Reunited by Hilary Weisman Graham Page A

herself, that makes me feel so much better. As if the nasty prison tattoo wasn’t bad enough, it wasnow obvious to everyone that the man was certifiably insane.
    Summer was in the midst of trying to figure out if it were possible to lean over, open the passenger’s side door, and push Michael out of the van while it was still moving when the swimming hole came into view.
    “Look!” Summer shouted, even though they were all within three feet of each other. “There it is!”
    A wave of relief flooded through her body as she noticed the silhouettes of at least a dozen other cars parked along the road, and further on down the hill the glimmer of their headlights in the water. Summer had no clue where they were, but in all of her life, she couldn’t recall a moment she’d been happier to arrive at a place that she’d never wanted to be.
     

 
    “TIME, TRAVEL”
    WE WENT TO ANCIENT ROME AND 3018
    IN MY BROKEN TIME MACHINE.
    THE LANDSCAPE CHANGES
    BUT THE PAST STAYS THE PAST
    THE FUTURE’S MECHANICS
    SAY MY PROBLEMS WON’T LAST.
    BUT I KNOW MY TIME MACHINE IS BROKEN
    ’CAUSE I SEEM TO BE STUCK IN RIGHT NOW.
    —from Level3’s second CD, Rough & Tumble

Chapter Nine
     
    ALICE JAMMED ON THE BRAKES, FLUNG OPEN HER DOOR, AND leaped out of the Pea Pod, landing smack in the middle of a pricker bush. Compared to the heart attack she’d been having for the past ten minutes, a few minor scrapes were nothing. Her brain screamed directions at her body like it was shouting through a megaphone: Keep moving forward. Get away from the archangel. There’s nothing to see here, people. Just go! Go! Go!
    How had she let this happen? How had she ended up in Lord Knows Where, West Virginia, with a man who at best was a known criminal, and at worst—well, she didn’t want to go there.
    She took off down the hill after Summer, Tiernan, Toad, and Phred—all of whom had bolted from the van before it was even in park. Gee, guys, thanks for waiting up. But Alice was too scared to bother staying mad. She just wanted to get to the swimming hole. Alive .
    “It’s only me,” Alice whispered, the sound of her footsteps joining Summer’s and Tiernan’s in the darkness. She could just make out Toad’s and Phred’s bodies running away in the shadows ahead.
    “Hurry up,” Summer hissed.
    “No need to rush!” Michael’s voice made Alice jump. “That swimming hole ain’t goin’ nowhere.” From the sound of it, Michael wasn’t right behind them, but he was getting close.
    “We’ll meet you there!” Summer called back. She sounded polite, even cheerful. It was a strange gift she had—making everything seem fine no matter how un-fine things actually were.
    Without a word, all three of them quickened their stride, entering a dark, thickly wooded area where the treetops blocked all the moonlight.
    “Shoot!” Alice cried out, stumbling over something on the trail—a rock or a root. Prince of Light. What they needed was a Prince of Flashlight. That, and an exit strategy.
    “Here’s my plan,” she whispered. “I say we go down to the swimming hole, grab Toad and Phred, then, when Michael’s not looking, the five of us hop in the Pea Pod and cruise on out of here.”
    “I’m down with that,” Tiernan agreed.
    Summer was about to answer when Michael’s voice leaped out of the darkness. “Last one in’s a rotten egg!”
    Alice didn’t turn to look, but she could feel Michael gaining on them—his towering frame looming behind her, those stringy, muscular arms of his swinging apelike at his side. The guy gave off so much crazy energy, Alice wouldn’t be surprised to hear a sizzle when he touched the water.
    “Darn it.” Tiernan slowed her pace as she spoke. “We forgotour bathing suits. We’re just gonna run back and get—”
    But there was no point in finishing her sentence. The swimming hole emerged out of the darkness like a silvery oasis. And from the looks of things, the only suit you needed to wear here was the one