Free Speed Demon by ERIN LYNN Page A

own destiny?”
    She sighed in relief. “That’s true. Why don’t you do it next, Madison?”
    Madison tossed her peel over her left shoulder. It landed in a D shape. “Well, an R for Reggie was going to be impossible to get, so I choose to not believe this tradition. Your turn, Kenzie.”
    “Okay.” I peeled an apple from the bag into a nice long red skin strand and set the uneaten apple part down. I turned with my back to the wall and decided I really needed to smack it against the wall and have it crumple into a pile so that it didn’t manage to land in an L shape, which was highly likely given the shape of an apple peel. But of course no one else would choose to see it as statistically probable and would say Levi and I were supposed to be together or something insane like that. That was all I needed to complete my night.
    I tossed it as hard as I could, expecting to hear a whack as it hit the wall, but I didn’t. Turning around I asked, “Where did it go?”
    They were all laughing. Isabella grinned at me. “Your aim sucks. It shot two feet to the left and went straight through the hole between the two pieces of plastic. That was classic.”
    “It went through the hole ?” The hole I had made with the minivan? The hole that was supposed to be covered in plastic and that was probably a demon portal? Oopsie. That was probably a bad thing. “I’d better go get it.” With my luck my mother would slip on it and break her arm in the garage.
    I opened the door to the garage and flicked on the light. I didn’t see the peel immediately so I eyed the hole in the drywall suspiciously and inched toward it. I didn’t want to be sucked into the portal. I spotted the peel lying next to the tire of the minivan, right under the hole. I went to grab it and let out a yelp, jumping back a foot.
    Holy Red Delicious . . . The apple peel was bleeding all over the concrete. A thick, mucky red slime was oozing out like Jell-O blood and there was a hissing sound, like air being let out of a tire.
    “Uh . . . don’t panic, Kenzie. Just step away from the apple peel.” I backed up slowly, keeping my eye on that thing.
    I had barely gone two inches in retreat when it growled at me. A freaking apple peel was growling at me like a dog with a juicy bone. I started shuffling backward faster, trying to convince myself that I did not see a pair of angry, glowing black eyes in the sloppy slimy mess the peel had become. When I thought I was close enough to the door, I turned and ran like the total wimp that I was, slamming the kitchen door behind me and locking it.
    Of course, there was still a gaping hole in the wall, but it was reflex (or pants-wetting fear) that made me turn the deadbolt.
    “Where’s the apple peel?” Madison asked.
    “Couldn’t find it,” I said breathlessly, trying to calm my pounding heart. “I need to tell Levi something. Be right back.” I booked it into the family room, knowing my friends were probably questioning my sanity, but not caring. I didn’t even want to be in the kitchen, let alone within grabbing distance of that peel/portal. I shuddered as I visualized that disgusting mess again.
    Yeah, demon slayer. So me. Not. I was afraid of fruit, which was just totally pathetic.
    The guys were watching Halloween on DVD and three of the seven of them glanced at me as I came into the room and hovered. Dirk stuck his tongue out at me, Adam gave me a look of longing like he wished it was me on the couch next to him instead of Reggie (me too, would give anything to be encircled in Adam’s arm watching scary events unfold instead of living them), and Levi looked over at me, mildly curious.
    Dilemma. How did I let Levi know I wanted to talk to him without making Adam mad? I continued to hover behind the couch waiting for them to stop caring what I was doing and turn back around, hopefully in the order I wanted: Dirk, Adam, Levi. When I didn’t respond to Dirk’s “pay attention to me” tongue-out-of-mouth