Free BRIDGER by Megan Curd

morning.” With that, he winked as he pulled on a black jacket and left.
    I headed to bed on cloud nine.   Not sure which room was mine, I put my ear to each door, listening for Jamie’s voice.   Nearing the end, I heard her talking.
    “I’ve been keeping a journal.   They’re uploading now. Let me know what you think.”
    There was silence.   Jamie must be wearing headphones as she talked to Mark, because she was replying to a question I hadn’t heard.
    “You were right.   No, I’ll be home soon.”
    I knocked before walking in, letting Jamie know she wasn’t alone.   Intruding on her conversation wasn’t the most polite thing to do, but I was beat.   “Hey James, can I come in?”
    After a moment of silence filled with feverish clicking, Jamie replied.   “Yeah, it’s fine.”
    Looking into her eyes, there was something wrong.   “What’s up?   Is Mark okay?”
    Jamie looked distracted.   “Mark? Oh, yeah. Just being dumb.”
    They must be in a fight or something.   “You okay?”
    “Yeah, I just want to get some rest.”
    Jamie pulled herself off the ground and made her way to the bed.   “Goodnight, Ash.”
    She could be so weird sometimes.   “Goodnight, James.”

EIGHT

    I was greeted in the morning by the wonderful scents of bacon, eggs, and bread being made. I rolled over to see if Jamie was still in bed. She wasn’t. The shower was running in the bathroom connected to our bedroom, so she must have been getting cleaned up.
    My ponytail had exploded during the night, so I attempted to tame it as I walked into the kitchen.   The only person I could see was Liam.
    Sitting there quietly as he read the newspaper, his furrowed brow made me laugh. He was so serious for a guy our age. I liked it. I sat down beside him and fluttered the pages he was reading. “Anything mind blowing going on today?”
    He smiled and set the paper down. The headline was about a four year old boy who had gone missing. “Just the usual, depressing stuff. Just once it’d be nice to hear a good story in the news.”
    “Too true,” Tess murmured from across the kitchen. She never looked away from what she was doing, but it was obvious she was eavesdropping.
    Liam winked at me and nodded toward Tess. “Feel like taking a walk? I think the kitchen is a little crowded.”
    My heart fluttered. “Sure. Tess, will you let Jamie know we’ll be right back? She’s in the shower.”
    Once more she didn’t look up, but her grin was enormous. “No problem, dear. Have fun.”
    Outside Liam wasted no time in taking my hand and walking onto the road. He seemed to know where he was going, so I let him lead in silence for a while.
    When he broke it, his question caught me off guard. “Do you believe in fairy tales?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Like, you know, leprechauns, unicorns, all that stuff?” He grinned sheepishly like he didn’t even believe it himself. “You can’t tell me your grandma hasn’t told you Irish folklore.”
    I rolled my eyes. “That’s all I’ve ever heard. Don’t tell me you believe that stuff.”
    He looked down. “What if I told you I knew it was true?”
    Well, here it was. No wonder he liked me. He was crazy. I kept my thoughts to myself, since it was probably rude to tell him he was nuts.
    He squeezed my hand tighter. “Look, I’m serious. Did you see that newspaper today? The article about the boy going missing?”
    “Yeah, what about it?”
    “That’s not the first time something like that has happened. My brother was kidnapped the same way. I’d get in so much trouble if they knew I was telling you this, but I want you to know. My brother was taken by a Changeling.”
    Okay, so he was really nuts. I’d seen on TV to just placate people like him so they wouldn’t do anything drastic, like kill me or something, so I continued to walk with him. “And what exactly is a changeling?”
    “They’re nasty things. Faeries. Not like the fun ones you see in movies. Not the