We didn’t walk around Harbor Springs for long. We went to the nearest store and warmed up. Even though we wouldn’t be killed by the cold, it was still no fun to walk in the cold.

It was a little bookstore, called Between the Covers. It was a cozy little place with many rows of bookshelves and squashy chairs. It made me want to curl up and read, and I don’t even like reading.

The heater was on full blast, and the few people in there seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

“Can I help you two?” An old woman in a blue and purple paisley dress asked us. She had silver hair in a bun, and glasses barely hanging on to her nose.

“Um, no, we’re just browsing.” I answered. 

“Just let me know.” The old lady, Perla, as her name plate said, went back to work on an old computer.

Liam led me to the back and we sat down in some armchairs. They were so comfy, I sank down, and almost fell asleep.
I barely noticed when Liam got up; my eyes were half closed. Liam came back with a thick navy blue book that said ‘Cities of Michigan’ in gold. 

Liam flipped through and stopped on an old yellowing page in the middle of the book.

“Okay, Harbor Springs . . . we need to go south, and a little bit west . . . nearest train station . . ?”

“No money, no train.” I murmured.

“Oh, yeah.” Liam frowned. “Hm.” Liam flipped through the book, and got another. I don’t know when I fell asleep, or how long I slept, but the next thing I remembered was Liam gently shaking me.

“Nataaaaasha,” He said. “Wake u-up.”

“Nat.” I corrected groggily. I blinked my eyes.

“We should get going.” He said. It was starting to get dark outside. We waved goodbye to Perla and walked out on the cold streets.

“Did you find a way to get to your grandpa’s?” I asked. 

Liam looked down. “Nope.” I tried not to sigh, that would make Liam feel worse.

“You hungry?” He asked.

“Yeah, a little.” I said.
“There’s a pizza place down the street.” He offered.
“Pizza sounds good.” 

We made our way to Turkey’s Cafe and Pizzeria. It was very warm there, probably from the pizza oven. 

I ordered a small pepperoni pizza, and Liam got Hawaiian (gross, right?!). We ate in silence for a while, watching the mostly empty street through the window.

“I saw a ‘help wanted’ sign.” Liam commented.

“Ooh-kay.” I said. “Can you give me more useless information?”

“Buuuut‒”
“Liam, if you think one of us can work here for like, ten minutes, and make enough money to ride the bus or whatever, you’re crazy.” I said.

“No, no,” Liam said. “Although that is a good idea.” He lowered his voice so the man and woman working at the counter wouldn’t hear us. “One of us could pretend to be interested in a job here, and the other one can steal one of their car keys!” 

I stared at him. “You want to steal a car.” 

“Borrow.” Liam corrected.

“Oh, sorry,” I said sarcastically. “You want us to borrow a car without permission?”
“Mmmm, yep.” Oh, lord, this guy was going to kill me!

“That’s a terrible idea!” I hissed. “I don’t want to be a criminal!”

“Oh, that’s okay, you can stay here and die.” Liam shrugged. I glared at him.

“Fine. But I’m doing the talking, you’re doing the stealing.” I agreed. Liam grinned.

◈  ◈  ◈

“And action!” Liam pushed me inside. He stood off to the side outside the door. I spotted the car keys earlier, dangling on a hook in the kitchen. 

I asked him to explain the full details of his plan, because I didn’t trust him. We needed one of us to be invisible, and the other to distract the workers, because I thought the workers would notice some car keys dangling in midair.

I walked into the pizzeria, and approached the man and woman at the counter. The man was large and wore a stained white uniform. He had black hair under a hat.

The woman was slim, and wore the same uniform, but it was black. She had long black hair with a pink stripe, and  bright magenta lips.

“Weren’t you just here?” She asked. Her name plate said, Blaire. 

“Um, yes.” I answered. “I was eating, and I saw the help wanted sign, and I need a job so‒”
“AH!” The man said loudly. I couldn’t read his name plate, it had pizza sauce on it. “You want to join the Turkey crew, eh?” He had a faint Italian accent, and pronounced his J’s like G’s.

“Um, yes.” I saw the door swing open out of the corner of my eye. Invisible Liam had come in. The workers didn’t notice. 

“How old are you?” Blaire asked, sounding bored, but looking excited.
“I turned sixteen in August.” I answered.

“Okay, this is great!” Blaire said. “We haven’t had new workers in forever. Right, Manny?”

“Yes, yes!” Manny agreed. 

These people were kind of creepy, definitely not people I’d want to work with.

“Have you had any experience?” Manny asked.
“Yes, I used to work at Papa Murphy's in Florida.” I lied.

“Excellent. Your position?” Blaire asked, madly scribbling notes down.

“Um . . . cashier?” It sounded too much like a question. Blaire frowned. She jotted down more notes.

“Um, sorry.” I said.

Manny laughed, sounding very Italian now. “Cashier no problemo!” He said.

“Yeah, we just need more pizza makers. We have like two. And one is terrified of cockroaches!” Blaire sighed. 

 saw the keys floating towards us. Liam had gotten them! I told myself to calm down. He still had to get out of here.

“Can I meet them?” I said loudly.

“Sure.” Blaire shrugged.

“Bryan! Mila!” Manny yelled. A tall guy and a very short woman came out of the kitchen. Maybe the woman just looked short next to the man. The keys dropped very low, I guessed Liam was crawling.

The door opened.
“Why is the door open?” Mila asked. I panicked.

“COCKROACH!” I screamed. A piercing scream came out of Mila. 

“WHERE? WHERE?” She jumped on the counter. 

“Get off the counter!” Manny yelled.
“I’LL KILL IT!” The tall guy, Bryan shouted. He pulled bug spray out from under the counter.

“NO! I’M ALLERGIC!” Blaire hollered.
“AHHHHH!” Mila screamed.
“SHUT UP!” Manny yelled. In all the chaos, I slipped out the door.

Liam was standing outside, grinning smugly.

“Told you it would work.” He said. I punched his arm.

“Who did all the talking?” I asked. “Who caused all that chaos?” I gestured inside.

Bryan had put the bug spray away, and was uncontrollably spraying the fire extinguisher.
“We should go before that dies down.” Liam said. He clicked a button on the keys, and a blue car beeped.

It was a small-ish car, not quite a sports car, but good enough.

“Let’s go.” He got in the driver’s seat, and I slid in the passenger seat. He started the car and we began to drive.

“God, I hope you have your license.” I muttered.

“Of course I have a license.” Liam answered. 

“With you right now?” I pressed.

“Oh.” Liam said. I groaned.
“Make one!” Was his genius answer. 

“Out of what?” I growled.
“Ice!” A few minutes later, I had used my powers to make an ice license, complete with a picture of Liam sneezing.

“Aw, come on!” Liam complained. The license was blue and ice cold. Because it was ice. We decided that if an officer pulled us over, we’d say klumsy Liam had dropped it in a pond. (That was my idea).

I smiled and looked out the window. Our adventure had begun.