Bad Bones Read Online Free PDF

dusterwhen the unsettling sensation of being watched crawled over him again. The same feeling he’d had when he woke up that morning, only much stronger this time. Then his right hand locked solid round the bracelet. Freaked by what was happening, Gabe’s head swivelled like he was at a pro-tournament tennis match, searching for any sign of an owl, or even a coyote.
    Not a thing.
    Gabe stared down at his hand, the bracelet held in its claw-like grip. His arm hurt bad, and the intense pain was creeping up towards his shoulder. Panic was starting to take hold of him again when something made him stop and slowly look up. On a bench right opposite him sat a man. Just some old guy wearing a tatty yellowy-brown leather jacket, dusty work boots and washed-out jeans, so pale they were almost white above the knees. A faded red baseball cap was pulled low enough to make it impossible to see the man’s eyes, but Gabe knew he was staring straight at him. And he knew he’d seen him before.
    Last night. The man had been in his dreams last night…
    Gabe’s stomach did a flip, and he dragged his gaze away from the man. He felt like he’d been punched in the gut. Images from the horrific dreams came flooding back, only now they looked like a shaky, badly made film playing in his head, complete with a hissed and whispered soundtrack that was impossible to understand. This person across the street wasn’t dressed like the masked figure had been, and he wasn’t wielding a blood-spattered gold knife or wearing a feathered headdress.
    But the man across the street had been right there, killing the boy.
    Sometimes in dreams you just knew things without actually seeing them.
    Right now, in broad daylight, Gabe knew that this person, his face half obscured, was the same man he’d seen pull the living, beating heart out of the boy on the altar. There was no doubt. Gabe could feel the cold, fanatical anger radiating from him.
    A breeze blew past, bringing with it the sharp, pricking aroma of burnt herbs. The smell funnelled straight up his nostrils and into his brain, intensifying the sounds and the pictures, for a moment makingwhat was going on in his head more real than the world around him.
    Fighting back, Gabe clutched at the only thought that made any kind of sense. He had to get away –
now
.
    The sudden rush of adrenaline coursing through his bloodstream jolted Gabe into action, shaking off whatever had been paralyzing him. Stashing the bracelet and lock he grabbed his bike and launched off the sidewalk and on to the road without looking. Behind him he heard the screech of tyres and a horn blaring, but he didn’t care. He just had to put some distance between himself and the person across the street.
    Someone he’d never seen before, except in his dream.
    Which was not only crazy, it was impossible.
    Wasn’t it?
    Gabe rode, hunkered down and pedalling manically, flying through a couple of traffic lights
way
after he should have stopped, weaving between cars and getting in and out of spaces the sane part of him knew were much too close for comfort. But for a mile or more the sane part of him hadn’t beenin control, not until the adrenaline had worn off and he could finally allow himself to coast to a halt. Panting like a beast, for a moment he had no idea where he was.
    Covered in sweat, lungs heaving and muscles screaming, Gabe slowly calmed down. It was only when his heartbeat had settled back to something approaching normal that he saw his ‘escape route’ had brought him within easy striking distance of the canyon. It was where he’d been planning to come, before he’d gotten totally spooked by losing control of his hand, then seeing the man across the street. But now … now he wasn’t so sure he wanted to go back up there, even in broad daylight.
    Before he’d freaked out seeing the man sitting opposite LeBarron Antiques and Collectables, his main doubts about returning to the canyon had been being found by a Park