Huntress: The Beginning by LT Reynolds (top ebook reader TXT) 📕

sweater behind her back. The band of material made sure it didn’t slip out as she walked out of the door with it. It is about me anyways. I’m entitled to it.

Dr. June was nowhere to be found when she stepped out but she did find Henry. The thick skinned, tall policeman looked like he’d consumed more than a few donuts in his day. The buttons on his uniform would be screaming if they could. His dark hair was slicked back and his eyes of the same shade were kind as he looked down on her.

“What’d you do to get her so riled up? I mean would it have been so hard to just answer her questions?” Henry was one of the few school staff that didn’t know her condition and she wanted to keep it like that. Dr. June’s lobby had been just as it had been before--predominately wood and black with random splotches of color around to create interest for the eye. The college boy behind the desk seemed to perk up when she came out of the room.

“Hey, um, Miss Clark?” He called to her and she reluctantly looked at him, standing close to the open door. “I was wondering if I could get your number…?”

Savannah brows pinched, “Dr. June can get hold of the school if she needs me again.” She left promptly with Henry following, sputtering in laughter. “What?”

“That guy wanted your number so he could ask you on a date, Savannah.” He opened the door and stepped forward, watching her from over the hood. Savannah looked back at the door.

“Oh,” She honestly didn’t have a clue. Savannah shook her head and got inside. “It’s not like a care about that kind of thing at this stage in my life anyways.”

It was Henry’s turn to be confused and he twist the ignition, the engine purring to life under them. “What planet are you from?” He laughed and she managed to smile, clicking on her seatbelt.

*
Redwood Hills High School, located on its own private hill, was the only high school in the town. She didn’t want to go to Malibu or Thousand oaks for school and so her only choice was Redwood hills.

Savannah watched the trees zoom by as they began their ascent up winding drive up to the school. If you had a car, it was an ideal road but not safe enough to try and walk along the side of the road.

So, the Redwood Trails were born. Savannah took the interconnecting paths up the mountain every school day. They were chained off by fence and lamps for the gloomier days were spread out among the trails for light.

The school itself was a normal, run of the mill brick and glass combination with a legion of flowering vine climbing across the block outer of the school. Savannah liked them--especially when they were flowering but the gardeners were forever trying to get rid of them.

It was close to lunch when she arrived inside and as always, clusters of teenagers lined the hallways like plaque in a main artery, constricting the flow of other students. Savannah was a bulldozer and pushed through them all, trying to cut seconds off her time as she pushed her way to the black locker.

It wasn’t black for cosmetic appeal at all. It had to be black because there just wasn’t enough space on the bathroom stalls to express their thoughts about her in a large enough fashion. When Savannah got to her locker she was thrilled to find a fresh red graffiti pen had scrawled `bitch` across the black.

Savannah opened her locked and swapped her flip-flops for running shoes and fully expected Paris Pratt to be leaning behind it like she was when Savannah closed it with a clank. Savannah hated Paris with a burning passion. The tall, thin heiress with long black hair and jewel blue eyes could’ve said the same about Savannah if asked but Savannah wasn’t asking.

“Hello Paris. Eat any good souls today?”

As expected, Paris didn’t even flinch at the comment and looked at her watch on her folded arms. “Not yet but it’s only quarter to twelve.”

“Keep me posted.” Savannah snapped coolly and twisted, around to find that Janice was back behind her in front of the small group of girls. The primped, dull redhead held her tapped up nose like it might fall off without a moment’s notice. Savannah barely dipped forward as if to come at her in an attack and she screamed like she’d seen a mouse at her feet.

Savannah smirked as she headed down the congested hallways toward the back of the school. At the end of the hall with the red lockers, she came to a pair of glass double doors that led out down a cracked stone staircase and into a dense fog that covered the grassy slope down to one of the entrances of the redwood trails.

“Van!” Savannah automatically groaned and kept walking. She knew exactly who was calling to her from the entrance of the school. It was the only guy that dared to call her by anything but her name. “Hey, Savannah! Wait up!”

Savannah strode down the flagstone path about the time Derek Pratt, Paris’s brother, jogged up beside her. He wouldn’t leave her the hell alone.

“It’s Savannah, Derek,” She sighed and pulled the elastic band off her wrist and tied her hair back with it. Savannah looked beside at his royal blue eyes. They glittered as a grin blossomed across his face. “I’m not a motor vehicle nor do I want to be called one.”

“You don’t like nicknames?” Though he and Paris were cut from the same cloth, she knew he was different, less… vapid. He was at least tolerable but still annoying.

