“Mmmhmm, tell me anything.” Halo gave me a playful smile before she turned to start back walking on the dirt path that was leading into the forest.
We were a few feet from the entrance of the forest when I heard a weird hissing sound.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Halo as I stopped in my tracks.
“No,” Halo replied while looking back at me, confused. “What was it?
“I don—” My words cut short when a human-sized, green lizard jumped from a tree, blocking our pathway.
“You can’t be serious,” Halo muttered.
“What the hell is that?”
“A Chameleon shifter, and wherever there is one, there are more to follow. Y’all might as well show yourselves,” Halo said, her tone a mixture of annoyance and worry.
At her words, the Chameleon shifters began revealing themselves all over the trees. There weren’t as many as I expected. About ten of them. I knew without a doubt Kenzo could easily take all of them on. The way he tore those Snake shifters apart, these Chameleon shifters would’ve been a walk in the park for him. However, Kenzo wasn’t here, and I was still trying to figure out how to mindspeak on a consistent basis.
“What are we going to do?” I mean, I probably could take on one or two of them since they weren’t that big. They were more length than weight. Halo had her pup, though, and she wouldn’t be able to do much with her in her arms.
“What the hell is going on? I can’t call for Creeland,” Halo said with frustration laced in her voice as she looked around at all the trees with the chameleon shifters in them.
“Sssurrender now and no one will be hurt,” a hissing voice called out as a Snake shifter slithered next to the first Chameleon shifter that blocked our path.
I knew this wasn’t the right time, but if these Snake shifters weren’t evil and always trying to kill me, I would have said they had to be the most beautiful shifters I’d ever seen. Their vibrant colors and intricate patterns on their scaly skin were breathtaking. Also, I had never seen an ugly Snake shifter. Their faces were like models’ with sharp cheekbones that humans paid millions to emulate. Why creatures so beautiful wanted to be so vile was a mystery.
“Fuck you,” Halo spat as her free hand began glowing white.
“Ssseemsss you need sssome motivation. Take her,” the Snake shifter commanded with an arm pointed in our direction.
In the blink of an eye, the chameleon on the ground’s tongue shot out of its mouth, wrapping around A’Miracle’s tiny arm, and Halo let out a scream of terror.
“Let my pup gooo!” Halo screamed with rage flowing through her voice.
“We’ll take her or you can give us her.” The Snake shifter nodded his head at me.
“You’ll do neither,” Halo demanded as she tried to unwrap the tongue from her pup's arm as her pup began crying as she woke up from her sleep.
“I’ll go!” I said with my hands thrown up. Seeing A’Miracle in distress was more than I could handle. There was an attachment that I felt to A’Miracle. I couldn’t explain it, but the need to protect her was more important than my own safety.
“No!”Halo yelled at me. As she yelled, a black bolt shot through the air, slicing the chameleon’s tongue off. Green ooze shot everywhere, and Halo quickly turned to shield A’Miracle from getting it on her.
I looked up at a shapely woman as she effortlessly floated down from the sky. Her back was to us. She wore a leather pleated skirt. Her shirt looked to be a corset, and she wore platform boots with a heel far too high to be able to walk in the forest.
“Didn’t I tell you fuckers to wait until my grandpup wasn’t around?” Her voice was shrill and high pitched.
“We don’t anssswer to you. Just ‘cause you are fucking the Tsssar doesssn’t mean we have to lisssten to you,” the Snake shifter angrily yelled at her.
The woman’s hands went to her hips, and her head cocked to the side. “Oh, you don’t?” Sarcasm was heavy in her tone. She let out a chuckle then snapped her fingers. I watched in horror as the Snake shifter's head was sliced from his body. “Now, unless you nasty green fuckers want to join him, I suggest you get the fuck on.”
All the Chameleon shifters scattered like roaches. Turning with a triumphant smile, she looked at Halo and A’Miracle, love in her eyes. “Hi, bookie!” the woman said gleefully like she wasn’t standing inches from a body she’d decapitated.
“Mom!” Halo screeched at the woman she shared a face with. I wasn’t sure if it was because Halo and her mom looked alike, but her mom looked familiar to me.
“Don’t sound like you aren’t happy to see me.” She smiled, ignoring the heated look Halo was giving her.
“What the hell is going on, and why are you here?” Halo demanded.
A’Miracle’s head popped up once she laid eyes on Halo’s mom. Her arms flung out toward her. “Meee-Meee!” A’Miracle happily yelled.
