Hidden in Sheridan (Tainted Series: Book 1)

Moon: YOUNG

Levi - Ity made everything she did look effortless. Walking through the woods, finding the treehouse, climbing into the treehouse and reading her book in a completely foreign language. Now here she is, sliding out of the treehouse and making it look as easy as breathing. She even skips the last two rungs of rope ladder, landing silently on the ground below.

I figure it can’t be that far down, just a couple of feet. I can do it too without making myself look ridiculous. Maybe. With every step, the ladder sways complicating my descent. My feet try to find the rung without the help of my eyes. At the sixth step my foot slips off the slick wood panel. I hold onto the ropes with a silent prayer.

I let go.

The ground is farther than I thought.

One foot hit the a rocky surface before the other, rolling my left ankle. Gravity making me collapse to the wet mossy earth. Except for the cracking of several branches, nothing else broke. Adrenaline rushes to my head, embarrassed I leap to my feet and with hands in the air, I announce, “I’m okay!” I hope the recovery of the fall would diminish the humiliation.

It didn’t.

Ity’s eyes met mine, her eyebrows knit together as she looks carefully at my side. My hand quickly covers the injury. “It’s fine.” I assure her. “I didn’t land on that side.”

She begins to nod but stops short. Her eyes slide down my left and then I feel it. A cool breeze had somehow bypassed through my jeans, my skin prickled with the chill. I look down to see bright red blood oozing from my thigh. Whatever cut me, had cut so deep it sunk through my wranglers and into few layers of skin.

“Oh,” was the most I could say.

I assume the adrenaline was still pulsing through me because other than the cool chill, I felt nothing. I decide the pain will come eventually but for now I check my pants and confirm that today would be their last usable day. The rip is too high to make into a pair of board shorts and it would be uncomfortable to keep them as work pants.

“Oh well. Luckily they aren’t my good jeans.” I brush it off lightly. “I’m okay, it doesn’t hurt. We should get back to Wendy before the sunlight is gone.”

Her eyes linger on the cut a little longer than I like, but eventually Ity turns and leads the way out of the forest. Slowing her pace, she allows me to fall into step beside her wherever possible. There are stretches where she pauses to watch me climb over a log or a rock but I don’t trip. Even when the shadows fill my path I feel more confident the father we go. The reflectors on Ity’s backpack are an accurate guide, and by the time the thick foliage falls away, I feel I’ve gotten the hang of the uneven ground.

I look to Ity for some validation but she gives none.

My heart flutters when Wendy comes back into view. I do love my car, but it was the unplanned hike I am thrilled to be done with. “Climb in,” I say, “I’ll drive you the rest of the way home.”

She doesn’t protest. She climbs in without waiting for me to open the door and we continue on.

The brightness of the moon lights everything around us, casting a cool glow onto the road. A mile passes by when Ity reaches across from her seat and flips the lever on the side of my steering wheel. The headlights flip on and the road changes from a cool glow to a sharp pool of yellow, which reaches out ahead of us.

“Oh. Thanks. The moon was so bright I didn’t even notice.”

Ity leans toward the windshield and looks at the sky before making a two hand gesture that I caught out of the corner of my eye, “No moon? There has to be a moon.”

She points to the sky and shakes her head. I lean forward to get a better look upward and confirm she’s right. The sky is dark with two or three stars peeking around the thick clouds otherwise, no moon could be seen.

I look back at the road that is now illuminated by Wendy’s yellowed headlights. “It’s lucky I hadn’t killed us. Thanks for catching the lights.” I say, trying to sound like my mistake didn’t bother me. But a new knot began to form in the pit of my stomach.

Ity settles into her seat her eyes scanning the interior of Wendy more carefully than before. I smile again because she seems more comfortable around me and I no longer feel the overpowering urge to fill in the silence with my own jumbled thoughts.

We round the final corner. The one where I’d hit the dog and slid off the road. Instinctively I slow Wendy to a crawl, until eventually she stops. Right on the side of the road. My hand shifts her into park, my eyes not leaving the dark shadows casted by my headlights.

I know the animal won’t be there, it’s obvious. Yet, that night things had happened so fast, I hadn’t gotten a chance to look around.

Ity’s hands dance in front of her, asking me if something is wrong. I shake my head, “Nothing’s wrong. I just want to take a look. It’ll only take a second.”

I unlatch my seatbelt and climb out. I don’t know what made the change. Maybe it was the adventure Ity had taken me on in the woods, but the fear is gone. My chest pushes out as I take a deep breath, inhaling the evening air, and I feel stronger. I trace my hand along Wendy as I walk around the back bumper, and my shoes squish into the muddy burrow pit.

Note to self, invest in boots.

Wendy’s lights flicker off, and without her yellow glow the cool shapes and shadows again fill in around me. The smell in the air is crisp but it also had another smell. Something I’ve never smelled before.

Wendy’s passenger side door opens and closes, the crunch of gravel beneath Ity’s shoes echo until she’s standing right beside me.

“It feels the same but … do you smell that?” I ask, looking to her for a reaction.

She plays along, taking a long drag of night air then she leaned toward me and took a short sniff before looking at me, here eyes squinting suspiciously.

I glance down and roll my eyes, “You were the one that dragged me through the woods.”

She smiles, then shrugs her shoulders. She clearly doesn’t smell it, but I do. It’s the smell of wet dog mixed with something I can’t put my finger on. “Out there. It smells like sour and wood?”

Ity leans back and cross her arms before making a brisk motion toward the trees, her expression mocking. My eyes roll again, “Yes, I know wood is in the woods. I mean a different kind of wood. I don’t know, something dry like from the desert. It’s out of place.”

Her eyes look me up and down so I decide to cut her off before she can make another sarcastic sign.

“I know it sounds really weird, forget it.” I turn completely back toward her, “I’m sorry for stopping.”

Her eyes again pause on my side, the one with the recent cut where the blood had managed to clot. After bleeding in front of her so many times, I wonder if she has a problem with blood.

“Lets go,” I say, she readily agrees.

A cold ripple runs up my spine and my hand pauses on Wendy’s silver door handle. It’s that feeling you get when someone is watching you, but you turn around and there’s no one there.

“Don’t look,” I tell myself. I already look plenty foolish for one night, I don’t need to drag it out by being paranoid. Now, all I have to do is drop Ity at home and leave.

It’s a simple enough plan.

No room to look like an idiot.

Don’t mess with the plan! I note mentally.

CHAPTER END