Read Tales from Dargo Island: The Complete Trilogy for Free Online

when you last saw
him?”
    “He did seem a
little weird when we hung out last. I think he was thinking of quitting, but he
didn’t say anything.” She grinned suddenly, the right side of her lip tilting
up. “What’s your name?”
    “Sorry. I’m
Josh Debelko.”
    “Nice to meet
you.” We shook hands. “As you already know, I’m Astrid Albright. Can I come
in?”
    I backed up to
let her in. She slid the door closed behind her. “How are you liking it so
far?” she asked.
    “It’s cool. I’m
really tired, though.”
    “Mark was, too,
when he first started. He got used to it.”
    “You really
like him, don’t you?” I didn’t know why I asked; it just slipped out.
    “As a friend,
or more?”
    “You tell me.”
I raised my eyebrows comically, and she laughed.
    “You never met
Mark; he’s in his fifties.”
    “Oh,” I said.
And then I grinned; I was surprisingly happy to hear that, though I didn’t know
why.
    Not that
anything was wrong with her. She just wasn’t my type, or so I thought at the
time. She had a grunge thing going on. I hadn’t noticed when I first saw her,
but she was wearing calf-high black boots to go along with the blue dress, and
a lot of studs in her ears.
    “Your outfit is
interesting,” I said.
    She looked down
at herself, and then back at me, rolling her eyes. “This dress, with these
boots? I don’t think so. I usually wear matching things, but Mark dared me to
do something different. And now he’s not even here. I have to waste this
fabulous outfit on a stranger.”
    “Are you a
troublemaker?” I found myself asking.
    “That’s a weird
question,” she said after a moment. “Do I look like a troublemaker?”
    I decided to be
honest. “I was told to keep you inside the Village at all times, but I wasn’t
told why.”
    “Oh.” She
didn’t seem surprised. “I’m kind of a precious girl, so to speak. It’s a
dangerous world, or so my mom keeps telling me.”
    “Mine too. I
was attacked by a tornado the other day.”
    Astrid gasped.
“Really? A tornado?”
    “Yep. I even
died for a little while.”
    “Oh, my. That’s
awful. We never get tornadoes on the island.”
    “My neighbor
saved me; she’s a doctor.”
    “That’s great.
My mom’s a doctor, too.”
    “She must make
a lot of money to afford a place on an island.”
    Astrid
chuckled. “None of us pay to live here. My mom lives off-island. She visits
every now and then, though.”
    “Oh. I’m still
getting used to guarding...”
    “Freaks?” she
guessed.
    “I wasn’t going
to say that.”
    “I know.”
    “It’s just....
I’ve never experienced anything like this. I feel like I’m dreaming or...”
    “Dead?”
    “Stop finishing
my sentences,” I joked. “I’m pausing dramatically for a reason.”
    We laughed. I
looked out through one of the front windows and nearly jumped out of my skin
when I saw a large figure approach from the mountain. “What is that?” I asked.
    Astrid looked,
and then jumped from her chair. “That’s Cormac, a friend of mine. He’s on my
list.”
    “He’s huge!” I
said as I checked the one name on her list. It was Cormac, all right.
    “Yeah,
he...comes from a big family.”
    I watched
Cormac come down the hill. He looked to be more than nine feet tall, and was
very skinny, with long arms. His yellow T-shirt barely fit him, exposing his
stomach to the world.
    He had better
abs than me.
    “Is he your
boyfriend?” I asked Astrid.
    “No. We’re just
friends.”
    Cormac
approached the gate and looked at us as we met him outside. Astrid introduced
us. I shook his large hand. Despite his size, he was very gentle.
    “Cormac doesn’t
talk,” Astrid continued. “Since you know about the weirdness of this island, I
can tell you he is a giant. A real giant.”
    Cormac nodded,
his shaggy brown hair bouncing. His nose was large, but other than that and his
size, he looked like a regular boy.
    “Well, we
should go,” Astrid said as she led her friend into