Page 25

*joyride*

“T HERE HE IS!” J ACKSON SAID, pointing at the windshield as we approached an intersection where the hamburger truck was stopped at a red light. “Come on.”

He opened the door when we came to a stop and leaped from Auntie Bev’s car, grabbing my hand and pulling me out behind him. I followed him as we ran up to the hamburger truck, and when we reached the back, Jackson pulled open the door and said, “Get in!”

We stepped into the food truck, slamming the door behind us as it started moving again.

“Are we sure about this?” I asked in a panic.

“It’s our only option,” he said.

My heart was pounding in my chest as a sudden turn of the truck sent us stumbling. My hands flailed as I searched for something to grab onto.

“Here,” Jackson said as he reached out and gripped the counter with both hands, steadying himself.

I grabbed onto the stool that was mounted to the floor in front of the center island, and even though the truck seemed to be picking up speed, we were both able to catch our balance.

I didn’t want to panic, but it felt like the truck was going faster and faster. Too fast. It was hard to hold on as the vehicle flew down the road, bumping like an airplane about to take off, almost as if it were trying to pick up as much speed as possible so it could lift off the ground.

“This is too fast, right?” I said, my voice loud with panic. “He’s going way too fast!”

I knew that if I let go of that stool, I’d go flying into the stainless steel surfaces that spanned the mobile kitchen.

I glanced at Jackson, and he had the same scared look on his face as when he’d nearly fallen into the massive hole.

“We need to sit,” he said urgently, “because if it goes any faster, we won’t be able to hold on.”

I watched as he slowly moved toward the floor, always keeping his hands firmly wrapped around something. When he was finally seated, he wrapped both arms around the stool across from mine.

“Now you,” he said.

“I don’t know if I should—”

“Go!” He gestured with his chin toward the floor as the truck started shimmying, like it was going too fast for its wheels and would explode into a million pieces. “Hurry!”

I did the same thing as him, moving to a sit while carefully going one hand at a time, never letting go of a solid, one-handed grip.

“It feels like a rocket taking off!” he said, yelling, because that was the only way to be heard now that the hamburger truck was trying to break the land speed record.

Right when he said that, the motor went completely silent.

The truck was still driving, but suddenly it was at a smooth speed, without a single bump, and it was quiet as if we were floating through the sky instead of flying over the road.

“What is this ?” Jackson muttered, glancing toward the windows that were too high and too far back for us to see out of.

I followed his gaze, and even though we couldn’t see out the windows, we could definitely see the bright light coming in. It was like the sun was amplified, shining brighter than it’d ever shone, and shafts of blinding yellow sunshine were streaming into the truck.

The gorgeous sunlight terrified me.

Because it was nighttime. How was it sunny?

It had to be lamps of some sort, but it really, really, really looked like sunlight.

I wasn’t sure why, but it accentuated the awareness that everything was very wrong.

The sun shouldn’t be that bright, the world shouldn’t be that quiet.

What was happening?

And then I felt brakes.

There was a loud squeaking sound as the truck started slowing down.

“Thank goodness,” I whispered, scared of where we were but relieved we’d no longer be in a speeding hamburger wagon. All I wanted was to step outside and stand on solid ground.

“Okay, if he opens the back doors, I say we act all happy, like thank you so much , and hug him, as if we were so scared and are grateful that he’s rescuing us.”

“O-kay,” I said, my heart racing as the truck slowed even more.

“And if he doesn’t, and we hear him walk away, we quickly and quietly get out of this thing and figure out what’s going on.”

“Got it,” I whispered the second the truck came to a complete stop.

“It’ll be fine,” Jackson said, giving me a serious look as he stood to his feet. “I promise.”

There he was again, making me feel better simply by being there. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at him, because sometimes the way I liked him felt like more . Not like a crush, but like we had something that wasn’t a thousand percent a normal friendship.

Okay, maybe a little bit like a crush.

I swallowed and nodded, because now was not the time to get emo about Jackson Matthews. “It will .”

Jackson held out a hand and pulled me to my feet, and we stepped closer to the back doors. I felt it when Hamburger Man slammed the front door, and then we waited for what came next.