Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance Read Online Free PDF Page B

thing,
though. No one’s seen her since Monday night. She was there one minute and gone
the next. Nobody saw her after that, not even Jake,” one girl
said.
    I felt the air leave the
room when I heard that. I quickly thought back to Monday. I hadn’t
seen Lisa talking to them. Wouldn’t she have spoken to them if they
were friends? But then again, I reminded myself, I hadn’t noticed
them at all.
    Maybe they weren’t even
talking about Jake Wheeler, in which case they probably weren’t talking about
Lisa Bauer either. I hoped that they weren’t. Dear God, I hoped
they weren’t.
    “ Maybe she’s sleeping it off
at some random guy’s house.”
    “ Are you insane? There are
no other guys at this school that can compete with Jake. She’d
never cheat on him. You know that,” another said.
    “ I don’t know. She’s been
acting kinda freaky the last couple of weeks.”
    “ She seemed fine to me at
the party. And her costume was one of the best. It was genius! I
mean, whoever would think of coming dressed as a man?”
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    My heart stopped beating for an instant
and then restarted again at an alarming rate, hammering violently
against my ribs. I felt a cold sweat break out on my brow. Visions
of Lisa’s fake goatee and man’s shirt with loose tie flashed
through my head like a strobe of condemnation. She was probably
lying dead somewhere. The police hadn’t been able to prevent it
because I had waited too long.
    It turns out I was incredibly wrong.
Lisa could very much be murdered on Monday.
    Saliva poured into my mouth and my jaws
burned like I was going to throw up. I put my head down on my desk
and concentrated on taking deep breaths, in through my nose and out
through my mouth.
    A little defensive voice inside my head
reminded me that there was really very little anyone except Lisa
herself could’ve done to prevent it anyway. Even if I had gone
right after I’d had the vision Monday morning, there simply wasn’t
enough information for the authorities to be able to prevent the
murder. Was there?
    Though I’d seen it happen, I still
didn’t have much in the way of truly useful details, not the kind
the cops would need anyway. I mean, Lisa’s name, the actual spot of
grass on which she was going to die and the fact that her attacker
would have long red hair doesn’t really make a very compelling
case.
    Regret washed through me,
making my eyes sting with unshed tears. I should’ve just gone to
Lisa and warned her. Even if she’d thought I was crazy, she
probably would’ve thought twice about getting near anyone she saw
with long red hair. But if not, surely she would’ve at least
avoided the woods on that side of campus. It might not have made
any difference, but at least I would have tried to do something to help her and
something was infinitely better than not telling her at
all.
    Scooting my book off the desk into my
bag, I got up and left class. I went to the restroom and splashed
cold water on my face. When I looked at my reflection in the
mirror, all I saw was the face of a coward staring back at
me.
    What if what I thought was an innocent
assumption had resulted in a girl’s death? How could I live with
myself? Another wave of nausea washed over me and I raced into the
stall behind me.
    I heaved into the toilet repeatedly,
though I never actually vomited. It did feel, however, like my
insides were pushing their way out through my nose.
    When I’d rinsed my face off for the
second time and swished some water around in my mouth. I hoped
against hope that those three girls weren’t talking about
Lisa.
    On the tail of that thought, denial
rode in, reminding me that it could still be a big mistake. The
girls really could have been talking about someone else. There
could have been other girls dressed like a guy; it was a costume
party after all. And there had to be a few more guys names Jake in
school. It was probably just a colossal coincidence.
    Then another little