Read Online The Hybrid by Lauren Shelton - Free Book Online Page A

four,
five⎯
    It took about twenty more breaths for her to realize
that the sound she was hearing was her own breath. In,
out, in, out .
    Her lungs filled with air one more time before she
opened her eyes. Tru released the air, and put her hands
at her side pushing herself up from the ground.
    Too fast , she thought to herself.
The meadow spun for a moment, but Tru remained
conscious this time. She took a few more deep breaths,
and then looked up at the trees. It was darker now, the
last few rays of sunlight were shining across the sky, illuminating the clouds, turning them different shades of
pink and gold, poking their way through the small nooks
and crannies of the overgrown pine trees.
Edyn was nowhere to be seen, but Tru thought maybe
it was for the best.
Yeah, right. Where is he?
“Hello?” she called to the open air, as she rose to her
feet. “Edyn?”
“You are awake. I was worried about you.”
Tru spun around quickly. Standing in front of her was
Edyn. He looked just as beautiful in the failing light as he
had earlier that day. The only difference was that his
wings were now folded neatly behind his back, visible only through the crevices between his arms and his torso.
The golden sunset glistened off of his skin.
“You are not going to faint on me again are you?” he
asked, placing his hand on Tru’s shoulder. His eyes were
now a deep turquoise, but they were somehow still glassy
and warm.
“I don’t think so,” Tru replied, gazing up into his eyes.
It seemed as though he was more than six inches taller
than her as she craned her neck back to look at him.
“Where did you go?” She looked around the meadow.
“I was hiding.” He looked down at his bare feet in the
damp grass. A few individual blades were poking between
the spaces in his toes.
“From what?” Tru looked back at him, fear written on
her face. From what she could tell, they were the only
ones in the meadow.
What are fairies afraid of anyway?
“My brother.”
Tru took a slight sigh, instantly relieved that he hadn’t
been hiding from any other mythological beast that might
rip them to shreds at a moment’s notice.
As far as Tru
knew, anything was possible now.
“Is he looking for you?”
“I am not sure. But he does not really approve of me
talking to one of your kind.” He looked up from the
ground, locking his gaze with Tru.
“You mean humans ?” she whispered.
He hesitated before his lips could formulate the word,
“yes.” He did not move. “If he knew I was here, things
would be happening very differently right now.”
There was a long silence.
Tru thought for a moment of what might happen if his
brother had seen Edyn talking to her. She could see the
entire scene playing out in her mind like a movie.
Edyn and Tru would be standing in the center of the
small hidden meadow. Edyn’s brother would manage to
stumble upon the clearing, following the sound of distant
voices. He would see Tru ⎯ obviously a human ⎯ and
become furious with Edyn. His brother would then continue lurking in the shadows, waiting for his opportune
moment. When the time was right, he would fly at her, in
an attempt to get rid of her, and then everything would go
dark, just like before. Except this time, Tru knew she
wouldn’t wake up.
She quickly shuddered at the thought, trying to shove
it out of her mind, but her head began to spin again. She
instantly turned to face away from Edyn, trying to catch
her breath.
He chuckled. “Is everything okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine, I promise.”
As long as I don’t look at you again, then, sure, I’ll be
fine, she thought.
Tru walked over to the edge of the trees and pretended
to look at them by picking a pine needle off of a low hanging branch. She could have sworn she heard him laughing
quietly behind her again.
“Then why do you walk away from me?” He stood next
to her now, just inches from Tru’s right shoulder. She
could feel his eyes staring down at her.
Tru looked down at the