Chasing Shadows Read Online Free Page B

sidewalk.
    “Is there anywhere that is kind of secluded around here?” she whispered.
    Sarah thought for a minute. “Well, there’s a park just around the corner. It has a lot of trees and overgrowth, but it’s not exactly ‘secluded.’”
    Karen seemed to be considering it. “Does it have any public restrooms?”
    Sarah squinted an eye, and the left side of her face scrunched in uncertainty. “Well, yeah, but . . .” Her voice trailed off as she took in Karen’s hopeful expression. “Oh, no.”

 
     
     
    ~Chapter 3~
     
     
     
     
    “This is disgusting,” Sarah mumbled, trying to hold her breath in the small room. She sidestepped a piece of toilet paper soaking in a small pool of water on the floor. At least, she hoped it was water.
    Karen shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the smell and cramped quarters of the one room stall. Living in the twelfth century had seriously diminished her sense of smell. “I didn’t want to use the watches in broad daylight. This seemed like our best option.”
    “I still think we could have done it in my room,” Sarah replied stubbornly.
    “ If we could have gotten in, your mom would have known something was up. You remember what happened last time you came, don’t you?”
    Recalling the lightning and Richter scale quaking of her room, Sarah sucked in a breath. She immediately threw a hand over her mouth as the stench assailed her senses.
    “Just hurry up before I gag.” Her voice came out sounding nasal as she pinched the opening of her nose to ward off the smell. Karen grinned, pressed a button on the watch she wore, and grabbed Sarah’s free hand.
    The room suddenly flooded with white light, temporarily blinding them both. The metal toilet seat made a clanking noise as it jiggled from side to side as the room began to tremor. The slight shaking quickly increased to a dull rumble, and then the room began to quake dangerously.
    Sarah didn’t want to grab onto anything that she couldn’t see in the restroom, so she planted her feet spread apart and held onto Karen’s hand for dear life. The earth beneath them seemed to groan in protest as the floor continued to tremble, and Sarah’s toes began to tingle, the sensation creeping over her body until it flooded every limb. Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes for the occupants of the cramped stall before the quaking lessened. The ground let out one last big shake that sent them both to their knees before everything stilled.
    Sarah pulled her palms from the floor with an “ Ew! ” of disgust and scrambled up on shaky legs—God only knew what was on that floor. The bright light had disappeared, and she blinked rapidly until her eyes adjusted to their new surroundings. She blinked again, though nothing was wrong with her vision. Dry leaves crunched beneath her feet as she took a step back in astonishment.
    They were in the forest again.
    “It gets less shocking after a while,” Karen said. Sarah turned and watched the redhead rise gracefully to her feet. She pulled a dried leaf out of her hair and smiled brightly, spreading her arms wide. “Welcome back.”
    Sarah looked around at the sparse woods and the trails littered with fallen leaves. All was quiet except for the wind as it rustled the highest branches of the trees.
    “I can’t believe it,” Sarah breathed, completely in awe of what had just happened. She didn’t care how many times she did that: time travel would never cease to amaze her.
    She blinked up at the fading sun, shrouded by a canopy of gold, red, and brown, and wrapped her arms around her middle against the cool wind. “We just traveled back in time a thousand years. Again,” she added in disbelief. 
    Karen laughed at her slack-jawed expression—now that they were back in her world, she seemed more at ease. She stepped lightly in front of Sarah and started down a long, narrow trail that wound around the trees, obviously expecting her to follow. Sarah jogged after her to catch up. “Where