Rafe tilted his head forward so Emilie could look, and that was the exact moment Jeremy slapped the back of his neck.
“Ah, I’m driving, asshole.”
“That was for punching me.”
“Are we there yet?” Emilie said from the back.
It felt like a party in the car. A celebration. They couldn’t get to the Crow fast enough. He felt the slightest tug in his stomach like a rope was tied around it and someone somewhere was pulling the rope. The closer he got to the park, the harder the pull. There was no turning back now for any of them.
Finally, Rafe pulled into the Red Crow State Forest parking lot. When he turned off the engine, the gravity of what they were doing seemed to hit everyone at once.
“Guess we’re here,” Emilie said quietly.
“Now what?” Rafe asked Jeremy.
“First, no phones.” Jeremy held up his iPhone before tossing it in the glove compartment. He held out his hand to take theirs.
“What? Why?” Emilie asked. “There’s stuff on there I wanted to show my sister.”
“Tough. No phones. The Nokia is all we’re going to take. You both will thank me later.”
Rafe gave his up without a fight. He was done fighting.
“Come on, Princess.” Jeremy wagged his fingers at her, motioning for her to hand it over.
“I have pictures of my mom on my phone,” she said as she reluctantly gave it to him.
“Sorry,” he said. “But safety first.” He slammed the glove box closed and got out of the car. Rafe took a breath, then got out after him and opened the door for Emilie.
“Okay, anybody watching?” Jeremy asked as he opened the back hatch.
Emilie wrapped her arms tight around her middle like she was trying to hold herself steady.
“I don’t see anybody,” she said.
Rafe didn’t either. They were alone. Jeremy took out a bag and unzipped it. A long black bag that Rafe assumed held a tent or something. It didn’t. It contained a short sword.
“I’ll explain later,” Jeremy said as he strapped on a scabbard or whatever it was called and sheathed his sword.
“I thought you were joking about the sword fighting,” she said. “People don’t sword-fight. Who sword-fights?”
“I do,” Jeremy said.
Strangely, Jeremy looked right with a sword. And Rafe was glad he had one. He got out his bow and his quiver and slung them across his back.
“Got your knife?” Rafe asked Emilie. She took it out of her pocket and held it up. “It goes on your waist. Got a belt?” She didn’t, so Jeremy dug one of his out of his overnight bag and stabbed a hole through the leather to fit her smaller waist. She held up her shirt while Rafe fastened the knife to the belt and strapped the belt around her waist.
“Tight enough?” Rafe asked.
“Perfect,” she said. For some reason, Jeremy was watching this exchange intently, almost smiling.
“What?” Rafe asked him. “What’s wrong?”
“Déjà vu,” Jeremy said. “Ignore me. We better go.”
A few drops of rain fell.
“It’s going to start raining,” Emilie said. “That going to be a problem?”
Jeremy shook his head. “No. We ready?”
A story came back to Rafe, an old story he’d heard in church as a kid. The story went like this: A town suffered a terrible drought. The drought grew so bad that the church pastor called for everyone to come together to pray for rain. No one came. No one believed. Then he saw a girl walking up the church stairs carrying an umbrella.
The girl had an umbrella because she knew it would rain.
And Jeremy had a sword.
You don’t bring a sword into a park unless you think you will need a sword. And if Jeremy thought he needed his sword in the Crow, either he was crazy or…
Something was out there.
“Rafe?” Jeremy’s voice broke through his trance.
“What?” Rafe asked.
“You all right?”
He wasn’t. He absolutely was not all right. Something stirred in his blood. He looked around him, saw the peaks and slopes of the forest hills, deep and dark. When he was a little kid, those hills had fascinated him, frightened him. He’d gotten into his head those rolling hills were sleeping giants covered in thick green animal pelts, giants who’d wake one day and take the world back for themselves. He’d outgrown his fear of them, of course. Now it was back.
