Skin Walkers

Chapter Five

            “Ugh, I hate walking through here!” Skye whines, pulling me past the perfume counters.

            “Then why are we in here?” I wrinkle my nose.

            “Because this is the only place that has my favorite eye shadow palette,” she answers as if it’s common knowledge.

            My free arm is already loaded with shopping bags and my feet are killing me. I hate wearing shoes when it isn’t necessary. “Don’t you have enough makeup?”

            “Well, duh,” she laughs, coming to a halt in front of a stand. She turns to me. “But we’re not shopping for me today, are we? And your complexion is just amazing, Tuesday, you can wear any color.”

            I sigh. She’s dragged me up and down this mall and bought me new clothes that I never would have been able to afford myself. “I have enough stuff, Skye. And I don’t wear eyeshadow.” I smile at her, but she’s not looking, apparently on a mission.

            She’s still combing through the stand of makeup when a couple of girls from school walk by. They look past me and see her and immediately stop.

            They’re carrying matching Victoria’s Secret bags and are all smiles when they see her. I just sort of stand there for a few moments as they start chatting about another girl. Gossip that has no point isn’t really my thing, so I take my thousands of bags and wander to the shoe section, where I can sit.

            On a poofy chair, I kick off my sandals. Sky insisted on staying the night yesterday, and surprisingly it was a really good time. We stayed up late looking through Dad’s old photo albums and talking about old times. She’s very good at staying away from the topics I don’t want to talk about, and after I told her my theory on what really happened to Dad, she never brought it up again. I know she doesn’t believe me, but at least I’m mostly sure she isn’t going to say anything to anyone.

            “Looking for anything particular?”

            I look up to find an elderly woman smiling at me. She has a tag around her neck indicating she works for the store. “No, thanks. I’m just waiting for someone.”

            “Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”

            She saunters away, and that’s when I see him.

            He’s leaning against a tie display in the mens’ section, halfway down the store. His dark hair looks windswept, like he’s been running, and his clothes look like they’ve just been thrown on against their will. Even from here I can tell he’s got the forest on him.

            The breath gets sucked out from my chest and all I can do is stare as his gaze roars at me, beckoning me toward him.

            No. No no no no. How long has he been following me? Since we came to the mall? At my house? Yesterday, in the woods?

            He pushes himself from the rack, toward me.

            That’s all I need. My legs nearly propel me out of the chair, and I almost have both my sandals on when Skye appears, exasperated.

            “Are you trying to ditch me?” She demands, eyeshadow in hand.

            I open my mouth to tell her he’s here, that we need to go, but then everything clicks. I look back to Declan, who’s gone.