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With a sigh, I dig around in my tent until I find my larger flashlight. Then I flick it on, turn around, and start moving toward the sound of the voices. I’m doing my best not to be too loud, lest they think I’m an animal, but I don’t think I’m doing a very good job.
I’m an English teacher: not a professional silent forest walker.
As I near the other campers, I can see the light from their fire, and I can make out two people in the dim lighting. They’re both female, and they’re still giggling and laughing. Are they out here drinking? Doing drugs? Just having fun?
I pause for a minute, trying to hear what they’re saying, but their voices are too low.
Well, this is it, then. Now or never.
“Hello?” I call out. “Hey, hello!” I shout as I approach the campers, and they instantly go silent.
“Who’s out there?” One says.
“I...uh...my name is Julie?” I don’t know why I’m saying it like it’s a question. That’s definitely my name. “I’m camping nearby,” I say, stepping into the clearing and out of the shadows. Now I can clearly see the women here. Yes, there are definitely two of them. They’re tall and fit. They both look like they work out regularly, and instantly, I know they could take me in a fight. Not that this will come to that. They don’t own the forest. It’s not like they can tell me to leave.
“What are you doing here?” One of the women asks. She’s got long dark hair that’s pulled back in a tight ponytail. The other woman is slightly smaller than this one. She has blonde hair.
“I’m just camping,” I hold my hands up in a silent plea of innocence. “I heard you guys and just wanted to let you know that, well, that I’m here. Wasn’t sure if you were hunting or something, so thought it would be best to let you know I’m close by.”
The girls look me up and down for a minute, then exchange glances with one another. They seem to be sizing me up, and each other, as well. Finally, the blonde girl speaks.
“Want a drink?” She asks. “We’ve got vodka.”
Drinking in the woods with other adult women? Who have jobs? Who aren’t obsessed with boyfriends?
Sign me up.
“Yeah,” I tell her with a smile. “Yeah, I definitely want a drink.”
Chapter Two
Lawrence
SHE SHOULDN’T BE TAKING that drink.
Not that I’m one to talk about making good, appropriate choices, but taking an alcoholic beverage from strangers in the woods? That’s just plain stupid. It’s strange because there doesn’t seem to be anything stupid about this woman at all. She’s human, which is obvious. Her scent is sweet and unique: entirely hers. I caught wind of her while I was waiting to see if anyone showed up at the stone tower.
When she appeared, I thought she might be in trouble. Cameron met Peggy there, after all. That girl was on the run from Lucky: an evil organization hell-bent on the destruction of dragon shifters. This woman isn’t on the run, though. If anything, she seems to be on a journey.
&n
bsp; I don’t know much about humans, but I do know that sometimes, they get these ideas in their heads about finding themselves. Like sometimes they want to just “rediscover” who they are or something like that. Is that what she’s doing?
She stayed by the tower for a long time. I thought she was going to just go to sleep. I don’t mind guarding her in the darkness. She doesn’t need to know I’m here. She didn’t notice me from my perch high in the trees, but that’s just as well. This way, I can watch over her now that she’s around other humans.
These ones don’t smell as sweet.
These ones seem like they’re up to no good.
Carefully shrouded in the shadows, I move closer to the clearing where the women are talking.
“What’s your name?” The woman with dark hair says. “I’m Nicole and this is Bernie,” she motions toward the woman with blonde hair.
“Bernie?” The human girl asks. “That’s a cute name.”
“It’s short for Bernadette,” the blonde tells her.
“I’m Julie.”
