Nightmare Hunt, page 41
“And?”
“Well, this is the unreal part, but...Lady turned into a black bear...and fought the Beast.”
James only stared. The gears behind that frozen look whirling madly. Finally, he nodded slowly.
She wrinkled her nose. “Hallucination, right? That’s what I thought. Just to be sure, have you seen my cat? I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“He.”
It was her turn to stare. “Huh?”
“He,” James repeated. He pressed his lips into a line. “And you were not hallucinating. You really saw what you saw.”
“But then how...?”
“It seems that more than one Jäger has been spending time at your side.”
Belle was thunderstruck. “What other Jäger?”
“Mr. Owen Douglass.”
The name slammed into her from a memory. She repeated what her uncle had said about him, “’The one who could change his form.’”
James nodded.
She rambled on, “Eddie’s former best friend because he had to kill Owen’s vampire-girlfriend. What does he want with me then?” She grabbed her own throat as if protecting it from Owen’s canines. “Does he want to kill me for revenge against Eddie?”
James pursed his lips before shaking his head. “He wouldn’t have fought the Beast for you.”
“Oh. Then why?”
“I will discover the truth.” He stopped at her desk, and something made him cock his head with piqued interest. He passed a hand over the two open books there.
Momentarily distracted from the current bombshell, she asked, “You’re looking at the Rawlins diary? Notice how the handwriting is the same as Eddie’s in the Hunger Games novel?”
James looked up at her, his face drained of color, the look of someone unexpectedly lost. Why this information was more surprising to him than the Jäger-cat curveball was unknown to her.
“Wait, you didn’t know?” She carefully rose from the bed and went to stand next to him. She pointed out the characteristic loops of the letters in both writings.
“So...he is Edward Rawlins?” He seemed deeply puzzled. “Then how is he a Helsing?”
Belle herself was confused by James’s reaction. “I was hoping you could tell me.”
“You are telling the truth.”
She blinked. “Of course I am.” She looked down at her feet and then back at him. “You’re not one of the ones I have to maintain a façade for. That unfortunate honor falls to my school friends and the rest of the world.”
“Hmm. You’re not the only one maintaining façades.” He scooped up the Rawlins diary. “May I borrow this?”
She had a nagging feeling something was very wrong. “Um, is everything okay? You’re not mad at Eddie now, right?”
He forced a chuckle. “I could never be mad at my own family. Annoyed, exasperated—all the time. But this just raises a question about my history I’d like to research a bit further.” When she still looked hesitant, he added, “You know I don’t remember my past. This diary could provide some important clues.”
She didn’t know why she said what she said next, but it must have come from trusting Eddie more than James. “Maybe Eddie has good reason not to tell you some things?” That sounded lame even to her own ears.
James traced the edges of the book with his fingers. “How did you feel, Belle, when you found out he was a Rawlins and must have personally known your mother?”
After a beat, her lower lip began to quiver. “Go ahead. Take it.”
He nodded his thanks. “Do you wish me to remain until Jo returns? I will wait in the living room or downstairs.”
Suddenly, she very much wanted this newly uncertain Dr. Helsing to leave. “No, you can go, thank you. I’m just going to spend some time with Ernesto now.”
Sometime later, while she sat at Ernesto’s side, mulling over the shocker that her pet cat was actually a full-blooded man who’d slept in her bed with her, among other affronts to her dignity, it struck her suddenly that James never did answer her question about his whereabouts this week....
Acknowledgements
I want to thank my Life Team: God (Philippians 4:13), my husband, son, parents, and brothers for their never-ending love and support.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to:
My second family: my students a.k.a. “my kids,” and my school co-workers.
My teen beta-readers in the Nightmare in Elmridge Book Club for their enthusiasm over the story, which kept me motivated in writing this second book, and Sienna, for reading the entire 500+ page manuscript in a week and providing amazing feedback.
The readers—You!—who made it all the way to the end of the book to this very point and will hopefully love Belle’s world enough to continue reading what happens in the next book!
If you can, it would mean the world to me for you to leave a positive review wherever you can of my books; I appreciate every single one ♥
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Also by Ileen Martin
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Nightmare Hunt
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About the Author
Ileen Martin lives in Miami, FL with her husband, son, and Boxer-mix dog. When she isn't hard at work teaching middle school language arts, she likes to spend her time writing in her zen-spots, designing POD products, watching funny viral videos with her son, pretending to cook Keto dinners, and binging on paranormal/mystery romances.
To receive updates on Ileen Martin's upcoming books, visit www.ileenmartin.com.
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Ileen Martin, Nightmare Hunt
