Free Kiera Hudson & The Creeping Men by Tim O'Rourke Page B

them to have done.
    The sudden sound of someone approaching through the wood forced me to my feet. I stood stock-still and listened for the sound again.
    “Hey, Kiera,” I heard someone say.
    I recognised the voice at once. How could I ever forget it?
    “Kiera,” the voice came again, no more than a whisper each time.
    “Kayla, is that you?” I breathed, stepping back deeper into the woods, desperate to catch sight of my friend. “Where are you?”
    “Over here,” she said.
    I headed in the direction of her voice, heart aching, just wanting to see Kayla. “I can’t see you,” I said, my voice sounding a little panicked, the footprints and tracks forgotten for now.
    “I’m here,” she said.
    Spinning around, I let out an audible gasp. Kayla stood about twenty meters away, her shoulder length red hair fluttering in the summer breeze. She stood straight, with her arms by her side. Kayla wore a long dark coat, despite the season, jeans, and boots. She smiled at me. Then, raising one hand in the air, she beckoned me forward with it.
    “Come with me, Kiera,” she said, stepping backwards through the wood so she could keep her eyes on me. “I want to show you something.”
    With my heart racing, I set off toward her as she continued to walk backwards away from me, beckoning me forward with a wave of her pale hand.
    “Where is Isidor?” I called after her. “Where’s Sam and the others?”
    “Come with me and I’ll show you,” she smiled.
    Kayla continued to walk backwards. But it didn’t seem to matter how fast I moved, she stayed the same distance from me.
    “Who are you?” I heard someone suddenly shout.
    This voice I didn’t recognise, so I turned around.
    A man was making his way toward me from the direction of the house. He had the stock end of a shotgun pressed into his shoulder and the barrel aimed at me. He wore a cloth cap and a green wax-looking coat. The man was stocky, and although I was the one who had a gun pointed at me, I couldn’t help but see the look of fear in his dark eyes.
    “You’re one of them! ” he roared, raising the gun, so it was pointed at my head.
    “One of who?” I asked. “One of what ?”
    “Get off my land before I blow your head off!” he stormed. His face coloured so red it was almost purple. As if to illustrate to me that he was serious about causing me mortal harm, he fired the gun over my head.
    I screamed, ducked, and covered my head with my hands all at once. Bark flew from a nearby tree trunk as the shot from the gun hit it.
    “I know what you’ve come for!” he roared. “But she’s not here no more. I’ve sent her away. Someplace you will never find her. So get off my land and don’t ever come back!”
    He fired another warning shot, this one at my feet. Leaves and dirt sprayed upwards, showering the front of my jeans and jacket. I scrambled backwards, fearing for my own and Kayla’s safety. With my heart in my throat, I turned but couldn’t see Kayla. Had she fled too? Not Kayla. There wasn’t much she would ever run from – not even a guy firing a gun. She would have been all over him like a rash. Taking chunks from his face with her fangs. But perhaps like me, Kayla didn’t have fangs, claws, or wings in this where . Maybe she was just like any other sixteen-year-old girl now, vulnerable to death without any supernatural abilities to protect her.
    The man, who I suspected was Sir Edmund, fired another shot as I raced away toward the wall I had climbed over. As I ran, the sound of Sir Edmund at my heels, I called out Kayla’s name over and over. I looked left and right but couldn’t see her anywhere. It was as if she had vanished.

     

Chapter Twelve
    Gasping for breath, I called out her name as I ran.
    “Kayla! Kayla!”
    If she could hear me, she didn’t answer. Perhaps like me, Kayla had run as fast and as hard as she could to get away from danger. With each stride I took, I willed my legs to run faster like they once had –