Something of a Kind - By Miranda Wheeler Page 0,43

would get over it so I can.”

They fell silent, mulling over her words. In an instant, he knew there was an unspoken awareness between them. What she didn’t know, she would understand. Why Owen and Luke were the closest thing he would have to brothers, why his sister needed to be protected, why he needed to get out and as far away from this hell of a town as possible. Their pain was totally different and exactly the same. He loved her for it, and hated himself for that.

Noah grabbed her wrists, pinning them to her chest, leaning in. Her breath grazed his, their eyes locked. Suddenly, he guided her arms out, stretched like she stood on the stern of The Titanic. Moving away, he motioned to hold still, and circled her, coming to a stop as he completed a 360, absorbing every detail. Ivory skin, dark hair cascading down her back. The pale freckle to the right of her blue eyes, the exposed indents of her clavicles, a shamrock-shaped birthmark on her wrist. Every curve, every feature. She shivered, biting her lip beneath his scrutiny. He cupped her chin in one hand, gently turning her face to each side.

“Do you know what I see, Aly Glass?” Noah whispered, his thumb brushing across her cheek. She closed her eyes, trembling beneath his touch. “I see perfect, literally everywhere. I see Aly, not how-dare-you-Alyson-Mackenzie: this beautiful person, amazing as she is – someone who doesn’t need to change for anyone, especially her anal-retentive father that everyone hates anyway.”

CHAPTER 11 | ALYSON

The blue of his hoodie disappeared in the woods ahead. He moved beneath a low canopy, sprinting behind the thickest parts of the brush to circle her. Reentering the path, he held his breath, sneaking behind her.

Aly stood on the tips of her toes, inclining her head as though it would help her searching eyes dart through the trees. She jumped as he wrapped his arms around her waist, leaving a kiss on her cheek before resting his chin on the crown of her head.

She laughed. “That was kind of evil.”

“Maybe,” he agreed, pleased.

Impressed, Aly inquired, “How’d you do that?”

“Magic,” Noah teased.

“Hey love -birds, come see!” Owen shouted, sounding like a child showing his mother a Lego creation. Aly grabbed Noah’s hand, sprinting ahead until he met her pace, surpassing until she struggled to keep up. "Right where my dad said it would be!"

A footprint burrowed into the ground. Surrounding wet dirt was a clay-like consistency, the dip filled with water from last night’s rain. It was nearly twice the length of Aly’s sandal. Distinct toes, no claws, no balls of human feet. Whatever it was, it was flat footed – and the size of Goliath.

“Wow,” Aly commented, raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe the big man here was sleepwalking,” Luke snickered.

“Maybe your fellow pigmies dug you a watering hole.” Owen snapped.

“Young, your mom’s a hunter,” Noah said. “What does this look like to you?”

“Bigfoot,” Luke snickered. Bending to his knees for a better look, he stared for a moment, squinting with scrutiny. He blanched. “Well, yeah. I guess it’s… It looks like the freaking wood beast.”

“I’ve got my phone. We can take pictures,” Aly offered.

“We really should cast it.” Luke rolled his shoulders as he stood. “I don’t have the stuff for that kind of thing though.”

“Don’t some people dig it out of the ground?” Owen asked, fingers outstretch, miming where they could cut.

Noah shook his head. “You’d probably just crush it anyway.”

“Pictures it is,” Aly decided, digging her phone from her pocket. “So, who’s playing foot model?”

“What?” “This thing is huge. We need something to scale it with so they can figure out how big in case these get ruined while we're gone.”

They hesitated, exchanging glances. Luke raised his hands in a silent refusal. Owen scratched his head, sighing. “Look, I’m really sorry Alyson. We can’t be on camera if you show those to your dad.”

She blinked. “Why?”

Noah’s jaw set. “It’s because they’re scared of the elders.”

“We’re considering our parents, Noah. You know we’re not supposed to mess with this stuff. We were raised to respect this thing,” Owen defended, his voice both offended and apologetic.

“A God-fearing respect,” Luke added.

“So that it didn’t steal your wife and force her to have its mutated baby spawn.” Noah threw up his hands. “Those legends are outdated, most aren’t even from this area. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but people can’t breed with animals, no one here is married, and the idea of displeasing