Page 17 of Blade

Just as I walked away, I heard her ask.

“Why does he always wear sunglasses?”

I hoped Rachel or Grams could come up with something to distract her. That just assured me I needed to keep mydistance. I had already let her get too close. Close enough that she was already asking questions.

Making my way to King’s office, I remembered just how stubborn Becca could be when she got a question in her head.

“Hey, Micah, guess what?”

“What?” I asked, not looking up from my book.

“I got a story.” Becca plopped down beside me in the library, excitement radiating from her.

“What do you mean, a story?” I turned and saw the smile on her face. “For the school paper? Don’t you get stories all the time?”

It was so easy to get lost in those amber eyes and not hear a word she was saying.

“No.” She sighed. “The school paper won’t publish this. All the school paper publishes are boring articles about sports and grades. They never want to print something that people actually want to read.”

Closing my book, I gave her my full attention.

“Who are you writing the story for, and who is going to read it? Who will print it?”

“I am writing it for my blog, and everyone online is going to read it! With any luck, it will go viral, and the local paper will want to pick it up, or maybe even a national paper. Oh my God, can you imagine if a national paper picked it up, and I got published at fifteen?”

She was practically bouncing in her seat.

I needed to rein her in before we both got kicked out of the library. I stood up and dragged her along with me intothe stacks, away from the disapproving eyes of the uptight librarian.

“Ok, slow down. What is this story that is going to break the internet and make you famous?”

“The Mob!”

I stared at her.

She had my attention now.

I grabbed her shoulders and held her still.

“Becca, what are you talking about?”

“The Mob, Micah, that’s what I’m talking about. The Mob is here in Diamond Creek.”

I let her go as I ran my hand through my hair.

I was freaking out, but I couldn’t let her know.

“Becca, what makes you think the Mob is in Diamond Creek?”

“Ok, so I was down at Old Man Johnson’s feed store, and I was wandering the aisles looking for peanuts.”

I stopped her there.

“Peanuts? Why were you looking for peanuts?”

“For the squirrels.” She tilted her head like I should have known what she was talking about.

“What squirrels?”

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