The Elementals of Edgewood

Chapter Thirteen

Sadie Fergusson glared at him, her grip tight on his arm.

 "Jesus, you gave me a fright." George breathed, frowning at her behaviour. 

"What are you doing here?" She shook his arm urgently.

"What do you mean? Thomas Nelson invited me." A thought suddenly occurred to him. "What are YOU doing here?"

She stared at him as if he had said something stupid.

He shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

"Are you out of your freaking mind?" She yelled.

He flinched at her outburst. "Uh-"

Someone cleared their throat loudly behind them. George had forgotten Nate was there.

"Hi, I'm Nate," his friend stepped forward with an outstretched hand.

Sadie shook it sheepishly, regaining her composure. "I'm Sadie."

"Ah, the new girl." Nate's gaze burned into the side of George's head, but his mind was somewhere else.

Why was Sadie freaking out?

"Yep, that's me." The girl smiled awkwardly. "Um, am I able to talk to George alone for a few seconds?"

Nate immediately looked to George, who nodded in reassurance.

"As long as he doesn't come back with a beaten up car and a mild concussion." Nate smiled sarcastically at her, before turning to George. "I'll go get the ice." He eyed him with a look that said 'be careful' as he walked away towards the shed at the bottom of the Nelson's garden.

The guilt that filled George at lying to his friend fuelled his anger towards Sadie.

"What is your problem?" He snapped at her after Nate had left their proximity.

Her eyes widened. "My problem?" She glanced around at the groups of people surrounding them on the deck. "You're the one leaving your house when there are people in this town who want to hurt you." She hissed.

Her words shocked George, before the unfairness of the situation took over his conscious.

"What the hell am I supposed to do? I have no idea what's going on, you haven't told us anything and the only reason I believe any of your crap is that there are weird, unnatural things happening to me and you seem to know something about them." He huffed at the end of his outburst, ignoring the strange looks of the people around them.

Sadie simply stared, analysing him with an unreadable expression.

Once again, George felt uncomfortable under her stare. "What?" 

The girl grabbed him by the arm and began dragging him down the steps towards the Nelson's garden.

"Oh great, now you're kidnapping me."

She pulled him to the right so that they were standing under the shadow of the deck. Christmas lights had been strung along the wood, illuminating Sadie's face in a dim white glow when she turned to face him.

"You're right."

Her statement caught him off guard. "I am?"

She sighed, and he suddenly realised how exhausted she looked. "You all deserve to know more- you need to know more." Sadie looked him in the eyes. "Tomorrow. We'll have a meeting-all five of us- and I'll tell you everything you need to know, okay?"

George suddenly felt guilty about yelling at her.

What was happening to them wasn't normal, and Sadie knew just as much about the attackers as he did.