I wanted to laugh, to make a joke or otherwise dispel the sense of wonder and fear that was steadily growing in my belly, but I couldn’t find words that wouldn’t sound hollow. He was right. Though it had no eyes or face that we could see, I had the distinct impression that the leaf devil had noticed us and was now studying us with great interest. Swallowing, I looked up at Rusty. “What do you think we should do?”

When he glanced down at me, I could see he was worried, but I could also see excitement flickering in his eyes like a living flame. He looked happier and more himself in that moment than I had seen him since Mom had left, and I think at that moment I would have went along with whatever he said next. As it was, his suggestion was fairly tame.

“Let’s move around a bit. See if it follows us. But be ready to run. If I say go, we run away fast as we can. You know the way back?”

I nodded and he gave my shoulder a squeeze. “This is really cool, but no need for us to be dumb about it.” Looking back up, he puffed out a breath. “Okay. Let’s see if this is just a pile of blowing leaves and we’re both dumbasses.”

Moving slowly with Rusty to the right, I clamped my hands down on my brother’s arm as the leaf devil followed us slowly, seemingly tracing the perimeter of some invisible circle. When we went back the other way, it followed us again, silent except for the quiet rustle of leaves twirling against each other in its inner turbulence.

“Holy shit.” Rusty looked more excited now, but I could tell by the way he was licking his lips that he was more nervous too. Maybe even scared, and I didn’t know if I’d ever seen Rusty scared before. Looking at me again, he pried loose my hands from his forearm. “Tommy, I want you to listen to me now. You go stand at the edge of the clearing. I’m going to go up a bit and get a better look. See if I can tell what it is and what’s got it trapped in there.” He licked his lips again as he glanced back up. “If it’s trapped. I don’t know. It could be a big trick. But you see how it’s been moving like it has an invisible wall or something keeping it from going any farther?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s like a force field or something.”