AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They reached the bottom of the hill, and a winded Paige bent forward, resting her palms on her thighs. “Did he actually expect us to just jump into the water with him so he could attack us?”
“Apparently. What an idiot,” Dewey said, fluttering down to land on her shoulder and suck in a few deep breaths. “Who would do that? What a terrible monster.”
Paige straightened and continued down the path toward the fork. “He is kind of limited with the merman tail.”
“Yeah. If I was the author of this book, I’d have given him way better powers.”
“I had almost forgotten you’re an aspiring author. How’s Malice in Wonderland coming along?”
Dewey wrinkled his nose and shrugged. “Eh.”
“Writer’s block?”
“I’ve just hit a point where I’m questioning everything I’ve written.”
They reached the fork and continued down the opposite path. “I’m sure every writer is like that.”
“Imposter syndrome strikes again.”
“Imposter syndrome, huh? Well, everyone gets that, writer or not. I have it with this job. I feel like I’m just guessing my way through.”
“You’ll learn,” Dewey assured her as trees closed in around them again. “I mean, look at you now.”
“Yeah, illustrated and fighting imaginary creatures to get bark from a fictional tree that’ll cure my vampire scratch.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous.”
Paige held her hands out in front of her. “It is ridiculous. Look at us. We’re cartoons.”
“Illustrations.”
“Whatever. Either way you slice it–“
A squawking overhead cut off any further conversation.
Paige ducked down, scanning the canopy of trees above them.
Another screech sounded, and the leaves rustled.
“What is that?” Paige asked.
“I don’t want to find out,” Dewey answered, clinging to her.
“We should probably get out of these woods.”
“Agree. Make a run for it.”
Paige nodded and took a step forward when a flutter of activity rained down from the skies above. A murder of crows streamed from the trees, surrounding them.
Paige stopped short, spinning around to stare at the aggressors. “What the hell is this?”
One crow stalked forward, flicking its head to the side to stare at them. “What are you doing in our woods?”
Paige flung her hands out. “Of course you talk. We’re just passing through on our way to the Pool of Yearning, okay?”
“No, it’s not okay. These are our woods.”
Paige heaved a sigh, her head falling back between her shoulder blades. “You’re kidding. Why is no one ever okay with anything in this book? The moral of the story here really should be sharing.”
