The Spider Catcher (Redemption by A.L. Tyler Book 1) by A.L. Tyler Page A

can be mature about this.”
    With a sneer she couldn’t suppress, Ember turned and left. She didn’t bother to get a coat; she slammed the door behind her as she stomped from the house and into the wild. It was cold outside, but the heat running in her veins was still too much.
    She didn’t go home for lunch that day, and had no intention of going back for dinner. She got lost twice, but eventually found a high point that allowed her to spot the dock that hung off of Main; with her bearings back, she made her way through the thicket, intending to go to The Garden. She didn’t have her wallet, but Zinny would know she had money.
    Apparently, everyone knew she had money.
    Huffing as the cold air raked her lungs, Ember rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. She had to be the only girl in history to be raised by paid strangers who hadn’t figured out that she was rich.
    “Hey, little girl. Want some candy?”
    Ember’s heart leapt in shock as she spun around. Isaac was twenty feet behind her and off to the left; he rolled up the magazine he had been reading, and awkwardly rose from the log he had been sitting on. His eyes remained on the needle-strewn ground as he took short, deliberate steps toward her, smiling nervously.
    “Isaac.” Ember said as he stopped in front of her. His magazine, an old copy of American Mechanic , was torn and nearly wrinkled and weathered to death, and the sleeves of his brown sweater weren’t in a much better state. Ember frowned as her eyes moved from Isaac’s uncombed hair to his watery eyes, and finally to his pale and dirty feet. His toes stuck out like bleached white bones from the cuffs of his ripped jeans.
    He wasn’t wearing any shoes.
    “Are you okay?” She asked, her eyes snapping back to his face. “Isaac, what hap—“
    “You shouldn’t be out here.” He mumbled, taking a step back as she moved toward him. He waggled his ratty magazine at her. “You’re supposed to be back at the house. You were out late with Acton. He told me. He tells me everything, tells me—tells me…”
    Isaac froze, as if he had heard something in the forest. As Ember stared at him, she saw his face relax, and then his shoulders; it was like watching and ice cream coat melt.
    “Isaac!” She lurched forward to catch him as he started to faint, but just before he lost his balance, his leg shot out as if it had a mind of its own. Isaac recovered, and straightened up to face her in one of the most unnatural gestures she had ever seen.
    Ember kept her hands on his shoulders, gripping the wide weave on his sweater. “Are you okay?”
    Isaac nodded, his eyes staring directly into hers, until he laughed and shook her off.
    “I apologize, Em,” he said, tucking the magazine into his back pocket. “I come out here sometimes to be alone with my thoughts. Just me, the island, and a little inspiration.”
    “And you don’t wear shoes?” Ember raised her eyebrows. “I mean, Jesus, it’s like fifty degrees out here.”
    “Jesus, yeah.” Isaac said with another nervous smile. “And I have low blood pressure—it gets me sometimes when I stand up too quick, as you saw, and the cold doesn’t help.”
    “The cold does that?”
    “It does.” He said, putting an arm around her shoulders as they started walking again. “You’re going to lose yourself at the Garden tonight?”
    “Lose myself?” Ember laughed. “Fancy talk for a car guy.”
    “Ember, Ember, Ember, Ember…” He shook his head. “Do you see any cars around here? I like taking things apart, and seeing how they work. The mechanisms beneath the surface are amazing, and biologic mechanisms are the most interesting.”
    Ember smiled and nodded. “So you like to sit in nature, and contemplate what makes the universe tick.”
    “Or something like that.” Isaac smiled back.
    “How very poetic of you.”
    “You read poetry?” Isaac asked.
    “Only what they assign in school.” Ember confessed. “I think it’s kind of boring. I