“Everything alright?”

I keep staring down at the receiver, but slowly start shaking my head. “I … I don’t know.”

When I look up into my mom’s face, at the look of concern there, I know what I have to do. I don’t know what’s going on down at the river with Jess, but it’s not in my nature to ignore her. Not when I heard the urgency in her voice.

I know what it’s like to finally get up my courage up to talk … just for no one to listen.

I spring into action.

I dash across the room and rummage through the front of my backpack, looking everywhere for my keys. My throat lets out an annoyed rumble when I don’t find them, and after straightening up and taking a quick glance around the tiny one-room cabin, I set upon attacking the couch cushions to see if they’ve slipped in between.

My mom stands frozen across the room, watching me.

“Where are you going? Sabrina? Surely you’re not leaving the house like that.”

“What do you …” I trail off, making another throaty sound as I take myself in. “Shit.”

There’s no time for modesty.

I strip off my shirt in the middle of the room and only half-climb up the ladder into the loft to grab a hoodie from where I left it crumpled up at the top. There’s no time for a shower, so I just squeeze around my mom and rinse my hands in the sink, throwing in a quick splash of water on my face so I don’t look like I spent the morning eating as much dirt as I was shoveling.

At least now I’m only half mud stained. I grab my keys and head for the door, stopping only to reassure my mom that everything is going to be fine.

But is it?

There’s only one way to find out.

The town of North Port is so small, it doesn’t take me long to find the little nook off the side of the road that’s turned into a local swimming hole. Most of the river runs fast through winding bends, but there’s a flat area near downtown where huge rocks jut out into the water, forming pools calm enough to swim.

Even if it wasn’t an unusually warm day for September, I’d still be drenched in sweat by the time I get there.

As soon as I see Jess, I spot Aimee and Tom sitting beside her. I wave my arms over my head, waiting for one last car to whiz past before jogging across the road towards the rocky outcropping where all three of them are perched. None of them have seen me yet. They’re all too busy staring at something on the other side of the river.

Whatever it is, it must be important because no one notices even as I call out to them from the base of the rock. It’s a steep climb up to the top.

They aren’t going to make this easy.

My heart pounding, I get down on all fours and half-crawl, half-climb, up towards them. This time, I wait until I’m nearly at the top before calling out again.

“Jess! Jess, what is it?”

My voice catches in the wind, dragged off into the rush of the rapids further down. Up here, there’s nothing but the sound of the river. No wonder they couldn’t hear me before.

By the time I reach the peak of the rock where it flattens off, I’m completely out of breath.

“Oh my god!”

Jess finally spots me, leaping up to her feet and rushing over on terrifyingly unsteady feet to offer me a hand up to the top. I take her hand and let myself fall forward onto my hands and knees for a moment.

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come,” she says, taking a step back and glancing once more across the river.

I sit back, pressing my hands to the tops of my dirt-stained thighs.

“What’s going on. What’s everyone looking at?”

Neither Tom nor Aimee has looked at me, so I follow their gaze to what I couldn’t see before because it was blocked out by the rocks along the shore.

That’s when I see it.

Tags: Eden Beck Wolfish Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net