Free The Reason by Marley Gibson

change," he tells me. "After the team bus drops us off, I'll get my Jeep. Then meet up with us at Finnian's Restaurant, okay?" He leans in for a quick kiss that tastes salty.
    "Sure thing," I manage to say in my swoony state. I find my posse and ask if they're ready to go.
    "I'm gonna ride with Dragon," Becca says. Dragon's actually Brent Dragisich, her boyfriend, who decided to show up at the game even though he'd told her earlier that it was "lame."
    "You sure?"
    "Yeah, no prob. Where are y'all meeting up?" she asks.
    "Finnian's."
    "See ya there."
    I turn to Celia. "Where's Taylor?"
    Celia points to an older couple. "She's with Ryan's parents, over there. He's not taking the bus back to Radisson, so she's gonna ride with them."
    I crinkle my smile. "Looks like it's just you and me, kid."
    Celia laughs and we head back out to my car.
    Fifteen minutes later, we're returning to Radisson on the winding back roads. "Why didn't we follow the team bus and take the interstate?"
    Celia looks at her cell phone. "The GPS said this way was quicker."
    I roll my eyes at her and keep driving. Such a techno geek. If it lights up, beeps, or connects to the Internet, Celia Nichols
must
have it in her possession. And I'm not convinced that the GPS is all that it's cracked up to be. Why in the world would it take us on County Road 215 when just twenty miles down the road there's a perfectly good interstate highway that President Eisenhower took a lot of trouble to have built for us.
    Whatev. "Crank up that Kaskade CD. I just got the new one and it's totally awesome."
    Celia inserts the disk into my player and we jam out as I concentrate on the dimly lit road with the thick yellow lines.
    "So, did I tell you about this new piece of equipment I've ordered?" Celia asks. "It's called the Ovilus and we can use it in our investigations."
    "A what?"
    "Ovilus. It's made by this guy who's a former engineer. It's got an array of sensors that detect various environmental conditions. It adds all of the data together and equates that value with a word from the dictionary."
    "Whoa, Geek Girl. That's way over my head," I say with a laugh. "In English, please?"
    Celia snickers. "It has a dictionary that will speak out, and supposedly it's spirits coming through. I had Loreen order one because the guy doesn't like to sell to underage people. She's going to learn how to use it and bring it on our next investigation."
    "Okay, that sounds cool. Just another tool in our ghost-hunting kit. Just like me," I say. Celia's always referring to me as a tool in her ghost-hunting kit.
    "Absomalutely," she says. "He's got a website called Digital-Dowsing.com —he's looking to make you and your pendulum obsolete."
    "Never," I say firmly.
    "You should check out his website. He's got this other thing called the paranormal puck that—oh my God, Kendall! Watch out!"
    Celia's bloodcurdling scream scares the holy shit out of me and I blink hard to focus on the road ahead. Out of nowhere, a deer has suddenly appeared in the middle of the winding road, its eyes shining with the reflection of my headlights. I jerk the wheel to the left and concentrate on keeping the Fit on the road and not in the nearby ditch as I try to avoid slamming into Bambi's mom and making her a permanent fixture on my hood.
    Celia's got the sissy bar firmly in her grip, and both of our seat belts lock up, pulling us snugly back into the bucket seats. I apply the brakes firmly, just like my driver's ed teacher taught me, and try not to panic as I bring the car to a stop. The road is deserted save for us and the near-roadkill. The deer eyeballs me with something resembling street attitude in her face and then scampers across the road to safety.
    My breathing is staggered and I find it hard to steady it. Tears sting at the back of my eyes, but I won't let them fall. I did everything I was supposed to do. I kept the car under control and no one was hurt. I've seen pictures of what deer can do to