Free The Journey by Jennifer Ensley Page A

gagged a little then. “Drella, don’t.” I gagged again. “Don’t even talk about… it .”
    “It? What it? Mayo?”
    I cupped my mouth and gagged, again .
    He busted out laughing then, bending over double. “You can’t even say the word, and you expect me to believe you could watch snakes crawl out of some dude’s eyes?”
    “Shhh… Stop it. What if he can hear you? Don’t wake him up.”
    “Wake him up?” He kept laughing through his words. “He’s an Angel, Pooh. I promise, he’s not sleeping.”
    “That’s it.” I started rummaging through my trusty backpack. “Ah hah!” I jerked out a wad of keys with a tiny flashlight hanging from the keychain.
    Drella quit laughing then. “Hey, where’d you get that ?”
    “I pulled it out of my butt. Where’d you think? You just watched me get it out of my bag.”
    He tried to look down inside my old leather companion. “What else you got in there, besides Pooh Bear and the butterfly shawl?”
    I slammed both hands down atop the closed flap. “None of your business. Lots of stuff. I travel, remember? I ditched the luggage a long time ago. If I need it, it’s in this bag.”
    “Everything you need?”
    “Well… all the essentials. Everything from clean underwear to my debit card.”
    “Wait… what’s this?”
    He pulled out a little pink square that was peeking through the open zipper.
    “That’s English tea.”
    “Tea? That’s an essential?”
    “It is to me.”
    “And this?”
    He pulled something white out. I grabbed it.
    “Aforementioned underwear. Now stop.” I stuffed everything back in except the tiny flashlight. “You can’t always find decent underwear or English tea. I’ve got my passport, different kinds of money, a toothbrush, my pink sandals, a water bottle, Pooh Bear, my shawl. You know… stuff like that.”
    “So you buy everything else and just, what… leave it when you go?”
    “Pretty much, yeah. I don’t really do the whole hotel thing anymore. I prefer to stay in Temples, shelters, people’s homes on occasion. I buy what I need when I get there, then I give it away when I go.”
    He snorted. “You give your short little dresses to monks?”
    I rolled my eyes. “Yes… and they’re not short. Temples and shelters are the best places to stay. I cook and clean while I’m there—get to know most of the people. That silly little cotton dress I found in an open market for like three American dollars, it’s precious enough to a girl living in a shelter that she would cry tears of joy over it. Monks—they always know of someone who can use my things, someone who really needs them. I don’t live extravagantly—don’t have the funds for it, really. And I give back every chance I get. It’s no big deal.”
    He hugged me then, but didn’t say a word.
    “Well, wish me luck.”
    He sniffed. “I’ll be waiting right here.”
    I switched on the flashlight. It didn’t make much of a dent, but it was better than going in blind.
    “Wait, Pooh.”
    “Huh?”
    “There’s some stuff I forgot to tell you.”
    I switched the light back off. “Okay… Like what? Rules?”
    “More like… guidelines.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “Don’t talk to him.”
    “Don’t talk to him?”
    “That’s right. Just get his blood and get back out. Don’t tell him anything about yourself, and don’t ask him any questions.”
    “…Okaay. But I thought you said he would probably demand something of me.”
    “He can’t demand , but I’m all but certain he’ll ask. Try your best to just ignore him, if you can. Oh, and I’m not real sure you can take that .” He motioned toward the pink metal cylinder in my hand. “The light may go out, or simply stop you. Kind of like how I’m stopped right now. But I’m not sure. Oh, and don’t leave any of your belongings down there. You hear me?”
    “Yeah. But I thought you said he was bound. What’s he gonna do? Riffle through my backpack and skip around in my