Read The Shadow for Free Online

sounding like I’d gone crazy.
    “Honey,” said Alex. “Maybe you really should sit the concert out tomorrow. You’re acting a little  . . . weird.”
    I glanced over at Leo again and saw that he had collected his check and was heading over to the counter to pay, staring at me the entire time. It wasn’t the way you’d stare at someone who you had a crush on—it was an angry stare.
    As much as I was enjoying the company of Alex and Allison, who were the first people all day to make me feel like I wasn’t actually an alien, I figured it was about time for me to leave. Leo’s stare had given me the same twisting feeling in the pit of my stomach that Ms. Peterson had when she’d known about me jumping out of the van.
    Naturally, I thought it best to follow him home.
    I looked at my watch and feigned shock. “Oh, no! My Dad is gonna kill me! I said I’d be home my ten!”
    “But you hardly touched your food!” Allison protested.
    “Gotta go!” I shouted. “I love you guys!” I fished a twenty from my pocket, threw it on the table, and scooted away.
    “Let us drive you home!” Alex shouted.
    “I’ll walk!” I yelled back.
     
     
    I scooted out of the parking lot and kept my eye on Leo as I walked. I stayed a block behind and walked as silently as I could; so silently that I could hear the swishing of his ridiculously baggy, safety-pin-covered pants as he ambled along the sidewalk.
    The streetlights were plentiful along the main drag where the Diner sat, and I followed Leo past a bakery (closed), a florist (closed), a tailor (closed), and a gym (closed), until he turned off the main drag onto Ivy Road, which had no streetlamps.
    I then remembered that I didn’t know my house number. I remembered the street—Addams—but I had never actually seen the number. Which hardly mattered, as I had no idea where Addams Street could be in this winding suburban thicket.
    There was less late-night badminton and dog-walking than there had been the night I jumped out of the van. It was chillier as well, and a little breeze rustled through the darkened hedges and dogwoods and holly bushes. Leo pressed on without looking back, and I followed a block behind.
    He stopped for a moment and reached deep into one of the cavernous cargo pockets in his pants to remove a pack of cigarettes. As he lit one up, I heard footsteps, which was odd, because both of us had stopped.
    Leo started walking again, and so did I—and then a third pair of footfalls continued behind me. I stopped, and Leo kept walking, this time turning onto Dyer Street.
    I didn’t turn to follow Leo, but instead kept walking on Ivy Road. The third pair of footsteps continued behind me. I looked behind me and saw a tall man in a baseball cap cloaked in shadow, standing at a mailbox, whistling and looking to the sky.
    Whoever he was, he couldn’t have been more obvious.
    I ran for it.
    I sprinted as fast as I possibly could down Ivy Road, never looking back. If I wasn’t so scared for my life, I would have been impressed with this body’s athleticism. At the corner I spotted a street sign that said Addams. I turned left and ran until I spotted my front porch.
     

Chapter Six
    Thursday, 9:12 PM
    I hurled myself inside and locked the front door behind me. The house was empty and dark. I fumbled for a light switch but couldn’t find one, because I hadn’t spent more than a day in this house, not nearly long enough to notice the placement of light switches.
    “Dad?” I shouted. “I’m back!”
    It seemed odd that all the lights should be off. I had noticed as I was bolting up the driveway that none of the lights were on upstairs either, and I doubted that Dad was asleep as early as 9 o’clock at night, dorky as he was. “Dad?”
    I heard a low whining sound from the kitchen. “Dad, is that you?” I said, stepping awkwardly through the darkness, trying not to trip over furniture. But when I entered the kitchen, where moonlight was spilling through the