“What if it leads us to Canada or Switzerland?” I said.
He shook his head. “No. Golems only have a range of two hundred miles from the person they are imitating. If it gets any further from the human that it’s mimicking, the creature melts. So, Samantha must be close.”
“Fine,” I said. I took the jar of green light and placed it in my bag. After it was safe, I pulled out the bag of troll mucus. “Here. This is for you.”
Frank grabbed the bag and held it up. “You put it in a plastic bag like an old sandwich?”
“That was all we had,” I said, shrugging, palms up.
“Yeah,” Katie added. “That was quick thinking on her part, honestly.”
“Ugh, teenagers.” Frank shook his head. “No respect for anything. Go along with you already. Make haste.”
“We won’t be long,” I said.
“Just be careful with that jar, okay? It’s magically enchanted and doesn’t come cheap.”
Chapter 39
One thing I didn’t plan for was how we were going to get home. There wasn’t a good bus system in town, and I couldn’t just call an Uber without my mother knowing I wasn’t at home.
“What about Rebecca?” Katie asked. “She could drive you home.”
“Are you serious?” I said. “She hates me.”
“I know you aren’t the best of friends, but you both knew me, and you could bond over that.”
“I have never bonded with any of your friends before. Why do you think I’m going to start now?”
“Because you’re desperate?”
I couldn’t argue with that, which led me to follow Katie’s directions to Rebecca’s house. I had only been there once, but Katie hung out with Rebecca a lot of times and knew the route by heart.
Her house was big and nice, but it wasn’t overly opulent like some of Katie’s friends. She tended to know the who’s who of Pine Nut Grove and could speak their language. I, meanwhile, needed an interpreter.
“Isn’t she going to think it’s weird that I know where she lives?” I said, walking up to the front door.
“You’ve been here before.”
“Yeah, in eighth grade.”
“Just knock. I’ll bet you it won’t be that bad.”
“I’ll take that bet.”
I knocked on the door and after a few seconds heard footsteps walking on hardwood toward the door. Rebecca didn’t open the door. Instead, a red-haired woman wearing an apron and a bright white smile answered.
“Why hello,” she said. “Can I help you?”
I tried to think of the right words to say. “Yes, does Rebecca Swinton live here?”
“She does.” The woman raised her eyebrows. “Do you want to speak with her?”
“Please,” I said.
“Rebecca!” she shouted over her shoulder. “One of your friends is here!”
“Which one?” a voice shouted back.
“Does it matter? Just get down here. I have ten more pies to bake tonight!”
A few seconds later, Rebecca came barreling down the stairs. She wasn’t in a good mood when I’d seen her earlier, and when she saw me standing at her door, her face went dark. “I thought you said it was a friend.”
Her mother scoffed, walking back toward the kitchen. “Whatever. She asked for you.” She called over her shoulder, “Nice to meet you!”
“What do you want?” Rebecca snapped.
“I need your help.”
She rolled her eyes. “And why would I help you?”
I put my hands out in front of me, as if in offering. “Because we were both friends with Katie.”
Rebecca raised her hand in the air to stop me. “Don’t you dare bring that up. Besides, can’t your new friend help you?”
I shook my head. “We got in a fight, and she won’t give me a ride home.”
“So call your mom, or an uber.”
“I don’t want her to know we were together. She…wouldn’t approve…if you know what I mean.”
Rebecca bit her lip, thinking hard for a moment. Then, she turned back to the kitchen. “Mom! I’m using the car.”
Her mom’s voice rang down the hallway. “Sounds good. Just don’t be back too late!”
Rebecca reached over and picked up a set of keys from a bowl situated next to the door. “Come on.”
Rebecca’s mom had an awesomely tricked-out car. It had everything in it. There was leather and butt warmers and surround sound.
“What does your mother do?”
“She’s a caterer. Good one, too.”
“She’d have to be, with a car like this.”
Rebecca looked over at me for a moment. “Don’t think I like you because I’m doing you a favor. I don’t want to get to know you or anything.”
“Fine,” I said. “I don’t know why you hate me so much, though.”
“Really?” Rebecca scoffed. “How about the fact that after Katie got sick you never talked to me once?”
There was a moment of stunned silence before I breathed the word, “What?”
“Yeah, I mean, I thought we were friends, Anna, and I was going through some stuff too. I mean, my friend was dying.”
“You have a lot of nerve, calling her your friend,” I said. “You never once came to see her once during those last six months.”
“Because it was too hard for me, okay? We didn’t all live next to her. We couldn’t all drop everything every day and be by her side. Some of us had a life.”
“One time. You didn’t see her one time during those last months. Not one of you came to see her.”
Rebecca sighed. “I was a bad friend to her. I’ll admit that. But you were a bad friend to me. You never once reached out after she became terminal. How do you think that made me feel, okay? We were all hurting.”
Again, her words stunned me into silence. I hung my head. “I didn’t think about it, honestly.”
“We all lost our friend. Every single one of us, but you were the only one who wore it like a badge of honor. You told stories about her and went on about her like she was a prized pig. It was disgusting.”
“What? Disgusting? At least I was there, Rebecca. At least I didn’t sit on the sidelines waiting for somebody to tag me in.”
“No,” Rebecca said. “But admit it. A
