Sometimes By Moonlight Read Online Free Page A

door of the well house. He was back! I rose up from my hiding place and started moving. Ahead of me, the figure ducked into the doorway. I ran across the snow, fueled by my eagerness for the reunion with Austin.
     
    I threw open the door, opening my arms wide to capture him in a hug. “You’re here!”
     
    “EEEEAEE!” the hooded figure in my arms squealed and squirmed out of my grasp.
     
    I stepped back from a visibly angry Marie-Rose. “Sorry. I thought you were—”
     
    “Mrs. Lemmon is up and about the dorm, peeking in rooms. Any minute she’s going to reach our room and we’ll be dead!” She shook a finger at me.
     
    “How did you know I was in here?”
     
    Marie-Rose’s cheeks colored. “Your boots were gone. And, the light was on in here, obviously.” She frowned down at the sketchbook on the barrelhead. “What is this?”
     
    “Austin’s drawings. He must have been here earlier.”
     
    Marie-Rose blew out the candles. “We’ve got to get back up to our room.”
     
    “I want to take the book,” I said.
     
    “Don’t be ridiculous. Do you want Lemmon to find it when she turns beds? She will ask questions.”
     
    Marie-Rose had a point. I didn’t need Lemmon on my case any more than she was already. “Okay, fine,” I said, giving the sketchbook a last, longing glance.
     
    “Well, then? What are you waiting for?” My roommate led me out of the well house, closing the door behind us. “We need to get back up there now.”
     
    “But what about Austin?”
     
    Marie-Rose rolled her eyes. “I am going back to the room. You wait here and get caught. Why did I even try to save you?”
     
    “I’ll just wait another minute. You go. I promise I’ll be right behind you.”
     
    Shaking her head, Marie-Rose sped off toward the back entrance of the building.
     
    “Where are you?” I said to the night, to Austin—wherever he was. I didn’t know how much time I had left and if he was out there, he needed to hurry up and show himself. Glancing toward the school, I watched Marie-Rose slip inside the back entrance. My gaze rose to the dorm windows. A light went on in a corner room, then off. Then the next room’s light went on. Crap. Lemmon really was making the rounds.
     
    I sprinted over to the chain link fence. “Psst—are you out there?” I whispered into the darkness. “Austin?”
     
    I waited for minute, but there was no response. I didn’t understand how he could come all this way, leave his sketchbook for me to find, and then not bother to show himself. It was so frustrating.
     
    Snow began to fall then, big wet flakes that mixed with my tears. I was forced to abandon my mission and run back to the dorm, no closer to understanding what was happening with Austin and feeling like a fool.

 
    Chapter Three
     
     
     
    The back stairs were dark, but I bounded up them without hesitation. I’m normally pretty clumsy, but I felt graceful and quick and reached the dorm faster than I thought possible. When Lemmon charged into the room across the hall from us, I slipped in through our door and threw off my coat and boots. Marie-Rose looked like she was about to hyperventilate, but there was no time to explain. I threw my outerwear under the bed and dove beneath the covers.
     
    My head had barely hit the pillow when Lemmon yanked open our door and turned on the light. I peeked at her from between half-closed lids. I was grateful that at least the old bag had thrown a proper bathrobe over her slinky number from earlier. She grunted, either out of relief or disappointment at seeing us in our beds. Then, she turned and flounced out of our room, closing the door with a staccato slam.
     
    I let out the big breath I’d been holding. “Omigod, that was close.”
     
    “ Mais, non . I am not talking to you,” Marie-Rose said.
     
    “What do you mean?”
     
    She sat up and pointed a slender finger in my direction. “Shelby Locke, why would you go out after dark?”
     
    “I