When Darkness Falls by Chanda Stafford

Author:Chanda Stafford [Stafford, Chanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kindle Press
Published: 2017-05-02T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

The rocks on the other side of the portal bite into my backside as I tumble to the ground. The air is much colder here, and the darkness is overwhelming, but at least I’m not underwater or being chased by pirates. From what I can tell, the cave is empty, and the shadows are too small to house a large beast like the one that had chased me through the portal.

After listening closely to a silence so thick I could hear my own heartbeat, I push myself to my feet. Thank God for small favors.

Once outside, stars fill the sky with a brilliant and welcome light. Maybe luck is in my favor, and I’ll get out of here unscathed. Now I have to figure out what to do. I can hike through the woods to my car, or I can go to the lighthouse. Ian. He must know about this place. He needs to know what happened. But it’s the middle of the night; I don’t want to wake him up. He was miffed enough to find me washed up on his shore, who knows how angry he’d be to find me snooping around again.

I pause at the edge of the forest, wondering how long I’ve been gone. I spent a day on the pirate’s island, so does that mean I’ve been gone a day here, too? Mom will kill me, especially since Dad’s missing. I have to get home before she worries any—

“Going somewhere?” Ian’s deep voice brings a shriek to my lips.

I spin around as he glides around the shadowy trunk of a nearby tree. “Oh God, you scared me.”

His lips twitch. “What are you doing out here?” He approaches me slowly, his steps measured and his eyes pinning me to the spot.

“Hiking.” I give him my best glare, even though I don’t know if he can see it in the dark. An owl hoots in the distance, and slowly the night creatures take up their serenade.

He raises his eyebrows at my obvious lie. “Come on. Let’s get inside.” He gestures to the lighthouse. “You shouldn’t be out hiking in the middle of the night.”

A million questions perch on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t ask him any of them. Maybe I don’t want to know the answers, the truth. Perhaps a small part of me wants to remain ignorant and pretend everything’s going to be okay.

When we get to the front door, he holds it open for me. I hesitate before hurrying inside. The thought strikes me that being alone in the lighthouse with Ian might be even more dangerous than the wilderness outside. I don’t really know him that well, after all, and I’m positive he understands more about what’s going on than he’s willing to tell me.

Ian leads me to the kitchen. Without all the tools cluttering its surface, the cracked linoleum counter looks worn and several years past replacing.

“Would you like something to drink?”

That’s his question? He doesn’t ask me about what happened, or talk about what’s going on out there? No, he just wants to see if I’m thirsty.

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