The Grandgers are far from ordinary, but never before have they been involved in something so odd. With a missing sister and an epidemic of missing children threatening the world, the small family takes it upon themselves to get to the bottom of the...
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IX
❝Everything was so sweet until you tried to kill me.❞▶MELANIE MARTINEZ
IF SOPHIE HAD A DIME FOR EVERY TIME SHE MISSED HER TARGET she would have enough money to get fighting lessons. Jack made it seem so easy; like it was some sort of second sense to him. She tried to look as confident as he seemed to while fending off whatever creatures they were trying to kill, but she wound up looking about as majestic as a giraffe on roller skates.
That was pretty bad.
She had lunged at one of the monsters with a long dagger in hand, missing so hard she tripped and fell. Compared to all her other acquaintances she probably looked like an idiot.
It was well into their quarrel when she finally succeeded in killing one of them.
Turning to tell Jack of her accomplishment, she saw him kill two off at the same time. Blood splattered his flannel shirt, although it didn't do much because the shirt was already red and soaked with blood.
"How the..." She mumbled under her breath, screaming when she got tackled by her opponent. Clearly turning away from your match in the middle of a fight wasn't exactly her best idea.
It brought a bloodied claw down and slashed at her stomach. The fabric of her dress tore with a satisfying ripping sound, revealing porcelain skin tainted by the blood that poured from a deep stab wound. She let out another scream and swore under her breath, reaching for her weapon.
She clawed at the dirt, trying to shift herself over so she could hold her blade once more, but she couldnt. She could feel the soil wedging itself between her fingernails. Finally, she felt the cool metal of the tip pressing lightly against the point of her finger. Maintaining eye contact with the forest beast she wrapped her fingers around the hillt of her weapon.
The beast seemed to catch on. It raked its yellow eyes over her extended arm before swatting the dagger farther out of her reach, digging its talons into her open wounds in the process.
Sophie threw her head back, feeling the pure agony zip through her nerves and up to her brain. She couln't move, she couldn't move, she couldn't move. So she did something even dumber.
She screamed as loud as she could. It resonated throughout the forest, and even the creature poking and prodding at the muscles below her skin looked taken aback.
Then the beast was gone.
Upon turning to her right, she realized Jack had probably lunged at the beast himself, seeing as he now sat on its chest, struggling to hold it down. He whipped out a switchblade, and Sophie watched the blade flip and dance around on the palm of his hand before he plunged it directly into the creature's heart.
