Free Zera and the Green Man by Sandra Knauf Page A

calls just to get my work responsibilities in order!” She turned to The Toad. “I just thought of something else we’ll have to figure out. Moving your things.” She laughed. “Though you’ll certainly be able to afford to replace most everything.”
    “Can I see them?” asked Zera.
    Tiffany tossed her keys to The Toad. He caught them for a moment in one large warty hand, before fumbling and dropping them.
    “It’s the round one, right?” he asked, picking them up.
    “Yes, Teddy.”
    He unlocked the trunk. It was filled with suitcases; two black ones that belonged to her uncle, her red plaid suitcase, and several large leopard-print ones, Tiffany’s. Stuck in a corner was a cardboard box filled with plants. Sunny sat secure in her terrarium, in the middle of them all, cushioned by a thick towel.
    Zera peeked into the terrarium and saw that one of Sunny’s beautiful traps was brown. It looked burnt. She gritted her teeth at the sight. “What happened to her?”
    Theodore leaned over to look, his expression puzzled. “Goodness. How did that . . .? Oh no.” He turned to her, looking a bit pale. “It was me, Zera. After packing, but before loading the car, we were having lunch and I put very tiny piece of burg-fry in one of the traps. It must have been too much protein, and it burned it. I’m sorry.”
    Zera felt her face go hot with anger. It was bad enough that Tiffany had no doubt rummaged through her drawers, throwing her things into a suitcase, and probably making faces of disgust as she went through her clothes. Now this. The Toad poisoned Sunny. She glared at her uncle but almost instantly regretted it. He looked almost sick himself. The anger subsided. She’ll recover .
    The realization that she was going to see Nonny surfaced again. I need to focus on how happy I am to be getting out of here. The Toad must have been the one who had carefully packed the plants, and he’d done a good job of that. They were all cushioned, secure. She let her anger go and it sailed away like a dandelion seed on a breeze.
    “Accidents happen, I guess,” she said. “Could I have them in the back with me?”
    “There’s no way you’re setting that cardboard box on my upholstery.” Tiffany strolled over to the trunk and, with a bit more force than necessary, slammed it shut.
    With Tiffany in the driver’s seat, the trio headed west.

Chapter Eight
     
     
     
    In the back of Tiffany’s metallic gold convertible, which Zera had dubbed the Barbie-Mobile, Zera watched the suburban scenery speed by as rock music pounded through her silver hoop ear-tunes. She’d found the hoops in her jewelry case, in a bag on the back seat, along with a lunch sack holding a vitamin bar and a can of diet soda, Tiffany’s idea of a sack lunch. 
    Zera glanced at Tiffany and her uncle. Tiffany had been chattering nonstop since the ride began. Zera tried to listen in earlier, but with the car’s top down, it was impossible. She decided to listen to music instead.
    Half an hour out, she texted Abby. Abby was the only thing that she’d miss in Piker (although Jake and his smile, and eyes, had flashed in her mind more than once since leaving the school). She hoped Abby would be a little disappointed that she’d left so unexpectedly. A few minutes later she received a reply: “Sad for me but SOOOO HAPPY 4 U!!! Hope u get 2 stay! Sorry haven’t been around as much lately. Miss u already!” A panorama of grasslands replaced tract homes as they flew across cattle ranching country. Herds of cows, heads bent down to the grass, tails swishing, seemed oblivious to all but their world of sky and grass and biting flies. Zera wondered if any of them were destined to end up at American Burger Depot .
    As the heavy metal beat of Metallica drummed in her ears, the landscape changed again. The car now climbed toward the towering peaks of the Rocky Mountains, the road winding through boulder-strewn meadows and forests of white-barked aspen trees