Page 106 of The Blairville Legacies

God, how fast was she?

Completely out of breath and about to fall down, because that was my absolute strength, I quickened my sprint one last time. But it didn’t help.

Emely was nowhere to be seen. Not even behind the next path branching, where I came to a halt too slowly, overlooked a root, and landed straight on the ground.

That’s exactly what would have happened if two strong hands hadn’t grabbed my arms. I was familiar with that pressure. As soon as I stood upright again, I turned around.

There he was, just like the first time. Only this time, there was something else in his face besides the cheeky grin.Worry.

I quickly looked around, but other than the trees, the path, and a few birds, I couldn’t see anything of concern.

“Balance isn’t one of your strengths, is it?”

He grinned. And for once, he was right.

“Very funny, Julian...”, I murmured, playfully annoyed, because I really wasn’t this time.

I still had to find Emely, who obviously didn’t want to be found. But where had she gone?Reallyinto the forest? Of course, it was nice here, but somehow it was also a bit creepy to be out here alone like this. Especially after what theBlairville Dailyreported.

“Why are you out here alone?”

As if he could read my mind...

But Julian just looked at me in a haunting way, and I got goosebumps. The grin that had adorned his face until just now slowly receded. And what remained was worry.

“You should be careful. There are dark creatures roaming around here.”

“Dark creatures?”

Did he mean wild wolves? I’d never encountered one before, and I definitely wasn’t planning to. So, if he was trying to convince me to get out of here, he had just succeeded.

Once again, I looked around. This time I paid attention to the various sounds that made the forest more peaceful than scary. Many different bird songs mingled in the distance. And the evening sun was also climbing through the treetops of the leafy trees.

Actually, it was beautiful at this fork in the road. Where one could not really speak of a path, but rather of a murderously uneven trail.

I looked at Julian again, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me until now.

“Yes...” he whispered and looked even deeper into my eyes.

His seemed to take on a different color in the sunlight, a softer green. This time I also saw the little yellow sprinkles that I hadn’t noticed the last time.

Wait, had he just saidyes?

“Do you think there are wild animals here, something like wild boars?”, I tried to avoid the wild wolf topic in order not to scare myself.

I looked at him in disbelief, but immediately regretted having asked this question. Because suddenly he twisted his mouth into a grin again and ran his hand through his slightly tousled hair.

I gave him an annoyed look. “What? You said dark creatures.”

“And the first thing you think of iswild boars?” Julian laughed, visibly amused.

“What else?”

Not fucking wolves at all.

I prayed he wouldn’t bring up the subject. On campus, fine, but please not in the middle of the woods.

He didn’t answer me. Instead, he moved a little closer.

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