Beckoners by Carrie Mac Read Free Book Online

truck.
    They tailed the Volvo to a donut shop a couple of blocks away, where the father and son pulled in and parked. Brady waited on the street until the two of them disappeared inside, and then he turned off the stereo and rolled the truck to a stop behind the Volvo, so no one could see it from inside the donut shop.
    Beck pulled a jackknife out of her pocket. It was a large old knife, the blade at least four inches long and shiny from a recent sharpening. Beck handed it to Zoe while she climbed over her to get out. Zoe was surprised at how heavy it was, how the smooth bone handle fit in her hand.
    â€œMy knife?” Beck waited, hand open.
    â€œWhat are you going to do with it?”
    â€œGod,” Heather said from the back. “Who
is
she?”
    â€œJust give me the knife.”
    â€œBut what are you—”
    Beck grabbed the knife. “Thank you.”
    She walked around the Volvo, stabbing the four tires two or three times each, the Beckoners cheering her on.
    Zoe was surprised at how slowly the air leaked out; it wasn’t like the movies at all. When Beck was done, she dragged the knife blade across the paint, gouging a jagged line all around the car. When she was finished, she curtsied. The Beckoners gave her a hearty round of applause.
    â€œWhat did you do that for?” Zoe blurted as Beck climbed back in the truck.
    â€œIf you have to ask, maybe we should drop you off at Rejoice In His Name.” Beck wiped the paint flecks off her knife with the sleeve of her shirt as Brady screeched out of the lot. “Youth for Jesus do their talking in tongues or whatever there on Tuesday nights.” Beck released the lock on the knife and folded it closed. Closed, the handle was nearly as long as her hand was wide.
    â€œI was just asking,” Zoe said. “It’s no big deal.”
    â€œSo then why ask?”
    â€œNo reason.”
    â€œGood.”
    â€œFine.”
    â€œShe’s asking because she’s a lame-ass wuss.” Heather leaned forward, her face so close to Zoe’s, Zoe could see the glitter in her eye shadow as they passed beneath a streetlight. “Isn’t that right?”
    â€œWhatever, Heather.”
    â€œYou know what?” Beck frowned at Zoe and Heather. “The two of you would get along better if you both just shut the fuck up.”
    Zoe could handle that. When it came to Heather, she’d like nothing better than to never speak to her at all. In fact, she’d love to apply the same rule to all the Beckoners, but Beck had something else in mind, because no matter how hard Zoe tried to avoid her, Beck found her and dragged her along with the Beckoners on their lame movie cliché field trips. The only good thing about it was how much it pissed off Heather. Zoe thought that might become her new hobby: pissing off Heather.
    That night, as they cruised through town on some pointless mission to find a guy who’d ripped off Trevor in a pot deal, they passed Dog and Shadow walking back to Paradise Heights from the corner store. Brady steered the truck across the road towards her, forcing a car in the other lane to swerve to avoid a head-on. He drove the truck right up onto the sidewalk, catching Dog in the headlights as she leapt out of the way and ran for it. Shadow froze and barked madly at the truck.
    â€œRun him over!” Beck slapped the dash. “Come on, Brady. I dare you!”
    â€œDon’t!” Zoe reached across and grabbed the wheel.
    â€œShadow!” Dog screamed. “Come on, boy! COME HERE!”
    Shadow barked once more at the truck and then crossed the road to Dog.
    â€œ
Don’t!
” Heather mimicked Zoe’s panic, which started them all laughing, except Zoe. “Like he would’ve, spaz case.”

stuck
    Mrs. Henley kept Zoe and Dog after class one day a couple of weeks later. Beck had skipped again, but Lindsay and Jazz were there to make it all worse than it had to be. They