Free Doll Bones by Holly Black Page B

I want us to make a fire and warm our bones. Then, in the morning, we can decide what to do from there. Should you, fair maid, wish to return home upon the morrow, then we shall entertain your arguments.”
    She laughed tiredly and looped her arm with his. “Fine. But I am going to want to go home upon the morrow, so plan on that happening.”
    “See, you missed the game.” Poppy’s mouth lifted in a triumphant smile. “You missed us playing. Admit it.”
    Zach stopped abruptly, whirling on her, the spell broken. “I told you not to talk about that, and you said you wouldn’t .” His voice came out harsher than he’d intended, almost a growl. Poppy took a step back.
    “Okay,” Alice said, grabbing his shoulder and propelling him down the alley. “So long as we’re not freezing, I won’t call home. If we can make camp, get warm, and sleep for a while, then let’s do that and try not to get in more trouble than we’re already in.”
    “Lady Jaye would be good at surviving on the streets,” Poppy said innocently.
    Zach glared.
    “What? I was talking to Alice, not you. I’m allowed to talk to Alice about the game, aren’t I? You didn’t make any rules about that.”
    Alice sighed. “I don’t even know what you two are fighting about. You both want to stay on this crazy adventure, and that’s what we’re doing.”
    “We should keep off big roads,” Zach warned, pointing toward a narrow street up ahead. “If someone sees us with the map and the flashlight, they’re going to guess we’re lost kids or runaways or something. We already had those people at the bus station after us.”
    “We still don’t know if they were really chasing us,” Poppy said. “Maybe they wanted to apologize about the crazy guy. Maybe they were afraid we were going to miss the bus. Or maybe they were aliens trying to take our faces.”
    Zach raised his eyebrows and started walking.
    “Oh fine, yeah, let’s use the dark scary road,” Alice said, but she followed him anyway. “Let me see the map.”
    Poppy handed it over along with the flashlight. The asphalt of the alley was cracked, and they had to be careful not to stumble as they headed down it, passing heaped mounds of garbage and the back doors of restaurants.
    There was a strange quiet in the air, as though everyone and everything was asleep. The echo of their footsteps was the loudest sound for several blocks. It felt both eerie and kind of exciting to Zach. It seemed to him that the whole world had become theirs for a little while.
    “There’s a stretch of woods,” Alice said, waving the map. “Close to the water. We’d have to cross the highway to get there, but we’re not too far.”
    “Is it a lot of woods?”
    “Not really. But it’s a park. Like a small, protected-area park looking out on the water, not a kid park with swings. Too small for a fire to be hidden, but probably big enough that we’re not going to be seen from the road.”
    Zach nodded and let her direct them. He didn’t know how to make a fire anyway. It had just seemed like something that you did when you made camp, along with making stews and playing lutes and swigging from jugs of cider.
    “This was such a terrible idea,” Alice muttered as they walked. “How did you convince me this was a good idea? This was a terrible, terrible, terrible idea.”
    They passed a supermarket with trucks pulled up to the back unloading flats of cardboard boxes. They passed a donut shop, closed, but with a light on inside. It gave off a warm waft of fresh dough and melting sugar. Zach’s stomach growled, and he fished a Twizzler out of the pack. In comparison to the delicious smell, the candy tasted like sweet rubber.
    He dug around and took out enough to give Alice and Poppy a couple of Twizzlers each, in case they were hungry too.
    “Thank you, kind sir,” said Poppy, with a little bow.
    “I am not doing that with you,” Zach said, biting the Twizzler savagely.
    Poppy looked crestfallen,