Jace crouched at the foot of his driveway. The car, with its battery disconnected and sitting in the driver’s seat, was next to him.

Jace stayed in the deep shadow of the big elm. It blocked all the light from the streetlamps, hiding him. His mom would go crazy if she discovered he’d left his room, never mind the house itself.

“Where is Sam? Why is he always late?” he muttered to himself.

Then he heard the distinctive sound of Sam’s wagon wheels, squeaking and bumping up Juniper Lane.

“Finally,” Jace whispered into the darkness.

“Sorry,” Sam said, a little too loud. “I had to wait for my dad to finish working in the garage, so I could get the wagon.”

“It’s okay, let’s go,” Jace said. He lifted the back of the little car. “You get the front,” he said.

Sam shook his head. “Uh-uh,” he said. “I’m not touching that thing. I don’t want to die.”

Jace rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said.

He hefted the car into the wagon. Then he led the way.

It was a long walk, and the car seemed to get heavier and heavier as they went.

The wagon got harder to pull. The last quarter mile seemed to be straight up. But finally, they reached the top of Dead Man’s Hill.

“Here we are,” Jace said. He leaned as far as he would risk and peered down at the rocky shores of the lake. It looked like it was a mile down.

“Now what?” Sam asked.

“Now we push the car off the cliff,” Jace said. “It smashes to bits on the rocks, we go home, and we never talk about this evil car again.”

“Good plan,” Sam said.

Jace tumbled the car out of the wagon and set it on its wheels at the edge of the cliff.

Sam frowned. “I wonder why it’s not, like, trying to escape,” he said.

“I took the battery out,” Jace said.

Sam shrugged. “I didn’t think that would stop it,” he said. “If it’s evil or whatever.”

Jace looked at the car, wondering if it was about to spring to life and try to drive off. “Maybe it’s sleeping,” he said. Then he put one foot on the back of the car. He took a deep breath and shoved with all his might.

The red toy sports car soared off the cliff. For an instant, it looked like it would fly off over the lake. But then it just fell, only a few feet away from the edge. Both boys peered over the cliff to watch it hit the rocks.

It smashed to bits. Pieces of plastic and metal flew in all directions. The car was no more.