Year of study: fifth
Assignment type: solo
Half-buried beneath the pile of sand and pebbles, the goblin glares up at me. His long, pointed ears quiver in anger. I perch on the tree branch, pointing an arrow directly at his forehead.
“You really going to kill me, little guardian girl?”
I sigh. “You know how this works, goblin. If you disappear, I won’t be able follow you. If you stick around to fight back, you have to accept the consequences.”
“Death,” he hisses.
“Well, yeah, if it comes to that. Or I knock you out, tie you up, and take you in to the Guild. You want to choose?”
“Death sounds more fun.”
Okay, he really is as stupid as he looks. “You sure? That option’s a lot messier for me.”
“Death for you, not me!” he cries as he explodes from the mound of dirt. His hairy hands wrap around the branch I’m balancing on, causing it to sag and creak beneath his weight. I somersault backward, my bow and arrow disappearing as I let go of them. I land on my feet, just in time to see the goblin swinging toward me. His clawed feet strike me in the chest, knocking me flat on my back. I sit up, gasping for air. He drops from the branch and runs at me.
Sword, sword, SWORD! It appears in my fist—and the goblin runs right into it. It pierces all the way through his flesh, skewering him. He slumps down on top of me, pressing me to the ground again. I try to keep the hilt of the sword from digging into my chest.
“You . . . kill us,” he wheezes, the stench of his breath making me feel ill. I try to push him off me. He struggles for a few moments, then becomes still. His eyes stare through me, unblinking.
He’s dead. There is a dead body on top of me.
YOU ARE READING
An A to Z of Creepy Hollow Fae
Teen Fiction**CREEPY HOLLOW Prequel Short Stories** Before Violet met Nate, the human boy who followed her into the fae realm and turned her life upside down, she was the perfect guardian trainee. She followed all the rules and did her best to protect her human...
