Chapter 1

DanielleI STARED DOWN at my dashboard console and willed the check engine light to stop the infernal red glow. How I got where I was, I had no freaking clue, which meant I had no freaking clue how to find the freeway entrance to get home. “You are an idiot, Dani,” I whispered out loud.As if on a mission from the devil, my nineteen ninety-nine Honda shuddered, then back-fired, slowing to a crawl as I inched forward down a non-descript side street. Why Portland didn’t have better signage was beyond me.I jumped as my cell phone pealed in the silence of the car. Without looking at the screen, because really, I was trying not to end up dead in some obscure place I’d never been before, I flipped it open. “Hello,” I whispered.“Why are we whispering?” Kim, my best friend of more than ten years, whispered back.I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. “I’m kind of lost and my stupid car won’t go over nineteen miles an hour.”