“You kids know there’s a curfew in Prescott?”
“No, we just got here. We’ve been on a road trip.” I pointed to the Jag. “From New Mexico.” At least the plates backed up the out-of-state claim. “We heard there’s nice camping in the mountains around here.”
The men exchanged looks. Maybe I shouldn’t have added that, not when the White Spar had been so recently devastated.
“You brought a sword?” the sergeant asked. “And a whip.”
“You guys have guns,” Simon pointed out.
Leave it to him to stay silent until he could say something lippy. I would have elbowed him if I wasn’t still holding my hands up.
“The woods are dangerous,” I said. “There are badgers and rattlesnakes and things.”
One of the younger men was squinting at Temi, and I had a feeling she was about to be recognized. I wasn’t sure whether it’d help us or not.
“Should we take them to the police, Sergeant?” someone asked from one of the Humvees.
“I know that kid.” The younger man pointed, not at Temi but at Simon. “He’s the one with the blog.”
Oh, hell.
Other men started nodding and saying, “Oh, them,” to each other. I tried to decide if that tone of voice suggested we wouldn’t be taken to the police or that they were more likely than ever to drop us in Lieutenant Gutierrez’s lap tonight.
The sergeant and the young man who’d identified Simon stepped away and shared a quick conversation of whispers. I caught Temi eyeing her car. At some point, she’d lowered her hands and slipped out her keys. We’d have a much better chance of outrunning soldiers in a Jag than on foot, but someone would get the license number, if they hadn’t already. When she met my eyes, I gave a quick head shake. I wasn’t ready to start a life of fleeing from the law. Chances were it wouldn’t be nearly as glamorous as it was in the movies, and even if I was on the lam in Bolivia, I’d probably still be expected to pay my student loans.
The sergeant returned and waved for his men to stand back. He drew Simon and me aside. Actually, he drew Simon aside, and I tagged along to keep him from sticking his foot in his mouth.
“You see anything out there?” he asked.
I blinked. He wanted intel from us?
“Yup.” Simon started to reach for his phone, but one of the privates with rifles tensed, and he only pointed at his pocket. “If I can get my phone out, I can show you some new pictures.”
The sergeant nodded. “Go ahead.”
“We were over in those rocks.” Simon pulled out the phone, but it didn’t respond when he punched the button. A few drops of water dripped from the corner of the case. “Ugh. Forgot. It fell in too. Damn, I had a couple of blurry ones from when the monster was chasing us into that—” he glanced at me, “—hole.”
Broken phone or not, the sergeant’s eyes were riveted to Simon. “You saw it in the Dells, you said? So far, the people we’ve talked to... nobody’s leads have panned out. But you actually had some pictures up on your site.”
“Yeah, we’ve seen it a couple of times.” Simon stood a little taller. “Today, it was definitely over there, between the rail trail and the lake. It sort of... cornered us for a bit. We hid in the hole until it left, but it might still be out there.”
Or under 50,000 tons of rocks. I wasn’t about to say it though, not if these guys might leave us alone to go investigate.
“Got it,” the sergeant said. “Look, you kids leave this to us. You’re going to get yourselves killed running around out here with—” he frowned at the sword, “—toys. Curfew’s at ten. If we catch you out again, we’ll have to detain you.”
“We understand,” I said as contritely as I could manage and dragged Simon toward the car. He was staring and sputtering at the “toy” comment. Temi took it in stride, merely unlocking the trunk and waving for me to toss our gear, toy included, into it. I was all too happy to set the sword in the back.
My calf had redoubled its throbbing, so I was glad when nobody rushed to claim the shotgun seat. I plopped down, stretching my legs out as far as I could. My foot nudged something, but I didn’t think anything of it.
“Uhm, Temi?” Simon asked. “Wo—would you like m—me to drive? If your leg hurts, I mean.”
“Thank you, but my knee would prefer the greater leg room up here.”
“You could have Del’s seat,” he offered.
“Hey,” I said.
“I’ll drive for now,” Temi said. “But thank you for the offer.” Something about the look she gave me implied she wasn’t sure Simon should be trusted with her car. I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t take the opportunity to break a few speed limits myself, but I thought he’d genuinely wanted to help with her discomfort if he could.