Six Moon Summer by SM Reine Read Free Book Online

longer blue.
     
    They weren’t quite brown, either. Instead, ribbons of deep gold veined the blue, like cracks in a sheet of ice. Rylie recognized that shade of gold. She had seen that color staring at her in the darkness of the forest two weeks ago when she was attacked.
     
    A chill shook her, and Rylie stepped away from the mirror.
     
    Be careful. You’re in danger now.
     
    Rylie wasn’t sure why, but she needed to talk to Seth.
     

Solutions
     
    Rylie didn’t get the chance to catch up on her sleep that morning, nor did she get to search for Seth. She stumbled through breakfast and the morning hike. She barely kept her eyes open through the buffet line at lunch. She didn’t even notice when Louise came to stand beside her.
     
    “Do you see that?”
     
    “See what?” Rylie asked.
     
    “Tofu. I put in a special request for you,” Louise said. There was indeed a small container of tofu next to the salad. It looked like nobody else had touched it. “And one other thing—I sent a letter to your parents explaining you lost your belongings. Your mother sent a care package. I put it on your bed back at the cabin.”
     
    Louise left, and Rylie took several pieces of tofu for her plate. She was kind of excited. Having vegetarian food meant she might be able to finally satiate this gnawing hunger that had been growing within her for days. Nothing else seemed to make it better.
     
    She went searching for a quiet table and passed by the entrees in the buffet. Folds of roast beef for sandwiches caught her eye, and Rylie hesitated. It looked good. Really good.
     
    Revolted, Rylie sat down without taking any. What was she thinking? She hadn’t liked meat in years.
     
    She changed into her own clothes before heading to the recreation hall for arts and crafts, which was supervised by a counselor who wasn’t familiar with Rylie’s antics. She complained of sickness and was allowed to sit in the corner. It wasn’t even a lie this time. She laid her head down on the table and shut her eyes.
     
    The back door of the recreation hall creaked open and a head with shaggy black hair poked in to look around. When his eyes fell on Rylie, he gestured for her to come outside. It was Seth again.
     
    Rylie hurried over and slipped out the door. “What are you doing here?”
     
    “I came to talk to you,” he said. “Are you okay? You look terrible.”
     
    She tried not to feel stung by his insult. Even if she was exhausted, she wasn’t in hand-me-downs anymore, and Rylie thought she looked pretty good. “I didn’t sleep last night. Where have you been?”
     
    “I’ve been around.”
     
    “Were you the one who wrote in my journal?” Rylie asked. Seth responded with a small smile, so she pushed on. “What did you mean? Why am I in danger?”
     
    “You haven’t figured it out yet? Do you know what happened last night?”
     
    She faltered. “I told you I didn’t sleep.”
     
    “Yeah? And how did you feel yesterday?”
     
    Rylie started to lie. She wanted to tell him everything was fine and that it had been a normal day. But Seth’s eyes were knowing. He would have seen right through her. “I was angry,” she said.
     
    “That’s what I was afraid of.” He took his bag off his shoulder to shift through it.
     
    “What do you mean? What’s happening to me?”
     
    “Look at this,” Seth said, handing her a book from his backpack. “I found this in the counselor library on my side of camp.”
     
    Rylie opened it to the bookmarked page. A large illustration of a half-man, half-wolf beast covered the left page. Its arms and legs were like a human’s, but it had long claws, a shaggy mane, and a snout with sharp teeth. The full moon hung over its head. All the phases were drawn around the edges of page until it became a black new moon at the base.
     
    When colonists first attempted to settle Gray Mountain, they found no natives to disturb. Instead, they were met with resistance from the forest