Zip (19 page)

“Make a splash, this is your chaaance!”
Lyssa closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her. Before she knew it, she was singing along.

“Just one life, it’s all any of us haaaas.”

“Hey! You have a really nice voice,” Circe said

Lyssa felt a whooshing feeling inside her chest. She couldn’t believe that she actually sang in front of Circe!

“Thanks,” Lyssa said, grinning over at Circe—but when she caught her eye, Circe looked away quickly and started fumbling with the radio dial. She flipped stations so quickly it made Lyssa’s head hurt

“Nope,” Lyssa said, swatting Circe’s hand playfully,
“we gotta pick a song and stick with it. It drives me crazy if I can’t listen to it the whole way through. Deal?”

Circe nodded, but turned the radio off and put both hands back on the steering wheel

“Is something wrong?” Lyssa asked

“Guess I’m just a little hungry. You know what I’m thinking? Ice cream for breakfast.”

Circe gave Lyssa such a wide grin that she had to agree. Her stomach growled as Circe pulled off the highway and turned down a dusty street leading through a small town. Unlike the town of Bliss, there were people walking down the sidewalks here. There was no broken glass on the streets, and none of the windows were covered in cardboard. A sign by the side of the road read
Bear River City, UT
.

Utah! Lyssa’s heart did a little flip. She hadn’t realized they’d gotten to Utah already—that was one whole state closer to Texas. She peered out the window, wondering if Utah looked any different from Idaho. It didn’t, really. There were the same distant red mountains, the same dusty roads

Her gaze settled on a poster hanging from a telephone pole—a poster with
her
face on it.

Lyssa immediately forgot her hunger. Instead, her stomach churned and twisted, like there was a giant cobra rolling
around her gut. She saw another poster on the next telephone pole and three more attached to the side of a brick building.

“I know the perfect place,” Circe announced. Although Circe was smiling, Lyssa noticed that she wouldn’t look her in the eye. Circe scooted forward in her seat, scanning the street signs as they passed. There was something sticking out of the pocket of Circe’s muumuu—the corner of a slip of paper. Immediately, Lyssa’s mind went to the Missing Person posters

Lyssa swallowed and pushed the thought out of her mind. Circe was her friend—she’d never do that. The paper must be the receipt for her truck repair or something. That’s all.

“I don’t think I’m hungry for ice cream, actually,” Lyssa said, swallowing. It felt like someone had crumpled up one of those Missing Person posters and shoved it down her throat

“No way,” Circe said, scanning the street signs as they passed. “You’ve never had Helios’s ice cream before.”

Lyssa didn’t bother asking what a Helios was. She couldn’t walk around this town. There were pictures of her everywhere—someone was sure to recognize her. She pulled her sweatshirt on and tugged the hood down over her forehead. For once she didn’t even mind how itchy the sleeves felt on her arms. She just needed to keep her face hidden.

Luckily, Circe pulled off the busy road and turned down an alleyway that was so narrow there was hardly more than an inch of space on either side of the truck. The alley curved behind buildings and led to a small park filled with trees and picnic benches. Next to the park was a field of green cornstalks that seemed to stretch for miles and miles.

Lyssa stared out the window in awe. She’d never seen so much corn! It looked like a shiny green ocean. There, at least, was
one
difference between Idaho and Utah. Lyssa hadn’t seen any corn oceans in Idaho.

Circe threw her truck door open and hopped out, but Lyssa hesitated, still not sure whether she should risk someone recognizing her. The park
looked
safe. There was only one person nearby—a woman sitting on a bench across the street, hungrily devouring a romance novel. She was small boned and bird-like except for her hair, which was enormous and dyed cherry red. Her hair had been ornately curled and sprayed down with so much hair spray that not a single strand of it moved, not even when the wind blew through the park. The woman’s fingers were very long, and the way they wrapped around the edges of her novel reminded Lyssa of spider’s legs that ended in bright, red acrylic nails the exact same shade as her hair. Lyssa shook herself out of her reverie. She grabbed her backpack and hopped out of the truck after Circe.

“Where’s the ice cream place?” Lyssa asked. Circe pointed to a silver truck on the other side of the park bench. Lyssa had been so busy staring at the woman and the field of corn that she hadn’t noticed the truck parked directly in front of it. The sign attached to the truck read
Helios’s Ice Cream
in swirly, swooping letters. The cornstalks in the field behind the truck rippled in the wind like waves.

