It was probably important.
Blinking away the drowsiness, she accepted the call and held the phone up to her ear.
“Hello?”
His voice was loud and rushed over the phone. “Answer your phone. Have you heard the news yet?”
She frowned. “News, what news?”
“One of those… I dunno.” He paused. “Huge monster things was seen last night on the edge of town.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “Are you sure?”
Mel could hear him waving his camera all over the place. “Positive. You need to get out here. The site’s on the west end of town. Can’t miss it.”
“Got it.” She ended the call and lowered the phone from her ear slowly, wondering what to make of everything. Could this be real? Or was it another wild goose chase? There was really only one way to make sure.
As she was about to stand up from the bed, she heard rustling behind her, and she turned to see Dallas sitting up, eyeing her curiously, his dark hair gorgeously mussed.
“That was my cameraman,” Mel said.
He cocked an eyebrow.
She stood up and got dressed excitedly. “Apparently, there was a sighting of one of those big monsters I’ve been looking for last night.”
Dallas’s eyes narrowed at that, and he looked down at the covers for a second, troubled.
Mel smiled. “Shall we go take a look?”
He nodded and got out of bed, and she couldn’t help but watch as he got dressed, thinking it was a shame that he had to hide his body beneath clothing.
Once they were fully dressed and had eaten a fast breakfast, they said their good-byes to Harrison and Marian and headed into town.
When they arrived, it wasn’t difficult to find the spot. In fact, it would have been hard to miss it, considering the appearance had occurred in a small field just outside the main city limits.
That was new. All of the other incidents had happened far out in the county, near ranches or in wide-open areas. There hadn’t been an appearance so close to the town before.
When they got there, several cars were parked along the side of the street, including a few police cars.
As they parked and got out, she examined the large indent in the ground, noting that it was similar to the one she’d seen the other day, as if someone had torn the ground apart with an enormous backhoe.
Making sure her recording equipment was on, Mel jogged excitedly over to the police car where a few county officers were interviewing a young woman who looked to be in her late twenties.
“Sorry, I’m Mel,” she exclaimed when they were close enough, holding out a hand. “I’m with Channel 8 news. Are you the one who saw it?”
“Sally.” The woman shook her hand, then nodded, looking frazzled. “Yes, I saw it, but your cameraman already got my statement.”
Mel laughed exasperatedly and looked around. Despite the fact that Trent had been the one to inform her of the ongoing scene, he was nowhere to be found. He’d probably run off again.
Even that, however, wasn’t enough to dim her excitement. This was the best lead she’d had so far.
“I just need to ask a few questions,” she said animatedly, holding up her notebook. “Did you get a good look at it? Could you describe it to me?”
Sally shook her head. “Not really. I can tell you it was huge, though. It had giant horns and scales, but I couldn’t make out much else because it was almost completely covered in a shell of rock and mud.”
No way. This was even better than she could have expected.
“Did you get a video, picture, anything?” