I sneak a quick glance, fisting my hands, ready to strike, but when I look behind me, the masked man is no longer there.
“What?!” I breathe, veering left and right, inspecting every corner of the woods. Then, I’m crashing into something hard. It completely takes me out, and I lose my footing and fall into the snow. My back collides first, so I’m facing the dark silver sky and trees.
“Coraline!” Gavin emerges from a few feet away. I dart my gaze toward him, blinking away the tears. My heart instantly slows down at the sight of him.
“Gavin! He was here! He was right there!” I point toward the river. He hoists me up by tucking his arms under my armpits. He brings me close to his chest, protectively.
“Did he hurt you?” he barks furiously, scanning me up and down. His hands hook onto my arms as I try to gather my emotions and find my words.
I shake my head, my tongue drying up. “No, I ran into a tree, but I saw him, Gavin! He was wearing all-white hunting clothes and a white mask.” My fingers tremble against his biceps. I glance over to the running river, expecting him to be there again, but no one is.
He pulls out a gun from his waistband and clicks off the safety. “Go back to the cabin, now! I’ll be back. If I’m not back in thirty minutes, go find Georgia and Merelyn.” He points it to the ground as he saunters away from me.
“Gavin. No! Don’t go.” Fear vibrates through me. I reach out for him, capturing air because he’s already walking away from me with a murderous expression and a tight grip on his weapon. I do as I’m told and sprint back to the cabin.
It’s pitch black outside.My fingers are stabbed in between the window blinds, searching for Gavin or the one after me. Mystomach growls loudly as I push myself closer to the freezing window.
He has to be okay. I’m one minute from going to Georgia’s when the front door springs open. I whirl around, grabbing a log of wood, ready to launch it.
I thought I locked it?!
Gavin appears relaxed, kicking the snow and dirt off his boots. He shuts the door. I slowly lower the wood beside the couch until it’s on the floor. Taking off his cowboy hat, he sets it on the kitchen counter and stares at me.
“There’s no one out there.” He shrugs nonchalantly.
I scoff.
“I know what I saw, Gavin.”
He places his hands on his hips and gazes at me. A look so serious it sends shivers down my spine.
“Which brings me to what happened earlier today. I felt someone pull my hair! Right after you stormed out of the kitchen to go shed hunt. I thought it was you. T-that,” I start to stammer, but I regain my composure. “That you came back into the house, even though I didn’t hear you return, and for whatever reason, you yanked my hair, but when I turned around, I was alone in the cabin!” Tears prick my eyes. My chest rises and falls faster, my breaths strained.
I’m so tired of the ghosts thing. I want to get the hell out of this place, but I’m stuck here until the road clears.
“I believe you.” He murmurs. “I believe you, Coraline.”
“Good.” I squeak. “That makes me feel better.”
“There’s no one else here right now but you and me. I won’t let anything or anyone hurt you, okay?”
Heat flares from my chest to my cheeks.
As I look into his eyes, I nod.
“Come here, I want to show you something,” he calls me over with a swipe of his fingers. “Put your coat back on,” he fishes my coat off the rack and holds it up, waiting for me at the front door.
“We’re going outside?” I stroll over to him, eagerly. “What if he’s out there?”
“Yes, we’re going outside, and if he’s out there, I have my gun on me,” he replies. My heart begins to race as I give him my back. Just being close to him makes me flustered. Shrugging my way into the coat, he gathers my hair in one fist, so my coat doesn’t yank it. “Let’s go.”
“Why?” I ask nervously.
“Follow me, Coraline.” He grabs my hand, threading his fingers into mine. I let him pull me outside.
As soon as my boots hit the snow, I see exactly what he wants to show me.
The northern lights.
