Page 10 of Shadowface 1979

Unlike the outskirts where Mama and I live, this town was built in the forest as if the forest is part of the town itself. My mouth parts open at how quaint and pretty it is. I’ve never lived anywhere so beautiful. It’s almost as if Kinsmen is hiding from the rest of the world.

“You ever been to Kinsmen before?” Marty eventually asks.

I shake my head. “Mama and I came from all over, but I’ve never been here.”

“It’s an old town, lots of history here. Many folks have done well for themselves. Lots of old money, here.” He pauses mid-sentence, and I shoot my head up, waiting for him to finish.

“What is it?”

“Never mind. I don’t want to scare you.”

I stare at him for a moment, wondering what he meant by that. Or what might scare me in a place like this.

My eyes catch a large sandstone building, and then another. From this distance, the buildings are like a castle shrouded in darkness. A dark aura hangs over the buildings and trees. It’s utterly beautiful.

“What’s that place?” I ask him as the bus pushes past what looks like a campus.

He looks at me through the windshield mirror. “That’s Kinsmen University. All the townsfolk go there, eventually. It’s what we’re known for in these parts. You think about going to college one day?”

One day…

“Yes.” It’s all I’ve ever wanted. But Mama thinks my dream of going to school is foolish.

I hope you don’t expect me to pay for that, her voice echoes.

He makes a few more stops, and more people get on, take one look at me, and frown before sitting away from me. Eventually, he stops. “This is your stop,” Marty says. “The high school is down the block. Bus will be here at four p.m.”

I get up, cringing when my belt pinches my skin in the worst part.

“And Miss Diana?”

I turn my head just as I’m about to step off. “What is it?”

He hesitates, as if reluctant to speak. “Keep your wits about you, girl. A college boy was found a few weeks back, torn up in these woods. Never found who did it. People in this town are superstitious, and they won’t take kindly to seeing someone like you. Some even believe he’s come back.”

“Who’s come back?” I ask, frowning.

His face grows solemn. “Shadowface.”

DIDI

School has already started by the time I arrive at the single-story brick building, though a few kids are lingering outside, most wearing blue and white letterman jackets. This school, though smaller than the nearby university, is among the bigger, nicer schools that I’ve attended. The sign on the front of the school says:

Kinsmen High School

Home of the Jaguars

I enter the building, and a group of guys trail in after me, joking and bumping past as if I’m invisible. They’re all wearing matching blue tank tops—the school colors—and shorts that ride up, showing off their muscular legs. Their hair is shaggy, one with a long style that reaches his mid-back and round glasses. Sweaty from practice, they laugh and slap each other’s backs.

I can’t make out the details of them from this distance, but a particularly muscled one, taller than the rest, trails behind, almost like he’s lost in his own thoughts. Even with my blurred eyesight, he’s hard not to notice.

Luckily, they don’t see me as I slink into the shadows of the hallway. I watch them for a moment…or should I say, the sad one, as he runs his hand through his shaggy, sandy-colored hair and steps away from the others. As my eyes adjust, I can make out his cute mustache. He is impossible to ignore as he leans down to catch his breath. His muscled thighs alone are the size of my entire body.

I’ve only been here two minutes, and I’m already swooning.

He turns his head, staring directly at my hiding spot as if he can sense me looking. Our eyes meet for a moment, and he furrows his brows and looks away.

Ouch.