He then tried to counter the arctic onslaught by turning up the heater to the max, but that feature was soon revealed to not be the strongest in this particular automobile.

Great.

I dipped my nose behind my scarf and tucked my gloved hands under my armpits for heat, discreetly checking my phone as best I could under the circumstances. Ayisha had agreed to give me updates with any important information, either about the party or about contact with Arthur. So far, bupkis. However, I was thinking it might be time to send her an SOS if things kept going the way they were going.

Unfortunately, they did.

“Arthur’s a real cool guy!” Steve shouted, smiling his approval toward me. “He brought me breakfast two days in a row.”

I sat up straighter, pleased. “He did?”

“Yeah. Blueberry muffins! Didn’t have the heart to tell him I’m allergic to berries, but the shits were totally worth it. Thanks for asking me to go fetch him with ya.”

“Thank you for driving.” I think. Still up for debate. Especially since the windshield wipers did an admirable job on the snow hitting the windshield from the outside, but apparently the car either didn’t have a defroster or it was broken because it froze quickly.

Steve pointed to the glove box. “Can you get the ice scraper?!”

I did as he requested and retrieved a cheap plastic handheld ice scraper.

“Thanks!” he shouted, then I watched him drive with one hand and scrape the inside of the windshield with the other. “You know what this all needs?”

“Triple A?” I responded.

“Music!”

He took his hand off the steering wheel long enough to both terrify me and punch the on button for the radio. Which was when I learned where Steve put the bulk of his money for the El Camino: the sound system.

It was a marvel!

Hall and Oates’s version of “Jingle Bell Rock” easily blasted over the wind and surrounded us like a loving embrace of holiday cheer interwoven smoothly with the constant danger of freezing conditions and storm-limited visibility.

Steve sang with unbridled energy, and it really says a lot about the power of that song because in a matter of seconds I was hesitantly bopping my head, too, and whisper-singing. Not as zealously as Steve, but I had to admit, I was momentarily caught up.

Until disaster struck.

Instinctively sensing danger, I looked forward—

“Aaaaahhh!”

—and saw another vehicle headed in the opposite direction toward us.

In our lane!

“Aaaaaahhh!!”

Steve saw it, too.

“Aaaaaaahhh!!!”

That car’s lights were high and wide, like the eyes of a dragon emerging from the dark, and in an instant, I knew if we collided, the El Camino would definitely lose.

Steve took his hands off the wheel and prayed.

I grabbed the wheel and jerked it hard right.

The other vehicle went left.

We started spinning wildly.

Steve started praying louder.