The Shadow Man stared at me. "Jocelynn, my love, surely you don't want him. Especially considering I can give you everything." His grin stretched too far across his face. "What could he possibly offer you that I can't?"
~~~~~
Jocelynn Turner is a De...
I woke up feeling more tired than I was used to. Clayton was making breakfast when I stumbled upstairs. He nodded and returned to his breakfast. Then he whipped his head up, eyes wide.
"Holy crap, Joc. What happened to you last night?"
"What?"
"Your hair is sticking out everywhere and the back of your head looks like something built a nest back there."
I scowled and quickly ran my hand through my hair. "Sorry for not sleeping like the dead. I just got up, therefore having no time to untangle this mess." I yanked the rubber band off my wrist and tied my hair up in a messy bun, grabbing my keys on the way out the door.
"Have a nice date!" Clay hollered, laughing.
My hand tightened on the handle momentarily. "Have a nice day at school, loser," I snickered.
He glared and it was so worth it. If he was mocking me for my "date," I would mock him for still having to go to school even though it was almost July. (His school ran late and started early. It was one of those—supposedly—all-year-round schools.)
This time, I didn't go to the coffee shop. Last's night dream with Cole had left me curious, especially when he said he had been studying the paranormal. If he had been studying it that meant there had to be books on the subject. And there was a place that was horded with books on all subjects. The library.
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The librarian glared at me when I entered. I guess I didn't look like the kind of girl to go into a library to get books. I held back a snicker. Hadn't I thought the same thing about Cole a couple days ago? I ignored her and walked right up to the computer to search the catalog for paranormal books. I found a few and wrote them down on a slip of paper just in case I forgot one.
Most of the books ended up being "true" accounts of hauntings but most of them sounded phony. I went to check them out anyway, carrying the pile of a good ten books.
"Hey! Girl!" a man shouted behind me.
I turned around and nearly dropped my books. The man looked disgusting. His skin was puckered, sliding off his flesh in deep red to black clumps, one of his eyes clouded over while the other one hung out of his socket. He had no nose left, save for the gaping hole in his skull. His clothes were tattered, barely clinging onto his body. He took a step forward on a bony leg when I stepped back.
"You got a problem, girl? Don't like what you see?"
I quick glanced around to make sure no one was near enough to hear me. "Honestly, sir, now is not the time."
He gestured to my stack of books. "Then why'd you pick my story?"
"I was just picking up random books. It has nothing to do with you personally. I apologize if I upset you."
A choking laughed came out of his damaged throat. "You're apologizing to me because I'm dead? Do you seriously think that's my problem?"
