"Hey, I hate country western, too," Mark said aftera minute, shrugging.
He'd never talked to a girl this way before. But then he'd never had a girl look scared of him before.
And so scared-he imagined he could see her heartbeating in the pale blue veins beneath the translucent skin of her throat.
Then, suddenly, she stopped looking terrified. Shebit her lip and chortled. Then, still grinning, she blinked and sniffed.
"I forgot," she said, dabbing at the corner of her eye. "You don't have the same rules we do."
"Rules about country western music?" Mark hazarded. He liked her voice. It was ordinary, not celestial. It made her seem more human.
"Rules about any music from outside," she said. "And any TV, too."
Outside what? Mark thought. He said, "Uh, hi. I'm Mark Carter."
"I'm Jade Redfern."
"You're one of Mrs. Burdock's nieces."
"Yes. We just came last night. We're going to livehere."
Mark snorted and muttered, "You have my condolences."
"Condolences? Why?" Jade cast a darting glance around the garden.
"Because living in Briar Creek is just slightly moreexciting than living in a cemetery."
She gave him a long, fascinated look. "You've... lived in a cemetery?"
He gaveher along look. "Uh, actually, I just meant it's boring here."
"Oh." She thought, then smiled. "Well, it's interesting to us," she said. "It's different from where we come from."
"And just wheredo you come from?"
"An island. It's sort of near ..." She considered. "The state of Maine.
"'The state of Maine."'
"Yeah."
"Does this island have a name?"
She stared at him with wide green eyes. "Well, I can't tell youthat."
"Uh-okay." Was, she making fun of him? Butthere was nothing like mockery or sly teasing in her face. She looked mysterious ... and innocent. Maybe she had some kind of mental problem. The kids at Dewitt High School would have a field day with that. They weren't very tolerant of differences.
"Look," he said abruptly. "If there's ever anything I can do for you-you know, if you ever get in trouble or something-then just tell me. Okay?"
She tilted her head sideways. Her eyelashes actually cast shadows in the porch light, but her expression wasn't coy. It was straightforward and assessing,and she was looking him over carefully, as if she needed to figure him out. She took her time doingit. Then she smiled, making little dimples in her cheeks, and Mark's heart jumped unexpectedly.
"Okay," she said softly. "Mark. You're not silly, even though you're a boy. You're a good guy, aren'tyou?"
"Well. . ."Mark had never been called upon to be a good guy, not in the TV sense. He wasn't surehow he'd measure up if he were. "I, um, hope I 0am."
Jade was looking at him steadily. "You know, I just decided. I'm going to like it here." She smiledagain, and Mark found it hard to breathe-and then her expression changed.
Mark heard it, too. A wild crashing in the overgrown tangle of rhododendrons and blackberrybushes at the back of the garden. It was a weird,frenzied sound, but Jade's reaction was out of all proportion. She had frozen, body tense andtrembling, eyes fixed on the underbrush. She looked terrified.
"Hey." Mark spoke gently, then touched hershoulder. "Hey. It's all right. It's probably one of the goats that got loose; goats can jump over any kind of fence." She was shaking her head. "Or a deer.
When they're relaxed they sound just like people walking."
"It's not a deer," she hissed.
"They come down and eat people's gardens a. night. You probably don't have deer roaming aroundwhere you come from-"
"I can'tsmellanything," she said in a kind of whispered wail. "It's that stupid pen. Everything smells like goat. "
She couldn't smell ... ? Mark did the only thinghe could think of in response to a statement like that. He put his arms around the girl.
"Everything's okay," he said softly. He couldn'thelp but notice that she was cool and warm at the same time, supple, wonderfully alive underneath the nightshirt. "Why don't I take you inside now? You'll be safe there."
"Leggo," Jade said ungratefully, squirming. "I mayhave to fight." She wriggled out of his arms and faced the bushes again. "Stay behind me."
Okay, so sheis crazy. I don't care. I think I love her.
He stood beside her. "Look, I'll fight, too. What doyou think it is? Bear, coyote ... ?""My brother."
"Your . . ." Dismay pooled in Mark. She'd just stepped over the line of acceptable craziness.
"Oh."
Another thrashing sound from the bushes. It was definitely something big, not a goat. Mark was just wondering vaguely if a Roosevelt elk could have wandered down the hundred or so miles from Waldo Lake, when a scream ripped through the air.
A human scream-or, worse,almost human. As it died, there was a wail that was definitely inhumanit started out faint, and then suddenly sounded shrilland dose. Mark was stunned. When the drawn-out wail finally stopped, there was a sobbing, moaning sound, then silence.
Mark got his breath and swore. "What in thewhat wasthat?"
"Shh. Keep still." Jade was in a half-crouch, eyes on the bushes.
"Jade-Jade, listen. We've got to get inside." Desperate, he looped an arm around her waist, trying to pick her up. She was light, but she flowed like water out of his arms. Like a cat that doesn't want to bepetted. "Jade, whatever that thing is, we need agun.