Read Online A Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman - Free Book Online Page A

band.”
    “Yeah, I got that.”
    “Celtic technopop. I’ve never heard them live. They got the gig at the Bismarck. We auditioned there, but they didn’t hire us, you know?”
    “Oh. Yeah.” Jasper’s band, River Run, was still in the formative stages. They did instrumental Celtic and contra dance music, but they hadn’t rehearsed enough to be solid yet. “I need to make myself some dinner.”
    “Make enough for two and I’ll definitely take you to the show.”
    “You’ll fix my I.D.?”
    ” ‘Course.” He’d been fogging ages on driver’s licenses for years so he could get into places to see bands before he was old enough to drink. Now he was legal, and I was going to be soon. How weird was that?
    At his Honda motorcycle, he unlocked the two helmets and handed me the blue one. He rolled the bike off its kickstand, kicked down on the starter, and turned it toward the exit, and then I climbed on behind him and held on. This, too, reminded me of old times, when he was sixteen and got his license and I was fourteen and still, potentially, a full member of our family, despite Jasper’s predicter mystery on my behalf. We burned up a lot of back roads in the mountains above town back then, and found many strange people and places.
    It was a short ride from the upper parking lot down to the lot at the beach. Through the fog, Christmas lights glowed on the palm trees by the Pelican’s entrance, and rock versions of Christmas carols sounded on the damp air.
    The night was cold even through my jacket, and Jasper’s jacket was cold too. I didn’t care. I felt safe.
    Jasper pulled up to the entrance to the Speare Beach lot. To get in, you had to take a ticket, although the ticket booth wasn’t manned this late at night. My lime-green Mazda Protege was one of six cars in the lot.
    He pulled the motorcycle over by the divider where adolescent palm trees grew and dropped the kickstand. “Want me to walk you to the car?”
    “I’ll be all right. Thanks. In case I didn’t already tell you. Thanks.”
    “You told me.” He smiled.
    “I’m so glad you’re my brother.”
    He yawned. “Let’s go home and you fix dinner!”
    “Yeah, yeah.” I took off the helmet and handed it to him, then headed across the lot. My car was at the far end, barely visible through the orange-stained fog.
    Maybe I should come to school earlier and find better parking spots. On the other hand, this was the only exercise I got.
    Halfway there, my neck prickled. I glanced sideways.
    Was someone standing under that palm tree? Watching me?
    I clutched my pack and ran toward my car.
    The dark figure paced me, traveling along the curb.
    My footsteps slapped loud on the asphalt, but I didn’t hear a sound from my pursuer.
    I glanced back. Had Jasper already left?
    No. He was running across the lot toward me, but he was twice as far away as the person under the trees.
    I put on a burst of adrenaline-fueled speed, and bumped into my car. Scrabbling through my pockets, I found my keys at last, opened the driver-side door, and collapsed into the car, I slammed and locked the door.
    The chasing figure evaporated.
    Jasper dropped from the air to the ground right beside my car, spun to look. His head turned as he surveyed the parking lot.
    I tried to catch my breath. It took me a while.
    Eventually Jasper knocked on my window, and I lowered it. “Did you see it?” I asked him.
    “Yeah.” He sounded ragged too. “I don’t know what that was, Gyp. I don’t even know if it was a person.”
    Freezing marbles rolled around in my stomach. “What else could it be?”
    He shook his head. “We better talk to Tobias.”
    I drove straight home, with Jasper following on his motorcycle.
    It was strange to go home, the house looked so everyday. So many places on the route were shining with lights, and the businesses along the Old Coast Highway had holiday scenes painted on their windows. Usually by the week before Christmas, Mama had assigned us our