𝓓𝓸 𝓸𝓻 𝓓𝓲𝓮 ❣︎ 𝓔𝓶𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓐𝓭𝓭𝓪𝓶𝓼

𝓢𝓔𝓡𝓘𝓔𝓢 𝓞𝓝𝓔 ❣︎ 22

And I'll be ready.

That feeling again. Like she was being watched.

And, turning to her right, she was.

A cloaked figure with a top hat on, stood, partly concealed, behind a tree.

He ran as soon as he saw her.

And she was right behind him.

She was normally a fast runner, but right now, with an injured leg weighing her down, she wasn't as fast. Straight away, she had put away her umbrella, discarding it.

Her feet splashed in puddles and her leg ached as she chased after the potential killer, getting extendable sword out and running with it in one hand, her crutch in the other.

She stopped in a clearing about thirty seconds later, looking around curiously, for she had lost all sight of her victim. Her leg was throbbing, and was threatening to collapse, but she stayed strong on it as she heard a thump behind her.

As quick as a fox, Ember turned, slashing her sword at the person. She couldn't see a face as the top hat was pulled over their eyes.

But the potential killer was as quick as her, trapping the metal sword between their hands and sending bolts of electricity down it with their hands alone. Ember got a big shock and jumped back, dropping the sword and only just managing to get back on her crutch before she collapsed.

"Still as sharp as ever, my first pig-tailed protégé," said a voice underneath the hat.

Ember's eyes widened and, for a second, a smile crossed her face.

She'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"Uncle Fester."

And, sure enough, her electrical-finger-tipped, bald headed, smiley-faced, chortle-prone uncle, was under the hat.

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"How long have you been stalking me?" Ember asked her uncle as they walked back through the woods, all the way they had ran when Ember had still believed her uncle a killer. I mean, he was. But he wasn't the killer.

"Just blew into town this morning and was hit by a wave of nostalgia," Fester smiled.

"I thought you didn't go to Nevermore," Ember said, for she had heard this story from her mother before she died.

"I didn't. Your other uncle got all the brains," Fester shrugged. "But I used to drop in on him. Usually from the ceiling with a dagger clutched between my teeth, just to keep him on his toes."

"Of course," Ember gave a slight smile.

"Well, he filled me in on what's been going on," Fester stopped and Ember turned to him. "Monsters, murders, mayhem."

Ember nodded.

"What fun!" Fester grinned. "I told him I had a job in Boston, but I'd be checking up on you."

"What kind of job?" Ember asked curiously.

"The kind that means I need somewhere to lay low for a couple of days," just what she had suspected.

But she didn't worry.

She had it covered.

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