“You are a pain on my shoulder. Come here,” the grumpy mountain says and turns to grab me by the waist for the umteenth time, squishing me to death.
“Argh!” A scream calls through the mist from the direction squirrely hell spawn just went. The Giant freezes, and I manage to glance down from where he has me in his grasp.That can’t be good.The once gray tendrils that camouflaged the forest floor have turned black as night and I hear a clicking noise.
“Murtagh!?”
“Aww. He’s dead,” I helpfully point out.
“Shut up,” he hisses. “Murtagh, stop playing around.”
“What?” I say innocently. “I’m just pointing out the truth. Creepy bad guy goes down leaving second creepy bad guy holding the damsel in distress. It’s a classic move. Have you ever watched TV?”
Even though I’m playing it cool on the outside, my heart is racing. I’m sure the Giant can feel it against his arm since he’s holding me like a damn toddler would a fucking teddy bear, leaving my feet dangling down by his junk.Not a smart move dude.
I’m about to kick him in the balls when a scream rings out below us and I search the ground again. Red eyes peer up at us and the Giant lets out his own shrill scream as he tries to move back, but he jerks to a stop. He twists his body enough that I get a glimpse behind us and I see more black clicking tendrils coming at us.
“What?” I yell at the only guy that’s keeping me alive at the moment.
“I’m stuck. I can’t move,” he bellows and the black smoke starts rising, swirling faster as the tendrils reach out for us.
“Fuck!” I scream as I’m tossed in the air. Why I thought the big oaf would have a hidden hero complex is beyond me. Instead, he yeets me into the air and reaches down to try and pull his leg out of the smoke as I plummet to my death.
Black tendrils reach up, embrace me like a lover, and carefully bring me safely to the ground. Whereas screams ring out and the black tendrils viciously rip apart the Giant in front of me. Pieces of skin and chunks of meat go flying in different directions.I could have sworn he was made of rock. I know that’s morbid but that’s how he felt.Within the screams, I hear multiple clicking noises until sharp teeth appear out of the black smoke and snap his head right off, leaving blood spraying everywhere like a scene from a bad horror movie.
My senses finally come back to me, and I realize I’m in the Ever Woods alone with something that just killed a fucking Giant and the Devil’s pet squirrel. The clicking gets louder and it sounds like it’s surrounding me as I stand motionless. This reminds me a lot like that first time I was alone in the halls and I ran into Zeke’s pet. Granted, I’m outside, but it’s still creepy as fuck. I take a chance, knowing I’m probably wrong.
“Lisa?” My voice comes out shaky.
A long forked tongue darts out of the smoke and licks along the side of my cheek.
Gross!
A raspy sound rattles as reptilian eyes peer out of the blackness. “Lisa!” I yell, throwing myself around her boney neck. I’ve never felt so relieved to see the Shadow Horse in my life. I don’t care that I’m hugging bones, at least I’m not being chewed on like one.
“Thank God it’s you. Can you get me out of here?” I pull away and look up into her red eyes and notice she’s not looking at me but over my shoulder.
Slowly turning around, my body tenses as I see a group of Shadow Horses facing us. All of them look the same when it comes to the shadows clinging to them, but their eyes and sizes differ. If I wasn’t mistaken, there are even a few smaller ones that might be babies? One of them approaches me stiffly as their joints crack and pop, sniffing the hand I hesitantly stretch out.
Please don’t bite me.
It’s boney snout rubs against my hand before she runs off back to her momma, I presume. Lisa snorts and stomps her hooves a couple of times behind me, and the herd scatters after they all bow low, leaving me shocked. I turn around and glance at her in amazement.
“Who are you and does Zeke know?” I squint, giving her a suspicious look before it hits me. She might know where Zeke is. “Lisa!” I yell, grabbing her snout and pulling her closer to me. “Do you know where Zeke is?” Excitement bubbles out of me at the prospect of us finding him.
In a blink of an eye, black smoke surrounds me and I feel my feet leave the ground as something slides between my thighs. The smoke clears enough that my hair whips about my head as we fly through the foliage, me on Lisa’s back. I wouldn't even know we’re moving if not for the wind and seeing it with my own eyes. I don’t know how she’s doing it, but she’s moving us without even making a noise, which I never would have thought was possible with how much she popped and cracked before.
A screeching caw rings out, and I glance up only to see Knox’s gryphon, Baron, and JP diving down through the trees. They look like avenging angels descending from the heavens to save me. Too bad, a woman already beat them to the job. Nevertheless, I can’t stop the wide smile on my face seeing the relief on JP’s face. Even Baron looks relieved for such a moody gryphon.
“Ma chérie, are you okay?” JP asks as Baron keeps pace with us.
“Yes, I’ll explain later. We’re going to Zeke,” I manage to get out before Lisa banks left around a huge boulder and sends us spiraling into a portal I don’t see until we’re a moment from entering it.
My ears pop as we come back through the other side. I’m completely lost now as to where we’re at, but I can only assume we are back on campus. The sun is slowly filtering through the pink and lavender treetops, there’s no smoke clinging to the ground, and the atmosphere doesn’t scream Sleepy Hollow. Baron cries out, letting us know he’s made it through, and I turn to look at him as Lisa suddenly turns, making me lose my balance. Tumbling off of her, I roll into the dewy grass and slam into a hollow tree trunk.
“Fuck,” I groan, rubbing my head.
“Rez!” JP yells, jumping off of Baron and rushing over. “Are you okay?”
Baron shrinks down and his feathers and fur retracts leaving him wearing black jeans and a blue tank top. As he stands to his full height, his tail, talon, and beak disappears, leaving a very concerned-looking Knox in Baron’s wake.
