Revelations Read Online Free PDF Page B

away.
    Alexander, however, behaved in completely the opposite manner. On seeing that Nora was up, he walked over and greeted her with a smile. “Good to see you finally up.”
    “Where did everyone go?”
    “We went to convince Madison to come with us.”
    “Oh?” Nora lifted a brow. “Did you succeed?”
    “Well, you saw her here, didn’t you?” Alexander scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Although I have to warn you, she’s not too happy about it.”
    “Because of me?”
    Alexander avoided her question. “I wouldn’t blame myself too much if I were you. Madison’s issues are her own, and she has to deal with them herself.”
    “I see.” Nora didn’t really, but she decided to let it drop…for now.
    “Now, you’d better get ready for travel. We’ve got a long day ahead.” He turned away.
    Hunter looked after him as he went, then approached Nora. “How did you sleep?”
    “Not bad.” Nora remembered his hushed conversation with Madison during the night. She didn’t want to admit she’d spied on them, but at the same time, she itched to know what they’d been talking about. Maybe she could get him to mention it. “How did you sleep?”
    “Me?” Hunter sounded surprised. “I kept watch last night, as usual. I still haven’t felt the need to sleep yet.”
    “Oh. Nothing unusual happened, then?”
    “Nothing you should worry over.” Hunter changed the subject. “I saw Gray scuttling away this morning, though. Out into the woods. I think he found a small rodent or something like that. In case you were wondering where he was.”
    “Oh. Yeah, thanks.”
    Hunter started to turn away, but Nora caught his sleeve. He had that black shirt on and looked absolutely majestic in the rich fabric. “Are you sure nothing happened last night?” she prodded.
    “No.” He paused, looking over at her. “You probably should go find your bear. I haven’t seen him since he left.” With that, he turned to make his way back to Alexander.
    Nora stared after him. She had given him two opportunities to mention the conversation with Madison, and he had avoided it each time. Why?
    She stood up and brushed herself off. He was right about finding Gray.
    She looked around the place she’d slept. She saw Gray’s paw prints, faded in the dirt, leading away into the forest. She followed the trail.
    Walking into the shrouded woods, she could only pick up bits and pieces of his trail. A bent leaf here, a broken twig there. If her eyesight wasn’t so sharp, she doubted she could have followed him. As she picked her way along, she wondered where he had run off to, and why.
    She walked in one direction for a couple minutes, and then stopped when the trail ended. “Gray?” she called out, her voice ringing loudly in the quiet forest. She stood still, waiting. When he didn’t emerge, she turned around, ready to retrace her steps to see where she lost his path. At that moment, Gray came rushing out of the bush, his mouth stained red.
    Nora squatted down to greet him. She wondered what kind of animal he might have found, to have his fur stained like that. But as he came closer, she realized – with only a bit of relief – that it was just berry juice.
    “So that’s where you’ve been.” She laughed as he jumped up to lick her face. “Come on.” She pushed him down playfully. “We’ve got to get back before they take off without us.” Gray tilted his head at her, but followed her back. She walked into the clearing to find Hunter sitting alone. He looked up at her. “Alexander and Madison went ahead,” he explained, “and I wanted to wait for you.”
    “Thanks,” Nora said.
    “Looks like you found Gray pretty quickly.”
    “Yeah, I guess I did. I had a bit of trouble tracking him, but he was just eating some berries nearby.”
    “So that’s why his mouth’s so red.” Hunter grinned and pushed gracefully to his feet. “Come on, we’ve got to get going if we want to catch up.”
    “How far away are