“I’ll never know,” he said to her back. “You’re with Asher, remember?”
“Can you believe she wants to be with that monster?” he said to Giselle, and Hailey glanced over her shoulder.
Giselle shook her head. “Nobody wants to be with a monster,” she told him, “especially not a harbinger of death.”
“Aw…but you’re not a harbinger of death… You’re just a big, fat nothing,” he said sweetly, patting her gently on the head. “And someday, somebody just as pathetically ordinary is going to see that.” Fin used his best mother’s voice and squeezed her cheek for good measure.
Giselle shot him a sharp look then her face fell. “Trees,” she said grimly, and the forest jittered to life. “Let’s get out of here before one of those things eats Hailey!”
“I thought you couldn’t sense death coming,” said Hailey, who stood frozen on the path just ahead of them.
“You don’t have to be a banshee to recognize a slobbering tree.” She and Fin raced to her side.
“Well, why did you saymyname? Why shouldn’t we get out of here before one of them eats Fin?”
“Old meat,” she said, grabbing Hailey’s hand and yanking her out of the path of a small and very spry scrub spruce, which karate-somersaulted in front of them.
“Ankle biter!” Hailey called as another sapling appeared on the trail and took a snap at her foot. Giselle kicked it aside just as a low rumble shook the ground, which sent the man-eating trees scurrying away.
Hailey looked to Fin. “T-Rex?” she asked exasperated, and he threw a somber look at Giselle.
“This is not normal,” he said backing away from a menacing snarl that was growing louder, and Giselle bared her teeth.
“Yeti,” she growled, and Hailey grabbed up her Yeti spray, holding it out like a shield as the three pressed themselves together.
“Where’s it coming from?” Hailey asked.
“There’s more than one,” Giselle snarled.
The rumble stopped, and the White Forest fell dead silent.
“This isn’t good,” said Fin with wide eyes. “Giselle, they’ve got us flanked. Wait for them to show themselves. When you see an out, take it. I’ll distract them—you just get her out of here.”
Giselle nodded obediently, yanking all three of them out of the way when a giant cottonwood crashed down.
A blinding whirlwind of snow followed, and a gargantuan white blob thundered forth. Hailey blasted it with Yeti spray.
Unfazed, the Yeti made a swipe at them, and Hailey dove out of the way, still clutching her can of utter uselessness. She glared at the container then threw it at the monster’s face.
That seemed to enrage the beast.
When it lunged at Hailey’s head, Fin pushed her to the ground, taking a slap from the Yeti’s giant paw, which batted him across the trail.
“Get her out of here!” he shouted.
Hailey rolled over in time to see the Yeti grab Fin up with both hands and tear him in half, throwing his torso one way and his legs another.
“No!” she shrieked.
Giselle pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go!” she yelled, throwing Hailey over her shoulders. She took off in a dead sprint.
The trees flew past in a snowy blur as Giselle hurdled over the downed cottonwood and galloped down the trail, holding Hailey tight.
“What about Fin?” Hailey cried as they came out of the White Forest.
Giselle dropped her on the ground and glared.
“What about him?”
