Avalon High Read Free Page A

could hear cars going by on the highway beyond the thick growth of trees.
    Which was kind of a relief. You know, that I hadn’t accidentally gotten lost in Jurassic Park, or whatever.
    I plopped my earphones back into place and kept going. I was breathing really hard now, but I still felt good. I couldn’t hear my feet striking the path—I could only hear the music in my ears—but it seemed to me for a minute that I was the only person in these woods…maybe the only person in the whole world.
    Which was ridiculous, since I knew my dad wasn’t that far behind me—probably not going much faster than the power-walking ladies, but behind me nonetheless.
    Still, I had seen too many TV movies where the heroine was jogging innocently along and some random psychopath comes popping out of thick growth, just like the stuff on either side of me, and attacks her. I wasn’t taking any chances. Who knew what kind of freaks were lurking? I mean, it was Annapolis, home of the U.S. Naval Academy and the capital of Maryland, and all—hardly an area known for harboring violent criminals.
    But you never know.
    Good thing my legs were so strong. If someone did jump out at me from the trees, I was pretty confident that I could deliver a good kick to his head. And keep stomping on him until help came.
    It was right as I was thinking this that I saw him.

CHAPTER TWO
    Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver
Thro’ the wave that runs for ever
By the island in the river
Flowing down to Camelot.
    Or maybe I just thought I did.
    Still. I was pretty sure I saw something through the trees that wasn’t green or brown or any other color found in nature.
    And when I peered through the thick leaves around me, I saw that there was someone standing at the bottom of a pretty deep ravine to one side of the path, near a large cluster of boulders. How he could have gotten through all that vegetation without a machete, I couldn’t imagine. Maybe there was a path I’d missed.
    But he was there all right. Doing what, I went by too quickly to tell.
    Then I was out of the woods, out into the blazingsunshine, and sprinting past the parking lot. Some women were getting out of a minivan and heading toward the dog run with their Border collies. There was a playground nearby, on which some tiny kids were swinging and going down the slide, their parents watching them closely in case of accidents.
    And I thought to myself: Had I really seen what I thought I’d seen? A guy standing at the bottom of that ravine?
    Or had I just imagined it?
    There was a park employee with a weed whacker by third base over at the baseball diamond. I didn’t say hi to him. I didn’t smile, either.
    Nor did I mention the man at the bottom of the ravine. I probably should have. What about those kids on the playground? What if he was a child molester?
    But I didn’t say anything to the guy with the weed whacker. I blew past him without making eye contact.
    So much for Image.
    I could see my dad, in his bright yellow shirt, way on the other side of the track. He was three-quarters of a lap behind me. That was okay. He’s slow, but he’s steady. Mom always says Dad will never make it there fast, but at least he’ll always make it, in the end.
    Mom’s one to talk. She can’t even stand running. She likes to do aerobics at the Y.
    Which, given the freak-out I’d gotten from passing that guy in the woods, was starting to sound like it wasn’t such a bad idea.
    This time around, when I headed into the trees, I scanned the sides of the path for signs of a trail, something the man could have used to make it down to that ravine without getting all scratched up by the undergrowth. But I didn’t see anything.
    And when I went past where I’d seen him before, I saw that the ravine was empty. He wasn’t there anymore. There was nothing, in fact, to indicate that he’d been there at all. Maybe I really had imagined him. Maybe Mom was right, and I really should have