I shuffled my feet. Ever since I could remember, Gloria had told me not to talk to strangers. She explained that the only people I could trust were my family. “And Gran, too,” I’d said once when I was little, but Gloria shook her head. “Just me and Telly. Nobody outside this house wants to protect you. Under this roof is the only place you’re actually safe. Repeat what I just said.” And I did. She’d smiled, said “I’m telling you, Rowan, other people are just going to hurt you or take from you or disappoint you.”

I thought about the school counselor ratting me out that afternoon. That was a disappointment. But Mrs. Spooner had never done anything wrong. Not really. Gloria called her a no-good gossip because she’d told people about Telly, but why would I care about that? She’d always been nice to me, even though Gloria couldn’t stand her. And was Gloria protecting me now? Leaving me out in the woods at night? I wasn’t completely sure if she was or she wasn’t. Maybe I didn’t understand what she was trying to do. She was always saying that. I was too young to know. Too young to realize. Perhaps this was a test I needed to pass.

“No one’s going to force you either, Magic Boy.” Magic Boy. “That’s for sure. You may remain with your sign. It is your legal right to do so, urh, but it may not be your obligation.”

There was so much confusion swirling around inside my head, but everything in my heart was telling me to stay with the man. I didn’t want this peculiar person and his dog to wander away and leave me alone. So as he left I hung a few feet back, taking bowlegged steps so my thighs wouldn’t rub on my jeans. Walking ahead of me, he chattered to invisible people. Often laughing. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Occasionally he turned and pointed the light on the ground, warned me of a fallen branch or a rock. “Don’t want you getting hurt, do we?” For some reason I can’t explain, I believed him.

“Where are we going?”

“Not far, urh. I have a camp. Clean and warm. Under the bridge. Do you know where that is?”

“Yes,” I said. It was an old stone bridge that was no longer used. I’d been there a couple of times with Darrell. But that was a long time ago. We’d caught a bucket full of tadpoles, and I brought some of them home. Maisy watched them for hours, skittering around, until Gloria found the bucket and dumped it on the grass.