Read Online A Night Without Stars by Jillian Eaton - Free Book Online

windows.
    Before he abruptly hung up I thought I heard Travis say he was in the living room, but as I paused to untangle the end of my braid from a branch I realized I had no idea where the living room was. In the front or the back? On the left side or the right? On the first floor or the second? Stupid rich people and their big houses.
    Hooking my fingers on the edge of the windowsill I hauled myself up on the toes of my battered sneakers and squinted, looking for signs of movement through the dark glass.
    Nothing.
    My own reflection stared back at me: a frightened girl with wide eyes and a mess of tangled hair. I looked far younger than my sixteen years, and far more scared than I was willing to admit.
    I moved to the next window, but the result was the same. If the matching leather sofa set and 60” flat screen TV were any indication it looked like I’d found the living room, but Travis was nowhere in sight. Hissing out an impatient breath I started to duck back down… only to freeze in place when a light flicked on.
    Without waiting to see who it was I dropped to my hands and knees, catching a mouthful of leaves on the way down. Spitting them out, I huddled under the window with absolutely no idea of what to do next.
    Some hero I was. Travis had been kidnapped and I was cowering in the bushes. I hadn’t even thought to bring a weapon, not that I would have had many options. Dad didn’t own a gun and our set of kitchen knives were so dull they could barely cut a sandwich in half let alone pierce human flesh.
    The muffled sound of voices set the fine hairs on the back of my neck on edge. Both were male, one deep and amused, one high pitched and frightened. I was willing to bet every cent in my bank account – fifty-seven dollars, to be exact – that the voices belonged to Travis and… well, whoever Giant Man really was.
    Ignoring the scream and pull in my muscles I slowly stood up, and, mimicking every mistake ever made by the dumb blonde in a horror movie, peeked inside the window.
    The man with the silver teeth leered at me, his face so close I could see each individual pore on his big ugly nose. “Hello love. Long time no see.”
    I should have been ready with some witty retort, or at the very least something intimidating to set him back on his heels and tell him I meant business. Instead I screamed.
    Giant Man’s mouth twisted into a sneer. His fangs glinted in the light, sharper and longer than what I remembered. “What? Aren’t you happy to see me?”
    Summoning every ounce of courage I possessed – which, if added up, I’m pretty sure wouldn’t total to much more than what was in my bank account – I kept my feet planted firmly underneath of me. This time I wasn’t running away. “Where is Travis?” I demanded. I tried to look past Giant Man, but his large body blocked the majority of the room. At least the window stood between us. To get at me he would have to come out the front door, and by then I would have a pretty good head start. Giant Man might have been huge, but I was willing to bet he wasn’t that fast.
    Unfortunately, my theory was disproved when he made a fist… and punched his hand through the window .
    I screamed again. Glass shattered. I felt shards of it catch in my hair and a bright, brilliant pain bloomed on the right side of my face. When I touched my cheek my fingers came away dark and slick and covered in blood.
    Giant Man was bleeding as well. It looked like someone had taken a vegetable peeler to his hand. The flesh between his knuckles was sliced away and my stomach rolled in horrified protest when I saw naked muscle stretching over bone.
    “TRAVIS!” I shrieked, ducking sideways when Giant Man swiped at my face with his bleeding fingers. “TRAVIS, WHERE ARE YOU?”
    “Lola?” His voice was faint, his reply muffled as though he was speaking through a wall.
    I opened my mouth to reply, but I never got the chance. Giant Man snagged the end of my braid. Pulling it taut,