Read Online The Worlds We Make by Megan Crewe - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Megan Crewe
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echo. By the time we reached the edge of the Victorian’s backyard, my skin was damp with perspiration.
The gleam of a quarter moon showed the way across the yard. I peered behind us to where the Jeep had stopped. Our pursuers hadn’t made any noticeable sound since they’d gotten out. I didn’t know where they were now. They might be able to spot us leaving the forest, even at that distance, if they were watching.
“Run for it,” I said to the others. “Around the far side of the hill and then up. So we’ll stay mostly out of view.”
I waited only long enough to catch their nods, and then I darted onto the open ground. My heart thumped as I dashed across the brief stretch between the forest and the steepening slope of the hill. Then I was around the far side, hidden from anyone south of us. At the top, I ran for the back door. Inside, the cold box was in the tent where I’d left it. Letting out a breath, I grabbed the handle and scrambled up to the second floor. In the smaller bedroom that faced south, I stared out the window.
The people from the Jeep were in the house we’d both parked by. Flickers of what must have been flashlight beams glinted through its darkened windows.
The others gathered around me. “Do you think they saw us?” Justin asked.
“I don’t think they’d be looking in that house if they had,” I said.
“It’s got to be the Wardens,” Anika said, shifting on her feet. “Who else would be driving around in the dark on random back roads, chasing tire tracks? We’re screwed.”
“We’re not,” I said. “We just have to…figure out what to do.”
“They’re going to find our footprints,” Leo said. “When they see we’re not in that house, they’ll go back to the SUV to check where else we walked, and follow our trail back here. But that was part of the plan, wasn’t it?”
“It was.” I closed my eyes, pushing through the anxious jumble of my thoughts. Tobias had talked us through the whole strategy. If our pursuers followed the path we’d made through the forest, we could head down the road in front of the house without being seen. Get back to the car. Get away from them.
“So we wait until they head into the forest,” I said. “As soon as they do, we go along the road, jump in the SUV, and take off. I’ll keep watching. The rest of you, pack up all our things downstairs, okay?”
They slipped out without argument. I studied the path of the distant flashlights, biting my lip.
It was far from a foolproof plan. What if our pursuers left someone behind to guard their Jeep? And even if they didn’t, as soon as they heard our engine, they’d come running back after us.
The last time the Wardens had been at our heels, we’d only been able to escape thanks to Tobias’s sharpshooting. We didn’t have him now. We didn’t even know where he was.
Unless he came back on his own, and soon, to get out of here safely we’d have to leave him behind.
I swore under my breath, feeling sick. He’d suggested this strategy, and now we were going to use it to abandon him. If only I’d noticed something was off in his attitude earlier—if only I’d said the right thing to stop him from leaving. Now there was no time.
Our pursuers’ lights were wavering past the back of the house. They glinted off the glossy paint of the Jeep and the SUV. I tensed. The window clouded when I exhaled. As I rubbed the condensation away, the lights wove back and forth, and then bobbed farther from the driveway, toward the forest. Following our tracks, like we’d hoped.
“Come back, Tobias,” I murmured. “We need you here .”
The flashlight beams made slow progress, sweeping over the yard in all directions. The hall floor creaked behind me. “Ready to go,” Justin announced, his voice quivering with what sounded like nervousness as well as excitement. Good. We could count on him as long as he didn’t get cocky.
“It’s not quite time yet,” I said. The glow of the
The gleam of a quarter moon showed the way across the yard. I peered behind us to where the Jeep had stopped. Our pursuers hadn’t made any noticeable sound since they’d gotten out. I didn’t know where they were now. They might be able to spot us leaving the forest, even at that distance, if they were watching.
“Run for it,” I said to the others. “Around the far side of the hill and then up. So we’ll stay mostly out of view.”
I waited only long enough to catch their nods, and then I darted onto the open ground. My heart thumped as I dashed across the brief stretch between the forest and the steepening slope of the hill. Then I was around the far side, hidden from anyone south of us. At the top, I ran for the back door. Inside, the cold box was in the tent where I’d left it. Letting out a breath, I grabbed the handle and scrambled up to the second floor. In the smaller bedroom that faced south, I stared out the window.
The people from the Jeep were in the house we’d both parked by. Flickers of what must have been flashlight beams glinted through its darkened windows.
The others gathered around me. “Do you think they saw us?” Justin asked.
“I don’t think they’d be looking in that house if they had,” I said.
“It’s got to be the Wardens,” Anika said, shifting on her feet. “Who else would be driving around in the dark on random back roads, chasing tire tracks? We’re screwed.”
“We’re not,” I said. “We just have to…figure out what to do.”
“They’re going to find our footprints,” Leo said. “When they see we’re not in that house, they’ll go back to the SUV to check where else we walked, and follow our trail back here. But that was part of the plan, wasn’t it?”
“It was.” I closed my eyes, pushing through the anxious jumble of my thoughts. Tobias had talked us through the whole strategy. If our pursuers followed the path we’d made through the forest, we could head down the road in front of the house without being seen. Get back to the car. Get away from them.
“So we wait until they head into the forest,” I said. “As soon as they do, we go along the road, jump in the SUV, and take off. I’ll keep watching. The rest of you, pack up all our things downstairs, okay?”
They slipped out without argument. I studied the path of the distant flashlights, biting my lip.
It was far from a foolproof plan. What if our pursuers left someone behind to guard their Jeep? And even if they didn’t, as soon as they heard our engine, they’d come running back after us.
The last time the Wardens had been at our heels, we’d only been able to escape thanks to Tobias’s sharpshooting. We didn’t have him now. We didn’t even know where he was.
Unless he came back on his own, and soon, to get out of here safely we’d have to leave him behind.
I swore under my breath, feeling sick. He’d suggested this strategy, and now we were going to use it to abandon him. If only I’d noticed something was off in his attitude earlier—if only I’d said the right thing to stop him from leaving. Now there was no time.
Our pursuers’ lights were wavering past the back of the house. They glinted off the glossy paint of the Jeep and the SUV. I tensed. The window clouded when I exhaled. As I rubbed the condensation away, the lights wove back and forth, and then bobbed farther from the driveway, toward the forest. Following our tracks, like we’d hoped.
“Come back, Tobias,” I murmured. “We need you here .”
The flashlight beams made slow progress, sweeping over the yard in all directions. The hall floor creaked behind me. “Ready to go,” Justin announced, his voice quivering with what sounded like nervousness as well as excitement. Good. We could count on him as long as he didn’t get cocky.
“It’s not quite time yet,” I said. The glow of the
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