Free Silence - eARC by Mercedes Lackey, Cody Martin

them were things she’d never watch or listen to. She had a pretty good idea that Dad had told Brenda to get movies and music, and Brenda had cleaned out a thrift store or three. She’d cherry-picked what she wanted, and left the rest in the boxes downstairs, only to find the boxes gone today. She had a pretty good notion that Mom had taken them for herself or to try to pawn for more beer money. Well, okay, it wasn’t as if it was anything she wanted, but now that she knew Mom had developed sticky fingers, she figured she’d better start locking her room when she wasn’t home. Which was depressing. You weren’t supposed to have to hide your stuff from your parents because your parents would steal it.
    There were more of those creepy lawn gnomes around town, including one in the backyard of the house next door, and one in the front lawn of the house across the street. Where were they coming from anyway? And who would even want to buy one?
    She was thinking about that as she browsed the bottom of a bookshelf at the back of Tim’s store, waiting for the others to arrive. Somehow, even without the Internet, Tim managed to get some pretty good stuff in. Maybe it’s all just someone’s idea of an epic prank. It wasn’t as if there was much to do here. Maybe someone had made the original, then made a mold so he could make lots of copies and was planting them around town to see who noticed and what they’d do. Kind of crazy, but bored people did crazy things sometimes.
    The bell rang on the front door; Staci looked up, expecting to see her new friends. They had said they would be getting there around now. Instead…it was Dylan, still in his biker leathers. The way the sunlight streaming through the door hit his hair, it almost looked like he was wearing a halo. Once the door shut behind him, he turned to face Tim. Immediately, Tim’s face hardened. His entire posture changed; it was almost like he was ready to attack, or defend himself. Meanwhile, Dylan appeared nonchalant; a bit of a smirk, leaning against the wall next to the register. The two men were talking quietly; even in the relative silence of the bookstore, Staci couldn’t hear them. She didn’t want to eavesdrop…but she couldn’t help herself. Out of curiosity, she slowly walked forward, pretending to browse the shelves as she went.
    “…I don’t care why you’re here. I just don’t want any trouble.”
    Dylan cocked his head to the side. “Now, why do you think there’s going to be any trouble?”
    “You know exactly what I mean. I want no part of any of it. Understand?”
    Just then, Staci bumped her knee into the edge of a small table, letting out a yelp of pain as she stumbled forward. Dylan and Tim both stopped talking to look at her.
    After a tense couple of seconds, Tim spoke. “I had forgotten you were back there.”
    “I’m just waiting for the gang,” she said, and started to move back towards the coffee bar. “I didn’t interrupt anything, I hope…”
    “Nothing important.” Dylan looked at Tim for a moment. “I think we understand each other.” As he turned and opened the door, he called over his shoulder. “Nice to see you again, Staci.”
    Staci thought that Tim looked like he wanted to say something more, but Dylan was already gone. Before the door had closed behind him, it swung open again; her friends had arrived, all of them greeting Tim and talking amongst themselves as they made their way to Staci.
    What was that all about? She could understand a cop hassling Dylan; so far, he was the only person she’d seen in this town that even looked remotely like someone who might be in a biker gang. But why would Tim go after him? And what was that about “not wanting any trouble”?
    “That guy that was leaving when you came in—” she said tentatively to the others. “You guys know him?”
    The other four looked at each other, then at her. Wanda was the one who answered. “He’s been around here for a couple weeks. I