Drawing Bloodlines (Book #2, PREVIEW)

Chapter 3.1 (Protecting with Secrets, PREVIEW)

Author Note:

Thank you so much for taking the time to PREVIEW Book #2 in the Legend of the Firewalker book series on Wattpad!

Book #2, Drawing Bloodlines, is now available for purchase on Amazon.com

http://smarturl.it/drawingbloodlines

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Chapter 3.1

Nathan stood motionless as he stared at the shards of broken glass and the pieces of red painted wood that lay strewn across his wooden desk. He was so still and his face so red that Bobby was scared Nathan would never breathe again. Slowly, Jonas's stunned face gave way to a frown as he carefully stepped forward. He winced as he cautiously reached in front of Nathan to stop the rolling basketball from falling off the desk and on to the ground.

"Umm, you can just buy a new one, right?" stammered Bobby. He paused, taking a moment to look at Jonas. "I've been with Mom to this store near campus — to replace stuff I've broken at home."

Bobby inched closer. "And by the looks of it — it looks old anyway." He shrugged and reached out for Jonas's basketball again. "Mom always says there's no use in crying over old stuff."

Jonas cringed and then turned around to shake his head at his little brother. "Umm, Nathan?" whispered Jonas. He swallowed hard, hesitating to speak. "Are you ... okay?"

"Well, at least the other one isn't broken," said Bobby, while looking over Jonas's shoulder.

Jonas turned around again, this time to glower at his little brother. "What!" shouted Bobby as he crossed his arms. "I don't understand what the big deal is — I break stuff all the time."

"You're not supposed to break stuff, Bobby!" said Jonas, sternly. He took a deep breath and then whispered in his ear. "Remember what I told you? The reason why Nathan lives here with his grandfather? It was his mother's."

Bobby's eyes grew wide and then his head hung low. "Oh," he uttered, softly.

Slowly, Jonas tried to catch a glimpse of Nathan's face. "Umm — Nathan," he said with some trepidation. "Do you think the other frame is broken?"

Nathan continued to stand motionless, but finally exhaled deeply as Jonas reached out to touch his hand. Both Jonas and Bobby looked at each other with a sense of relief as Nathan carefully shook shards of glass from the other picture frame.

It had fallen flat on its face and Nathan was worried that it too had been broken. He stared at the silver picture frame, its glass intact and in place. He then stared longingly at the pregnant woman looking back at him. Besides the dust and small particles of wood fragments on the glass, she stood just as he remembered her; a smile full of hope and eyes beaming with life.

"Good, it's not broken!" exclaimed Jonas, while securing the basketball underneath his arm.

Nathan turned around to look at him and his pursed lips slowly curved into a smile. "Yeah," he said drily and Nathan could hear Bobby release a deep sigh.

Nathan turned to reassure him, but Bobby had already embraced him tightly to his side with a hug. "I'm sorry, Nathan," he said. "I didn't mean to."

"It's okay," he said, while resting his arm around Bobby. But Nathan's worse fear lay in front of him.

Nathan's smile had disappeared again as he released Bobby. Carefully, he maneuvered through the pieces of glass and wood, so that he could examine the photo. Nathan blinked a few times and couldn't believe his eyes. Even though the rose-colored picture frame his mom had carved from wood lay completely in ruin, their wedding photo was perfect and intact. Nathan smiled as he admired the picture of his parents, both dressed in their Sunday best.

"What was your dad's name?" asked Jonas with a smile. "And your mom — she's beautiful. Grace, right?"

"Yeah," said Nathan. His stomach tingled and a warm feeling began to grow from the pit of his stomach. He smiled. "Yes, my mom's name is Grace and my dad's name is Michael. Michael Urye."

"I'll help you clean!" said Bobby eagerly, reaching for the glass.

"Wait!" shouted Nathan. Bobby froze. He could see a look of disappointment starting to creep onto Bobby's face. "You can help, but let me put the pictures away first."

Bobby smiled wide as Nathan placed the silver picture frame and the wedding photo of his parents into the top drawer of his desk. "What's this?" asked Bobby, quickly reaching through the shards of wood and glass again.

"Wait, Bobby!" cried Jonas. "Before you cut yourself."

Bobby paused and then frowned. "I'm not four years old, Jonas," he seethed. From underneath the small fragments of glass and wood, Bobby pulled out a small cylinder object. "What is this? A whistle?"

"Let me see that," said Nathan, sounding intrigued and surprised. Bobby handed Nathan the small silver object. The surface of it was smooth and it glinted in the light.

"See, there is a slit or a hole near the top, for the sound to come out," said Bobby.

Jonas looked intently at Nathan. "You haven't seen it before, have you?" asked Jonas.

Slowly, Nathan shook his head while rubbing his hand over the surface of the object that nestled in the palm of his hand. "No, I haven't," he said.

"I'm guessing it's a whistle," continued Bobby, stepping forward.

"It's not a whistle!" responded Jonas, in a condescending tone. Bobby glowered at him. "Look Bobby, it's too small to be a whistle."

Suddenly, there was a gleam in Bobby's eyes. "Then, I bet it's a dog whistle," he boasted.

"I highly doubt that," said Nathan.

Bobby looked confused while Jonas smirked.

"See the bottom?" explained Nathan. "There's no way to blow in the air to make it whistle, just a clasp at the end of it."

"What was it doing inside your mom's picture frame?" asked Jonas.

"I have no idea," said Nathan.

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