When best friends Claire and Jo wake up trapped in a fantasy romance novel, Claire thinks it's a dream come true while Jo knows it's her worst nightmare - especially after they are almost killed by a monster and end up on the wrong end of a handsome...
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IT WAS EXCEPTIONALLY hot in South Carolina, and the air was thick and heavy with humidity. Sweat rolled down my forehead and down my neck within minutes of standing outside. I checked my phone again. "Where the hell is she?" I snapped. A woman wearing a yellow sundress and red fishing cap stepped out of the local Goodwill and looked at me as if I was the crazy one.
I heard Jo before I saw her. Music blared through the open windows of her mom's Honda. It did not look like a car that belonged to an aspiring rockstar. I climbed inside, but there was no reprieve from the heat. "Okay, Ringo, that's enough of that," I told her, turning down the music to a tolerable level. Off. She glared at me. I tried to hide my smile. "What happened to our deal? You're not backing out on me, are you?"
Rolling her eyes, Jo pulled out of the shopping center and into the heart of town. It was no surprise that the roads were vacant considering the heat. In July, no one came out of their houses unless they absolutely needed to. Jo reached for the radio, turning it to a station that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. "You said nothing about metal," she shrugged when I glared at her.
Leave it to Jo to find the loophole in any agreement. Our deal was supposed to get us to have a fulfilled summer outside of reading books or playing guitars. But if she wanted to play that game, then I would too! I pulled out my favorite book, Swords and Roses, and picked up where I left off: Lady Heathwood tending to Sir Ashwell's wounds after a horrific accident. But it didn't take long for Jo to try to snatch it. "What happened to the No Reading–No Music deal? We still have another month before school starts back."
I pressed myself into the passenger door, holding the book out of her reach. "You already broke that deal, my friend."
"Well," Jo started, lips curling into a smile. "If you listened closely, you would've heard that was my demo."
"What?"
"And that's not all. Because of that demo, I have an agent. Well, he's more like a sponsor, but that's semantics. I'm on the road to getting the fuck out of here come graduation. We're on our way to California, Claire!"
I grinned back. "You'll come visit me at Stanford even when you're rich and famous, right?"
"Duh!" Jo laughed. I did, too. It seemed like everything was falling into place. I had a few more applications to send out for scholarships and research a few more backup colleges, and Jo had a whole demo up her sleeve. We only had one more year of high school to get through and then we'd be off, getting out of this place and leaving its negativity behind.
About a block away from Jo's house, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A cat. There was a little tabby cat struggling to get trash out of a dumpster. "Oh no," Jo sighed, catching sight of it too.
"Pull over," I said. "I need to get it."
"And then what? Keep it?" she demanded, but the car slowed down to a stop next to the sidewalk. "I bet that'll go over really well with your mom."
