Seeds of Discovery Read Online Free PDF Page B

the highway or through one of the snow-packed trails yet.
    “I want to see what’s down there,” Annie said.
    So did Quinn. After zipping up Annie’s coat, she lifted the little girl carefully over the guardrail, and then climbed back over herself. “Let’s go see, okay?”
    Annie was eager for the adventure, and she held Quinn’s hand tightly as they navigated down the rocks. The whole time, Quinn was scanning the area, looking for any sign of where William was, or where he could have gone, but even once they reached the bottom, there was no sign of him. This was impossible; she was sure he had been here.
    He wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere.
    She whirled around, searching the entire valley with her eyes, even carefully scrutinizing the shallow water flowing over the rocks in the riverbed. He had to be here.
    But he wasn’t.
    Frustrated, she found herself walking all over the riverbank in the cold evening air, looking behind trees and boulders. The sun had set almost completely. Soon she wouldn’t be able to see anything. Except for Annie, who was now busy searching through the rocks, looking for the “shiny” kind that she liked, there was no sign of another human being anywhere on the riverbank. It was impossible. He hadn’t had time to go anywhere. What was going on here?
    In a last, desperate move, she walked toward the broken bridge. She edged close to the water as far as she could, hoping to peer beneath the base of the bridge. Maybe he was hiding there? She had to get so close to the water that she got her shoes a little wet, but she could finally see behind the dark outcropping. Nothing. He wasn’t there, either.
    The sun had set now, and only a dim glow lit the horizon. She sighed. None of this made any sense. Annie was still occupied, so she climbed up the crumbling steps and stood for a moment on what was left of the platform at the top. From here, she could see literally everything, even behind some of the smaller boulders she had searched.  She was alone.
    At that moment, a strange idea popped into her head. What if he had climbed up the bridge and kept on walking? What if it wasn’t really broken?
    She knew the thought was absurd. She was standing here, and the bridge was broken. William Rose could not have kept on walking. Yet the thought resonated with something deep inside of her, a feeling she did not understand rising from her chest. She walked forward to the broken edge and looked over. He still wasn’t down there. The water swirled below her in freezing ribbons.
    Carefully, she put her right foot over the edge, feeling the space.
    There was nothing there, of course, only air. Laughing at herself, she pulled her foot back before she lost her balance. The odd feeling passed.
    Feeling defeated, she climbed down and made her way back to her car. Underneath the disappointment, though, a new feeling was building. Determination. She was going to find out what was going on with William Rose.

3. Zander
     
    As she was pulling into the garage, next to her mother’s car, Quinn’s phone buzzed. After pressing the button to close the garage door, she flipped open the phone to read the text message. What she saw there sent her thoughts spinning in a completely different direction.
     
    Hey, Quinn,
    Just wondering if you’d decided
    about the party. Let me know, okay?
    -- Zander
     
    She stared at the screen for several seconds, trying to sort out her thoughts. Behind her, Annie unbuckled herself, opened the car door, and went inside, but Quinn wasn’t ready to move yet.
    This was real. Zander really wanted her to go to the party. She didn’t know what it meant. Was this supposed to be a date, or was he just asking her to be nice? When they were younger, he’d always been a little protective of her. Were people starting to think she was strange because she never went to parties, and he was just trying to help her out? She didn’t know. Of course, she thought, taking a deep breath to calm her