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The lizard stopped next to a small pile of rocks and hopped up and down, its forked tongue flickering in and out. It stopped and pointed a clawed paw to the top of the rocks.
Jelena tilted her head. What did this crazy lizard want her to do? “You want me to dig there?”
The lizard hopped with his tongue flickering.
She swore the animal smiled at her. She shrugged. “Okay. If that’s what you want.”
Several dusty moments later, Jelena uncovered something she’d never seen before, a long stick with two bow-like protrusions and a glowing teal tip. The minute she touched it, a blinding light flashed. She passed out.
A hazy fog weighed her down. In the muggy distance, a strange creature was outlined. Like an ancient centaur from the stories MoMo read to her at night.
He had four arms and a vertical torso with four legs and a bare, long tail that ended with a tuft of fur. Three eyes, two positioned like hers, while one sat in the middle of his forehead. With a tapered nose, his wide nostrils rested in the middle of the face. His lipless mouth was round with sharp teeth. Small, stubby round ears sat atop his head, nestled between two-inch horns. The skin was silver with the tips of four-fingered hands ending in black claws, as well as human-looking feet. The creature’s one-piece suit ended at the elbows and knobby knees.
“What are you?” She gasped and sat up in the murky fog.
The creature put a clawed hand over its chest. In the past, I had always been a bringer of death. But now, I vow to protect you and am at your disposal for releasing me from my rocky prison.
Its voice in her head was a deep baritone. Huh, it was a male. “Hey, you talked without your mouth! How d’ya do that?” Jelena stood and dusted her pants. No dirt. She glanced around. “Where are we?”
We are at the in-between. He gestured to his form. This is how I used to appear before a wicked witch cursed me into the crossbow prison you uncovered.
Jelena snorted. This guy must think she was a child. “There’s no such thing as witches, ya know.” She moved from foot to foot and gave him a reassuring wave. “Not that I mind if you think so.” She glanced away. “Are you the person my MoMo said would help me?”
Child, I do not know who MoMo is, but it would honor me to be your companion for the rest of your life. Let us return, and I shall help you look for this person.
Jelena woke up to the rhox sitting on her chest, and his four pink eyes rotated and stared at her. “I’m going to call you Shther.” She gently grasped the lizard and sat up, then placed him on her shoulder.
On her lap was the crossbow; the teal light at its tip blinking.
“And I’m going to call you Breath of Death, or BoD for short.” She patted the crossbow. In her mind, her new companion huffed, but didn’t argue with her. She stood and brushed the dirt off her pants, BoD clutched in one hand while Shther settled on her left shoulder. “Let’s go find the person MoMo talked about.”
At BoD’s direction, she ended up in an empty labyrinth filled with unused homes.
All were dark except for one.
Gut tight, she walked up to the front door.
It dissolved open when she got near.
With light steps, she entered what had to be a well lived-in home.
Although the place looked tidy, used utensils were scattered on tabletops and the floor.
The smells of a lingering meal made her stomach rumble. But it was the steady heartbeats she heard in another room that drew her. Once she was at the doorway, she peeked around the corner. Her eyes widened. There, in a massive bed, slept three of the strangest people she’d ever seen.
On the far right was an Akurn male sleeping on his side with his massive porcelain-white arm around a bright-yellow female with her back snuggled into his chest.
Facing her on the other side was a dark-purple male who had huge horns atop his head.
It was the mesmerizing sight of the purple man’s throbbing vein in his neck that had her creeping close. Her fangs lengthened as her mouth watered. If she could catch him as he just woke up, she could enthrall him and take a quick bite.
He moaned and rolled over to face her.
She stopped and held her breath.
He snorted, but his eyes remained closed as his breathing deepened.
Sweat beaded her temple. Darn it, that was close. Just a little bit, and she’d catch him before he woke up. She reached out to touch a forefinger to his temple to start her enthrallment when a large palm gripped her neck.
