Stone Maidens by Lloyd Devereux Richards Read Free Book Online Page A

to find water on their own. She could faintly make out a trickling sound. The creek was nearby.
    A crawling sensation—the creature nearly scrambled out of her hand. She curled her fingers around its shell and whispered, “It’s OK. I’m going to let you go. Don’t you want some water?” Her own throat was dry; she craved a drink in the late summer heat.
    The man ambled ahead, wading through leaves with his hands in his pockets. Julie followed slowly over the leaves that crunched below her feet, not wanting to upset the turtle. For fun, she and Maddy would often jump into the deep leaf piles—as cushioning as comforters—in the woods behind their house.
    The stranger ranged farther ahead. Julie could glimpse the sparkle of water. Then suddenly the man was gone. Nothing but a ravine riddled with tree trunks and an ocean of leaves lay between her and the creek. The turtle frantically clawed at her hand.
    A swarm of grackles rushed overhead. The frenzy of their calls and whistles filled a nearby tree. Her throat felt grainy. She turned uphill back toward the road. An amphitheater of pillaredoaks surrounded her. She rotated full circle, her eyes darting from tree to tree to tree.
    Where is he?
    Her eyes locked on some quivering feathers that stuck out from behind a large oak at head height, directly in front of her. She squinted in disbelief. Through two holes in the feathers, two dark irises were riveted on her. “Peekaboo,” he said, his voice suddenly changed.
    The sight of him made her drop the turtle. Julie charged back up the hill. She heard him close behind her and gaining, trampling through the leaves and calling out her name. Her own heavy breathing filled her ears, and then his did, too, and then she was twelve feet from safety at the top of the hill, eight feet, six feet.
    He grabbed her ankle and pulled her to the ground, chuckling. “I was just toyin’ with you, Julie honey,” he said softly. “You didn’t really think I was going to let you get away, did ya? Nah.” He gripped her ankle so tightly she cried out in pain. Movement out of the corner of her eye—the turtle crossing into view. It stopped, drew its neck full out, staring her way. It blinked once and then hurried away over the forest leaves.
    He pulled himself on top of her and grasped her jaw. “I got other plans for you, little Julie. Special plans.”
    She focused on the ridged shell of the turtle, her eyes blurry with tears. She couldn’t scream; she couldn’t move. All she could do was watch as the creature noiselessly made a clean getaway.

    An hour after Julie Heath had walked alone down Old Shed Road, Joey Templeton was riding home from summer band practice on his shiny blue Schwinn. The unwieldy trombone case strapped to his back shifted from side to side, making the bike’s front tire wobble. The boy was small for his age, shorter than most of the kids in the sixth grade, and his thick glasses magnified two eyesstaring out at a big scary world. The weight of his lenses caused him to constantly shove them back into place.
    He rounded a steep curve then stopped pedaling when he spotted the crookedly parked pickup truck. The boy swerved, nearly colliding with the opposite curb. A strange man was leaning into the back of the truck, stuffing something into it. The man straightened up quickly, staring at Joey. His coveralls were filthy and stained.
    Coasting by, Joey gawked uneasily at the stranger, whose eyes were too deep set to see clearly. The man’s sullen face suddenly broke into a wide smile and he nodded and waved. But Joey wasn’t buying it—the man had not been happy to see him. And seeing someone unfamiliar so unexpectedly on the loneliest stretch of road between band practice and home unnerved him. It wasn’t the way taken by most other kids leaving band, either. Joey always pedaled hardest through this forested area.
    Joey reached home all out of breath. “Gran, Gran!” he yelled, racing into the kitchen. No Gran.