AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her blue eyes rounded, and she pointed at me. “Help—”
I leaped forward and wrapped my hand around her mouth, pulling her back against me as the music continued in the distance. “Listen,” I hissed. “I’m not here to hurt you or your family. I need help. A hellhound got me,” I said, pointing toward my bloody wrist. “Can you lead me to your mother?”
She didn’t budge.
“If I let go of your mouth, will you scream?”
She shook her head.
Letting go, I waited until she scurried away from me to stand up. She wore a long dress made of rags in different colors. Her gaze was quizzical and skeptical at the same time. “What’s your name?” she asked in a soft voice.
“Kellan. Where are your parents—”
She crossed her arms. “How old are you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. As if my age made a difference about anything. I was a strange man in her village, and she wanted to know my age.
I chuckled humorlessly under my breath. “I don’t think you want to know that anyway. You probably wouldn’t believe me. Where are your parents, little girl?”
“I’m six,” she said. “I can do a cartwheel. Want to see?”
“No—”
She performed her cartwheel with a proud look on her face. For the briefest of seconds, I felt a pinch in my chest, bringing back memories that I wanted to forget.
“Where are your parents?” I asked again, making her hear me this time.
She folded her arms again. “Over there in our house.”
“Which house?”
“The one that is ours,” she said with a smartass grin.
“Are you going to show me the way? Why don’t you bring your father to me? I’m bleeding.”
She pursed her lips in defiance.
Sighing heavily, I pushed passed her and into the village. The poverty of the place was written in the poorly made cabins, the lack of shoes on the children playing, and the fire pits with small animals roasting for lunch.
I walked the opposite way of the growing fire and music, toward a bundle of cabins to the far side.
The little girl caught up with me a few seconds later. “My parents’ cabin is back that way.”
I ignored her.
I didn’t care who helped me, but I needed someone to wrap this pronto. The closest cabin’s door was open, so I stopped in the doorjamb and knocked on the door.
A woman scurried into the room wearing a dress styled from the 1800s, her red hair piled on top of her head, and a scar running through her left eye. “Can I help you?”
The little girl beside me pointed toward my hand. “I found him in the woods. He said a hellhound got after him. I don’t believe it. He looks funny. Look at his hair and clothes.”
I narrowed my gaze at her until she hurried out of the room.
The woman wiped her hands on a towel hanging over the pocket of her apron. “I’m not sure I do either. I haven’t seen a hellhound around here in ages.”
“Well,” I said, raising my hand to show her. “I guess they’re closer than you think.”
She sighed. “Sit down. I’ll wrap you up, so you can be on your way.”
What a warm welcome.
