Page 29 of Blood Moon
I choked on my words, a warm bile in my throat. “He’s …he’s dead.” I said, remembering the frightening sound of that man’s cry. It would plague me for the rest of my life. “What are we going to do?”
“I’ll advise the local authorities and the school. I’ll take care of this,” he promised.
“You came out of nowhere,” I reminded, remembering as I stared above. The path I’d been on was barely visible. “You sprinted toward me, and then you were gone, and I—” I gulped. “I thought I was going to hit the ground, but you came out of nowhere,” I repeated.
Julian shifted his weight, tilted his head to the side. He was listening for something, and I tried to listen, too, but I was met with stillness. His features changed. “We should go,” he said, and he moved forward.
“Wait, I thought you said the bear was gone?” I held my hands out, grounding myself. He was so certain before.
When Julian faced me, there was a thrumming against his throat, his veins pulsing violently like they were constricted. “These woods aren’t safe for you,” he said, but it was his delivery, the specificity, and the stricken look in his eyes that told me he alluded to something more than the bear.
I was reminded of his past warnings, of Rena’s warnings—all of it regarding my safety. I was beginning to conclude that perhaps there was something more than a bear in these woods, and whatever it was, it was here for me.
“What do you know that I don’t?”
Julian feigned confusion before his face became void of any expression at all. “What do you want me to say?” His voice was paper-thin, his body rigid.
I was baffled, completely enraged at his response. I wanted him to say so many things. I wanted to know why he wanted me to leave Lakeland. Why it wasn’t safe for me here. What creature killed that person. Why he had animosity toward me. Why he looked at me like I haunted him.
Because he did.
He stared at me with these broken eyes, like I was the reason for every vile thing happening in the universe, like I was the center of all his brooding.
“The truth,” I said.
“I can’t give you that.”
“Then I’m not following you out of here.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mirabella, please.Please.Can you reason with me?”
“Me? Reason with you? What I’m asking for is not unreasonable, Julian. I need answers. Like, do you expect me to ignore the fact that you just so happened to be in the woods the exact same time that I was?”
“It’s a public hiking trail. Not to mention, I heard you scream. Did you want me to ignore it after everything else that happened back there?”
No. Of course, I didn’t.I swallowed, omitting that part. “But you haven’t even answered how you got to the bottom of the cliff so quickly? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I was always at the bottom of the cliff. Maybe you’re remembering it wrong? It was a far drop …”
My blood boiled, and I gritted my teeth. “Are you trying to gaslight me?”
He shook his head, gazed at the treetops, and I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t.
“Julian, it was a twenty-foot drop, at least. How’d you do it?”
“I …” he sighed, relaxed his shoulders. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to tell me how you jumped the length of a building and didn’t break a single bone. I want you to tell me what it is I should be afraid of. And be honest,” I demanded.
There was a hardness to his expression as he measured me, but perhaps he sensed my fear, because he softened his features quickly after. Took a breath. “Where’d you get your necklace?”
I looked at my pendant, resting in place. It had shocked me earlier, warning me of the danger that lay ahead. I was astonished it worked, just as Rena had declared. And what was Julian’s connection to that? What did he know about this necklace?
“Why are you changing the subject?”
He lowered his voice. “Mirabella, do youreallynot know?”
I winced, contemplating why he whispered when we were alone. “About how you got to the bottom of the cliff?”
