AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Dewey!” she called again, her voice laced with panic.
She ran down the path of the darkened forest in search of her small friend but didn’t find any sign of him.
She approached a clearing. A stone pillar stood in the middle, drenched in moonlight.
Paige slowed, her brow furrowing.
She glanced up at the sky, finding a full moon above her. “Where did that come from?”
A cold sweat formed at the small of her back as she swallowed hard and inched toward the square structure. She ran her hand over the top, her fingers detecting etched letters. She blew the dust off the pillar and adjusted her glasses to read the words.
“To summon the forest’s keeper and pass the test, call his name three times under the full moon.”
Her forehead pinched, and she shook her head. “What?”
She glanced around the clearing in search of more information.
“Hello?” she called with a raised voice. “Mr. Keeper, sir? Hello?”
She returned her gaze to the instructions.
“Call his name three times,” she repeated. “But what is his name?”
She tapped her fingers against her forehead. “Think, Paige, think. This is a book of messed-up fairy tales.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, right! Rumpelstiltskin! Rumpelstiltskin! Rumpelstiltskin!”
She spun in a circle, searching for someone to appear.
No one showed up.
She blew out a frustrated breath and puckered her lips as she tried to come up with another name.
“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.”
Her muscles stiffened as she let her head fall between her shoulder blades and groaned. “Come on! What is your stupid name?”
“Pssst,” a voice said.
Paige glanced around in search of the whisper. “Huh? Is someone there?”
“Over here,” the voice said. “Up here. In the tree.”
Paige twisted and scanned the licorice tree. A crow stepped onto a moonlit branch. Paige pressed her lips together and raised her sword at it.
“I could have pecked you to death without alerting you to my presence, stupid girl.”
Paige lowered her sword. “What do you want?”
“Seems like you need a bit of help.”
“What I need is to find my friend. Have you seen him? Tiny dragon, teal, snarky, about this big.” She brought her hands together to showcase the size of a small dog.
“He’s not here.”
“What? Well, where is he?”
“In his own forest.”
