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laughed.

"He's right. Two minutes. Well?"

"I think we'll take another route," I said. "Too late. You're on this one," Duke insisted.

He reached for Raven's hair again and she pushed his

hand away.

"We'll tell the police about this if you don't

leave us alone," Crystal threatened.

"You know," Duke said, twisting his mouth

until it curled in the right corner, "somehow, I don't

think you will. Am I right, four-eyes?"

"No, you're all dead wrong about everything," I

said and dropped my foot on the accelerator. The wagon shot forward, the opened door

swinging back on Duke and jarring him so that he fell

to the side. The one in front just got his foot off the bumper in time, but that threw him off balance and he fell. The wagon slammed into the bikes parked in front of us, one flying to the left, the other to the right.

I felt the tires go over it.

The cyclists shouted curses at us. Raven shut

the door and I backed up. Paulio turned his bike

toward us, but I put the wagon in drive and headed for

him and he had to speed up to get out of my way. He

practically flew off the road and into the ditch,

somersaulting head over heels in midair I didn't wait

to see what happened. We bounced over the bumps

and potholes so hard, our heads nearly hit the car roof.

As soon as I saw the highway, I sped up. In minutes

the side road was behind us.

"Don't go too fast, Brooke," Crystal warned. I

slowed down quickly.

Butterfly was crying. Raven looked stunned. I

kept my eyes on the road, numbed by our escape.

Crystal was watching out the rear window.