Bluedawn (A Watermagic Novel, #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

slightly. “Nothing.”
    She looked at Dad and then back at me. “Don’t
leave the motorhome, Hailey, whatever you do. I forbid you to take
one step out of it.”
    I frowned.
    “I’m serious,” she insisted.
    “Come on,” Dad said as he led her to the car.
“Don’t get paranoid on us. I have a surprise for you on the front
seat.”
    Her eyes lit up uncontrollably—she loved
gifts. “Oooh, what is it?” She couldn’t help but rush to open the
car door and pick up the box. “And I’m not paranoid,” she insisted
looking over at us.
    “Go ahead—open it,” he mumbled as he shook
his head with a grin on his face.
    She opened the silver jewelry box and lifted
up a diamond bracelet. “This is beautiful, Jim.”
    “So pretty, Dad,” I said as I walked over to
take a better look.
    Dad fastened it around her wrist.
    I rolled my eyes when she hugged and kissed
him. “Okay, love birds. Don’t be late.”
    They got in the car and pulled out of the
campsite. Mom stared at me from through the window and held her
hand up against the glass. That image stayed in my mind for a long
time thereafter.
    The campsite was quiet without them there.
And as I looked out past the craggy rock hill, toward the horizon,
I couldn’t really see clearly. The sky was greying now. It sort of
blended into ocean. And it became difficult to discern between the
two natural forces.
    I picked up the paper plates that had blown
to the ground and put them in the metal trashcans. It didn’t feel
right being alone. In the distance, I could hear girls talking, but
I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The sounds came through the
trees, probably from a nearby campsite.
    After a minute, I went inside the motorhome
and took a shower in the cramped stall. The water felt good on my
naked body, but the little space was steaming up. I stretched up on
my tippy toes and cranked the overhead window open. That was
better.
    The jasmine scented shampoo lathered up
nicely in my hair. But as I was rinsing, trying to keep the soap
out of my eyes, I thought I heard what sounded like a scratching
sound above. I turned off the shower for a moment and listened. It
sounded like some kind of animal was walking on the roof. Its claws
dragged for a moment and then stopped.
    My eyes burned. I tried to wipe the lather
out of them, but it was useless. Then I froze and just waited to
see if the movement returned, but it didn’t.
    I turned back on the shower and rinsed.
    It was quiet now so I figured I had just
heard a squirrel moving around and had imagined more. I could have
sworn the footsteps sounded much heavier than a little rodent. But
what else could have been up there?
    There was no point sitting around in the
motorhome scaring myself to death with each noise. I decided I
should get out and walk around. Now that my parents were gone, I
wanted to find that dark haired boy and thank him for saving me. I
knew my mother and father would kill me if they found out, but they
didn’t have to know.

CHAPTER FOUR
    If music be the food of
love, play on. –William
Shakespeare
    With that decision, I slipped on my bathing
suit in exchange for panties because all of my undergarments needed
laundering. And then I pulled some shorts over and buckled my
sandals. I rarely wore makeup, so I just combed through my hair and
left it to air dry.
    When I got outside, it was already dark. The
clouds were thick in the sky blocking out the stars. The night was
eerily quiet aside from the insect sounds, mostly crickets
chirping, and the light breeze rustling the leaves of the many
trees.
    I had no idea where to find the dark haired
boy or his friends. If they had a campsite, I didn’t know where it
was. The times that I had seen him had been in front of the market,
in the forest, and in the ocean. When I saw him in the water
surfing, it looked like he was with a different set of friends than
the ones I had seen him with previously. Maybe he wasn’t a camper.
Alternatively, he could live