Out of This World by Charles De Lint Read Free Book Online Page B

forest, its canopy so dense that it feels like twilight down here.
    As we walk I catch a glimpse of something moving off to our left. My nose tells me it’s a deer a moment before I catch a glimpse of its disappearing flanks, white tail bobbing. The mountain lion’s hunting instinct wants me to chase after it and grumbles when I stay on the trail with Tío Goyo.
    He shoots me a questioning glance, which I ignore.
    I haven’t particularly noticed the land rising underfoot, but a moment later the trail takes us out of the forest to the top of a broad plateau. There’s still vegetation here—tall fir trees, some kind of browning grass, along with lots of big rocks, some flat and the size of a city lot, others rounded.
    â€œThis is as good a place as any to camp for the night,” Tío Goyo says.
    When he drops his backpack under one of the towering fir trees, I do the same.
    â€œYou’re sure about this time thing, right?” I say. “I don’t want Elzie to get hurt while I’m off camping in the woods with you.”
    â€œI’m sure. But consider this: until we fix the map in your head, you won’t be able to find her anyway.”
    I don’t want to think about that.
    I watch as he starts to scoop together pine needles. When I realize he’s making himself a mattress, I copy what he’s doing, rolling out a blanket on top of the makeshift bed just the way he does. Then we gather wood and he makes a small fire on a flat slab of stone that abuts the nearest of the big rounded rocks. He pulls a frying pan out of his pack and I expect him to make some kind of meal, except he just takes out a couple of foil-wrapped burritos and heats them up. I want to ask where they came from, but decide to live in the moment, letting the delicious flavours explode in my mouth.
    It’s been a long day with way too much to process, but for once my mind’s not running at a mile a minute. I don’t know if I’m just tired from racing up and down the gulch earlier, or if it’s something about this place, but after we’ve eaten I’m content to bunch up my blanket and lean back to watch the sky.
    The sunset is amazing—the sky fills with colour from one end of the western horizon to the other. When the sun finally slips away, it gets dark even for my Wildling eyes, but not for long. The sky is impossibly big, the stars spilling across it in a dazzling array. When the moon rises it’s just this side of full and so bright that everything is as clear as day around me. The air’s so clean and sharp it tastes the way I imagine winter would.
    â€œIt’s beautiful here,” I say.
    Tío Goyo nods. “A night like this is a gift from the Thunders.”

I’m in that in-between moment when you’re not quite awake, but not fully asleep—where if you’re left alone, it could go either way—except then I hear my little sister open my bedroom door.
    â€œMom!” Molly yells. “Des has a girl in his room!”
    I come all the way awake to see Donalita curled up beside me on the bed. She’s outside the covers and I’m under them, but still.
    I am so dead.
    Donalita’s eyes open. She smiles at me. I can hear my mother coming down the hall. She won’t be smiling at all.
    â€œGet out of here,” I tell Donalita even though there’s no time.
    Mom’s pushing the door open.
    Donalita winks and rolls off the bed. She lands with a soft thump on the carpet, then disappears under the bed.
    â€œDesmond Wilson!” Mom starts as she bursts in.
    Then she stops because what is she going to do? Yell at me because I’m still in bed at seven on a Friday morning? I never get up until the last minute. And it’s obvious there’s no one in the room with me.
    But she’s not completely trusting.
    â€œJeez,” I say. “A little privacy maybe?”
    We’ve had discussions before about