The lion’s head whipped around in a strangely human fashion, and it wasn’t until that moment that she realized she’d made a request of a fabled beast like it could understand her.
But ithadunderstood her. She was certain of it.
Tilting its head, it stared at her with open curiosity, and she stared back. Even putting the rather obvious wings aside, it was an oddly striking creature, with bright blue eyes and fur that was more red than brown. Poppy caught a glimpse of movement as its tail swung about, and – was that a scorpion’s tail?! She was definitely starting to hallucinate.
Okay, between the avalanche and getting my skull vacuumed clean, today has absolutely been a net loss for my brain cells. RIP, guys.
The lion turned its attention back to the semi-conscious man pinned to the floor beneath it, and Poppy took a moment to just try and get her thoughts together.
Watching the hypnotic swaying of the segmented tail –yep, that definitely came from a scorpion– her gaze was pulled across the room to where Max was.
Or wasn’t.
Her mouth dropped open in horror as she realized that Max’s chains were now empty, and Max was nowhere to be seen.
Which should have been a good thing! Except that she knew she definitely would’ve noticed if he’d made his escape, and also there was no way hecouldhave made his escape. His wrists had been rubbed raw – he’d obviously already made several attempts to get free.
But that means…
The only other option was that the winged lion had killed him. And then eaten him, given she didn’t see his body anywhere around here. But even as panic stirred in the pit of her stomach, she knew it couldn’t be true. She wouldnothave missed Max getting murdered by a giant lion, no matter how much that otherguy had been messing with her head. And she knew that the lion wouldn’t do that.
Still… where the hell was he?!
She looked around the room, such as it was, but there was no sign of him. No major bloodstains or body parts, at least, which was a relief, but she was still confused as hell. How had he managed to get free and get out without her noticing? And why would he have left her alone with a madman? She knew that he’d left her at the clinic, but this was different. He’d already saved her life once today – surely he wouldn’t just leave her to die here.
“Max?” she called out uncertainly. “Max! Are you here?”
She didn’t think it would have much effect, but it was at least worth a try. Maybe he was tucked away in a shadowy corner where she couldn’t see him.
It did have an effect, though – but not the one she’d been hoping for. Instead, the lion turned its enormous head again, the look in its blue eyes positively stunned.
“Don’t look at me!” she said, holding up her hands and waving them toward the man writhing on the ground beneath the lion’s paw. “Keep your eyes on the guy! I’m just looking for my ma— for my friend.”
The wordmatehad been on the tip of her tongue – why, she didn’t know. She didn’t believe in any of that.
… Although, she had to admit, shewasstarting to believe in giant winged lions with scorpion tails. If they existed, then why not anything else that Margot and Levi had been talking about?
Just concentrate on the current situation,she told herself sternly.There’ll be time for all the rest of that later.
The lion was still staring at her, its brow twitching, like it was struggling to comprehend her words.
Poppy was no winged lion whisperer. She was definitely in way over her head – she needed an expert in magical beasts, andshe wasn’t too proud to go fetch a couple of them, even if she’d ditched them earlier.
How she was going to find Levi and Margot, though, she wasn’t sure. Maybe they would still be lurking around the medical clinic in case she came back, or staking out the B&B. If all else failed, they were pretty memorable – she was sure someone in town would know them.
I really need to start asking people for their phone numbers,she thought in frustration.
“You just stay there and keep an eye on him,” she said to the lion in a soothing tone, trying to project an aura of calm. “I’m, uh, just going to go and get help. But I’ll be back, I promise.”
And I’ll try to see if I can find Max,she added silently. Maybe hehadmanaged to escape somehow, and was now limping around in the snow. She had to at least check outside for him.
The lion continued to fix her with its stare, and Poppy forced herself to smile, trying not to let her nerves show as she started to edge along the wall. It kept tracking her as she moved, giving her its full attention, and she started to wonder just where, exactly, she had gotten the notion that it definitely wouldn’t attack her.
Making it to the door, she opened it up slowly and got ready to back out of the cabin. A quick glance outside confirmed the worst: it was almost dark now, the last of the sun just disappearing over the mountains. Getting lost or freezing to death were both real possibilities.
Still, she had to try. She couldn’t just sit in here with these two all night and hope for the best – and shereallyhad to find Max.
She took another slow, careful step.
