The Beast of Blackslope by Tracy Barrett Read Free Book Online Page A

now!” Actually, he had been hoping for an impressed reaction if he kept his find a surprise, and it had worked.
    Xena was examining the fluffy material, her head tilted to one side. Something was odd
about it. But what? Then it hit her. “Check this out, Xander. When blood dries, it turns brown. The blood on this wool is still bright red, even though it was found this morning.”
    â€œYou mean … ?” Xander looked at her with raised eyebrows.
    â€œMaybe it isn’t really blood. If it was real, wouldn’t it have turned brown by now?”
    â€œHow do you know sheep blood acts the same as human blood? Maybe sheep blood doesn’t turn brown,” Xander pointed out.
    A noise behind them made them look up. Xander caught sight of Trevor peering into the room. “’Night,” he mumbled when Xander smiled at him. He headed up the stairs.
    â€œHow come everyone in this town goes to bed so early?” Xander wanted to know. “Even the kids on a school holiday week?”
    But there was nothing else to do, so they went upstairs too. It took Xena a long time to fall asleep. Every time she started to doze off, some creak or crackle in the house would zing through her and wake her up. And when she finally did fall into a restless sleep, she was awakened by the sound of footsteps. She flopped over and pulled the pillow over her head.
    Then she pulled it off and sat up. Now that
she was more awake and thought about it, she realized something.
    The footsteps were coming from outside.
    She went to her window and pulled the curtain aside. Almost immediately she jumped back again. It was still dark, but there was no mistaking what she’d seen. A huge shaggy figure stood directly under her window, hunched over, enormous paws pushing aside the shrubbery.
    Without stopping to think, Xena tore through the hall and down the stairs. She threw the door open and looked out.
    Nothing. Disappointment nearly choked her.
    Then something brushed against her arm.

CHAPTER 10
    â€œ Y ee-OW!” Xena yelled, and she leaped a foot in the air.
    â€œChill!” It was Xander. “It’s only me. Sorry I scared you,” he added hastily as she glowered at him. “I just wanted to get your attention without making any noise. But you blew it.”
    â€œWell, how was I to know it was you?” Xena’s heart was pounding so hard it made her teeth click. “And you didn’t scare me—you startled me. There’s a difference.” She waited for her heart to stop thumping, then asked, “Why did you come down here? Did you see something?”
    â€œI heard something,” Xander said. “It sounded like someone was walking around outside.”
    â€œI heard it too,” she said, and told him what she’d seen.
    Xander looked out at the inky blackness. Without streetlights, hardly anything was visible. And he couldn’t imagine that anything—human
or animal—would stick around after Xena’s scream.
    Xena sighed. “Let’s look for footprints as soon as it’s light tomorrow morning.”
    They went back inside, Xena reluctantly, Xander glad that she wasn’t going to pressure him into investigating a wild beast in the dark. But before they reached the stairs a light snapped on. They froze. Busted!
    â€œUh-oh,” Xena said.
    Mr. and Mrs. Roberts were standing on the landing halfway down the stairway, looking grim. “What are you children doing?” Mrs. Roberts demanded. “Why did you open the door? Don’t you know it’s dange—”
    â€œHush, dear,” Mr. Roberts said.
    â€œI saw something under my window,” Xena said. “It wasn’t a person. It was bigger than a person, and it looked like it was covered with fur.”
    Mrs. Roberts went white, even to her lips. She clung to her husband. “Oh, Nigel.” Her voice was barely audible. “Oh, Nigel, it’s the Beast.