Walking Shadow (The Darkworld Series Book 2) Read Free

and move on to the next pub, he appeared behind me.
    “Hey, you’re Ashlyn, right?” he said.
    “Yeah,” I said warily.
    His face broke into a smile of relief. “I’ve wanted to talk to you for ages. I’m Conrad, by the way.”
    “Um… nice to meet you,” I said. “Um, why did you want to talk to me?”
    “Can we talk alone?” He shifted from one foot to the other.
    I glanced at my friends, who were looking at me curiously. “Sure.”
    We moved away from the group. I saw Alex give him a suspicious glance as he beckoned me down an alleyway.
    “You’re not planning to murder me, are you?” I said.
    I’d meant it as a joke, but he flinched. “No! No, of course not, why would I kill you? You’re beautiful. Sorry, that came out wrong. I’m making a mess of this.”
    Dear God.
“You’re wasted,” I said. And it was true. I should have guessed from the way he’d been putting away pint after pint in the pub. He could barely walk in a straight line.
    “Sorry, I was just nervous. I wanted―I wanted to ask you… will you come to the Valentine’s Day ball with me?”
    I stared at him. “Um… what?”
    “Want to come? To the ball, I mean?”
    Was this some kind of joke? Quite apart from the fact that I didn’t generally have guys falling at my feet anyway, the ball was nearly a month away. Besides, I hadn’t been planning to go at all. Fancy events were definitely not my thing, the winter dance being the exception.
    “Um. I kinda already have plans…” His eager look made me want to back away, which was probably the opposite of what he intended. I was pretty certain my face was on fire. Plus I still wore that ridiculous Percy Shelley wig and a costume like one of the admirals from
Pirates of the Caribbean.
    This couldn’t possibly get any more embarrassing.
    “Oh, it’s okay. Just thought I’d ask. I’m doing English too, by the way. I’ve seen you around. I’ve never had the courage to speak to you before,” he babbled, and I actually did back away as he made to put a hand on my arm.
    Jesus.
He didn’t seem particularly threatening―not that I judged by appearances, considering everything that had happened in the last few months―but all the same, I automatically reached out to the Darkworld and felt my fingertips begin to freeze. I could defend myself, in theory, but I’d rather not cause a scene.
    He saw me move away and gave me a wounded look, all puppy-dog eyes. “Sorry if I’m freaking you out. I’m not good at this. Um, I’ll see you around? I’ll be at the editorial meeting on Monday? I signed up for the student paper, when I saw your name on the list.”
    “Oh… kay.” Definitely borderline-stalker behaviour. “And you knew my name… how?”
    “From our course’s Facebook group, of course! I sent you a friend request.” He beamed at me.
    I didn’t have the heart to wipe the hopeful expression from his face. “Um, maybe, yeah. See you around.”
    You handled that well,
said a sarcastic voice in my head. I ignored it. There
was
no way to handle that situation without plunging it deeper into awkwardness.
    Alex gave him an evil look when we emerged from the alleyway. I could tell she’d been prepared to intervene.
    “What did he want with you?” she asked, as soon as he was out of earshot.
    “He wanted to ask me out. Even though we’ve never spoken before. It was the most embarrassing thing ever.”
    “Seriously? Man, you’re popular lately.”
    “Because one guy asked me out?” I said, steering them in the direction of the rest of the group. William Shakespeare led the bar crawl, accompanied by Charles Dickens, Sir Walter Raleigh, and T.S. Eliot. As I’d expected, Rex Golding, Alex’s not-so-secret admirer, showed up dressed as Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings. At least, unlike the Role-Playing Society members, he hadn’t challenged anyone to a duel. Even I thought that was a bit much.
    “What about your little friend from GameSoc?”
    “He’s not