THE MUSTANG HAD MORE horsepower than the Corvette, but the Corvette was more nimble. The black car caught up with the red in seconds. The girl would have blown right by the orange-haired guy if they hadn’t reached the first left turn of the course.

The red Corvette made the sharp turn without slowing, its wide wheels gripping the blacktop without a slip.

The girl had to downshift to slow quickly or she wouldn’t have made the turn. Her wheels squealed on the pavement as she sideslipped toward the curb. But she kept control, finished the turn, and charged on.

The fast turn gave the Corvette precious seconds to jump farther ahead on the second leg of the “track” as it screamed along the empty suburban street. Once the Mustang finished the turn, the girl instantly jammed down the gas pedal. The powerful engine roared as the black car picked up speed, charging to catch up with the smaller sports car.

 

We didn’t say much for the rest of the drive to the church. It wasn’t like we were going to explain to Harry all that was really happening. But my mind was working fast, thinking ahead to how we might keep the McLeans safe for the rest of the day. One thing I knew for sure: I’d get Mr. McLean to change his shirt.

“What’s that sound?” Lu asked.

She rolled down the window, and we all listened to hear what sounded like a loud engine running somewhere in the neighborhood.

“Leaf blower?” I said. “You’re not supposed to use those on Sunday.”

“And the wind is blowing everything around anyway,” Lu said.

“Sounds like a car engine,” Harry said. “Maybe two. They’re revving pretty high.”

The sound grew louder. We were only a block or two from Saint Paul’s Church. My mind quickly went ahead to try and guess what might be making this sound. Whatever it was, I didn’t think it would be good.

And I was right.

“Whoa!” Harry exclaimed.

He slammed on the brakes and the car bucked to a stop, forcing us all forward against our seat belts. A second later two cars blew by in front of us, left to right, through the intersection we had been approaching. They were really hauling, too, way over the speed limit.

Two cars. One black and one red.

Lu grabbed my shoulder.

“You saw that, right?” she asked.

“Hard to miss,” Harry said, sounding shaken. “Idiots! What are they doing?”

“Racing,” I said.

“They’re gonna kill somebody,” Harry said.

I glanced back to Lu.

The look on her face was one of realization…and panic.

“Should we try to stop them?” Lu asked.

“Why?” Harry exclaimed. “You want to get killed too?”

“No, let’s get to the church,” I said. “Gotta make sure your parents are okay.”

Harry shot me a worried look. He was with the program. He didn’t know anything about fortunes or destiny or crystal balls, but he understood that if his parents were walking around in an area where two lunatics were drag racing, there could be a problem. He hit the gas and we launched forward.

 

THE RACERS CHARGED ON down the empty street.

The black Mustang caught up to the Corvette quickly, but once again the fast-handling Corvette was able to take the second left turn without dropping much speed.

The girl was right behind. She hit the turn faster than the last one to try and keep up with the red car, but she ended up in a dangerous side-slip. With smoke billowing from its squealing wheels, the Mustang drifted toward the side of the street. The girl was seconds from hitting the curb when her wheels finally bit and got traction. It was a daring and dangerous maneuver to have taken the turn going that fast, but it paid off. It kept her from losing any more ground to the Corvette. She came out of the turn only a few car lengths back.

The little red car was now in her sights. With a deafening roar that was sure to wake the sleeping neighbors, the Mustang leapt ahead and passed the little car before they were halfway to the next turn. For the first time the Mustang was in the lead, with two more turns to go.

 

Harry took off through the intersection and made a left turn. It was the exact opposite direction from where the racing cars were headed and the quickest way for us to get to the church. So many thoughts and fears were running around in my head. The cars had come from the direction of the church. If the McLeans had been there, could they have been hit? Were the cars racing to get away from the scene of an accident? Was that how Theo’s life was going to change? Or were the cars going to circle around and arrive back at the church at the same time as the McLeans?

The images from the crystal ball kept playing in my head. Mostly I remembered the red sheet metal hitting something hard and violently buckling. It was the same red as the Corvette. There was no doubt in my mind that whatever Baz’s fortune had predicted, it would be about the car that was now recklessly tearing through the neighborhood. Whatever was supposed to happen hadn’t happened yet.

Harry sped along and made a right turn onto the street that led to the church.

“Slow down,” Lu warned Harry. “We’re not the ones racing.”

But Harry was on a mission.

“If anything happened to my parents because of those guys—”

“Look out!” I shouted.

As soon as we rounded the corner, too fast, we were faced with a group of older kids hanging out in the street. They looked totally clueless, as if they had no idea they were in the middle of the road.

We were moving so fast I thought for sure we’d mow a couple of them down, but Harry spun the wheel hard and hit the brakes. The car fishtailed, swerved, and bumped up and over the curb onto a sidewalk, where we came to rest.

“What the hell!” Harry screamed angrily. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“I’m good,” Lu added.

Some of the kids ran away, weenies. But one kid came running over to us. He was tall, with short blond hair. He was the only one with any guts.

“Are you all right?” he asked excitedly.

