Read Online Parahuman (Parahuman Series) by S. L. Hess - Free Book Online

didn’t need this type. Heroic acts ended up on
the news, and that was the last thing he needed. 
        
“There was a mountain lion, and it did come in our vicinity, but Laney
and I scared it off. I’m sure it wasn’t interested in eating anyone.” Lie. “It
was down wind so I doubt it even knew we were nearby until we stumbled into
each other.” Another lie. “I think we scared it as much as it scared us.” Well,
the kid definitely hadn’t been scared. It was all a big adventure for
him.       
         Laney
gave him a look of skeptical disbelief. It might have been either for his story
or for her part in it, he wasn’t certain. She had come in at the tail end of
the incident so she had only his word to go on. Devan gave her a shrug that
conveyed ‘that’s my story and I’m sticking to it’. He needed to down play the
incident from something horrific to a harmless animal sighting. He was the only
one that had seen the animal coming in for the kill, and it was better if it
stayed that way.
         The
only response Laney gave was one raised eyebrow. It was a bit provoking and his
mouth twitched reflexively. He pulled it back in before anyone noticed it.
       
Devan’s description of the account was still too much for Johnny’s mother, she
became near hysterical at the potential danger of a wild animal and demanded to
be taken back immediately. Nick tried reassuring her that the lion was most
certainly long gone, but she either didn’t believe it or she was just too far
gone in her hysteria. 
        
“Okay, Brenda, we’ll leave right away. Let me just pack up the picnic area.”
Nick grabbed Laney’s hand and pulled her away with him.      
         “What
exactly happened out there?” Nick demanded in a low whisper as they walked
away. 
        
Keeping his face averted Devan kept his ear tuned to their conversation. He
sensed rather than saw Laney looking his way and tensed waiting for her to
mention his actions in the woods. There was a definite pause before she
answered. What had she seen and processed?
         “It
basically happened the way Devan said. He became aware of the lion first and
put himself in front of Johnny as a shield. He began shouting and waving his
arms. By the time I became aware of it and started yelling the lion was already
running away.”   
         Devan
threw a quick surprised glance in their direction at her account of the story.
She’d held back on many aspects of story and he wondered why.
         “So
the lion didn’t try to attack any of you?” Nick’s hands were on Laney’s
shoulders. It looked as if he was barely containing himself from doing his own
injury search of her. She reached up clasp his hands in hers. 
         “Dad,
it didn’t touch any of us,” Laney reassured him, holding his hands in hers.
Nick expelled a deep breath he must have been holding in.
        
“So…then…Devan appears to be able to handle himself?” Nick seemed to gather
himself emotionally as knelt to pack up the picnic supplies. 
         Devan
had redirected his gaze but could sense two pairs of eyes swinging his way. He
did his best to appear nonchalant. The families were hovering around him as
though his presence alone would keep any other predators at bay. If only they
knew.     
         “He
seems very capable,” she commented, helping her father pack up.
         Devan
couldn’t infer from her tone what she meant by that, he could only assume she
was referring to his actions with the lion and hopefully not his flight through
the forest. The trees, with any luck, had obscured his slightly abnormal
sprint, and most people could and would discount the unbelievable thinking they
had in all probability just imagined it in their minds and that it couldn’t
possibly have happened the way they thought it had. 
         Devan
was hoping that was how she was processing the incident.  
        
Finished cleaning up,