Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Nine

     "Her shirt was covered in blood!" Chase ran in the other room to grab her shirt. He came back and held it out to show everyone what he had meant. Terra's eyes widened slightly as she looked over the shocked faces of the crew. There was no way she could tell them it was a nose bleed when it looked like she ran over the kool-aid guy on her shirt.

     Chases mouth fell open as he looked over the shirt at a closer angle. "Oh God... Are you okay, Terra? Where did it attack you?"

     Terra shook her head, taking a step backward. "I'd really rather not."

     "But you're still bleeding aren't you?" Chase's voice rose in pitch as he realized that this girl was seriously injured and could be on the brink of dying.

     "Lift your shirt and show them, Terra." Link's voice cut through her like a knife and she shuddered. 

     She looked at Link and found his hard gaze boring into her. Her lips trembled into a frown. "Everyone's going to think I'm a freak," she whined.

     "How do you think I feel right now, huh? Just show them! Show them that I'm not crazy!"

     Terra flinched and she closed her eyes as she licked her lips. Everyone waited with bated breath for Terra to show them what she'd kept hidden. She thought Rhett and Link were great guys for not telling the police the truth just to spare her, but now they were the ones convinced that she was the nut. At least that's how she felt. 

     Rhett took a deep breath. His whole elaborate ruse that he thought was genius was about to crumble. He knew it was going to be a wasted effort once the crew discovered what was going on. They were a smart bunch of people, hence why they were on the crew of GMM.

     Terra opened her eyes and slowly lifted her shirt, and she showed all of them the side where the wolf had attacked her. All they saw was clear skin, definitely no teeth marks of any sort.

     "I see nothing," Alex said blandly, to which Eddie nodded in agreement.

     "You don't see anything because the wound disappeared before the ambulance could get here. But you saw the blood... You see all the blood on her shirt," Link pointed to the shirt that Chase was still holding. "I'm not crazy. Rhett saw it too." 

     Rhett's eyes widened slightly as he stood there in silence. Sure— Link, Terra, and himself saw what happened in the parking lot, and they could say all they wanted that her marks disappeared like magic, but they needed physical proof to make these guys believe. 

     "I know what will make them believe," he said, and he sprinted to the door. He wrenched it open, the sun beaming its brilliant white rays across the parking lot as if nothing had ever happened. He looked about with his eyebrows scrunched, then looked over his shoulder. There wasn't a single iota of sand anywhere. He shook it off and took off outside, the rest of the crew, Link, and Terra on his heels. He led everyone to Link's car.

     "When the officer was looking at the car, he found this. I watched him do this," Rhett said as he took his balled up fist and lined it up in the crevice where the paw dent was. He moved his hand and let everyone look. Gasps escaped Jen and Stevie's lips. Link stood off to the distance and watched as everyone looked at his car as if it was a shiny new toy. His heart thundered in his chest, and then he felt her presence next to him. He stepped away from her and crossed his arms over his chest.

     Terra had a terrible feeling that Link was trying to avoid her, and she really couldn't blame him. She couldn't discredit him for what he saw in the sandstorm either, especially after what they'd just witnessed with her being attacked. She was in the wrong and she wanted to apologize to him. She also wanted to explain something to him that might make him see this situation in a different light. "Link."

     "Leave me alone." He adjusted his glasses as everyone took a turn doing exactly what Rhett had done.

     "This is a huge print," Alex exclaimed. Link had to shake his head in amusement as they all resembled kids lining up for the next hot amusement park ride.

     Terra sighed deeply. "You think you saw me but it wasn't me, Link." 

     Link scoffed. He saw a wolf attack and a wound vanish into thin air, but he wasn't ready to believe that a person could actually be in two places at once. He'd seen and heard enough crazy in one day. "You don't know me from the next guy on the street. Why don't you just go home." 

     Terra blinked several times. Her heart skipped a beat. "Before I go— Can I just tell you something?" Link turned to look at her, a scowl set on his face. "I have a twin brother and sister. My sister has been missing for several years." 

     Link's eyebrows slowly knit together. That would certainly explain why he thought he saw Terra. Rhett had just joined them, a look on his face as if he was a proud detective that'd just solved a murder case. "What's that look for, Link?" 

     Terra's eyes watered. "My sister is up to no good." She fixed her gaze on something in the distance, and hoped that Link would at least believe this one thing.