Harry threw the car door open, jumped out, and stood up to the guy.

“What’re you all doing in the middle of the road?” Harry screamed at him.

“It’s a race,” the blond guy said nervously. “Usually nobody’s around. Sorry, man.”

“Yeah, well usually ain’t always, fool,” Harry said angrily.

He went to the front of his car and saw that the left front tire was flat.

“Oh man, I am gonna catch it for this,” he whined.

“You know those guys racing?” I asked the blond guy.

“Yeah. It’s been a feud going on for a long time. We wanted to settle it today and finally put—”

“I don’t care,” I said sharply. “Which way are they going?”

“They’re gonna circle around the block,” he said. “Finish line is right here.”

“They’re gonna go right past the church,” Lu said with dread.

I looked at Harry’s car. Flat tire. Done. There was only one way to get to the church.

Run.

 

“I’M FREEZING,” MRS. MCLEAN said.

Mr. McLean immediately took off his overcoat and draped it over his wife’s shoulders as they walked along the sidewalk.

“Now you’re going to be chilled,” she said, but didn’t refuse the coat.

“I’ll be fine,” Mr. McLean said, though his thin blue shirt did nothing to protect him from the chilly wind. “We’re almost there.”

“Listen,” Mrs. McLean said with curiosity. “What is that sound?”

They both focused and heard the roar of engines revving higher than normal. They seemed to be far off, but coming closer. Fast.

“Sounds like somebody’s tearing up the street,” Mr. McLean said. “I’ve heard stories about crazy kids drag racing around here because it’s so quiet.”

“Doesn’t sound very quiet to me,” Mrs. McLean said.

They were footsteps away from stepping onto the street that ran in front of the church…the final straightaway of the racecourse.

 

THE CORVETTE WAS LOSING. The back straightaway before the third turn was the longest of the race, and it gave the Mustang a chance to show what it could do—and it was a lot. It opened up a big lead on the red Corvette, but there were still two more turns to go.

The orange-haired kid eased the Corvette into the left lane. The oncoming lane. He was setting up to take the next turn even sharper than the last and turn inside the Mustang. If he pulled it off, the Mustang would have to slow down and make a wide turn. It was the only hope the Corvette had of taking back the lead.

“Yeah yeah, here I come!” the orange-haired kid screamed at nobody as he sped along the wrong side of the street.

The girl seemed to know exactly what he was trying to do. If she was going to have any hope of outmaneuvering the little sports car, she would have to take this next turn even faster than the last two. It was a big risk. She’d barely made the last turn without skidding off the road. But it was her only hope of winning.

They approached the turn doing nearly sixty miles an hour. Not that fast for a real racetrack, but on a flat suburban road, it was beyond reckless. The Mustang flew into the turn, cutting in front of the Corvette.

“No no no!” the orange-haired kid screamed in surprise.

The girl had boldly cut off any chance the Corvette had of taking the turn inside of her, for it would have broadsided the bigger car.

For the first time in the race, the orange-haired kid had to downshift. He decelerated fast, then popped the clutch to try and throw his car back into gear. But the high-performance car wasn’t used to being treated so rudely, and the engine stalled.

Just like that, the Corvette was dead.

Or was it? The Mustang skid and slid, much the way it had on the previous turn. But this time the driver had pushed it too far. The car careened across the road, going more sideways than straight ahead. The girl tried to regain control, but the tires didn’t cooperate and she kept drifting.

Behind her, the Corvette’s engine roared back to life.

“Yeah yeah!” Orange Hair yelled with a laugh. “Here I come!”

He was seconds away from being back in the race.

 

MR. AND MRS. MCLEAN reached the street that passed in front of the church and stepped off the curb to cross as…

The black Mustang slid into the turn, fifty yards to their left.

“My God!” Mrs. McLean said with a gasp.

“Fools,” Mr. McLean added.

They watched the scene unfold, mesmerized, as they continued to slowly walk across the street.

Too slowly.

 

THE MUSTANG WAS DOOMED. The car slid sideways with no hope of regaining control. It hit the curb at a forty-five-degree angle, bounced up onto the sidewalk, and slammed straight into a fire hydrant. Instantly, multiple jets of water shot from the damaged device. A high-pressure geyser launched into the sky, fountain-like, while a steady stream of water spewed into the street ahead of the accident.

The McLeans stopped and watched, stunned, in the dead center of the road.

“This can’t be happening,” Mrs. McLean whispered in shock.

 

Lu and I sprinted along the sidewalk until we got to the empty parking lot of Saint Paul’s Church.

“That’s their car!” Lu exclaimed.

There was a single car in the vast parking lot. A maroon Volvo wagon. The McLeans’.

“So where are they?” I asked.

Boom!

There was a screech, followed by what sounded like a nasty collision…the kind I saw in the crystal ball. The violent shriek made us both jump with surprise.

The church was on the corner. Whatever had crashed, it was on the next street, around the corner, beyond the church, out of our sight. We didn’t need to see it to know that something horrible had happened.

My heart sank.

“We’re too late,” Lu said softly.

