Page 96 of The Glittering Edge

Dylan holds up a flask. “I’m drank. I mean, drunk. And I need a ride. Unless you want me to get in Daddy’s truck and run down some pedestrians?”

Penny’s stomach sinks. Did Dylan deliberately get drunk after she drove to the café so Penny would be forced to drive her home? Seems a little extreme when they could just have a conversation, but knowing Dylan’s reputation, she probably has something else planned.

“Why are you really here, Dylan?”

Dylan shrugs. “I figured if Corey likes you so much, I should find out why.”

“Nothing’s going on between us, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Penny says.

“Of course not. Look at you.”

Penny can’t even find it in herself to be offended. She could call somebody else to pick Dylan up, except this is basically divine intervention. The universe is presenting this opportunity on a silver platter, even though giving anybody a truth serum seems morally wrong in every imaginable way.

But what if the Mayberrysdidcurse the Barrions? Figuring this out will change the course of everything—her mom’s life, Corey’s life,and the future of his entire family. And it’s selfish, but all Penny can picture is her mom opening her eyes and coming home.

Penny sucks in a breath. “Fine. Do you have a purse?”

Dylan looks at her like she doesn’t understand the wordpurse, but then she says, “Obviously. Go get it.” And she throws her keys at Penny’s feet.

There’s a bottle of water on the floor of the King Ranch. Penny takes out the truth serum and dumps the full contents into the bottle, hoping Alonso didn’t forget to tell her she should only give Dylan a single drop or something. Penny’s life is becoming a fairy tale gone wrong.

She takes the water and Dylan’s purse and locks up the truck. Dylan is splayed against the Prius for balance, and when she sees Penny, she claps her hands twice.

“Chop, chop, Penny Emberly,” Dylan says. “I’ve got places to be.”

And I’ve got a curse to break, Penny thinks.

Penny

AFTER SENDING RON A TEXT TO MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T TOW DYLAN’Struck, Penny finds herself sitting in the Prius with her first superdrunk passenger. Dylan took off her shoes the second she got in the car, and now she’s staring at Penny with sick-looking eyes. Booze eyes.

“You’re worried about me. That’s precious.” Dylan reaches out and pulls a strand of Penny’s hair.

“Stop,” Penny says, pushing her hand away.

“People like you remind me why I’m not nice. It’s so easy to take advantage of nice.”

Penny hands her the water bottle. “You need to hydrate.”

“Ew.” Dylan drops the bottle into a cup holder and opens her sticker-covered flask.

“Can you please put that away? I don’t want to get pulled over.”

Dylan smirks and takes a long swig. “Getting a ticket wouldn’t be the worst thing that’s ever happened to you. How’s your mom, by the way?”

The unexpected question makes Penny take a turn a lot faster than she should. The flask flies out of Dylan’s hand, clear liquid spilling onto the foot mat. The smell of cheap vodka fills the car.

Dylan lets out an agonized whine. “That was the last of my Smirnoff!”

Penny ignores her, because if she opens her mouth, she might scream. Instead, she drives with her hands at ten and two and takes nice, slow breaths. Calm breaths. Because Penny is calm.

“If I’d known you were such a shitty driver, I would’ve made you give me the keys,” Dylan says. “Seriously, take it up to the speed limit at least. You don’t have to drive like an old lady to—”

“Shut up,” Penny says, and then she adds, “Please.”

And to her surprise, Dylan listens.

They drive on through Idlewood, passing familiar streets and shops and houses. This town might be the only common ground they have—besides Corey.

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