Chapter 21- Welcome to.....

''Hey'' my mother chirps on the other end.

''Hey'' I reply.

''What are you doing?'' she asks.

''Eating breakfast''

''You?''

''Just relaxing, I'm gonna head out to the store just now''

''Okay''

''How's everything going?''

''It's great. We got our assignment a few days ago''

''Yeah Nelson told me''

Seriously! Nelson told her so has he been telling her everything that we talk over the phone. Gosh, I really need to talk to him about that.

''Oh''

''Did you find anything on them?''

''No we didn't''

''Of course, you didn't, paranormal investigators barely find anything on the paranormal and to think that people actually wanna do this kind of job for a living'' she comments.

If only she had known that I know way more on these men than anyone else who has been studying this forest for years, she would definitely reconsider her words but that for now, I don't plan on revealing anything I know about these men.

''Okay well mom enjoy your trip to the store. I gotta go now, we're still trying to find anything we can on these men''

''Okay but call me tonight''

''Will do bye''

''Bye, I love you, honey''

''Love you too'' I say and hang up.

It's now 11 as we begin our investigation. Kate and Easton are like detectives right now. They're examining literally almost every tree we pass for carvings on them and are looking through shrubs to see if they can find anything. I can't think straight, I'm following them but my mind only runs on him and his desire to meet with me at 3. Even if I consider meeting him, what excuse would I have for my disappearance? Usually, every time I disappear to see him, it's always at night when everyone is asleep so they don't notice my disappearance but this time he wants to meet me during the day at 3. Why at 3? My mouth falls open as Kate and Easton both bend down to examine some footprints. They're his, they're the exact shape of his boots, I know they are because this was the same place he met me last night and demanded that I meet him at 3 today at the end of the trail.

''Oh my god this is one of their footprints!'' Kate exclaims while Easton takes multiple pictures.

''Oh my god it is, look it's leading straight ahead, let's follow them and see where they went'' she continues.

''That could be anyone's footprints, it doesn't have to be theirs'' I lie, hoping that they believe me and turn back.

''Yeah but maybe it's them, let's follow them and see''

''What if is it's dangerous?'' I say, hoping that they will just let it go.

''Yeah that's true, let's call Mr. Miller and the rest of the group!'' Easton exclaims.

''No!'' I yell but they've run off already.

I run after them and my mind and heart are both racing. They can't follow these footprints what if it leads them somewhere and they see him? Oh god. Why didn't he cover up these footprints? He usually covers up his tracks so good.

''Mr. Miller we found something, you've gotta come see'' Kate says and pulls him in the direction of where we found the footprints.

He calls the entire group and before I know it they are all following the footprints. Oh my god, I run my hands through my hair in great distress, they're gonna find him and if they do, he's either gonna erase their memory or do something horrible to them to make sure that they don't talk and this could all turn into a huge mess.

I follow behind the group and they turn the corner following the footprints. I hope they don't find him, gosh where is he? why didn't he cover these up? I let out a sigh of relief as the footprints have disappeared by a tree. Thank god! they're gone, otherwise, they would've found him.

''Alright everyone let's just look around this area and see if we can find anything else on these men. These footprints have shown us that they've been here recently, maybe last night. We know that they were here sometime so look around the area and see if you find anything.'' Mr. Brown announces.

''If anyone else knows anything else or have found anything else on these men let us know now, don't be afraid'' Ms. Wilber says to the group.

''This is huge, we're gonna contact 'After Dusk Investigations' now and let them know of what we've found. They will come here while we're here and investigate these footprints and see if they can get any DNA on them. They will try and find out when they were here and where they went and try to find them. You guys! finding these men has been our biggest challenge for the last 2 years, it would be our biggest accomplishment to actually find evidence on these men and actually see these men. The investigators will come here and we will all work with them to find anything else we could on these men. By investigating these footprints, they can find out a lot of these men and their whereabouts. We would like to applaud Easton, Sia, and Kate on finding these footprints. Please keep looking everyone and see if you can find anything else on these men, the more we find the better and maybe one day we can actually see them, find them and capture them'' Mr. Brown informs as the group applauds us for our great work.

I just stand there while everyone else is doing as they are told, they are looking for evidence on these men. As the words 'capture them' left Mr. Brown's mouth I felt a shudder down my entire body followed by my heart racing at least a mile an hour. What does he mean capture them? Gosh! why didn't he cover up these footprints? Now he's in great danger, I have to warn him. I know I shouldn't care about him and I should be happy if they catch them but I'm a little worried, who am I kidding I'm worried to death. I am frozen in place with my mouth slightly open as I think about what is happening right now.

