Read Online The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) - Free Book Online Page B

stranger to blame. It was only when I saw Lucy standing behind the stranger unharmed, that I was able to stuff my heart back down my throat.
    They both watched and waited for me to talk.
    Something tickled at the edge of my memory. “Dan! Where’d he go?” I shrieked. I remembered Dan attacking us now, well, I remembered him attacking me, before I lost consciousness.
    Lucy shuffled forward, pale and wide-eyed. Her jeans were dirty and her soiled jacket was torn at the elbow. “Dan pushed you down. I tried to run toward you, but suddenly he had me on the ground too. He was so fast Xoe. I tried to struggle, but he pressed me down until I couldn’t move. He said I had to come with him.He said I would be . . . dangerous.” Lucy paused as she glanced at Jason, then quickly went on, “The next thing I knew, Jason was there, tearing him off me.” Tears began to well in Lucy’s already puffy eyes.
    I dizzily stumbled to my feet, then grabbed Lucy in a hug, feeling pine needles in her hair. “Where did he go?”
    “I-I don’t know,” Lucy said.
    I pulled away from Lucy and turned to this so-called Jason character. “Where did he go?” I asked more confidently. “I can’t believe he just gave up that easily.”
    Jason studied me for a moment, as if considering which answer would upset me the least, then shrugged, apparently deciding on no answer at all.
    “You were the only one vertical at the time. You had to see him leave,” I pressed.
    He shrugged again. “My attention was on making sure that the two of you were unharmed. I did not see where he went.”
    “So you were completely unconcerned with the stranger that you found in the woods attacking two people?”
    Shrugging again, he smirked and walked up to grab my arm. “I will walk you girls home.”
    I ripped my arm away from him and got in his face. “We need the truth. Something weird is going on and it is just way too convenient that you were there at just the right time. No offense, but Dan is bigger than you, and I don’t think he would exactly run screaming at the sight of you. Your story don’t wash pal.”
    He reached out brushed back a strand of my hair that had fallen into my eyes. I jerked away, startled.
    He chuckled at my reaction.
    I pointed my finger a few inches away from his face. “Now, is so not the time to mess with me.”
    He smiled. “I can see that, but we do need to get you both home. It's not safe out here.”
    I grabbed Lucy and stormed back down the trail, with Jason following a short way behind us. Though Lucy had stopped crying, she was leaning heavily on me as if she’d fall without my support. We stumbled on as Jason caught up to walk on my other side. I focused on the trail, trying to hide the fact that my heart was thundering in my ears.
    “I spoke the truth,” he said. “I don't know why he fled. Do you know him?”
    Sighing, I answered a bit more breathily than I would have liked, “Yeah, we know him . . . unfortunately.”
    I walked a little faster, trying to end the conversation.
    Jason simply matched my stride and pressed on. “Have you spent much time with him?”
    I frowned at him, almost tripping on a stone. I had to pause for a moment and get a better grip on Lucy. “I thought you were just the ‘innocent bystander', not involved in the situation, so why do you care?”
    Jason thought for a moment, then shrugged again. “Just making conversation,” he said, effectively ending the conversation.
    By the time we arrived at my house, Lucy had somewhat regained her composure, though her normally self-assured eyes still had haunted shadows chasing across them.
    I put my hand on her back in a comforting gesture. She was trembling ever so slightly; a frightened mouse came to mind. I pushed Lucy in through the back door and turned to Jason. “There’s something weird about your story, well okay, a whole lotta somethings. You know more about Dan than you’re letting on. I trust you as much as I trust him. Stay