“Help,” he whispered, as the forest began to blur before his eyes.
Chapter Three
Mary reached the end of the trail in the grass and looked around.
Where did he go?
She searched the fence line for traces of a foot print, but there was nothing. She looked over the fence at the woods beyond and sighed. It was just like Sean. Just because someone said not to do something, he had to do it. Their grandmother had warned them to stay away from the woods. Of course Mary didn’t believe the stories about little people, but she did believe there could be wild animals in there or vagrants who might have less than reputable ideas on their minds. Oh, well, there’s nothing else I can do, she thought as she stuck her foot in the same toehold Sean had used, I’ve got to go after him.
Climbing up and over the fence was accomplished quickly and she soon found Sean’s trail leading straight into the woods. “Sean,” she called tentatively. “Are you in there?”
Moving further down the path, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and stopped. Did she hear a sound from in the woods? Was there something hiding behind the tree next to the path? “Sean, I’m going to tell da you went into the woods,” she called, stomping her foot uselessly in the soft dirt. “You come out here right now!”
She waited for a moment and then shook her head angrily. She was not going to lose this game. She was not going to let Sean tell everyone she was a scaredy-cat. She marched forward and entered the forest, her heart pounding against her chest. “Sean,” she found her voice was suddenly dry and only come out as a soft croak. “Sean, are you in here?”
The woods seemed to be closing in around her. The shadows were lengthening and the branches appeared to be getting closer, like the trees could move. She stood her ground, twisting her head back and forth to watch for movement. “Sean,” she called again, clearing her throat so she was louder. “Sean, I give. You win. Just come out. Now. This place gives me the creeps.”
All she wanted was to see her brother pop out from behind a tree, laughing and teasing her. She took a deep breath and counted slowly, “One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three, one thousand four…”
Continuing for sixty long seconds, her heart echoing each second that passed, she realized her brother wasn’t coming. Something was wrong. Very wrong. She weighed her options. She could try and follow his path in the forest or she could run back to her grandmother’s house and get help. She thought about her brother, even though he was annoying, she also knew he was strong, brave and smart. If something had happened to him, she would need help. She took a deep breath and then yelled as loud as she could, “Sean, I’m coming! I’m getting help, but I’m coming back! I promise!”
Then she turned and dashed out of the woods running as if Sean’s life depended on her, because she really felt it did.
She reached the cozy cottage in record time and burst through the door, gasping for air as she entered.
“Mary, child, what’s wrong?” her mother asked, immediately concerned.
Her father stood and hurried to his daughter’s side. “Mary?”
“Sean,” she gasped. “In the woods. In trouble.”
Her ancient grandmother rose quickly from her chair and took Mary’s shoulders in her hands. “Sean went into the woods?” she asked, alarm in her voice.
“Did you see him?” her father asked.
Mary shook her head. “Hide and seek,” she gasped. “I followed his trail.”
“Lord have mercy,” her grandmother whispered and then she turned to her daughter. “Margaret, you and Timothy take the car and take the dirt road to the far side of the meadow.”
“We’re going too,” Arthur said, “we can help search for him.”
Tommy nodded. “Yeah, we’ll all go and find him.”
“We’re a family; we help each other,” Mary added.
“Fine, you all go,” the grandmother said, “But be careful and take this.”
She thrust a bottle into her daughter’s hand.
“What is it, ma?” she asked.
“Holy water,” the old woman replied. “Now hurry. We have no idea what he’s gotten into, but there’s no time to waste.”
Timothy flipped open his suitcase and pulled out his service revolver.
“That won’t help you if he’s fallen in with them,” she said, looking at the gun.
“Aye, well, if it’s not them, this will help me a great deal,” he said, shoving it into the waist of his pants. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Four
Was that Mary’s voice?
He didn’t want her facing the creature too. “No, Mary, stay away,” he mumbled.
He twisted away again and this time, the creature opened his grip and released him. He fell backwards, his limbs too heavy to respond. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. As he fell, he could see past the creature to the tree that had held the red-haired girl captive. Now, only a few strands of her hair hung on the branches where she had been. Good! At least she got away.
He hit the ground with a thump and lay at the feet of the beast like an offering. He looked up and even through his blurred vision he could see long streams of frothy saliva streaming past its canine teeth and down its throat. It growled in appreciation and a long black tongue darted from its mouth and wiped the foam away. Damn, I’m dinner, he realized and immediately felt bad for saying a word his mother would raise her eyebrows over. Then he thought better of it. I’m going to die. I can say damn all I want to. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.
The beast cocked his head, looking down at Sean. He lifted one arm up and stretched its fingers, the razor-sharp claws making a clicking sound as they snapped into place. Then its
