me not really being her kid is true.” I waited for Coach to respond, but he just looked at me.
    “If that’s the case, though, why did she take me in? I sure as hell can’t see her doing it out of the kindness of her heart.”
    “True. In order to make heartfelt decisions, one must first possess a heart,” he said. Then, whispering, he added, “Have you checked her dresser drawers? I hear she keeps the hearts of her ex-boyfriends in there, after she buries the bodies.” We both laughed.
    I continued. “As far as prophecies go …that all sounds a little magical-mystical-bullshistical to me, personally—but what do I know? I mean, just because I’ve never seen a rainbow or a leprechaun doesn’t mean they don’t exist, right? Maybe there’s something to this prophecy thing.”
    Coach grunted, nodding. I continued.
    “The only thing is, I can’t go home and ask her about it. She pretty much threw me out, and whether or not it’s my cosmic destiny to find Gennifer and rescue her from whatever evil has ‘befallen’ her, I don’t think Mom is going to do anything in the meantime. Half the cops in the county are related to Dave, and I’m sure he’s going to get away with whatever he’s planning, unless I can get to her first. I’m not really motivated to do anything for Mom—but I feel like I have no choice. I gotta find Gennifer and bring her home—or bring her somewhere safe, anyway. It’s the only right thing to do. I just wish I had some help, you know? I don’t even know how to get started.”
    “You’ll have help,” Coach said.
    “You?” I asked.
    Coach shuffled his feet, and eyed the sticky floor beneath them, as it made sucking sounds against the soles of his shoes.
    “Not going to make eye contact, sir?”
    Coach glared at me. He took a deep breath, then his face of stone broke open into a shower of laughter. “Yeah, I’m going to help you, kid. I’m going to help you in my own way. I can’t go with you—and I can’t tell you much more than I already have—but rest assured that Gennifer wasn’t the only one in this town who was given a Protector. I know something you don’t—and I’ve probably already told you more than I should. But, yeah, I’ll do what I can.”
    My head was spinning. I wanted to ask him what the hell he was talking about, if he knew about the prophecy, was I having a nervous breakdown or had I been drugged, or had my mother really been for real when she was talking about prophecies and magic and all that crap?
    My face must have told him all the questions that were racing inside me, trying to get out. “No, now, don’t!” he said. “Don’t ask me another question.” He lit a cigarette, and sighed as he exhaled. “I never thought I’d take such a shine to you, kid. Not my job, you know? But …” He shrugged his shoulders and took another drag on his cigarette, exhaling huge smoke rings that twisted and snaked through one another in a peculiar way.
    He smiled, and I momentarily thought I saw tusks protruding from his lower jaw. “What can I say?” He laughed. “You’re something special. Fuck it all if you’re not.” He took one amazingly long drag on his cig, then put it out on the floor, crushing it with his boot.
    “And now, if I were you, I’d get out there and do what I had to do—trust your instincts. You won’t be alone.”
    “Right,” I said. The whole scene was surreal. I’d been incredibly happy, tense, confused, sad—over the past 24 hours, everything in my boring backwoods life had changed, and I’d have been relieved to learn at that point that I was truly losing my mind, because at least that would