Lyssa followed Circe across the street to Helios’s As they walked past the park bench, the woman with the spider fingers looked up and fixed her eyes right on Lyssa. Her face had a pinched look to it, as though someone had accidentally flattened it between two heavy books. Lyssa raced forward, catching up to Circe. When she glanced behind her, the woman had gone back to reading her book.

“Want to see a trick?” Circe whispered, crouching down low so she could sneak past the service window without being seen. Lyssa cast a nervous glance back at the woman on the park bench. She wasn’t watching, so Lyssa crouched down too, following Circe around the truck

The sliding door in back of the truck was wide open, revealing a tiny kitchen. Freezers filled with creamy, brightly colored ice cream lined the truck walls. Lyssa had never seen so many different flavors of ice cream all in one place. The truck was completely empty; its owner must have stepped away

“Helios doesn’t keep a very good eye on his products,” Circe whispered, pointing to a little man standing a ways away, by the truck engine. His hair was shiny black, and he held a cell phone to his ear. A twirly black mustache twitched above his lip with every word he spoke

“But the warranty expired yesterday
Yesterday!
” he yelled into the phone, pounding a fist against the bumper of the van for emphasis. When Helios turned his back to them, Circe crept into the back of his truck, a giddy grin spreading across her face. She grabbed two waffle cones off a wobbly tower and loaded them up with ice cream—piling scoops of banana, strawberry, and chocolate–peanut butter one on top of another.

When there was so much ice cream stuffed into the cone that Lyssa worried the whole thing might topple over, Circe thrust a hand into the candy jars lined up against the back wall and sprinkled fistfuls of candy on top of the ice cream

“Here,” Circe whispered, handing Lyssa a cone. Lyssa plucked one of the bright red candies off the top of her ice cream cone and popped it into her mouth. Red Hots! They were her favorite candy; she loved how they tasted like someone poured hot sauce on top of them. When you lived in Texas, you ate hot sauce with everything. She picked the rest of the candies off the top of her ice cream cone and stuck them into her pockets. Those she’d save for later

“How are we going to pay for these?” Lyssa asked, shooting another nervous glance at Helios

Circe frowned. “You want to pay for them?”

“Well, we can’t just
take
them…” she pointed out.

“Hey!”

Lyssa jumped, dumping half of her ice cream cone on the ground. Helios was off the phone now, glaring at Circe as she put the finishing touches on her own ice cream cone

“You looked busy…we didn’t want to bother you,” Circe said. She hopped down from the truck, grabbing hold of Lyssa’s wrist

“This way!” she shouted

Helios stormed around the ice cream truck as Circe pulled Lyssa into the field of corn. To Lyssa’s surprise, a pathway cut through the field. It was narrow—almost hidden—and it twisted and turned around the tall, green stalks

“It’s a corn maze,” Circe yelled over her shoulder. “We’ll lose him easily.”

Lyssa glanced nervously behind her to see if Helios was still on their heels. Feeling guilty, she pulled a few crumpled dollar bills out of her pocket and tossed them behind her. Hopefully that would cover the ice cream cone…

They were running so fast—curving down and around
the corn maze paths—that Lyssa couldn’t be entirely sure which direction they were heading. Her ice cream hopped up and down on her cone, barely staying aloft, and a few of the candies rained down on the ground like the bread crumbs Hansel and Gretel left behind to guide them home. Lyssa quickly slurped the rest of the candy off her ice cream. Otherwise, the candy trail would lead Helios right to them

Circe didn’t seem nearly as worried about Helios catching up to them. She was laughing hysterically; obviously, this was her version of an adventure. When she saw that Helios hadn’t managed to follow their path through the corn, she started running backward

“Moo!” Circe called, giggling. She took a big bite of ice cream, getting a swirl of strawberry on her nose. “Oink! Oink!”

“What are you doing?” Lyssa hissed. Circe stopped running and doubled over, giggling and oinking

Lyssa stopped next to her, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “Circe, he’s going to find us.”

“He’ll never find us,” Circe said. She laughed so hard that fat tears rolled down her cheeks. She shoved more ice cream into her mouth and let out another loud “oink!” This time, Lyssa heard Circe’s pigs from a distance, snorting back in the truck. It sounded like they were calling to Circe.

