Instead, they took several wrong turns and passed the turn-off without even noticing it. Once they’d found their way on to it, the road took them on a winding line between snow-topped hills until they came to a sturdy old sign that said

Just before the sign, a narrow track led off to their right, and directly beyond it the main road continued straight for a while before veering off and getting lost behind overgrown bushes and tall trees.

Milo pulled the Charger over to the side of the road.

“Why are we stopping?” Amber asked. “We’re here. We actually made it. What’s the problem?”

“We don’t know what’s waiting for us,” said Milo.

“Sure we do,” she said. “I’ve read you the town history. It’s short and boring. It’s a small town with a creepy name where nothing exciting ever happens.”

“That the internet knows about.”

“The internet knows all,” she said. “It’s the one place we’ll be safe from the Shining Demon.”

“But why?”

“Is that important?” she asked. “I mean, obviously it’s important, yeah, but is it important now? Is it important right now, at the side of the road? All we need to know is that we’ll be safe in there.”

“Buxton only lasted a week.”

“He said it was a weird place. That’s fine with me. I can handle weird. Milo, we can sort this out later. We can ask questions and get answers. But I’m tired. You’re tired. We need a good night of sleep. We need to stop running.”

He sighed, and rubbed his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Damn right I’m right.”

“Okay then, we go in, we don’t attract any attention. We speak only when spoken to. We fade into the background, understood?”

“I’ll try.”

“Try?”

“It’s a small town in the middle of nowhere. Newcomers are going to be noticed. That’s kind of inevitable.”

“Yeah, maybe, but we do our best to keep a low profile.”

“Agreed.”

Milo paused for a moment longer, then put the Charger in gear. “Okay then.”

They pulled out on to the road and passed the town sign and the Charger bolted forward suddenly and Amber yelled as she shifted, pain flaring in her hands, the shock of the change nearly blinding her to the fact that Milo, too, had turned into his demon-self. He jammed his foot on the brake and the Charger slid to a halt, growling in protest.

Cradling her hands to her chest, Amber met Milo’s burning red eyes. They were narrowed. He looked behind them, then in front, then stuck his head out of the window and looked up. Expecting an attack. Expecting something.

They waited. The Charger waited. But nothing came.

Milo’s skin lightened and the burning red left his eyes and mouth, and his curved horns retreated into his hairline.