Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
I took another lungful of it, a jitter running through my body afterward.
“I like it,” I told him quietly, peeking up at the looming branches overhead before he nudged me to the right with his shoulder. I wasn’t sure what to think about the little smile he gave me when he did it. This must have been what every character in every sci-fi movie, discovering a new planet, must have felt like—awe, wariness, and maybe more than a little hope.
We sped up, and I tried my best to listen for voices, but it was almost impossible with the birds in the trees singing the songs of their people as loud as possible. We had just crossed a narrow creek when Matti palmed my shoulder and pointed again.
Straight ahead of us were two furry pups and what might have been a centaur baby… or whatever the goat versions of them were called. The name was escaping me at the moment. But that didn’t matter, because the three small beings were in a half-circle, and towering over them was a creature that looked like… well, like a… swamp thing?
The kids were cowering though, and I didn’t need my friend’s nose to know they were scared.
I met Matti’s eyes, and he frowned just as the green thing growled, “Too far from home, children. Too small to be away from your protectors, eh?” The thing’s lips peeled back into a smile straight out of a dentist’s nightmare, revealing sharp, dark teeth that definitely needed a cleaning. Probably braces.
“You’re… you’re on our land,” the centaur/goat replied in a voice that was just as childish as I’d imagined. It wobbled and went to a whisper, back and forth, high and low, with every word. He wasn’t a baby-baby like my donut, but I didn’t think he was a tween yet either.
“Your land?” the swamp creature answered with a laugh that made me real uncomfortable. I wasn’t scared, but I didn’t want to touch it. I didn’t want to be near it. It was humanoid shaped, easily six feet tall, and even had what I would call hair—hair that was very long, hadn’t seen a brush or shampoo in a few years, resembled seaweed or slimy grass, and was plastered to its cheeks and body. Its textured skin was various shades of green.
Was it wearing a long skirt?
I’d studied mythology over the years, but I couldn’t recall a single green-skinned being off the top of my head.
The smallest of the pups—the white one—lunged at the swamp thing’s reply, baring its teeth, growling, the hair along its spine standing straight up. It was bigger than Duncan, who was still travel-sized, but my god, the puppy didn’t give a crap that it was squaring off with something about a hundred times bigger. The brave little wolf was freaking nuts.
The swamp-looking thing, though, wasn’t impressed from the way it leaned down and snarled right back at it, the sound ferocious.
The mini psycho didn’t give a crap. It lunged again, baring more teeth with every ounce of spirit in its body and more. It was so mad and cute at the same time.
I wanted to give it a hug and congratulate it. It wasn’t easy being brave. Standing up for yourself and others didn’t come naturally to most people, myself included. My neck was still sore because of it too.
“I’m gonna eat you first!” the green creature snarled.
I looked at Matti who raised his eyebrows, and I did the same right back just as the green-colored bully growled so loud I was surprised leaves didn’t fall off the branches they were clinging to. The sheer volume of it made me flinch. Even Matti reached up and covered his sensitive ears with a scowl.
That was settled then.
My best friend pointed at himself, then at me; the question silent but hanging there. But what was Matti going to do? Fight the thing in front of the kids? He might be one of the most easygoing people in the world most of the time, but under that trimmed mustache and those khaki pants, lived a predator. And like most werewolves I’d ever known, there were a handful of things that could make him tap into that other part of his personality that he usually kept stashed away. In that moment though, he was dressed to go boating, not to get into an altercation with a forest monster.
I didn’t like to hurt people, but I didn’t like bullies even more. And nobody messed with children. Over my dead body would that go down.
Only feeling a little resigned, but mostly irritated at this jerk, I held up my finger between us, silently volunteering for the job of intervening to help, earning me a smile of surprise.
Matti was bigger and stronger than me, there was no denying that. I was strong enough to hold a growing puppy in one arm for a decent amount of time, and I could usually carry all my grocery bags from my truck to my trailer without breaking a sweat as long as it wasn’t a long distance, but I was nothing like my werewolf friends. At five foot six, I was slightly taller than average. My strength was normal, I didn’t have sharp teeth, and I kept my fingernails pretty short because I hated when they got so long I accidentally bent one.