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"Are you serious?" Cameron sat up.

"That's the good news."

"I don't need the bad."

"Yin and yang. Gotta take 'em both."

"The bad?"

"They need the bid a week from this Friday."

In ten days? "Wow. They want it that quick?" Cameron clenched his teeth. Wrapping up his search in five days wasn't going to happen. But this is the kind of job that could put their company on rocket sleds. "I might need more time down here."

"Sorry, dude, no more time to spare. This gig could be huge. Gigantor huge."

"I know, we gotta do it. But part of me is thinking this Book of Days thing could be genuine. I'm not kidding. Can you imagine knowing your future?"

"What are you talking about?"

Whoops. He'd forgotten he hadn't told Brandon anything about his dad, Jessie, and the book. "Sorry, I thought I'd told you." Cameron rapped his forehead with his fingers. "Look, when I get back, I'll do my Paul Harvey impersonation and tell you the rest of the story."

"Who?"

"Paul Harvey, he was a radio legend. Don't tell me you don't know who he is."

"No clue. You're the ex-broadcaster, not me."

"Just a little bit longer."

"Soon, Cam."

"Don't worry."

"I am worr—"

"I'll be back the first instant I can." Great. Gig of a lifetime and he was searching for some fantasy book.

Susan had better be willing to give him some rock-hard answers.

CHAPTER 22

Two hours later Cameron glanced at his watch, swore, and mashed his gas pedal. Three thirty-five. He should have been at Susan's five minutes ago. She probably wouldn't care, but he hated being late. Probably because it irritated him so much when people made him wait.

Cameron reached over to flick on the radio, but before he could, his cell phone buzzed. He picked it up and looked at the number. Ann. "Hey, how are you?"

"Great, how was your movie?"

"Fine. Yours?"

"Excellent." She paused. "Maybe next time we'll choose the same one."

There it was again. Friendly Ann was still onstage. Why? "Sounds good." What else could he say? Why are you suddenly being Cinderella to me after seven years of playing the Ice Queen?

"Guess who met a stalker this morning."

He clutched his steering wheel as an image of the figure from the park flashed through his head. "Are you okay?"

"Fine."

"Was it Jason?"

"You win."

"Where?"

"In the mountains on an old dirt road. I went for a run and he followed me there. He's a whacko, Cameron."

Traffic in front of him stopped and as his Mini Cooper slowed to a halt, Cameron looked to his right. Climb-It Sports. A poster in the window showed a climber dangling from an overhang by his fingertips. There was no rope. The caption on the poster said, Leave It All Behind.

He thought of his moment on the mountain before he'd seen Ann in silhouette and how close he'd come to leaving it all behind. The thought still niggled at him, tempted him. He was making progress on finding the book, but to what end? Even if he got to the finish line, he might not have enough of a mind left to know if he'd won the race. His dad didn't say the book would cure him, only that it would be okay. What did that mean? Who would really miss him? Brandon, of course. And . . .

"Cameron?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Did you hear what I said?"

"No, sorry."

"After making me feel like I wanted to take three showers in a row, Jason told me something interesting."

"Talk to me." Cameron glanced at the chipped street sign a half a block ahead as the light turned green and traffic lurched forward into a lazy curve in the road. River Street. That was his turn to get to Susan's house.

"Did you know according to Jason, there are six spots in the world with a legend about a book that tells the future?"

Cameron gripped his steering wheel between his legs as he pulled a pen out of his back pocket and leaned over to the passenger seat and grabbed a piece of paper out of his briefcase. A second later the wheel slipped and his car headed into oncoming traffic. Two horns blared at him.

As he yanked the wheel to bring his car back into