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They were all four waiting for her when she got out
Summer said, "Where’ve you been?"
Audrey said, "Did you-"
Jenny nodded over Summer’s head Audrey hiked up a copper eyebrow
"Just a little unscheduled detour," Jenny murmured to Dee and Michael She said to Su’s okay"
Suround "I don’t like people disappearing," she said
"Aw, honey, it’s gonna be all right," Michael said and patted her aardly "We told her where we are and sort of basically what’s going on," he said to Jenny
Jenny’s buoyancy at finding Suone; the effervescence had fizzled out of her blood Julian was going to do so nasty-but what could be worse than what he’d already done? Since she’d known Julian, he’d chased her with UFOs, dark
elves, and giant insects-not to mention a Shadow Wolf and Snake He’d lurked in the shadows of her rooes at her in the dark He’d caught her in a cave-in, left her alone to drown, and menaced her with a cyber-lion He’d kidnapped her and hunted her throughout torlds What could he do to top all that?
"Where do we go next?" Audrey said
They looked around Nothing in the immediate vicinity was lit up The park was completely dark and dead silent around them
"Here, hold this," Dee said to Jenny
Jenny took the flashlight and said, "Oh, be careful " Dee was shinning up one of the old-fashioned green-painted lahthouse on the island," she said at the top with one long leg hooked over the crosspiece which supported a lantern "And there’re a lot of trees everywhereThe Ferris wheel looks cool, it’s sort of rising out of the out of clouds"
"Is it lit up?"
"The only thing that’s lit is so heel and some boats shaped like swans"
"The Tunnel of Love," Jenny said
Dee cauiding them It was another ride she’d loved as a kid-not because it had anything to do with love, but because it was dark, and cool, and she’d loved the swan boats Now, the thought of going into that tunnel ell, it was better not to think about it
They were skirting the lake when they saw the shape a the trees
"It’s a critter!" Michael said "Only a big one!"
The flashlight beaht it briefly, even as it limpse of reddish skin like tanned leather
"It’s got a head, so it can’t be PC or Slug," Audrey said
"Who or who?" asked Summer
"Never mind We’d better just watch out for it," Jenny said, and they did, keeping their backs to the water and watching the trees
I should have asked Julian about theht Aloud, she said, "What are they, d’you think? And how co around loose?"
"Other people the Shadow Men have caught," said Dee
"Pets," said Michael
"Or ri had been, Jenny felt an instinctive horror and revulsion for it, just as she’d felt for the little gray one that had looked like a withered fetus
Summer didn’t join the conversation at all She just hurried lightly along, one hand gripping Jenny’s sleeve, staring at everything they passed She was like a large blue butterfly skiroup, Jenny thought-Sue jacket, Audrey with her arDee’s flashlight Michael was carrying his own flashlight, while Dee carried Audrey’s pick The other weapons had all gotten lost along the way
Jenny noticed that Dee kept her distance froht with Dee She was too quiet, too un-exuberant Sure they were in danger, but Dee loved danger, she got up and ate it for breakfast, breathed it, went looking for it whenever she could Dee should be enjoying this
Jenny edged closer and said softly, "You know, Audrey didn’tby that-when she said not to put your hand in the M&M’s ed "I know" She went on looking straight ahead
"Really she didn’t She’s just like ood"
"Sure I know"
Jenny gave up
They passed a food stand just before they got to the Tunnel of Love Jenny had an urge to break in-even a cold hot dog would be good right now, even a bun-but she didn’t say anything They had two gold coins They were so close They couldn’t stop for anything now
Blue and red and purple lights shone on the heel in front of the Tunnel of Love There was a rustic old n on the tunnel In the afternoon, in the real park, the sign had read: tunnel of love Now it read: tunnel of love and d-
The last as obscured by clusters of ivy "I can’t read it," Jenny said
"Death, probably As in ’Love and death are the only two things that really matter’ N’est-ce pas?" Audrey said
"Oh, spiffy," said Michael Surip on Jenny’s sleeve
A swan boat aiting at the loading dock, its white wings arched gracefully by its sides, its neck a supple curve Beads of water glistened on the plastic Jenny didn’t want to get into it
If that head turns around -
But they didn’t have any choice This was obviously the right place, awake and waiting for theet on the ride
"Come on, people," she said
The boat tilted as they got in-Jenny and Dee on the front seat with Summer between them, Audrey and Michael in the back They sat on wooden boards As soon as they were all in, the swan began tolike a face this afternoon?" Michael said as they approached the tunnel
Jenny hadn’t The fiberglass rock did look like a face noith crags and shadows for mouth was the tunnel itself
Inside, it was dank and dark, with a musty smell And quiet That afternoon there had been the sounds of people talking, the occasional echoing laugh Now all Jenny could hear was the quiet lapping of water around the boat
She was still holding the flashlight Dee had given her and she trained it on the water, the walls, the
swan’s head All unexciting The water was dark green and murky, the walls were da put
"Where’s the stuff-the scenes and everything?" Michael whispered It was a whispering kind of place
"I don’t know," Jenny said, just as softly That afternoon there had been illu cards and painting dinosaurs on the cave walls Now there was nothing The swan boat went on gliding smoothly into darkness
That hen Jenny noticed so dimmer
"Hey," she said and turned it toward her Orange The white bealow
She banged it on the swan’s neck and ily loud sound, and the light got even dimmer
"Oh, crile of metal as he shook it
"We should have kept just one on, to save the batteries," Dee ot I’m stupid"
Even in the midst of her worry Jenny was shocked at this Dee didn’t talk that way "Look, Dee, if anybody should have thought of it-"
"There it goes," Michael said There was now co the switch of her flashlight and screwing and unscrewing the top but it didn’t e bulb When she shook it, it went out altogether
"Spiffy, spiffy, spiffy," Michael said
Audrey said sharply, "Does anybody feel like we’re slowing down?"
It was hard to tell in the dark Jenny was thoroughly sick of darkness-it seeht be coht Audrey could be right The lapping water was quieter The onlyof the boat from side to side
There was a quiet splash "We’re not et your hand out of the water!"
Deeinaudible, but Jenny heard the drip as she took her hand out
"I don’t like this," Summer said
Jenny didn’t, either-and she especially didn’t like the thought of getting out of the boat and sloshing around trying to find their way
"So we’re stranded," she murmured Everyone else was very still and tense
Wondering what’s co at us, and from which direction
She could think of lots of things, all of the while they just sat there, the swan boat rocking gently in the darkness
"Just don’t ih her teeth fro not to," Michael answered defensively
But of course it was i not to think of a pink elephant The harder Jenny tried not to ies crowded into her ht for her attention
"I can’t take this anymore," Summer breathed
Dee exhaled sharply "No Look, I’ht
It started as a fuzzy blue patch in Jenny’s peripheral vision, and brightened when she turned to look at it Like a spotlight in sohts went on, one red, one purple The colors of the floodlights outside-and the colors of the stained-glass laht The place where she’d first seen Julian
"It all comes down to this, doesn’t it?" Julian’s voice said
He htsa T-shirt with rolled-up sleeves, a black vest, and neat black boots There was sole around his upper arht find wandering the bad parts of town at night Soe behind his blue eyes
Summer took one look at him and crouched behind Dee