The Hybrid Read Online Free PDF Page A

saw Bethany running down the
sidewalk toward her. Bethany looked funny running in
her wedged heels, providing more evidence to the fact
that she reminded Tru of a Barbie doll. Her legs looked
like she had never run in heels before. They were stiff, not
even bending at the knee with each stride she took.
“You walk this way too?” Tru asked, surprised.
“Yeah, I live just down the street.” Bethany pointed in
the same direction Tru would soon be heading. But Tru
quickly turned her head back toward the forest when
Bethany was done speaking.
Tru could see Bethany’s face out of the corner of her
eye as she looked at the trees in front of them. Bethany
was looking at Tru with curiosity, and then turned her
head back to the trees.
“So the myth has you spooked too?” Bethany asked.
Tru looked back over at her, confused.
“What myth?” she asked, intrigued. Tru had been coming to visit her grandparents a week out of every summer,
for the past five years. The statement was completely new
to her.
“You haven’t heard the myth about the people that live
in the forest?” Bethany turned around to look at the forest
again. “They say that fairies live in there somewhere.” She
had a spooky tone to her voice. It was the kind of voice
adults used to tell scary stories to children.
“Fairies? Seriously?” Tru stared at the girl standing
next to her. She was fascinated, and also a little startled.
“But, there’s no such thing as fairies.”
“Well,” Bethany laughed, shrugging her narrow shoulders, “maybe, maybe not. From the stories I’ve heard,
these ones definitely aren’t like the ones you see in Disney
movies.
Apparently
fairies
and
humans
used
to
live
peacefully here. It was like, forever ago.” She flipped her
hair off her shoulder as she spoke.
Is she being serious?
    “But I guess something happened, and things changed.
The fairies got angry. They began to hate humans. People
say that they trick little boys and girls into going into the
forest.” She spoke so nonchalantly, like she repeated this
story on a daily basis, but somehow she sounded eerie at
the same time.
    You’re joking. You’re crazy!
“It’s like they are getting revenge against us for making
them so angry.” She looked at Tru and grinned. “Don’t
worry though. It’s just an old wives tale. Every small town
has to have one.” She giggled a little under her breath.
“Where did you hear all this from?” Tru asked, looking
at her.
“Oh, everyone here knows about it!” She threw her
hand in the air like she was swatting away a fly. “Some
say they’ve even seen them, but who really knows?”
“What happens when they trick you into the forest?”
Tru asked. She hated to admit it, but she was somewhat
curious.
“Well,” she paused curling her index finger and thumb
under her chin, trying to remember the story, “the myth
says that you get turned into a tree. Other people like to
twist the story and say that they turn you into a fairy and
that you start tricking your family and friends, too. So
anytime someone around here is gone for a while, we say
that they were turned into a tree .” She used her ghostly
voice again. “But, most of the time, they are just on vacation.”
“Do people around here ever really go missing?” Tru
was surprised that Bethany had seemed so relaxed about
the subject. She knew Bethany had said it was just an old
town story to spook people, but she didn’t seem like she
believed any of it herself.
“No.” Bethany giggled, looking at Tru like she was enjoying some small part of it. “Like I said, they are usually
just on vacation.”
“Oh.” Tru still couldn’t help but wonder.
Was that glimmering object in the forest yesterday a
fairy coming to lure me away from my family? Am I
thinking about it too much? Yes. It was just a myth. It
had to be. There’s no such thing as fairies.
Bethany and Tru turned away from the forest, and
walked the rest of the way home together in silence. It
was