“What was your first clue?” Savannah wasn’t looking for an answer and swept past him, slipping into the shade of the massive age-old redwoods. The trails weren’t even at all. Branches, twigs and rocks sent casual walkers and joggers alike in swerving motions down the entire length of the woods.

Derek wouldn’t let her go that easily and caught up, chatting again. “Well, I like nicknames. My friends call me Pratt… or… or…”

Savannah exhaled deeply and pushed his shoulder to stop him from walking. She swung herself around in front of him and crossed her arms. “Look, I know you think I’m listening but I really don’t care.” She paused, watching his face do nothing. I swear he’s got nothing but air up there! “How about I call you Derek and maybe Pratt when you get on my nerves--kind of like you are now. If you’ll excuse me, I have some jogging to do.”

She didn’t stick around and left him there, shooting down the trail. The mist was cold on her face and she felt that it was so thick in places that she’d punched holes through the descended cloud as she ran.

Just when she thought she’d lost him, his voice broke the silence around her just before he did himself.

“Charming!“ Derek’s mouth and eyes were smiling in unison as he kept up beside her while she slowed. I just can’t shake this guy!

“Don’t mistake condescension for wittiness,” Savannah said sharply and dug her heels into the soft dirt, halting her run. Derek stared at her, dumbfounded. “Mistaking arrogance for trying to be funny?” Derek’s lips opened and made an ‘o’. Savannah rolled her eyes, angry at his stupidity and crossed her arms. “Derek, what do you want?”

It was becoming clear that he wasn’t going to leave her alone until he got what he wanted. After all the stress of that morning, she just wanted to lose herself in a jog.
“Why weren’t you in second period English?”

Savannah’s eyes narrowed, “What’s it to you?”

Derek’s lips pursed and he kicked the dirt with the toe of his shoe, gazing into the woods. “I wanted to talk to you…” Don’t you always? Derek had been attached to her like a shadow for the last month, constantly trying to talk to her. “But you weren’t there.”

“Then talk now.”

Derek rubbed the back of his neck and peered up at her through his side-swept mop of sleek black hair. “Okay… well, you heard about the party at my house tonight, right?”

“No.” It was a lie. She’d had to have been deaf not to have heard of it. The school had been buzzing about it for a few weeks. It was always a good party when it took place in the town’s most expensive mansion. Derek smiled slowly and a strong breeze picked up among the redwoods, swinging the canopy of leaves around. The sun trickled through and reflected at her through his dark blue eyes. His eyes always seemed to catch even the smallest of light around.

“Well, there is one tonight and I’d really like it if…” He trailed off, an odd stench wafting past them both. It smelt like rotting garbage or a convention of skunks who’d been suddenly scared senseless. Derek gagged, and cursed dramatically. Savannah simply pulled her sweater over her nose and looked to her right, down wind.

The smell had come from the woods.

~~~
Chapter Two

Savannah was halfway up the chain link fence when Derek grabbed hold of her calf and tried to pull her back down. It was a weak hold at best and she looked down with narrowed eyes down at him, “Derek, let go.”

Savannah was curious. There certainly wasn’t a dump in the woods so what made that smell she had to know. Even if she walked into a gathering of skunks, she’d be satisfied. Derek didn’t seem nearly as curious as she was with both hands locked around her ankle.

“Savannah, it’s against the rules to climb over the fence to the other side!” He cried and Savannah kicked her foot around until his hands slipped and made it to the stop, pausing there. It wasn’t a big fence so it wasn’t much of a feat.

“Do I really look like a girl who cares?” Savannah swung her foot over the top of the rail as if dismounting a tall horse and slipped off, landing in a crouch, letting her knees absorb much of the shock. She stood and turned around, smiling teasingly at Derek on the other side. “Coming tough guy?”

Okay, so she wanted to know what was out there but it was way safer to go with him instead of alone. For the purposes of finding the source of some funky smell in the woods, Derek’s presence was useful.

Derek seemed torn as he glanced down the seemingly empty trail and back at her, eventually giving in and climbing the fence himself. He dropped down beside her and brushed the dirt off his white muscle tank. Savannah noticed for the first time that the shirt did as advertised and made his muscles stand out. Well, I’ve got the brains and he’s the brawn.

Derek looked over at her as they began to walk into the forest, “If I get mauled to death by some rabid animal, my blood is on your hands.”

“Don’t be such a wuss.”

The fog in these woods were eerily thick and soupy. At some points, she felt like she’d lost Derek even though she could feel his shoulder brush against hers as they walked. It was like the woods