The Last Chance for Logan County by Lamar Giles

Author:Lamar Giles
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358423089
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2021-10-19T00:00:00+00:00

The GOO employees shouted something. The mesmerized county folks became unstuck and shuffled forward, Mr. Rickard in the lead, all of their mouths stretched in silent O’s.

Sheed said the terrifying thing they’d all been thinking in some form or another, if not in his exact words, then close enough: “Money Zombies.”

18

More Money, More Problems

“Bernard,” Sheed said, “wish them away.”

“That would be a bad idea.”

“Why? You did it to the Heads of GOO.”

“Nyarlathotep isn’t human. Very low chance of hurting it. If I wish those poor people away, they could very well blink from existence. Or be turned inside out. Or—”

“You said wishes didn’t turn bad when you made them!”

“I said they didn’t turn bad for me. Slight difference.”

“Girls!” Cinda said. “Is there another way to get you home?”

She whipped the car around with the Money Zombies a few yards from the bumper, gunned the engine, and rocketed them back into the heart of Logan County, away from the living roadblock. So fast that everyone in the car bounced like Ping-Pong balls; thank goodness for those seat belts.

Wiki, her fingernails digging into the supple leather upholstery, said, “No, ma’am. That was the best way.”

“Shoot,” said Cinda. “Maybe we can take this thing off-road and just cross one of these fields to get around those, those . . .”

“Money Zombies.” Sheed reminded her.

Otto had something unpleasant on his mind. Something that had to be said. “What if they’re already at the Ellisons’?”

Wiki’s head whipped toward him. Leen finally stopped eating.

Solo gave the Ellisons his ThunklePhone. “Here, call your people.”

The girls shook their heads. Wiki said, “We’d rather not.”

Leen said, “We’re not actually supposed to be out after dark.”

Grandma sucked her teeth and mumbled, “The children in this county, I tell you . . .”

Leen snaked a hand into Wiki’s bag, retrieved the same gauntlet she’d used to operate her homemade hi-tech goggles in class earlier. She tapped various buttons along the length of the device, generating a series of chiming responses. A robotic confirmation sounded. “Monitoring activated.”

“What did you just do?” Sheed asked.

“Because cases sometimes require us to be outside of our house when we’re supposed to be inside of our house, a while back I built synthetic decoys. Our parents and Uncle Percy spend most evenings binge watching stuff on ThunkleFlix, so they’re usually satisfied if they catch a glimpse of us from time to time. The decoys will walk past a doorway just as they’re looking away. They’ll make loud footsteps on the floor above them. Sometimes they’ll sing off-key. Stuff that makes them believe we’re right where we’re supposed to be. It’s all good.”

“Okay,” Solo said, “I have a lot of questions, but the most pressing is what’s that got to do with us seeing if they’re all right?”

Leen tugged her goggles over her eyes. “In Monitor Mode I can see through my decoy’s eyes and check on them that way. No phone call necessary.” She bobbed her head, seeing things through her goggles no one else in the car could, while singing a nonsensical, “Doo-doo-doo-DOO-DOO-do-do.

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