The Watcher Read Online Free PDF

familiar, as though I was the person who had been working this loom, and I wasn’t alone. Someone else had been there with me.
    But as quickly as the images came, they were gone, and I didn’t have a clue what they meant.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    My friends were waiting for me at the crest of the trail, their mouths agape as Michael set me down on a nearby log.
    Heather rushed over and threw her arms around my neck. “Oh my God, Mia. Are you okay? We turned around and you were gone.”
    Michael stepped back to let her get closer, but his tall frame hovered as though he could lend me his strength by proximity.
    She turned to him almost accusingly. “Where did you come from?”
    He cleared his throat. “I—”
    Gushing, Fiona cut him off. “Michael, that was so awesome! Carrying her up that hill. It was crazy-steep. Your feet barely touched the ground.”
    “It was nothing,” he scoffed, and I could feel his attention on me again. “How is it?”
    How’s what? I thought, blinking at him, still marveling at what I’d seen. Had I just remembered a dream? It seemed so familiar, so real .
    Heather touched my shoulder, but asked Michael, “How’s what ?”
    He focused on me. “Your ankle?”
    I checked it. I could point my toe now without cringing. “It’s okay. Much better.”
    “What happened?” Heather asked. “Can you walk?”
    “Sure.” I stood, but when I took a step, pain burned the length of my leg. I flinched before I could stop myself and nearly fell over.
    Michael grabbed my elbow to steady me. “Maybe you shouldn’t walk yet.”
    “It’s not nearly as bad as I thought,” I said, sitting back down.
    “Uh huh,” he said. “That’s probably shock.”
    An indescribable emotion welled inside me, catching in my throat. I felt frail and drawn, like something made out of tissue paper. Fighting a strange urge to cry, I swallowed hard and took deep breaths.
    “I’m such a klutz,” I said to Heather and Fiona. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
    “Shh!” Sitting beside me, Heather put an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t even think that way, Mia.”
    Michael spoke to Heather and Fiona this time. “We should get her to the hospital so she can get checked out.”
    “I’ll be fine,” I said.
    “We can help you get back,” Heather said, standing. “You can lean on me. We’ll make it back okay.”
    I tried another step on my own. It hurt but seemed easier than the last one. Heather, who was closest to my height, encouraged me to lean on her and we took slow, careful steps down the dusty trail together, with Fiona leading the way. It was slow going. We had to stop often so I could rest. Michael took up the rear, but when we stopped he was so preoccupied with the forest that he hardly spoke.
    On our third stop, Heather sat beside me on an old stump. “We’re almost halfway,” she said, trying to encourage me. “We’re making good time.”
    Finding a patch of sunlight, Fiona lunged into a yoga stretch that showed off her long, elegant limbs. Tossing her hair, she grinned up at Michael and my stomach hitched. She could be such a flirt.
    To my relief, he didn’t notice her. His attention was on the golf-ball-sized rock he was rolling beneath his foot.
    A chill ran through me again, and I got the feeling that someone, or something, was staring at me. One of the bushes around us seemed darker than normal, shadowy, and I thought I saw a glimmer of red. A jolt of fear seized my chest. If one of those dogs came after me, I’d never be able to outrun it. I could barely walk.
    Heather followed my gaze, but obviously didn’t see anything. “You okay? You’ve gone really pale.”
    “I thought…” I began, but when Michael glanced at me, I stopped. I didn’t want to bring up the shadowy dog again, not when he and I were starting to get along. “It’s nothing.”
    Beside me, he kicked the rock into the bush and it landed with a satisfying crash of branches and leaves.