Shadow Cave Read Online Free

from the previous owners , an elderly couple who I hoped had found Tampa to their liking. Did I mention I procrastinate from time to time?
    Megan leaned forward. “ Ooh, sounds good. Any torrid love affairs? ”
    “ Nope. ”
    “ Love triangles? ”
    “ Not that I know of. ”
    “ Weird fetishes? ”
    I shuddered. “ God, I hope not. ”
    She sat back then, deflated. I didn ’ t know why I didn ’ t tell her the truth ... I didn ’ t want to mention John ’ s part in all this, for one thing. I mean, I refrained from slugging him , but I wasn ’ t sure that she would be able to. Megan was one of those people who took care of her own. She could take quite a bit of insult and injury in her own life , but mess with her family and you were toast. I also took care of my own , and so far I was staring at a nightmarish fantasy world, embezzlement, and disappearances. Danger, I admitted. I didn ’ t want Megan involved — I didn ’ t even want her to worry. She ’ d had her share of worry for, oh, the next ten years, I figured.
    Besides, I wasn ’ t even sure I could explain the mess in which I presently found myself. I really needed to find Mike first. Until then I figured it was best I kept quiet. In order to find my brother, I would have to figure out where he had gone. That meant figuring out what he was working on before he disappeared. John said he would call in one week, after I ’ d had time to go through Mike ’ s notes. Now there was a call I was looking forward to. I entertained brief fantasies about flushing my telephone down the toilet.
    “ What ’ s so funny, Claire? ”
    “ Um…nothing; I was just thinking. Listen, Meg, you remember that summer a while back , when I was twelve? ”
    “ Mikey had just turned ten . Yeah, talk about a while back. ” She smiled and a dreamy look came into her eyes. “ That was the summer I was — officially — allowed to date. I seem to remember a Cadillac and a brown - eyed boy. “
    “ Adam Jones , ” I supplied helpfully.
    “ He was my first serious boyfriend. ” She grinned like a fool. “ You know, I wonder what he ’ s been up to. ”
    I shook my head, smiling warmly at her. “ We had a lot of good times , Megs. ”
    “ We did, didn ’ t we? As I recall, you and Mikey were almost grounded for life after that summer. ” She winked at me.
    “ Grounded? Oh yes —Mom wasn ’ t too happy about our little end of summer hurrah , was she? ” I chuckled. “ She always worried about us so much — snakes in the woods, poison ivy, and what was it? Wild bears? Runaway bears? ”
    “ Well, telling her you guys were going on a two day hiking - camping trip would have been a good start. ”
    “ Oh my God . ” I choked on my drink. “ That ’ s right , we didn ’ t tell her. How could I have forgotten that? ” I murmured. My thoughts strayed to Mike ’ s notes again , to what he ’ d written at the end of the first book, about me and Indian summers. I remembered our hike through the woods that day, so long ago , yet so clear now that Megan and I were talking about it.
    “ He was always looking for the next adventure. I guess I was too, at that age , ” I mused. “ I remember we walked for what seemed like forever that day. We ended up climbing this big , sturdy old tree. We shared a candy bar and a bottle of warm soda that we had smuggled into our backpacks the night before. Said we were on this great adventure ; we were on our way to slay a horrible dragon. ” I laughed. “ We were going to a castle high on a hill to slay the dragon , of course. Only our dragon wasn ’ t green and he didn ’ t breathe fire. He was this were -dragon who spit poison. One hit and bam , you died. But the were -dragon could shape shift and look like anyone most of the time to trick his unsuspecting victims. ”
    “ God, you guys had imagination s . ” Megan shook her head.
    “ Yes. What imagination s, ” I murmured.
    ***
    I spent the next three days poring over