Dead Ends by Erin Jade Lange

Author:Erin Jade Lange
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2013-08-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

“In the place with no shoes …”

“Socks?”

“You ever heard of a town called Socks?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Nah,” Billy admitted.

We were breaking down the final clue piece by piece on the way home from Seely’s. We’d spent all of Saturday night and most of Sunday in her garage, tossing around ideas. Well, Seely and Billy tossed the ideas. I mostly soaked up the smells of gasoline and sawdust. The garage was fast becoming my favorite place—a place for a “guy’s guy” with Seely as scenery.

“What kind of place has no shoes?” I kicked a beer can off the sidewalk into the street.

It was by far the hardest riddle yet.

Billy lifted his shoulders. “Don’t know.”

“It’s neither city nor town,” I recited from memory. “That’s pretty obvious. It’s gotta be one of your invisible places not named on the map.”

Billy nodded in agreement.

“Your favorite and mine, plus what’s paired with a frown.” I looked at Billy. “What favorites do you and your dad have in common?”

Billy ticked off items on his fingers. “Chocolate ice cream, cowboy movies—” His list cut off abruptly as something stopped him in his tracks—literally.

“What’s up?” I asked.

Billy didn’t answer, but he raised one shaky finger to point ahead of us and to the right, across the street. I followed the line and saw the bus we sometimes rode home. It was parked at our stop, a good block away.

“That’s all right. We’ll just walk,” I said.

Billy shook his head.

What was with the mute act?

Then I saw it, as the bus pulled away—what he was really pointing at.

A group of guys—three of them—moving toward the bus stop from the opposite direction. One of them hopped right in front of the bus, forcing the driver to slam on the brakes, then hopped back up onto the curb, laughing hysterically.

What a jackass.

“So?” I said, turning back to Billy.

But Billy was gone. I spun in a full circle. “Billy?”

“Shh.” The whisper came from the other side of a low stone wall on my left.

I peered over the top and saw him crouched on the ground, pressed tight against the wall.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing?”

“Shh!” Billy commanded again, more fiercely this time. He motioned for me to join him.

I felt stupid climbing over the wall, but not as stupid as I did standing on the sidewalk looking like I was talking to myself.

“Billy, what is this?” I asked once I was hunched down beside him.

He put one finger on his lips and pointed another over the wall, indicating the troop of guys down the street.

“Yeah, what about them?”

I recognized the guys—seniors, all of them, but not too tough. I’d seen them in detention a few times and behind the Dairy Queen smoking pot after school. I couldn’t figure out why Billy seemed so scared of …

Oh.

“That’s them, huh?” I whispered.

Billy nodded, his finger still glued to his lips.

I peeked over the wall and sized the guys up. They were bigger than Billy but not that rough. I doubted they’d ever been in a real fight.

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