X-Marks: Hiding Shadows

Soon

"What in the -" Evee said and stepped away with open hands.

"Is there -," Ocean said and backed the furthest away, "Is there something behind there?"

"You," Mat said and pointed to the tracker in my hand, "That thing never said anything about animals. Did it?"

"Like - like a bear?" Ocean said, with a hand across her mouth.

"It's definitely not a bear, Ocean," I said, "At least it didn't sound like one."

A rustle of the grass came from behind the fallen timber.

"What was that?" Ocean shrieked.

"Whatever it is," Evee said and handed me back the postcard, "We have to find out."

Evee rolled up the sleeves of her sweater and crossed the narrow space between the fallen log and another standing tree.

"Evee!" I shouted, and Ocean followed.

"She won't listen," Mat said and leaned against the log.

I pressed myself between the trees. I was too large to pass through but close enough to hear the whispers on the other side.

"Well you can't stay here," Evee whispered.

"Evee?" I said through the tight space.

"Trust me, they won't hurt you," she continued.

"Hurt?" I shouted, "Evee what's going on?"

"Evee's hurt?" Ocean said from behind my shoulder.

The log rattled again as Evee's arm slipped back through and the surprise of another pair of hands followed behind hers.

The strange boy stood eye to eye to with Evee. His blonde hair was tossed like a dandelion against his pale skin, and tangled above his deep-set brown eyes. His clothes were caked with mud and fell like long curtains from his short frame.

Mat woke from his leaning slumber to say what was on all our minds.

"Whoa, whoa!" Mat said and stood between the two, "Who is this?"

Evee pointed her finger onto Mat's chest and said, "His name is Jake!"

"Actually, it's, Nate," the strange boy said with a hoarse voice.

"Right, Nate," Evee said and dug her heels deeper into the ground, "And he's coming with us!"

"With us! What for?" Mat said.

"Those damn allies. Who else?" she said and shook her fist, "They've taken his family, just like they took ours. We just can't leave him here."

"Well Nate," Mat said, and paced around the stranger, "How can we trust anything you say? We don't even know you."

Evee gasped, "Trust him! He needs to trust us!" Evee said and guarded her cowering friend.

From his ragged sleeves, and downward glance the strange boy hardly seemed like a threat.

"Mat, she has a point," Ocean said, "We were just like him when Buggy found us. Alone with nowhere to go, don't you remember?"

"You," Mat said and pointed to me, "You have anything to say about this?"

I tangled my fingers in my pockets.

"Ocean is right," I said and looked at the forest floor, "Besides what could he do?"

Mat paused his pacing to meet his eyes with Nate.

"Whatever, just don't think you'll get anything by me," Mat said and climbed his way over the fallen log.

Evee whispered into Nate's ear, and for the first time, I saw his grin. He had a chip on his front tooth, and his hand stayed on a rag tied around his forearm. He twisted it over and over around his arm.

I kept my bag closer to my chest. Maybe I had spoken too soon.