Page 4

"Strange." I mumbled.

Maybe someone had enchanted it for Frankenfest. This was Screaming Woods, after all. Last night someone had animated an entire pumpkin patch to perform synchronized dancing. A little magical snow hardly ranked on the weirdness scale anymore. I took another step, then paused. The birds had gone quiet. Not completely. Just... in this little stretch of forest. The silence lasted only a heartbeat. Then, somewhere deeper among the trees, a chickadee chirped.

Another answered. The woods seemed to breathe again. I smiled at myself. Definitely too much Halloween.

Movement caught my eye and distracted me, "Oh."

A squirrel perched on a low branch, chattering furiously in my direction.

"I know," I said solemnly. "The acorn economy has been rough this year."

The squirrel continued scolding me.

"I completely agree."

It flicked its tail.

"I'll let the mayor know."

I chuckled and continued down the path. The farther I walked, the quieter it became. Mrs. Wilton's cottage sat another ten minutes up the trail. No hurry. It was one of the things I loved most about living here. The sense of timelessness.

A little black beetle lying on its back in the middle of the path, caught my attention, six tiny legs waving frantically at the sky. I crouched immediately. "Oh, sweetheart."

Poor thing. It was trying so hard. "I've got you."

Balancing my basket on my knee, I carefully slid one finger beneath its tiny shell and gently rolled it onto its feet. "There."

The beetle paused for a heartbeat as if gathering its bearings before happily toddling off into the grass. I smiled after it.

"There you go, Mr. Beetle."

A deep male voice growled somewhere directly behind me. "Oh, for hellfire's sake, woman."

Every muscle in my body locked. "What?"

My pulse hammered against my throat, though something about that low, rough voice made the fright feel strangely bearable.

The forest fell silent. I slowly turned in a circle. Nobody. Just trees. Birds. A very judgmental squirrel. I frowned. "Hello?"

Nothing. Had I imagined⁠—

The voice sighed. Not just a sigh. The kind of long-suffering sigh that suggested whoever owned it had completely given up on life sometime around the Middle Ages.

"Must you rescue everything?"

I gasped. I spun again. Nothing. No one. No footprints. No hikers. No dragons. No invisible pranksters that I could see. "Where are you?"

"Close enough."

"...That isn't an answer."

"I wasn't attempting to answer."

I blinked. Whoever he was... he sounded spectacularly grumpy. "I can't see you."

"I noticed."

"Is this some kind of Halloween prank?" I turned in a full circle, honestly I was a bit discomforted, after what Mags had said and the snow…