The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) Read Online Free Page A

stepped on a branch. We both froze, neither of us so much as breathing. Lucy kept her eyes on me, at a loss on what to do.
    I scanned the woods around us, trying to spot the origin of the cracking sound, but the pine trees and other vegetation were too dense for us to see very far. All was still and silent again, but my instincts were screaming in my head for me to flee. I looked back to Lucy, nodded, and we broke into a full-blown run.

Chapter Two
    W e ran through the woods, the trees a blur in my peripheral vision. After a short time I had to slow my pace for Lucy’s shorter legs to catch up. Adrenaline pounded in my head like a second heartbeat. Lucy pushed harder and began to pick up speed, but then tripped and went flying to land in a heap on the moist soil. I skidded to a halt and crouched to grip her upper arms, dragging her to her feet. She brushed herself off and we continued running down the trail until the vegetation became less dense. We were almost safe. We slowed to a trot as we reached our street, then stopped in front of Lucy's house, both of us panting from the effort.
    Lucy took a moment to catch her breath, then said, “Okay, that was weird, you felt it too right? Like someone watching us the whole way . . . the same someone who stepped on that branch.”
    I nodded my head and looked behind us, searching for a sign of our anonymous stalker. “What do you think it was?”
    A shaky laugh erupted from Lucy.
    I whipped my head back around to regard her. “What could you possibly be laughing about?” I asked, exasperated.
    “Never mind, we’re being ridiculous, it was probably just a deer or something.” Despite her laughter, she didn’t sound very sure. She looked away from my skeptical glare and began examining her palm, which had been scraped when she fell.
    I continued to stare at Lucy until she finally raised her eyes back up to meet mine. She flinched slightly at my stubborn look. “C’mon Xoe, do you really think that we were being followed?”
    I crossed my arms. “Yes, yes I do.”
    Lucy sighed. “By what? No one’s seen any bears or mountain lions this close to town in years.”
    It was my turn to look down. “Maybe it wasn’t a bear.”
    Lucy laughed again. “Who would want to follow us, and for what reason?”
    I shrugged and met Lucy’s eyes again, not able to brush the situation off as easily as she was. “I don’t know, but we were followed.”
    Lucy put her hands on her hips. “Okay, say we were, what do we do about it now?”
    I sighed. She had a point. “Nothing I guess.” I managed a weak smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”
    With an uneasy nod and a wave goodbye, Lucy veered toward her house. I watched her go inside, then continued down the street.
    My house wasn't far, and soon came into view. As I reached my door, I sensed movement in the woods to my right, but my eyes couldn’t pick up anything out of the ordinary. That cracking sound we'd heard had not been a deer. A deer wasn't heavy enough to break a branch that large. I waited, pretending to examine the purple flowers that cascaded over the edges of the planter that rested to the side of my front door. Everything was still.
    With a sigh, I unlocked my front door and entered my house, still feeling a little shaky. As soon as the door was shut, the tension in the middle of my back eased. I walked through the kitchen to the large dining room window and looked outside for . . . what? Feeling silly, I shook my head and went upstairs to my room.
    Shutting the door behind me, I moved to the back left corner of my room that my queen size bed dominates. I sat on my forest green comforter and leaned against my mismatched yellow and blue pillows, feeling exhausted. I looked around my messy room, feeling numb, but also embarrassed for being so paranoid.
    Like my mismatched bedding, there is no rhyme or reason to the decoration of my room. Besides my bed, the rest of the space is taken up by my desk, my clothes