Dead Lands by Jordan Weisman

Author:Jordan Weisman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2011-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

21

Yanking his hand back, Nathan glanced in the car window again. In the reflection, the yellow dog sat on its haunches and stared up at Nathan. Its tail thumped the ground enthusiastically. Nathan heard the sound of the impacts, but the tail didn’t even bend the grass.

A ghost dog? Now I’m seeing ghost dogs?

Concern dawned in him as he realized that he might start seeing all kinds of ghost animals too. His world was already more crowded than most people’s. He couldn’t imagine fitting in a host of ghost creatures as well. They’d be everywhere. He had images of a ghostly zoo plodding around after him wherever he went.

He stared into the car window and shifted back and forth, trying desperately to see if there were any other animals lurking nearby. He only saw the yellow Lab . . . and Jenny Schmidt.

Jenny was a grade ahead of him in school, not one of Alyssa’s crowd because she was a slacker and a rumor monger. Pink and purple streaks tinted her long blond hair. She wore hip-hugger jeans and a too-big Grateful Dead T-shirt that had probably been her dad’s.

“Dude, are you trying to break into that car?” Jenny peered at him in puzzled fascination. “Right out in the open? Are you a total dork?”

Nathan spun quickly, and then wondered if the dog was going to go for his throat. He ducked into a crouch and held his arm up in front of his face.

Snorting with laughter, Jenny shook her head. “Too late, dweeb. I know you. You’re Alyssa Richards’s lame cousin.”

“Yeah.” Cautiously, Nathan straightened up. He knew the dog wasn’t gone because he could still feel it sitting nearby. “I wasn’t trying to break into the car. I was . . . I was checking my hair.” He ran his fingers through his hair to pull loose strands from his forehead.

Jenny studied his hair and shook her head. “Personally, I don’t think you can do anything that will help, dude. When it comes to great hair, you’re pretty much stifled.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

A Volkswagen chirped its horn out on the street as it rolled to a stop at the curb.

“That’s my ride.” Jenny shifted her backpack. “They got room if you want.”

“That’s okay, but thanks.”

With a shrug, Jenny headed for the waiting car. “Your choice, but if you don’t hurry, you’re gonna be late.”

Nathan stood there because he didn’t know what the dog would do if he tried to leave. After the Volkswagen steered back into the street, he pulled out his iPhone and checked the surface for the dog’s reflection.

The dog had laid down. Her pink tongue lolled out as if she hadn’t a care in the world. She watched a cat cross the street only a short distance away, but showed no inclination to give chase.

Feeling a little more secure, Nathan shifted into the frequencies, just one step away from his home frequency, and he could see the dog for himself instead of having to check for a reflection.

“Hey, girl.

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