“You’re so fussy,” he says before grabbing me in a choke hold and then force-feeding it to me, as though this is how you interact with others. Then again, he likely never learned how to interact with others since he was off brawling bears at twelve years old.
The flavors burst in my mouth as I realize that I’ve been missing out for the last thirty-seven years of my life.
“Eh? Eh? What do you think?” Asmodeus’s grin fills up his face and I force myself to look away from it.
“It’s edible.”
Asmodeus laughs. “You love it, and you know it. I’ll make you another.”
“Make me one!” Landon whines.
“I’ll make you one, hon,” August says as he finds a stick to do so.
CHAPTER THREE
ELLISON
Sleeping on the ground is not my favorite. Asmodeus was the only one out like a light while the rest of us rolled around and tried to find positions without rocks digging into our kidneys.
But just when I’m finally reaching sleep from pure exhaustion, I feel someone grab me. The hold is so tight that I jerk awake.
“E-Ellison, I think I hear a bear,” Lex whispers.
“As I’ve explained many times, there arenobears in these woods—” The rustle of the brush makes me freeze. It must be a deer, right? It sounds rather large. But aren’t deer mostly out at dawn and dusk? Maybe they’re out at night too.
“Holy mother of all that’s holy,” Landon gasps. “August, there’s a bear.”
I can’t see anything in the dark, and when I flick my phone’s flashlight on, it does very little to light up the area. I didn’t bother bringing a flashlight with me when I was told they would already be at the campsite we’re supposed to be at.
“Where is Deus? It got Deus,” Landon cries. Asmodeuswaslying horizontally along our heads because Landon declared that our heads should be protected by Asmodeus’s body, seeing as he knows how to brawl a bear, but if the bear already got him?—
What the hell am I talking about? There are no bears in this park!
“There are no?—”
I hear more noise that quickly silences my declaration.
“When it comes within sight of us, I’ll freeze time,” August assures us.
“It’s okay! I’ll just like… pummel it to the ground!” Landon shouts as he tears a dead tree out of the ground and tries to whack the creature he can’t even see. The dead tree catches on another and then shit is falling every which way.
A startled owl—who’d probably been using the tree to chill in and search for mice—leaps from it, flying right at Landon who cries out and throws himself in front of August, like he’s going to save him from the ravenous owl who is simply confused why its perch went flying.
“I’m too pretty to be mauled by a bear!” Lex declares, like his looks will safeguard him from the bear.
“There are no bears?—”
A crash stills me. It’s definitely louder than a raccoon or a rabbit. My eyes are straining, but I can’t see shit as the creature rampages toward us.
“What are you guys doing up?” Asmodeus says from right behind me. Lex screams, and Landon whirls and tries punching him, but his hit is stopped by Asmodeus’s hand. Zacia just chills in Landon’s other arm, along for the ride.
“Where the hell were you?” I ask, not wanting to admit that I was a little anxious when he was justgone.
“Me? Oh, I went out to search for the camp so we’d know where to go in the morning. I knew that with the direction thatAugust was going, it had to be within two miles of here, and that the river was half a mile from the camp. I figured out the river is one point seven miles from our current location, which I deduced by running there and back and calculating the time it took me to run. With that knowledge, I scanned along the perimeter and finally found it.”
“There’s a bear! That’s far more concerning!” Landon says.
“Bear? The only thing out here is Wyatt. When Valerie didn’t hear from us, she got concerned, so she and Wyatt were waiting at the camp when I arrived. I told her for the low, low price of two hundred and sixty-nine, sixty-nine, I’d tell her where the rest of you were. She claimed I must have killed you and was preparing to wear your skin. She’s so hilarious. I then charged her two hundred and ninety-nine, sixty-nine and she finally paid up. Then Wyatt came to help move things and… did you kill him? Is that what you did, Landon?”
