Read Online Grave Shadows by Jerry B. Jenkins, Chris Fabry - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jerry B. Jenkins, Chris Fabry
Ads: Link
grounds where I hoped to find a shirt for Ashley and something fun for Dylan. There was a basketball court, but people were so tired they went to the log cabin above the courtyard for our meeting.
There Gary congratulated us all for our determination. “We’ve gone almost halfway. We’ll rest here and start off again late tomorrow morning.”
Gary invited everyone back for a movie after dinner, and I was all for it until we got our room assignments. “Have a little surprise for you and Jeff,” Gary said. “You two are headed over the hill for some intense R & R.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the word intense . Sounded like rock climbing or something.
Chapter 56
“We can’t call the police,” Hayley’s aunt said. She looked like a deer caught in headlights. “I didn’t tell you everything those guys said. They told me if I went to the police, I’d never see Gunnar alive again.”
Hayley gasped.
“His Jeep was found in the lake,” she continued. “I suppose those guys did it.”
“But they don’t know where he is,” I said. “How can they hurt him if—?”
“I’m not going to the police,” she said.
On my way home, I passed the middle school. The tarp was still on the outside, and a wood saw whined. Another cement truck sat near a few construction trucks. One was a blue pickup with a toolbox in the bed.
I peeked inside the cab and saw a box on the front seat. I stepped up on the running board to get a better look.
“What are you doing?” someone said. I turned to see a man with massive sweat stains on his T-shirt. He had dark hair and a scar on his forehead.
My legs shook. “I go to school here.”
“In my truck?”
I pointed. “No, at the school.”
“Then why are you trying to get in my truck?”
“Oh! I wasn’t. I was just—one of my friends has some things missing. Mind telling me what’s in that box?”
He stepped closer. “If I were you, I’d leave right now.”
I took his advice, but I looked back and got his license-plate number. He was still staring at me.
Chapter 57
We rode in Jeff’s parents’ van on a dirt road around the mountain. The setting sun cast a golden glow, the river a brown snake winding through the valley. Homes perched on the side of the mountain seemed as if they might fall off at any moment. What must it be like to live here and watch the sun come up every morning or see clouds roll in and dump snow?
Jeff pointed at a swimming pool with a curly slide. Kids laughed and threw beach balls. On the other side of the road sat a general store with a couple of gas pumps. Behind that was a lodge where Gary waved us over to the edge of the parking lot.
A stream ran past it, and two more swimming pools lay at the bottom of the hill. “You two are staying here tonight. You can eat at the lodge restaurant and go swimming or just relax in the stream.”
“Isn’t it cold?” Jeff said.
Gary laughed. “Stick your foot in and find out. People come here in the winter in their bathing suits to sit in that hot springwater. In some places it’s 130 degrees.”
We unloaded our stuff and put it in front of the lodge door, then got the key at the front desk and said our good-byes to the Alexanders and Gary.
Jeff turned, his eyes bulging, and slapped me a high five. “Can you believe it? We’ve got this place to ourselves!”
After we put our stuff inside—where we found two beds, a TV, and a bathroom—we headed to the restaurant. It had a huge fireplace with a deer head and a moose head mounted over it, both complete with gigantic antlers. Standing taller than me was a stuffed bear, but the scariest thing was a stuffed mountain lion, poised to kill with its teeth bared. The eyes seemed to look right through you.
I had heard mountain lion screams near our house. They sound like humans, a haunting yell like a woman crying. Even though the thing was dead, it gave me the creeps. I couldn’t imagine meeting one of those along the trail and having to defend
There Gary congratulated us all for our determination. “We’ve gone almost halfway. We’ll rest here and start off again late tomorrow morning.”
Gary invited everyone back for a movie after dinner, and I was all for it until we got our room assignments. “Have a little surprise for you and Jeff,” Gary said. “You two are headed over the hill for some intense R & R.”
I wasn’t sure I liked the word intense . Sounded like rock climbing or something.
Chapter 56
“We can’t call the police,” Hayley’s aunt said. She looked like a deer caught in headlights. “I didn’t tell you everything those guys said. They told me if I went to the police, I’d never see Gunnar alive again.”
Hayley gasped.
“His Jeep was found in the lake,” she continued. “I suppose those guys did it.”
“But they don’t know where he is,” I said. “How can they hurt him if—?”
“I’m not going to the police,” she said.
On my way home, I passed the middle school. The tarp was still on the outside, and a wood saw whined. Another cement truck sat near a few construction trucks. One was a blue pickup with a toolbox in the bed.
I peeked inside the cab and saw a box on the front seat. I stepped up on the running board to get a better look.
“What are you doing?” someone said. I turned to see a man with massive sweat stains on his T-shirt. He had dark hair and a scar on his forehead.
My legs shook. “I go to school here.”
“In my truck?”
I pointed. “No, at the school.”
“Then why are you trying to get in my truck?”
“Oh! I wasn’t. I was just—one of my friends has some things missing. Mind telling me what’s in that box?”
He stepped closer. “If I were you, I’d leave right now.”
I took his advice, but I looked back and got his license-plate number. He was still staring at me.
Chapter 57
We rode in Jeff’s parents’ van on a dirt road around the mountain. The setting sun cast a golden glow, the river a brown snake winding through the valley. Homes perched on the side of the mountain seemed as if they might fall off at any moment. What must it be like to live here and watch the sun come up every morning or see clouds roll in and dump snow?
Jeff pointed at a swimming pool with a curly slide. Kids laughed and threw beach balls. On the other side of the road sat a general store with a couple of gas pumps. Behind that was a lodge where Gary waved us over to the edge of the parking lot.
A stream ran past it, and two more swimming pools lay at the bottom of the hill. “You two are staying here tonight. You can eat at the lodge restaurant and go swimming or just relax in the stream.”
“Isn’t it cold?” Jeff said.
Gary laughed. “Stick your foot in and find out. People come here in the winter in their bathing suits to sit in that hot springwater. In some places it’s 130 degrees.”
We unloaded our stuff and put it in front of the lodge door, then got the key at the front desk and said our good-byes to the Alexanders and Gary.
Jeff turned, his eyes bulging, and slapped me a high five. “Can you believe it? We’ve got this place to ourselves!”
After we put our stuff inside—where we found two beds, a TV, and a bathroom—we headed to the restaurant. It had a huge fireplace with a deer head and a moose head mounted over it, both complete with gigantic antlers. Standing taller than me was a stuffed bear, but the scariest thing was a stuffed mountain lion, poised to kill with its teeth bared. The eyes seemed to look right through you.
I had heard mountain lion screams near our house. They sound like humans, a haunting yell like a woman crying. Even though the thing was dead, it gave me the creeps. I couldn’t imagine meeting one of those along the trail and having to defend
Similar Books