I took off running through the church property, going behind the building to cut the corner and get to the street beyond. Lu kept pace. I dreaded what we would find.

We ran from behind the church and onto the sidewalk of the next street to witness the mayhem. Far to our right, maybe fifty yards away, Mr. and Mrs. McLean stood in the middle of the street, staring at the destruction. Mr. McLean was wearing a bright blue shirt, just like the one I saw in the crystal ball.

Check.

The sight made my stomach twist.

“They’re okay!” Lu exclaimed.

I wasn’t ready to celebrate. Another fifty yards beyond them was the accident scene. A black Mustang was up on the curb next to a fire hydrant that was spewing water everywhere. Water. Just like I saw in the crystal ball.

Check.

It was obvious that the car had skidded off the road and hit the hydrant.

“It’s over, right?” Lu said hopefully. “The McLeans are okay. They weren’t in the accident.”

As if in answer, another car came screaming around the corner behind the crashed Mustang. It was the red Corvette.

“Unless there’s gonna be another accident,” I said, and took off running for the McLeans.

“Get out of the road!” I shouted.

They must have had a deer-in-the-headlights thing going on, because they didn’t budge. They were square in the middle of the road with a high-powered car headed right for them. A red car.

Check. Check. Check.

“Move!” Lu screamed.

It seemed as though Lu’s shout woke them up. They finally snapped out of it and moved. The two hugged each other while hurrying to the right side of the road, and safety.

We had intervened. We had changed the future.

“We did it,” Lu exclaimed. “They’re gonna make it!”

But the Mustang wasn’t done. It suddenly sprang to life and bounced back onto the road…directly in the path of the oncoming Corvette. The Mustang wasn’t moving anywhere near as fast as the red car, so the Corvette was on it in a second.

We hadn’t changed a thing. The accident I’d seen in the crystal ball hadn’t happened yet.

But it was about to.

I cringed, waiting for a collision.

There was a squeal of brakes. The Mustang accelerated and the Corvette had to brake or it would have slammed into it from behind. At the exact moment the driver of the Corvette hit the brakes, the red car reached the water that had spread across the road. It was like trying to stop on a sheet of ice. The Corvette kept coming, skidding sideways at full speed, wheels spinning, heading straight for the McLeans, who hadn’t yet made it to the safety of the sidewalk.

“Oh my God, no!” Lu exclaimed.

It seemed like it was all happening in slow motion. The confusing images I had seen in the crystal ball were being knit together into one horrible whole. All the missing pieces of the puzzle, pieces that Baz hadn’t needed to see in order to understand what would happen, had now shown themselves.

The crushing truth became clear. As much as we tried to beat it, destiny was too powerful. It couldn’t be changed. We were just spectators going along for the ride, pretending the things we did mattered. But they didn’t, because we were just actors walking through our own predetermined dramas.

It was a dark, disturbing realization that was about to be driven home by the deaths of two innocent people.

Lu buried her head in my shoulder. She didn’t want to see.

Too bad, because she missed seeing the ultimate puzzle piece slipping into place. It was a piece that wasn’t expected or foreseen. This last piece proved that destiny was not an inescapable life sentence after all.

We really did have control.

Theo came sprinting toward his parents from the back end of the church property, running faster than I’d ever seen him move in his life. His parents were focused on the Mustang as it sped off, thinking they’d dodged a bullet. They had no idea the Corvette was careening toward them from behind.

But Theo knew.

He ran in like a charging linebacker and hit his parents without breaking stride. He locked up and drove forward, knocking them back into the road. The three fell to the wet pavement as the Corvette skidded by, its wheels spinning uselessly. It slammed into the curb, which finally stopped the car’s forward motion. There was no crumpling of red metal. There was no crash. Nobody’s life was changed.

Theo had made sure of that.

The guy driving the car looked like a kid…with orange hair that was all spiked up like it was on fire.

Final check. Or maybe I should say checkmate.

I thought he’d jump out of the car to make sure everybody was okay, but all he did was slam his fists into the steering wheel in frustration. He then hit the gas and took off. Tool.

The Mustang driver wasn’t any better. She had no clue about how close she’d come to disaster and I’m guessing she didn’t care. When the Mustang flew by us, I took note because I knew the police would ask about it. I wanted to remember the girl behind the wheel with long dark hair that had a purple streak in it. The Mustang was followed soon after by the red car. The Corvette. There was no mistaking that one and the orange hair of the driver. I planned on doing everything I could to help the police find those two jackwagons.

The two cars continued past the church and made the left turn that would bring them to their finish line. Part of me was actually happy about it. If things had played out the way Baz had predicted, they never would have finished the race, and two people would be dead. Maybe more.

But nobody died. Life as we all knew it would go on.

Thanks to Theo.

Lu and I ran to the three people who were lying in the street.

Joe McLean ran up. Harry joined us too. The four of us stood over Theo and his parents. They all had their arms wrapped around each other.

There was a tense moment when nobody knew what to say.

Finally, Theo turned his head and looked up at us. “So?” he said with a big smile. “Can I get a ‘happy birthday’?”