“Phezznibbet Maplebark, we’re Xintixa. We’re not meant to be heroes.” Tilly folded her front paws across her chest, pushed her pointed nose into the air, and twitched her bushy hazelnut tail.
“Doesn’t mean we can’t contribute,” Phezz argued. “I bet I’m braver than anyone amongst the larger races, despite being a quarter their size.”
I pressed one finger to my lips and an ear to the office door. The lackey guide raised an eyebrow. Strained voices drifted from the room beyond.
Heroics always required genius, nerve, and timing.
“But we need the manpower to fight!” argued a female voice.
I stared through the window from my perch on the eucalyptus tree. Tonight was the night. I crept down the trunk and froze as the lights flipped on inside the house. A human wandered into the room, holding a plate of delectable treats before him. Two smaller humans jumped and skipped around him
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“‘Tidings of comfort and joy.’ Such an unhelpful sentiment.”
I scribbled the words across the parchment.
“Greetings aren’t inherently comforting, and joy is rarely found outside of childhood.”
“What morose ponderings, my friend. Especially for this time of year. Please tell me you’re not composing our Christmas cards.”
I glared at Victor and suppressed
My ability to shift from mermaid to human ended at midnight. Unless you believed the stories about true love’s kiss under the mistletoe granting the ability of transformation. Which I didn’t. So I only had a few hours to observe the real effects of the mysterious plant and secure a sample.
I surfaced in
I made a last perusal of the place settings and brushed a hand down my cocktail dress. Perfect. The smell of turkey and buttered rolls filled our apartment.
Our friends would arrive any moment.
Gloria stomped into the room, still dressed in sweats and a stained t-shirt.
“What’s your problem?” I propped my hands
“My dear Jean-Luc, this is an essential part of the holiday,” Victor clapped me on the back, steering me past hay bales and piles of pre-cut pumpkins, heading deeper into the patch. “We select a pumpkin, then carve a design into it, and display it on the front stoop.”
I scowled and stared out over the field of orange and green.
I panted, clutching my side as I pressed my back into the parking garage wall. I stared down at the bloody gash across my forearm. Dark veins branched from the cut.
My head spun. I was infected. I studied the progression of the dark veins. Veining became obvious in Stage Two? Stage Three?
“Are you going to talk like that all day?” Jaqi flipped her hair and scowled at me.
“Aye,” I growled out the corner of my mouth as I attempted a ferocious smile. “How else should one celebrate Talk Like a Pirrrate Day? Arrrr.” I curled my finger into a hook and brandished it
His father’s demeaning taunts proclaiming Jordan would never accomplish anything rang in his ears as he approached Hole 18. It’d taken everything to get this far, but he remained in last place. He shook his head and feigned a confidence he didn’t feel.
“Almost there, Mouse,” Jordan slapped his caddy on the back and flashed a carefree smile, “
“Last call for Best in Show.” The tinny voice barked over the intercom.
Cody studied his appearance, straightening his tie and combing a hand through his hair. He blew out a breath and gathered his lead. Kneeling in front of the pen door he gave Ebony Magic’s Omniscience a stern look.
“No shenanigans, EMO.
Andy slumped in his chair. He rubbed tired eyes and focused on the calendar hanging beside his desk. A bright red circle highlighted June 15, his looming deadline. Nine days left to either finish his thirty-page thesis or flunk the post-graduate program. No paper, no grade. No grade, no graduation. No graduation, no degree.
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