Page 232 of The Blairville Legacies

I jerked my head around to the girls. To be more precise, to Mady, who blinked at me with a worried look.

I turned to look out of the window again.

The man had disappeared.

Now, fear and confusion spread through me.

If the guy was no longer standing there.Where was he now?

“There was someone in the street...” I stuttered, almost breathlessly.

“My brother, maybe. He always goes running at this time of day.”

What?Julian was out there? On his own?

“He should be home by now if he doesn't want to get in trouble with Dad.”

I knew that hadn't been Julian there.

I couldn't take my eyes off the road.

What if Mady had a stalker? What if there were other crazy people up to mischief in Blairville besides the wolves and witches. What if there really was amurdererin Blairville?

“We should enjoy the evening now and listen to some decent music. Otherwise, I'll fall asleep!”

Larissa had jumped up and run to the music box, which she turned up again before opening a second bottle with Mady. The two of them giggled so sweetly that it completely distracted me, and then they were already dancing around Mady's big room, singing loudly to the songEasilybyFort Lean. Mia pulled me up, and reluctantly I followed her until we were all dancing through the 2000s together.

It was one of those moments where you forgot about the world around you because the music and the people were right. Everything felt good.For a moment.The present was what made the past and the future relative. And even if I hadn't consumed anything, I felt high.

We talked all night, and I felt more and more sorry for Mady. She had been friends with Grace and Vivienna before they had excluded her because of her relationship with Nash. And it was all because of this supernatural stuff.

Larissa talked a lot about her burglary stories and showed off her tattoos, just like she had always done with the guys when she had dragged me to one of the many clubs. She ignored the questions about the date under the knot tattoo next to her breast. She hadn't even toldmewhat it was all about.

We played truth or dare, I had a drink after all, which I immediately regretted as my headache returned, and Mady and Larissa were so drunk at one point that they convinced us to play hide and seek in the house.

But the feeling of being watched wouldn't leave me, so I woke up in the middle of the night from a dream in which the shadow of the dark man had followed me through the woods. But every time I turned around, no one had been there.

Breathing heavily, I sat up and looked at the other girls, who all seemed to be deep asleep. I rose as quiet as possible, trying not to stumble over Mia's legs as I made my way to the window to check the street.

Without the music, everything seemed so strange, like I was in a less beautiful version of the present. The part they calledreality.

Holding my breath, I pushed aside Mady's rose curtains and looked at the Victorian lantern in front of our house. The street was empty. Only a few leaves swept across the sidewalk, branches flew through our front garden and the letterboxsqueaked in the wind. A black raven was sitting on the box, as if it was waiting for me to get the post so it could attack me again.

I looked over to the forest into the dark thicket that swayed threateningly back and forth.

It was as if I was looking for the red eyes. But they had disappeared.

After the little party at Mady's, I had returned home, where Mum had welcomed me with concern.

It wasn't as if she had left me in this witch temple only a week ago, andanyway, as if this wasn't allherfault.

I tried to concentrate on the book in front of me, the one Alarik Copeland had given me, but my eyes kept falling on the three new boxes of pills on my bedside table.

There was something about them that worried me, which was why I had started to stop taking these pills for my attacks a week ago. And sure enough, I had had no more outbreaks, no more strange veins on my arms and even the itching had stopped.

I had decided to observe my body's reaction for a while before confronting my mother.

What if I had been taking the wrong pillsfor yearsand the doctors had justthoughtsomething was wrong with me?

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