Dark Waters

“Definitely,” said Coco’s mom from the passenger seat. She turned back to give Brian a stern look. Brian played innocent. Coco and her mom had the exact same blue eyes, though her mom was tall instead of tiny, and her hair was blond, not pinkish. Coco kept hoping for a growth spurt.

“If we do slide into a ditch,” said Ollie, “you get to push us out, Brian.”

“Naw,” said Brian. “You’re bigger than me. You push us out.”

Coco interrupted. “You both can push us out. Are there any snacks?”

That distracted all three of them. It was dinnertime, and there were snacks. Mr. Adler was a specialist in snacks. He’d made them each a large peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich on homemade bread.

After they’d finished their sandwiches, they each ate an apple and shared a big bag of potato chips. Mr. Adler had made the chips too.

“Is it hard to make potato chips?” Coco asked disbelievingly, licking salt off her fingers.

“No,” said Ollie, in a superior tone. She’d helped make them. Also, Coco suspected, eaten a lot of them before the drive even started. “But the oil splashes.”

“I know what we’re making next time we’re at your house,” said Brian, crunching. “These are amazing.”

They were scuffling over the last of the potato chips when the Subaru finally turned off the main highway. mountain access road, said a sign. The road tilted steeply up. On one side were trees. On the other side was a gully and a frozen creek. Ollie’s dad was driving on through the storm like he didn’t have a care in the world, telling bad jokes from the front seat.

“What did the buffalo say to his kid when he dropped him off at school?” he asked.

Ollie sighed. Her dad loved bad jokes.

“Bison!” yelped Coco triumphantly, and everyone groaned but also laughed.

“Motorists are warned to exercise caution, avoid unplowed roads, and, if at all possible, refrain from driving altogether,” remarked the radio.

“Great,” said Mr. Adler, unbothered. “Less people on the road tonight means more snow for us tomorrow!”

“If you say so,” said Coco’s mom. She gave the smothering storm a cautious look. Coco recognized the look. Coco and her mom were both careful about things. Unlike Ollie and her dad, who were kind of leap-before-you-look.

“Want to hear another joke?” Mr. Adler asked.

“Dad, can’t we have a jokes-per-trip limit?” Ollie said.

“Not when I’m driving!” said her dad. “One more. Why did the scarecrow get a promotion?”

A small, awkward silence fell. Ollie, Brian, and Coco looked at each other. They really didn’t like scarecrows.

“Anyone?” asked Ollie’s dad. “Anyone? Come on, I feel like I’m talking to myself here! Because he was outstanding in his field! Get it? Out standing in his field?” Ollie’s dad laughed, but no one laughed with him. “Geez, tough crowd.”

The three in the back said nothing. Ollie’s dad didn’t know it, but there was a reason they didn’t like scarecrows.

That October, they, along with the rest of their sixth-grade class, had disappeared for two days. Only Ollie, Brian, and Coco remembered everything that had happened during those days. They’d never told anyone. They told their families and the police that they’d gotten lost.

They hadn’t just gotten lost. But who would believe them if they told the truth?

They?

??d been kidnapped into another world. A world behind the mist. They’d met living scarecrows who tried to drag them off and turn them into scarecrows too. They’d gone into a haunted house, taken food from a ghost, run a corn maze, and at last met someone called the smiling man.

The smiling man looked ordinary, but he wasn’t. The smiling man would grant your heart’s desire if you asked him. But he’d demand a price. A terrible price.

Ollie, Brian, and Coco had outwitted the smiling man. They’d survived the world behind the mist and come home. They’d gone into that world as near strangers and come out as best friends. It was December now, and they were together, and on vacation. All was well.

But two months later, they still had nightmares. And they still didn’t like scarecrows.

The silence in the car stretched out as the road got even steeper. The radio suddenly fizzed with static and went silent.