but she saw him.
“Matt…get…your own seat! Quick! Bonnie, I know you can.”
Matt dug and tore into the branches, then groped for the handle that would collapse the backrest of his seat. The handle wouldn’t move. Thin, tough tendrils were wrapped around it, springy and hard to break. He twisted and snapped them savagely.
His seatback dropped away. He ducked under the huge arm-branch—if it still deserved the name, since the car was full of similar huge branches now. Then, just as he reached to help Meredith, her seat abruptly folded back, too.
She fell with it, away from the evergreen, gasping for air. For an instant she just lay still. Then she finished scrambling into the backseat proper, dragging a needle-shrouded figure with her. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse and her speech was still slow.
“Matt. Bless you…for having…this jigsaw puzzle…of a car.” She kicked the front seat back into position, and Matt did likewise.
“Bonnie,” Matt said numbly.
Bonnie didn’t move. Many tiny branches were still entwining her, caught in the fabric of her shirt, wound into her hair.
Meredith and Matt both started pulling. Where the branches let go, they left welts or tiny puncture wounds.
“It’s almost as if they were trying to grow into her,” Matt said, as a long, thin branch pulled away, leaving bloody pinpricks behind.
“Bonnie?” Meredith said. She was the one disentangling the twigs from Bonnie’s hair. “Bonnie? Come on, up. Look at me.”
The shaking began again in Bonnie’s body, but she let Meredith turn her face up. “I didn’t think I could do it.”
“You saved my life.”
“I was so scared….”
Bonnie went on crying quietly against Meredith’s shoulder.
Matt looked at Meredith just as the map light flickered and went out. The last thing he saw was her dark eyes, which held an expression that made him suddenly feel even sicker to his stomach. He looked out the three windows he could now see from the backseat.
It should have been hard to see anything at all. But what he was looking for was pressed right up against the glass. Needles. Branches. Solid against every inch of the windows.
Nevertheless, he and Meredith, without needing to say anything, each reached for a backseat door handle. The doors clicked, opened a fraction of an inch; then they slammed back hard with a very definitive wham .
Meredith and Matt looked at each other. Meredith looked down again and began to pluck more twigs off Bonnie.
“Does that hurt?”
“No. A little…”
“You’re shaking.”
“It’s cold.”
It was cold now. Outside the car, rather than through the once-open window that was now completely plugged with evergreen, Matt could hear the wind. It whistled, as if through many branches. There was also the sound of wood creaking, startlingly loud and ridiculously high above. It sounded like a storm.
“What the hell was it, anyway?” he exploded, kicking the front seat viciously. “The thing I swerved for on the road?”
Meredith’s dark head lifted slowly. “I don’t know; I was about to roll up the window. I only got a glimpse.”
“It just appeared right in the middle of the road.”
“A wolf?”
“It wasn’t there and then it was there.”
“Wolves aren’t that color. It was red,” Bonnie saidflatly, lifting her head from Meredith’s shoulder.
“Red?” Meredith shook her head. “It was much too big to be a fox.”
“It was red, I think,” Matt said.
“Wolves aren’t red…what about werewolves? Does Tyler Smallwood have any relatives with red hair?”
“It wasn’t a wolf,” Bonnie said. “It was…backward.”
“Backward?”
“Its head was on the wrong side. Or maybe it had heads on both ends.”
“Bonnie, you are really scaring me,” Meredith said.
Matt wouldn’t say it, but she was really scaring him, too. Because his glimpse of the animal had seemed to show him the same kind of deformed shape that Bonnie was describing.
“Maybe we
“Matt…get…your own seat! Quick! Bonnie, I know you can.”
Matt dug and tore into the branches, then groped for the handle that would collapse the backrest of his seat. The handle wouldn’t move. Thin, tough tendrils were wrapped around it, springy and hard to break. He twisted and snapped them savagely.
His seatback dropped away. He ducked under the huge arm-branch—if it still deserved the name, since the car was full of similar huge branches now. Then, just as he reached to help Meredith, her seat abruptly folded back, too.
She fell with it, away from the evergreen, gasping for air. For an instant she just lay still. Then she finished scrambling into the backseat proper, dragging a needle-shrouded figure with her. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse and her speech was still slow.
“Matt. Bless you…for having…this jigsaw puzzle…of a car.” She kicked the front seat back into position, and Matt did likewise.
“Bonnie,” Matt said numbly.
Bonnie didn’t move. Many tiny branches were still entwining her, caught in the fabric of her shirt, wound into her hair.
Meredith and Matt both started pulling. Where the branches let go, they left welts or tiny puncture wounds.
“It’s almost as if they were trying to grow into her,” Matt said, as a long, thin branch pulled away, leaving bloody pinpricks behind.
“Bonnie?” Meredith said. She was the one disentangling the twigs from Bonnie’s hair. “Bonnie? Come on, up. Look at me.”
The shaking began again in Bonnie’s body, but she let Meredith turn her face up. “I didn’t think I could do it.”
“You saved my life.”
“I was so scared….”
Bonnie went on crying quietly against Meredith’s shoulder.
Matt looked at Meredith just as the map light flickered and went out. The last thing he saw was her dark eyes, which held an expression that made him suddenly feel even sicker to his stomach. He looked out the three windows he could now see from the backseat.
It should have been hard to see anything at all. But what he was looking for was pressed right up against the glass. Needles. Branches. Solid against every inch of the windows.
Nevertheless, he and Meredith, without needing to say anything, each reached for a backseat door handle. The doors clicked, opened a fraction of an inch; then they slammed back hard with a very definitive wham .
Meredith and Matt looked at each other. Meredith looked down again and began to pluck more twigs off Bonnie.
“Does that hurt?”
“No. A little…”
“You’re shaking.”
“It’s cold.”
It was cold now. Outside the car, rather than through the once-open window that was now completely plugged with evergreen, Matt could hear the wind. It whistled, as if through many branches. There was also the sound of wood creaking, startlingly loud and ridiculously high above. It sounded like a storm.
“What the hell was it, anyway?” he exploded, kicking the front seat viciously. “The thing I swerved for on the road?”
Meredith’s dark head lifted slowly. “I don’t know; I was about to roll up the window. I only got a glimpse.”
“It just appeared right in the middle of the road.”
“A wolf?”
“It wasn’t there and then it was there.”
“Wolves aren’t that color. It was red,” Bonnie saidflatly, lifting her head from Meredith’s shoulder.
“Red?” Meredith shook her head. “It was much too big to be a fox.”
“It was red, I think,” Matt said.
“Wolves aren’t red…what about werewolves? Does Tyler Smallwood have any relatives with red hair?”
“It wasn’t a wolf,” Bonnie said. “It was…backward.”
“Backward?”
“Its head was on the wrong side. Or maybe it had heads on both ends.”
“Bonnie, you are really scaring me,” Meredith said.
Matt wouldn’t say it, but she was really scaring him, too. Because his glimpse of the animal had seemed to show him the same kind of deformed shape that Bonnie was describing.
“Maybe we
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