It happened in Fredericton.

Okay it happened lots of times and in lots of places, but I'll start with this one time in Fredericton.

In my high school years, I was out at an old drive-in theatre with a few friends. I was coming back from the concession stand and realized (damn it!) I was lost. My sense of direction is non-existant – I'll be upfront about that. It was dark of course (drive-ins in broad day light just don't work) and I had no idea how I'd find my friend's car amonst the rows and rows packed with vehicles. Thank goodness, I heard someone giggling and calling my name, and I started following that voice. But that voice stopped the very moment I saw my friend's black car. But the strange part? When I got back into the car and said to the girls “thank goodness you called for me”, not one of them had. They really, really had no idea I was 'lost' out there. So ... who had called me? Whose voice was it that directed me exactly to the car I sought, and stopped calling me forward the exact moment I saw it? The exact moment I was safe?

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WILSON:
Heather Doherty and I go waaaay back, longer than either one of us wants to admit. We worked for the same law firm together when we were barely out of high school. (Okay, she was barely out of high school; I’m a little longer in the tooth.) Then we parted ways, had our families, learned to write. Eventually, Heather moved with her young family back to Fredericton and we reconnected. We frequently got together to talk shop, and on several occasions, Heather mentioned this idea she had for a band of young people who were called upon by a mysterious Guardian to defend a hotspot where demonic forces gathered in the Chthonic – the underworld – were trying to break through. Each time she mentioned it, she added a little more detail. Meanwhile, I’d been researching the YA market. About the third time Heather raised her Gatekeepers idea, lightning finally struck. “Omigod, we should totally write this together!” Heather was probably thinking, “Dude, that’s what I’ve been telling you.” But she’s used to that. She’s always three steps ahead of me.

DOHERTY:
Okay, it’s true. I usually am a few (dozen – cough,cough) steps ahead of you. But where would we be if you weren’t coming along right behind me, making it all just sing?

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