We’ve been so distracted by Logan’s return, we haven’t been focused on our route. Rosa and her coven didn’t seem to follow us at first, but we’ve been driving straight on a relatively remote road. This is the coven’s turf, so of course they’d know how to catch up to us. Looking out the back window now, I see two headlights behind us…

Growing closer every second.

“Are we sure that’s Rosa?” I ask, squinting.

“I can’t see through the windshield over the headlights,” Cleo answers. “But that’s definitely the same Honda the stepsisters drove from Chills Coven.”

“Crap,” Amelia curses under her breath, looking like she thinks this is her fault. She still clutches the King of Pentacles so tightly, she almost creases it.

“Amelia, whatever happened back there doesn’t matter,” I say. “All that matters is losing them, now.”

Hearing this, Amelia immediately snaps out of it.

“Where are we supposed to go next?” she asks.

“We don’t want to lead them to the next card,” I answer.

“Should we stop and try to talk to them?” Cleo asks. “Because we definitely should not add a high-speed car chase to the list of events on this trip.”

“We won’t have to,” Logan says, pointing. “There’s the freeway on-ramp.”

“Their car is going to be way faster than Charvan,” Amelia says. “No way we outrun them, even with other cars around. We’re going to stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Trust me,” Logan says, impossibly calm and collected.

Up ahead, a right-hand exit leads to the northbound freeway. Then farther, after the underpass, a left-hand turn leads to the southbound side. Logan gets into the right lane, puts on his right blinker and… slows down?

“Shouldn’t we be speeding up?” Cleo asks. “They’re right behind us now.”

Logan doesn’t answer, though, his full focus on driving. He stays the course, beginning to exit onto the freeway. Until, at the last possible second, he turns the wheel left. We suddenly go sailing over the median grass. For a moment it feels like we might tip over, but Logan reserved a burst of speed for this maneuver. Once Charvan has straightened out, he lays on the gas pedal and we blast forward safely over the divide.

Turning around, I see Rosa’s car charge forward onto the freeway on-ramp, moving too fast to follow our unexpected change of course. Even if she has the wherewithal to stop and reverse down the empty ramp, we already begin to sail through the underpass. Logan then turns us left onto the southbound freeway, driving like a quiet storm. I realize quickly that if Rosa does find some way to follow us, by the time she does we’ll be long gone.

Logan proceeds to drive two exits down the freeway before pulling off. He then turns to get onto the northbound side, another brilliantly unexpected course correction. I hold my breath for what feels like ten whole minutes, but when I finally do exhale, it’s because we seem to be in the clear. There’s no sign of Rosa’s Honda anywhere.