Deadly Shades (Shades Series) Read Online Free Page B

coming back after her.
    Kennedy shrugged off her dark thoughts. After slipping her smart phone and keys in a zip up pocket and tuning into some indie music, she jogged toward the first hill. It was uphill for a good half-mile. She hated this part, but at least she got it over with in the beginning. Ah, but she loved the last part. Almost all downhill and blessed shade.
    Her heart pounded. Sweat trailed down one temple. The sun dipped lower in the sky. On her way up, she came across a number of hikers going in the opposite direction. All colored with different auras. Not one bit of gray. Normal.
    Which led to her being abnormal.
    She focused on the trail. Protruding rocks and shrubs littered the path. If she wasn’t careful, she might land on her face. As she climbed the trail, fewer people appeared.
    The main path circled around a foothill. Prickly pear, Palo Verde trees and desert shrub scattered the desert on both sides of her. Shadows elongated and clung to the mountain side by the time she reached the halfway point where she started to circle back around. On this side of the mountain only a few ranch-style houses sprawled across the valley below. No sign of movement from any of the properties.
    Heart racing, she pushed forward. Her lungs burned. She unsnapped her water bottle and took a swig. She didn’t slow and water splattered her cheeks. Focus momentarily diverted, she tripped over a protruding rock cemented to the packed dirt. Her hands sprang up for balance and the water bottle went flying. Her ankle twisted to the side. She gasped. Pain flared across muscle and tendon. She stumbled to a stop and caught her breath.
    “Damn it,” she grunted to herself.
    Stepping forward, she tested her right ankle and winced. “Good going, you clumsy oaf.”
    Just what she needed. A good mile back to the car on a sore ankle. She guessed it could have been worse. She might have lost her keys—which could easily happen... Tensing, she quickly patted her zipped pocket and felt the jagged lump of her keys. “Thank God for small miracles. Now if I could just find my water bottle.”
    It took all of two seconds to find it. She grabbed the metal container butted up against a rock and snapped the top closed before any more water spilled out.
    Even though the sun had dipped even further, Kennedy decided not to push her body and jog the rest of the way. The last thing she needed was to slap the ground with her face. Then she’d have a heck of a time getting out of the place.
    Tentatively, she moved down the path, testing her ankle with each step, unable to walk without a distinct limp.
    Footsteps against gravel pulled Kennedy from her thoughts. A hiker appeared from the curve in the trail. His figure waved, dimmed and darkened. Even with the fading sun, Kennedy easily distinguished black rays radiating from his body. His clothing, shoes, hair, arms—pulsed pure, undiluted black, not muddy gray, indigo, or deep, dark green. Just pure black.
    Uneasiness crawled along the back of Kennedy’s neck and into her chest. The only word that would describe the feeling rolling toward her was evil.
    The sun hung low in the sky. She hadn’t seen another hiker for a while. Tension cut a swath across her shoulder. Her heart rate kicked up.
    The hiker continued toward her. Bulky shoulders, thick arms and legs. She thought to lift the glasses to get a better image of him because the black masking the rest of his features, but decided against it. She’d just look odd and draw attention to herself.
    She touched the phone in her pocket. A lifeline.
    Okay she was getting way out of hand and paranoid. She didn’t know for sure what these glasses really told her. Oh, yeah? Then why the black? She’d seen someone radiating muddy green and the guy had looked far from happy.
    Black didn’t necessarily mean evil. It could mean death. But she wasn’t getting a feeling of his death. Oh, no. Not at all. Death could very well mean the other way around. He