But then that strange lightness filled up her insides again. It was the same lightness she had felt earlier in the evening when she had held Pete’s hand and told him she loved him, and when Pete had told her that he loved her, too.

And that lightness made her feel like something really wonderful was going to happen.

And it made her feel like Pete was a part of the wonderful thing that was going to happen.

And it made her turn around and head back down Spruce View Lane and back to the Road to Nowhere.

She was about to turn left and head east on the Road to Somewhere to go see Pete.

But that strange lightness made her turn right.

And head west.

Toward the edge of Almost and the wilderness of northwestern Maine.

It was 8:30 when she heard a car approaching slowly from behind her. And she hoped that whoever was driving wouldn’t stop and check on her, like Gayle Pulcifer had. Fortunately, the vehicle passed Ginette by, and when it did, Ginette could see that it was a taxicab—and she had only seen a few taxicabs in her life. In Presque Isle. In Bangor. In Washington, DC, on a school trip.

But she had never seen one in Almost.

Who the heck, she wondered, would have been taking a taxi to Almost, Maine?

And where were they going?

The Road to Nowhere ended in less than a mile. And there were only two more houses on it: the Hardings’ and Rhonda Rideout’s—which was the last house in Almost before the wilderness began.

Ginette watched the taxi’s red taillights shrink as they moved away from her. And then they stopped moving away from her. Because the taxi had stopped—about a quarter of a mile away at the Hardings’ house.

Ginette walked more slowly and watched the taxi sit in front of the Hardings’ for about a minute. And then it turned around and started heading back toward Ginette. And went by her.

Ginette wondered where it was going.

And then she wondered where she was going. And she stopped and almost turned and started making her way back home.

But just as she was about to turn back, she felt that strange lightness fill up her insides. And it made her keep walking.

Even though she had no idea where she was going.

At 8:35, Ginette reached the Hardings’, which was about half a mile down the road from Echo Lake.

Mr. and Mrs. Harding had two daughters. Allie was a couple of years younger than Ginette and was really good at chess and wore the thickest glasses Ginette had ever seen. And Emma was a couple of years older than Ginette and had been wearing braces her whole life, it seemed, and liked to party.

The post lamp in the Hardings’ front yard was on when Ginette walked by. And, against the light it threw, Ginette could see the silhouette of a very tall, slim woman. Even from her silhouette, Ginette could tell the woman had high heels on. And a short dress or skirt. And a coat with a large, fur-lined hood.