Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Twenty-One

"Roara! I want to take one over here!"

"Okay," I called back, following as I fiddled with the settings on the camera.

The sun was just beginning to dip below the western side of the valley as Reese huffed and grunted, struggling to hoist her little self onto the chest-high Petroleum Valley Academy sign in front of the administration building.

I grimaced when her knees came up over the brick ledge, scraping, and was glad I had been able to convince her to put on jeans before we left her house. Still, I'd grabbed a fistful of band-aids and stuffed them into my back pocket just to be safe.

"Turn a little more to the left so your face is out of the sun," I instructed, lifting the camera.

"Ready?" she said.

I gave her a thumbs up, snapping a photo when she eased into an anxious smile, copper eyes sweet, the toes of her sneakers balanced between the silver m and v.

"Did it turn out okay?" she asked as I rushed forward to help her down. We put our heads together to scrutinize the display screen and she voiced her approval.

"Where to next?" I started after Reese when she took off up the path leading deeper into campus, my wary eyes on the uneven sidewalk.

I was helping her take photos for a scrapbook she was putting together to send to Jack. Jack was her newly found half-brother who had turned up during the search the investigation service was conducting to locate her birth parents.

"Trevor's hockey practice should be letting out soon," she called back as she skipped. Her enthusiastic bounce was accented by the soft jingling of a bell that she had slipped onto a shoelace before tying her shoes earlier. "I wanted to get a picture with him." She hopped along, jingle, jingle.

I picked up my pace to keep up, my sandals pleasant slaps against my feet. Chilly, I ran a hand up and down my shoulder to rub at goosebumps induced by the cool Tuesday evening air. I probably should have worn something with sleeves, but I had thrown on a tank top after school anyway, relishing the fact that my shoulder was now injury free.

"Thanks for helping me," Reese said as I strode up beside her.

"It's not a problem. That's what friends with professional cameras are for."

I had been spending as much time with her as I could since last Thursday. She seemed to be faring well enough since our unfortunate evening at the movies. Although, she wasn't the one who had fallen down a flight of stairs. Ai the wind devvi made sure of it.

I suggested we go back and see the movie during a matinee, when the movie-going crowd would be much smaller. I even hinted at Micah possibly escorting us after he returned. Whenever that might be.

My gaze went to the sky, steadily growing dark with a few banks of harmless, fluffy clouds. Micah said he would be gone only a week. That had been eleven days ago.

Troubled by my guardian's prolonged absence, I puffed out my cheeks, sighing as I pushed through the heavy door to the hockey rink. The smell of stale ice and sweat hit me like a slap.

"Hey ya, Reese, Aurora," Dandoy called out.

The red-headed teenage boy was looking good in a fitted pair of jeans and polo shirt as he leaned against the rink railing just inside the entrance. His usually tousled hair was combed, and he, too, appeared to be waiting on Trevor. The two boys were rarely apart. They had been best friends since the first time they'd eaten crayons together in kindergarten, according to Reese.

I frowned at the ice beyond the railing. The last time they ate crayons together had been lunch, this afternoon. My crayons. I was adding color to my drawing of Spatula guy. I finally had a guess at the color of his hair despite the green tint of that terrible morning. I also seemed to have regained some memory of the outfit he had been wearing. It might have been a uniform.