''You coming?'' Kate asks and I nod and follow her and Easton.

I can't stop them from trying to find more evidence on these men because then they'll know that something's up. I follow them and we walk for about an hour with me hoping that they don't find anything else on them, those footprints were enough.

''All right everyone, I've contacted After Dark Investigations and they are sending 5 of the best paranormal investigators up here tomorrow so that they can take pictures of these footprints and investigate them a bit further. Let's see if they can find anything about their recent whereabouts. Not to scare you or anything but maybe they are close to us and we don't even know it, let's see if we can find them'' Ms. Wilber says with a mischievous smile plastered across her face as we arrive back to the tents.

It's now 2 and I decide that I'm gonna meet him. I'm gonna leave now and I already have an excuse for them, it's not a great excuse but hopefully, it's believable. I have to warn him that he's in danger and he needs to cover up his tracks better and most of all leave me alone which he can never seem to do.

''Hey, uhm I have an important presentation that I need to finish for college, it's due next semester and I have to video chat with my professor so I gonna go for a walk somewhere quiet where I can video chat with him and he can help me with my presentation.'' I put on a fake smile.

''Today?'' Easton raises a brow.

''Yeah, he texted me last night and told me that today's the only day that he's free and he wants to video call now''

''Oh, how long will you be?'' Kate asks. I don't know where he wants to take me if it's far and how long we'll be staying so I just say the first thing that comes to my head.

''A couple of hours'' I tell her. I remember the last time he took me up on the mountain and the hike was about 30 minutes and we stayed there for a while and we might've stayed longer if Brooke hadn't called him.

We stayed there for a while and I don't know where he wants to take me and how long we'll be so I just said a couple of hours. I don't plan on staying long anyway, I'm just gonna warn him about the investigators coming after him and also to leave me alone so that shouldn't take long but he said that he has a surprise to show me which is the main reason I'm going to meet him.

I can't help wonder what the surprise is? It's probably nothing and he just said that to urge me to meet him.

''Okay, do you want us to come with you?'' she asks.

''No, I'll be fine. I'll be back before sundown. Don't tell anyone unless they ask for me''

''Okay but be careful don't go too far. Keep your phone with you in case you need to call us or anything.'' Easton tells me.

''I will''

I walk into my tent and change my clothes. I change into a dress, it's a sleeveless green dress that hits the middle of my thighs. I spray bug spray on my legs and arms before putting on my shoes.

''Aren't you gonna carry a notepad or anything'' Kate asks.

''No, he's gonna tell me how to do a task on the project and he's gonna email everything he talked about it to me after so I don't need to write anything down'' I can't remember the last time I've lived like this.

''Oh okay'' she responds and I take off. As I'm walking I try to remember the directions he gave me last night.

I walk for about 20 minutes before I finally see an oak tree. I look for a rock shaped like a bean bag chair but I see no such thing. Did he say bean bag chair? I think he did, yeah he did. I look around and I see no rock shaped like a bean bag chair. My eyes widen as I glimpse an oddly shaped boulder to my left. It kinda does look like a bean bag chair.

It's now 2:30 as I arrive and he said at three. I have half an hour again to wait for him. I stand alone by the rock and patiently wait for him. My mind is swirling with thoughts of where he wants to take me and what he has to show that will surprise me. A voice behind me makes me jump.

''You're early, Stessian'' he says from a few feet behind me.

''I said at 3, it's now 2:30'' he says.

''I know, I have something to tell you'' I say and he walks closer to me.

''What?'' he questions and walks up to me.

''They saw your footprints today from last night and they followed them until they eventually disappeared. I tried to stop them but I couldn't. Now they've called some other paranormal investigators to come and investigate the footprints and get DNA from them and now they're looking for you and if they find you they're gonna capture you'' the words speed out from my mouth with great worry in my voice as I tug at my hair. He steps closer to me and removes my hands from my hair and places them at my side then he squeezes both of my arms gently in a comforting way as he speaks.

''Don't you worry your pretty little head. No one is going to find us. They've been looking for us for the last 2 years but they haven't found anything. Don't worry, they won't find anything, they're just assholes'' He says and I giggle as he called them assholes.

''But what if they do? you didn't cover up your footprints'' I say.

''Relax, they won't know anything and they won't find us'' he assures me. His voice is calm and soft and I feel much calmer than I did when I was waiting here. I keep thinking if he means us as in me and him or he and his group?

