Light as a Feather, Silent as the Grave

Chapter 22

"Armored vehicle? Car crash? Security guards? Maybe she wants us to be wary of security guards."

I was grasping at straws to make sense of what we'd just witnessed. It was plainly obvious that Jennie-or something pretending to be Jennie-had wanted us to extract some kind of meaning from the accident we'd just witnessed involving the armored truck. It was mid-morning and we were wandering. It seemed we'd done an excellent job of stranding ourselves in a part of Arkansas without any public transportation. The train, the most dangerous way by which we might reach another town to purchase a phone charger or identify some other method of travel to Los Angeles, was looking like our only option.

Trey took a long drag off one of his stolen cigarettes. "Maybe I'm being a simpleton, here, but it seems like she just wanted us to notice all that money. I mean, it was a big explosion of money. Money in the air, money on the ground."

Money seemed a little too obvious of a clue. If Trey was correct, then there were at least ten different ways in which money was of serious importance to us. The first was the most urgent; we were never going to get ourselves to Southern California by Saturday without a serious influx of cash. Then, even if we managed to somehow reach Los Angeles and failed to convince Mischa to conspire with us, we'd need money (and lots of it) to make anything out of what remained of our lives. And of course, we couldn't rule out the possibility that lifting the curse had something to do with money. Either the money that Violet incomprehensibly wanted Trey to inherit, or the money that his mother might have considered rightfully his.

The map had indicated that the high school in this small town was less than three miles away from where we'd started out that morning, when we woke up stiff-necked and still tired in the lobby of the bank. Two and a half miles hadn't seemed like such a long distance when we'd made the decision to head in that direction, but my feet already ached. I followed in Trey's footsteps along the same rural highway that had delivered us to this town as the clouds parted and sun boosted the temperature to the warmest it had been in weeks. It had already crossed my mind that this town was old-fashioned enough to employ a truant officer for the purpose of rounding up teenagers roaming around without supervision on a weekday.

I tested out Trey's theory. "Okay, so, money. Would you say that was a hint that we should pursue money, or avoid it? Because I personally have no idea."

Trey shrugged and without turning, he muttered over his shoulder, "How should I know? You're the one who talks to ghosts. Not me."

Three red brick buildings came into view, and we both slowed to a stop. If that was Gurdon's high school, then the town was even smaller than Weeping Willow. "Do you think that's it?" I asked.

"That looks like a track and a football field."

Closer to the buildings, a sign appeared along the side of the road with the high school's name and mascot on it. "Am I weird for being freaked out that their mascot is a devil?" Trey asked.

The high school seemed oddly serene for a weekday morning. Despite its small size, Weeping Willow High always seemed to be stirring with activity from the street. There were always students with hateful frowns on their faces running laps outside, students lingering outside the Driver's Ed garage, and students wistfully staring out windows. But this high school practically seemed abandoned. It was almost eerie. Throughout our entire walk, I'd been imagining that the high school would be enormous and bustling with activity so that our presence would have gone unnoticed. I'd even dared to imagine that we'd be able to slip into the school's locker rooms for quick hot showers. Now that we'd arrived, that wish seemed laughable.

"What do you think?" I asked. "Should we check it out?"

Trey seemed humored that I was the one suggesting that we venture closer to a place that might very well turn out to be dangerous. "Maybe catch a Calculus class while we're in town?" he joked.