The Hybrid by Lauren Shelton

Tru
knew that was a lie. He seemed to good a man to let
something like that happen to anyone. He didn’t even
seem like the type of person who would swat away an annoying fly. Tru looked up at his face, his grass colored
green eyes focused immediately on hers. “Being your
friend is going to be the death of me isn’t it?”
    He didn’t answer.
Tru had somehow managed to always say the wrong
words around him. First with the mention of her grandma, and now with this.
“Maybe
we
should
keep
both
of
your
feet
on
the
ground for a while.” A cold look was planted on his face
now. Tru had completely forgotten about her thoughts
again. Even those weren’t safe anymore. How was she
supposed to keep her spoken words and her thoughts
from hurting him? If she didn’t say the wrong thing, then
she would think it. And, if she had said the wrong thing,
she would think about taking it back.
“Yeah, I agree.” Tru looked down at the soil just feet
below them as they gradually descended through the air.
Once on the ground, with Edyn still cradling her effortlessly in his arms, the two of them stood in an awkward
silence, staring at one another. Merely seconds later, the
muscles in Tru’s face began to relax. A smile broke out
across her face, and soon, Edyn began smiling too. His
eyes looked warm, and for a split second, Tru had the
urge to grab the back of his head, and pull it close enough
to her face so she could kiss him. Tru instantly blushed,
knowing he had heard every part of her daydream, as she
looked down at her lap.
But as Edyn hesitantly released Tru from his grasp,
setting her gently on the ground as he looked down at
her, there was a hurried rustling in the trees above them.

8
The Arrangement
    “What’s th
⎯?” But before Tru could finish her question, Edyn placed a soft hand over her mouth and looked
up toward the sky.
    “Shh,” he whispered, placing the index finger from his
other hand over his own mouth. Tru looked up at the
trees curiously.
    “Edyn!” a young girl’s voice yelled out playfully. Her
tone reminded Tru of a young girl playing hide and seek
with her friends.
    Edyn looked at Tru for a moment, their eyes instantly
locking on one another, before grabbing Tru’s wrist, pulling her towards a large tree. “Tru,” he began, looking back
up into the sky. His voice was barely a whisper, but one
could still hear the worry behind it. “Hide now!”
    “But
⎯”
“Please?” Edyn
pleaded
still
looking
at
the
canopy
above their heads. His face looked scared, making Tru
wish she could hear what he was thinking.
Tru nodded up at him watching his face carefully, and
then ran behind the massive tree trunk to her left, remaining as quiet as possible.
“Coming Airi!” Edyn shouted up to the young girl hidden somewhere in the dense pine needles. He took one
final look at Tru, jumped into the air, and then quickly
disappeared into the dark branches of the nearest pine.
“Edyn!” the young girl, Tru assumed was Airi, shouted
as she emerged from the foliage of a tree on the opposite
side of her. Tru watched as Edyn took a seat on a branch
high above her head, letting his legs dangle freely off of its
side. The moon illuminated his body perfectly, like a spotlight shining down on him, casting shadows on his back
and the bottoms of his feet. Airi’s eyes instantly landed on
Edyn, and in the blink of an eye, she was joining him on
the branch. “Is everything okay?” She lowered her body
next to him, taking a seat.
Tru tried desperately to quiet her thoughts. She wasn’t
sure if Airi had the ability to read people’s minds like
Edyn, and if she could, Tru had no idea how far her range
could reach.
“Yes. I am fine. Why?” Edyn’s answers were short and
staccato. Tru could see Edyn fidget as he sat beside the
girl.
Airi was young, maybe fourteen, but no older than fifteen. She had an A-line styled, fiery red hairdo, and bright
crimson eyes to match. She was short too, less than five
and