“No one will ever find us,” Circe said. Her mouth and cheeks were covered in ice cream, but she wasn’t laughing anymore. She stood up again, grabbed Lyssa’s hand, and squeezed. For a second it made Lyssa feel warm and happy. But when Lyssa looked into Circe’s eyes, she saw the strangest expression flashing there—sadness? Regret? An apology?

All of a sudden, Lyssa began to feel cold all over

“Circe…” she started, but Circe interrupted her

“Take care of yourself, Lyssa,” she said

Then she pulled her hand away and raced through the corn

“Wait!” Lyssa shouted

Did Circe think this was some sort of game? Lyssa dumped her ice cream cone on the ground and started running. But Circe was fast, and she evidently knew her way through the maze much better than Lyssa did. In no time at all she had disappeared

“Circe!” she yelled. No one answered. There wasn’t even the distant sound of oinking and mooing to tell Lyssa where her friend had gone

Lyssa slowed to a walk, suddenly frightened. How had everything gotten so messed up? She didn’t know her way out of the maze, and a very angry Helios was likely still following her through the corn. And Circe was gone. She
picked her way through the winding paths slowly, trying to figure out her position by looking up at the sun. It was almost like the universe was punishing her. Maybe her mom was angry about the things she’d been doing with Circe: all the stealing and the lying. She swallowed down a lump in her throat

All she’d wanted was a friend

Lyssa tried listening for Helios or Circe, but the only sound she heard was the wind gently ruffling the leaves on the cornstalks. She turned another corner in the path—and froze

The wind wasn’t rustling the leaves—it was rustling posters

Everywhere Lyssa looked, she saw her missing girl posters. Some were taped to the stalks of corn, while others were scattered across the path.

Lyssa’s heart pounded against her ribs like a wild animal banging at the bars of his cage

Someone knew that she was the girl in the poster. Someone knew that she was in this maze

Lyssa knew that she should start running again, but her feet wouldn’t move. And where would she run? She still didn’t know her way out of the maze

Instead, feeling like she was in a dream, she began tearing the posters off the cornstalks, crushing them beneath her
sneakers until they were stained with mud and ice cream. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away.

Lyssa had reached up to tear another poster down when someone clasped a hand around her wrist. Lyssa whirled around, stifling a scream

It was the woman with the big hair from the park bench. Her bright red fingernails pinched into the skin at Lyssa’s wrists

“Let go of me,” Lyssa said. She tried to wrench her arm away, but the woman held tight

“Now sweetie pie, that’s no way to greet a lady,” she said, pulling her bloodred lips into a wide smile. Her teeth were so white, Lyssa wondered if they glowed in the dark. “Don’t fight me now. I just got my nails done this morning…”

“Who are you? What do you want?” Lyssa continued to struggle against her. The woman’s nails felt like talons, and she smelled so strongly of cinnamon perfume, it was like she had bathed in melted ice cream

“My name is Calypso,” the woman drawled. “Let’s go, honey bear. You’re coming with me.”

“Let. Me. Go!” Lyssa gritted her teeth

Calypso just laughed and held her tighter

“Let you go?” Calypso leaned past Lyssa and pulled
one of the last Missing Person posters down from its place on the stalk of corn. “Sweet pea, you’re worth a whole lotta greenbacks. I’m not letting you go until I get my piece of the pie.”

Lyssa screamed as loud as she could as Calypso dragged her from the maze. Now she
wished
the man from the Helios truck would find her.

“Circe!” Lyssa shouted desperately. Her voice was suctioned away by the tall cornstalks on either side of them. “Circe! Help!”

The woman laughed again and yanked on Lyssa’s arm, harder. “You might as well save your breath, honeybunch. Your little friend with the wig was the one who told me where to find you.”

“You’re lying,” Lyssa spat out. But almost immediately, she had a flash of doubt. Hadn’t Circe been the one who wanted to get ice cream? Hadn’t Circe left her alone in the maze?

“The good God as my witness,” Calypso said, with that same easy drawl. “Said she’d bring the missing girl right to me and split the reward money, too. Wanted to steer clear of the cops herself. Can’t say I blame her. You’re worth quite a pretty little penny, honey pie.”