Page 20 of Blood Moon

“Okay, I think,” I said, and as I did, a rush of emotions fell over me, my voice breaking.

“You saved my life,” I croaked, and I bent over, fighting to breathe.

A part of me wanted to curl into a ball while I stared at the base of an English oak tree for days on end.

The other part of me, the part that was logically sound, couldn’t comprehend how Julian did it.

“I’m … I’m pleased you’re unharmed,” he uttered. And then, “You shouldn’t be hiking in these woods alone. It’s not safe. You could have seriously injured yourself or died,” he said, his voice evening out.

Julian seemed upset with me—not angry, no. That didn’t fit. Rather, he was disappointed, relieved. An emotion I never expected from him when he’d been so unforgiving about my presence at Lakeland, when a mere twenty-four hours ago, he’d expressed how he loathed me.

But he was correct that these woods were dangerous.

I scanned our surroundings, looking for an enraged bear rummaging between the trees. It had mutilated that poor, forsaken soul. How horrendous. I stumbled back, the shock hitting me like whiplash.

“There … there was a bear,” I said, my words coming out in fragments as I prepared to run. “It killed the man, it—”

Julian’s voice was low and unwavering, his features too calm for my liking. “It’s no longer there.”

“But how can you be sure? It killed a man. Someone is dead.” I heaved forward, feeling faint.

“I saw it, too, and I can assure you that it’s long gone.”

I choked on my words, a warm bile in my throat. “He’s … he’s dead .” I said, remembering the frightening sound of that man’s cry. It would plague me for the rest of my life. “What are we going to do?”

“I’ll advise the local authorities and the school. I’ll take care of this,” he promised.

“You came out of nowhere,” I reminded, remembering as I stared above. The path I’d been on was barely visible. “You sprinted toward me, and then you were gone, and I—” I gulped. “I thought I was going to hit the ground, but you came out of nowhere,” I repeated.

Julian shifted his weight, tilted his head to the side. He was listening for something, and I tried to listen, too, but I was met with stillness. His features changed. “We should go,” he said, and he moved forward.

“Wait, I thought you said the bear was gone?” I held my hands out, grounding myself. He was so certain before.

When Julian faced me, there was a thrumming against his throat, his veins pulsing violently like they were constricted. “These woods aren’t safe for you,” he said, but it was his delivery, the specificity, and the stricken look in his eyes that told me he alluded to something more than the bear.

I was reminded of his past warnings, of Rena’s warnings—all of it regarding my safety. I was beginning to conclude that perhaps there was something more than a bear in these woods, and whatever it was, it was here for me.

“What do you know that I don’t?”

Julian feigned confusion before his face became void of any expression at all. “What do you want me to say?” His voice was paper-thin, his body rigid.

I was baffled, completely enraged at his response. I wanted him to say so many things. I wanted to know why he wanted me to leave Lakeland. Why it wasn’t safe for me here. What creature killed that person. Why he had animosity toward me. Why he looked at me like I haunted him.

Because he did.

He stared at me with these broken eyes, like I was the reason for every vile thing happening in the universe, like I was the center of all his brooding.

“The truth,” I said.

“I can’t give you that.”

“Then I’m not following you out of here.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mirabella, please. Please. Can you reason with me?”

“Me? Reason with you? What I’m asking for is not unreasonable, Julian. I need answers. Like, do you expect me to ignore the fact that you just so happened to be in the woods the exact same time that I was?”

“It’s a public hiking trail. Not to mention, I heard you scream. Did you want me to ignore it after everything else that happened back there?”

No. Of course, I didn’t. I swallowed, omitting that part. “But you haven’t even answered how you got to the bottom of the cliff so quickly? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I was always at the bottom of the cliff. Maybe you’re remembering it wrong? It was a far drop …”

My blood boiled, and I gritted my teeth. “Are you trying to gaslight me?”

He shook his head, gazed at the treetops, and I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t.

“Julian, it was a twenty-foot drop, at least. How’d you do it?”

“I …” he sighed, relaxed his shoulders. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want you to tell me how you jumped the length of a building and didn’t break a single bone. I want you to tell me what it is I should be afraid of. And be honest,” I demanded.

There was a hardness to his expression as he measured me, but perhaps he sensed my fear, because he softened his features quickly after. Took a breath. “Where’d you get your necklace?”

I looked at my pendant, resting in place. It had shocked me earlier, warning me of the danger that lay ahead. I was astonished it worked, just as Rena had declared. And what was Julian’s connection to that? What did he know about this necklace?

“Why are you changing the subject?”

He lowered his voice. “Mirabella, do you really not know?”

I winced, contemplating why he whispered when we were alone. “About how you got to the bottom of the cliff?”

“No … about everything else.” Julian stepped back, and I scanned through every detail I knew about him, drawing blanks. “It’s not safe for you to be around me.”

“But why?” I asked, frustrated. “You said that my existence caused you agony, and then you spared my life when you didn’t have to—when, according to you, it would have made your life easier.

You say you’re not safe, that you hate me, and then you go and do this.

I need more than just one-word answers from you.

At the very least, don’t you think I deserve that? ”

There was a flicker in his eyes. A look that said he was deciding how he wanted to craft his next few words, as if all of existence depended on it.

I felt a heavy weight on my chest while I waited, unsure what would come from this, but as I watched him, and he watched me, I felt an ominous pull between the two of us—an invisible thread that tethered our cores, anchoring us to this very moment.

“I do believe you’re deserving of it,” he uttered, eyes low. “And if it were up to me, I’d tell you. I’d say everything, but—” He paused, came really close. “But I’m bound by an oath. I can’t say anything,” he whispered, and I watched his lips—watched how they pressed thin before releasing.

Before I could respond or process this new information, he snapped his head to the side, listening. Then, all in one breath, “Follow me out of here, please.” This time, it felt urgent. A warming there, at the center of my chest again, and an internal voice urged me to go, go, go.

We hurried between the trees, and all the while, it felt as though someone was perched up on a branch, tracking my every move. Each glance confirmed that no one was there, but it didn’t release me from the terror. Everything is a sign, Rena had said, and this was a clear one.

Out of the woods, my breathing was less labored, my muscles less tense.

I sensed the same in Julian as I kept my distance behind him.

We stayed in silence as we walked to campus, and I mulled over the last words he shared with me.

He would tell me, but he couldn’t. There was an oath involved, which meant there were other people that were concerned.

Of what? I didn’t know. These woods weren’t safe.

He still wasn’t safe … and yet, he saved me.

It wasn’t long before we were close to Hester Hall. The sidewalk split into two, and he paused in the center of it.

“Thank you,” I said, still numb. I didn’t have to say for what because he already knew. But despite my reservations about him, expressing my gratitude seemed fitting.

His gaze drifted to my necklace again, and without a beat, he was gone.

Now, more than ever, I needed to find out what this damned family heirloom meant.