thick-framed glasses, well-groomed facial hair. The lights are bright, and the counter is stocked with all sorts of edibles. Pipes in all colors and designs line the walls.
“Neil, my man!”
“Hey, Henry,” Neil says, and as both of us register that Adrian is there with him—“Hey!”
The Quinlan brothers are holding twin containers of food. Adrian waves us over.
“Our mom doesn’t love that he works here, but she still wants to keep him well fed,” he says by way of explanation. “And I’m dead, so. You guys still alive?”
Neil nods and tells him our plan.
“Sick!” Adrian exclaims. To Adrian’s credit, he doesn’t send any odd looks my way.
“Let me know if you need any help,” Henry says cheerfully, evidently not worried about selling pot to minors.
We browse the edibles and the selection of pipes, many of which look like works of art. There are caramels and cookies and lollipops, pie and gummies and even lip balm.
I am in a pot shop with Neil McNair. What is my life?
“Do you want me to ask if they have pot-laced cream cheese and a big ol’ spoon?” Neil whispers.
“Shut up,” I say around a laugh, though that does sound like it could be good smeared onto a bagel.
Neil taps his fingers on the glass case. “What would you recommend to two people who are relatively new to the world of marijuana?” He could not sound like more of a dork if he tried, oh my God.
“Are you looking for edibles, or something to smoke?”
“Edibles,” I say. Much less conspicuous.
He reaches inside the glass case. “A good starter dose for beginners is five milligrams of THC. These cookies are our best sellers, and we have them in both five- and ten-milligram servings. Chocolate, peanut butter, and mint.”
“What does it feel like?” I ask, not wanting to seem like an amateur. I don’t want to take anything that will make me too much not like myself.
“Relaxing,” Henry says. “It doesn’t completely turn off your brain, but a serving this small, it’ll just mellow you out.”
My ears perk up at that. Maybe that’s what I need to meet Delilah. “That sounds perfect.” We’ll go to the zoo, and then I’ll go to Delilah. I’ll be normal and cool and mellow.
We buy two five-milligram cookies.
Adrian wishes us luck and raises his fist. “Quad life!” This time I’m not quite as embarrassed when Neil says it back.
Outside, Neil bumps my weed cookie with his. “Cheers to questionable choices,” he says before we take a bite.
HOWL STANDINGS
TOP 5
Neil McNair: 11
Rowan Roth: 11
Mara Pompetti: 8
Iris Zhou: 8
Brady Becker: 7
PLAYERS REMAINING: 21
HOWL HISTORY: The shortest game of Howl lasted 3 hours and 27 minutes. The longest game lasted 4 days and 10 hours, causing future game makers to implement the Sunday graduation deadline.
7:34 p.m.
I CAN’T SEE anything. It takes a while for my eyes to adjust, for my other senses to balance me out. It’s warm in the nocturnal exhibit. Darker than dark. Something rustles, something scurries, something hoots. Shapes of trees, maybe a pond, slowly come into focus. This has always been my favorite exhibit, its eerie peacefulness able to turn even the wildest kids calm and reverent.
I’m a little far from peaceful at the moment, since we just barely missed a kill on our way into the zoo. Carolyn Gao was about twenty feet in front of us, exiting the nocturnal house with Iris Zhou.
“Neil!” I hissed, but he didn’t react. I had to poke his arm. There was his freckled arm and unimpressive but still pleasantly surprising bicep again. “Seriously? Carolyn!”
“Carolyn…?”
“Carolyn Gao. Your target?”
“Oh.” He blinked as though waking up, though I doubted the weed had kicked in yet. “Oh. Shit. You’re right.”
Carolyn and Iris turned in the opposite direction, toward the zoo’s exit.
“We don’t have time,” he said, heading for the exhibit, and I reluctantly followed him.
We took a photo at the entrance to the nocturnal house, but instead of a green check mark, the juniors sent back a red X. “We probably have to go inside,” Neil said, which I guess was the whole point of those edibles in the first place. He insisted we’d be fast. That I wouldn’t miss my mystery appointment. He’d better be right.
A bat swoops by my head, and I stop so suddenly that Neil bumps into me.
“Sorry,” he whispers, but I can still sense him right behind me, the tips of his fingers brushing my shoulder as he regains his balance. Not knowing exactly where he is makes my heart jackrabbit in