It was the ashes in my throat that woke me up the day everything changed. I swallowed the rest of the water in the cup by my bed and rushed to get ready for school.

  It was a typical fall Thursday, until Ms. Douglas assigned us a dream journal, and Keegan spoke to me for the first time in over a year.

  He limped up behind me after class and said my name. I turned around and looked up at his bruised face, into his brown eyes, and I felt the whole world shift.

  "What did you dream about last?" he asked.

  I thought about ignoring him. I almost turned around and walked away. "That I was a dragon, flying through the air, chasing a car full of Nazis."

  Keegan nodded, limped away, and ignored me the rest of the day. Like he always did.

  When my mom got home from work that evening, I asked if I could borrow her car. I drove to Keegan’s house in the next town over and banged on the back door that everyone used. His grandma opened it.

  "Oh, sorry," I said a bit sheepishly. "Is Keegan here?" I asked.

  She stood there staring at me for a few seconds, her eyes narrowing in her tired face. "He's been going out to that tree after football practice."

  I nodded, thanked her, and got back into the car. I knew exactly where he would be. I drove to the lake and parked at the head of Sleepy Hollow trail. I grabbed a hair tie from the console and tied back my short, dark hair. I flipped open the mirror in the visor and stared into brown eyes that had dark circles underneath them. The trail was not an easy one, and the tree was a ways off the path through even harder terrain.

  I had only followed Keegan to the tree once before, but as I set off down the trail, I could feel something pulling me towards him. I walked faster and faster until I was racing along the trail. I found the trail blaze I was looking for and stepped off the path, picking up a stick to beat back the brush as I stomped along.

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  When I finally found him sitting under the ancient black locust tree, my hands were scraped from falling three or four times. My hair was tangled and sweaty, I could feel a bruise forming on my knee, and I had dozens of scratches from pushing through the thorn bushes.

  Keegan looked up from a branch he was turning over and over in his hands. "Why are you here, Maria?" he asked roughly.

  I felt a jolt when he said my name. "You tell me, Keegan. Why am I here? Because I honestly don't know."

  Keegan gave a quick nod and took a deep breath. "There’s something going on... stuff is happening..." He snapped around to look behind him and reached a hand back to scratch his shoulder. He turned back to face me. "I tried, so hard, to keep you out of it, but there are people looking for you. Because of me."

  I staggered back. I'd known for a long time he was getting into trouble. Ever since his dad had moved back in, Keegan had been moody and secretive. He had pushed everyone away, me more than anyone else.

  I looked at his bruised face and noticed he was holding his right arm tightly against himself. "What have you gotten yourself into, Keegan?"

  He shook his head. "I can't explain it quite yet. Soon. But I need you to trust me and not say anything to anyone. Can you do that?"

  I stared at him. How could he ask me that after what he had done?

  "Please, Maria."

  "Should I trust you, Keegan?" I asked, pushing the words past the lump that was forming in my throat.

  Keegan’s hands clenched into fists. "Probably not. But I will do everything I can to keep you safe. That is my oath."

  It was our old promise. We'd come up with it in middle school when we'd been obsessed with reading stories about King Arthur, back before everything had gone wrong.

  I felt a tear slip down my face. "I trust you," I whispered.

  Keegan nodded. He turned over the branch he was holding until he found a thorn, pricked his finger with it and handed the branch to me. I held my breath as I stuck the thorn into my finger then followed him to the tree to press my bloody fingerprint into the bark on top of his.

  "Come run with me?" he asked.

  With a slight smile, I nodded and took after him as he ran back towards the trail, my heart pounding, with blood still wet on my finger and no idea what I'd just bound myself to.