First, Mady’s ex-boyfriend had gotten into a fight with a billionaire at the bar. Mady had stormed out and disappeared without a trace, and since then, none of us had spoken to her, and now Emely again, reacting more and more aggressively to everyone.
It couldn’t get any worse.
I hurried along the trail where I had last seen Emely. But now she had disappeared, and I had no clue where she had gone.
God, how fast was she?
Completely out of breath and about to fall down, because that was my absolute strength, I quickened my sprint one last time. But it didn’t help.
Emely was nowhere to be seen. Not even behind the next path branching, where I came to a halt too slowly, overlooked a root, and landed straight on the ground.
That’s exactly what would have happened if two strong hands hadn’t grabbed my arms. I was familiar with that pressure. As soon as I stood upright again, I turned around.
There he was, just like the first time. Only this time, there was something else in his face besides the cheeky grin. Worry.
I quickly looked around, but other than the trees, the path, and a few birds, I couldn’t see anything of concern.
“Balance isn’t one of your strengths, is it?”
He grinned. And for once, he was right.
“Very funny, Julian...”, I murmured, playfully annoyed, because I really wasn’t this time.
I still had to find Emely, who obviously didn’t want to be found. But where had she gone? Really into the forest? Of course, it was nice here, but somehow it was also a bit creepy to be out here alone like this. Especially after what the Blairville Daily reported.
“Why are you out here alone?”
As if he could read my mind...
But Julian just looked at me in a haunting way, and I got goosebumps. The grin that had adorned his face until just now slowly receded. And what remained was worry.
“You should be careful. There are dark creatures roaming around here.”
“Dark creatures?”
Did he mean wild wolves? I’d never encountered one before, and I definitely wasn’t planning to. So, if he was trying to convince me to get out of here, he had just succeeded.
Once again, I looked around. This time I paid attention to the various sounds that made the forest more peaceful than scary. Many different bird songs mingled in the distance. And the evening sun was also climbing through the treetops of the leafy trees.
Actually, it was beautiful at this fork in the road. Where one could not really speak of a path, but rather of a murderously uneven trail.
I looked at Julian again, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me until now.
“Yes...” he whispered and looked even deeper into my eyes.
His seemed to take on a different color in the sunlight, a softer green. This time I also saw the little yellow sprinkles that I hadn’t noticed the last time.
Wait, had he just said yes?
“Do you think there are wild animals here, something like wild boars?”, I tried to avoid the wild wolf topic in order not to scare myself.
I looked at him in disbelief, but immediately regretted having asked this question. Because suddenly he twisted his mouth into a grin again and ran his hand through his slightly tousled hair.
I gave him an annoyed look. “What? You said dark creatures.”
“And the first thing you think of is wild boars?” Julian laughed, visibly amused.
“What else?”
Not fucking wolves at all.
I prayed he wouldn’t bring up the subject. On campus, fine, but please not in the middle of the woods.
He didn’t answer me. Instead, he moved a little closer.
“Listen. Actually, I wouldn’t care if you weren’t the daughter of the woman who used to invite us for dinner.”
Now, I had to grin.
So that’s how it had been. Pretty typical of Mum. Once again, I realized that she must have actually had a life here, besides Sacramento.
Partly, the thought stung my heart. After all, she could have told me something. Instead, she had preferred to remain silent and had said nothing about the Bardots, nor about her past here.
I suppressed the rising feeling. It was not my right to be angry. Mum was going through so much I couldn’t even imagine. Maybe it had made her uncomfortable, and she wanted to keep her past away from me. But why? Why did she always make such a secret of everything?
“You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here,” Julian remarked again, a little more seriously.
“I should rather ask you that,” I returned.