''By us, I mean me and you and my group'' he answers my thoughts.

''Come on, let's go'' he says and lets go of my arms.

I follow behind him and god he walks fast. I try my best to keep up and we walk for 20 minutes in silence, it's not awkward silence but it's silence. The trail finally ends and we walk to the right. There are huge plants and long grass and dirt covering the ground. It's a good thing I wore shoes because it's just dirt and grass we're walking on. I try my best to avoid the tripping on the tree roots and the long grass. I watch as his boots dodge everything, they step over the tree roots without even looking at them and they don't sink one bit in the soft dirt like mine.

I wonder what he has to show me? what is it, that it'll surprise me? He has to move a gigantic leaf out of the way for him to pass, the leaf is the height of me and to my surprise, he moves the leaf out of the way and waits for me to pass. I smile at him to thank him but he doesn't say anything he keeps on walking. I wonder how much further, I'm getting tired but I decide not to ask. We walk for about 2 more minutes before another gigantic leaf comes our way, the plants here are huge. He does the same and moves the leaf out of the way for me to pass. My mouth falls open at the view before me.

''Welcome to my escape'' he says.

The place is amazing. It's a stream with a gorgeous waterfall to the end. The water is crystal clear, it's beautiful. I watch as the waterfall retreats fall from the overhang to the other until it reaches the stream. There are small stones, they are pebbles with shiny and smooth surfaces around the stream and large rocks to the sides of the stream. The trees are tall but they don't block the incoming sunlight on the stream. This place is quiet and peaceful, it's the most relaxing place ever. I could just stay here all day and watch the continuous cycle of the waterfall as it falls into the stream, this place is amazing who would've thought that a creepy forest like this would have such an amazing place, I didn't.

''Ready for your surprise?'' he asks looking at me. Surprise? I thought the stream was the surprise? Well apparently he has another surprise in store for me, but it can't be as amazing as this waterfall.

He moves a few feet in front of me and takes his boots off. Is the surprise in his boots? He now grips the hem of his sweater and pulls it over his head not letting the mask come off. No, no he is not doing this, he is not revealing himself to me. He won't do that, I must be imagining this, this can't be real.

I rub my eyes to wake myself up from this dream but I just look at the shirtless man in front of me. His back is to me, it's flawless, perfectly white without a speck. I can't believe he's doing this. His feet and upper body are both bare and he's only wearing his pants and the sheep mask. I just wanna walk up to him and take that mask off and see what lies underneath it but instead I stay in my place. He slowly turns around and his abs and muscles are now in full sight but I also notice something else, a scar, there's are a scar on the side of his lower stomach on the left and it looks like it needed stitches and was badly wounded. I can't help wonder about how he got that? It's the only scar and mark except for his tattoos on his body, other than that his body is flawless.

His thick body is covered in tattoos. His arms are covered with them and he has two on his chest and one on his stomach and of course the first one I saw, the snake tattoo on his neck.

I have never liked tattoos or body piercings before but on him it looks really sexy. I can't believe I said that word again.

I never thought I would even be around someone with tattoos and piercings.

I can't help but stare at the thing I first saw on him, the thing that actually proved that he's human, it's the snake tattoo across his neck. It's the first thing I've seen on him other than his disguise. He just stares at me as I glance down his body. He walks up to me and I'm now inches away from his bare chest making my breathing become heavy as he stands so close to me.

''Take the mask off'' I whisper. I wish my voice was more demanding like his is but it's nowhere close.

He puts his hands in mine and leads them to his mask.

''You take it off'' he says. I gulp and do as I'm told.

My hands grip the hem of the mask and I slowly pull it over his head revealing the most handsome thing I've ever seen. His face is flawless just like the rest of his body. His hair is brown, a much lighter brown than mine and a bit curly and his eyes, I can stare into them all day. They're a bright blue that lights up the entire world, my world.

I stare directly into his eyes and he does the same with me. His lips are pink and perfect and they are parted a bit as he looks at me. Both of us are silent for a couple of minutes before he walks away in the direction of the stream. The mask is still in my hand as he walks away and for some reason I can't seem to put it down, although it has and still does scare the hell out of me I can't seem to put it down so I just hold it in my hand and stand there as he walks near the stream.

*Author's note: Hey guys, how's the book so far? Could you guys believe he actually revealed himself to her, it's crazy. I'm so excited for the next chapter. New chapter coming tonight so stay tuned. Don't forget to keep reading, comment, vote and follow me. I love you guys bye, see you in the next chapter.*