sirens. From the sound of them, they were converging on Walnut Street. I also thought I spotted Aleric once, out of the corner of my eye, lurking in an alley on the other side of the street, but when I turned my head to look, he was gone. Assuming he’d ever been there.
I can’t tell you how relieved I was when I closed and locked the front door behind me. I had no particular reason to assume I was safe indoors, except that every bizarre thing that had happened had happened outdoors.
Piper was shaking and glassy eyed, her face made even more ghostly white by her stark new dye job.
“Should I, uh, get you a drink or something?” I asked. I couldn’t blame her for being freaked out, but she was beginning to worry me.
Piper blinked and shook her head. A hint of intelligence returned to her eyes. “What was that thing?” she whispered.
“Have you seen anything else strange at night lately?” I asked, because I couldn’t answer her question. Maybe I was having an easier time accepting what I’d seen because of my previous experiences. My pulse had calmed, and though thinking about the pothole and its teeth made it pick up again, I wasn’t anywhere near panic. Hadn’t been even when we’d been in the car. I wondered if I was storing it all up for a nervous breakdown somewhere down the line.
“What do you mean?”
“You know. Strange. Things you can’t explain. Things that seem to be impossible. Like a moving pothole with teeth. That kind of strange.”
She opened and closed her mouth a few times as if struggling for words. You know Piper’s in bad shape when she can’t find words.
“Never mind,” I said as gently as I could. “Why don’t you just sit down for a bit. You’re safe here.”
Piper nodded and plopped down on the sofa. Bob, who seemed to have mellowed out while we were gone, walked over to her and nosed her hand, begging for a pet. Or maybe he just had that uncanny dog sense that told him she was upset and needed a little furry companionship. She stroked his head idly, and a hint of color finally came back to her face.
I suppose technically I was still mad at her, but I had no trouble putting that anger on the back burner. She looked so frightened and vulnerable right now. I wanted to comfort her, to tell her everything was going to be all right, but it was hard to say when I had such doubts of my own. I didn’t know what was happening out there in the city, but it sure seemed to me it was getting worse instead of better.
I checked the photo I’d taken on my cell phone, wondering if I’d captured the toothy pothole any better than I’d captured the phallic symbol. I wasn’t surprised when my photo showed a picture of a car with its front end smashed and broken sitting in a perfectly ordinary pothole. One with no teeth, and that was clearly not big enough to have caused the kind of damage the car had sustained.
I showed Piper the photo, then told her about my other adventures in photography. Which of course meant mentioning that I’d spent some time with Luke the night before. I thought the idea might spark a hint of jealousy or resentment in her, but instead she just looked guilty.
“I’ve been treating him like shit lately,” she admitted. Her shoulders slumped, and she seemed to have lost the self-assurance that I had always figured was part of her basic nature. “And I’ve been a sucky friend to you, too. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I’ve just been feeling so … frustrated. Like I can’t make a single move without it being governed by rules. Go to school every day. Wear a uniform. Don’t drink alcohol until you’re twenty-one. Don’t try drugs ever.” She sighed hugely. “I know we need rules and all, but do we really need so many stupid ones?”
If she expected me to feel sorry for her, she was in for a disappointment. As far as I could tell, her parents let her get away with just about anything she wanted to, and hello, everyone has to live with things like going to school and drug laws. Did she think she deserved some special exemption?
I didn’t put any of these thoughts into words. A rant wasn’t going to help anything.
“Do you want to call Luke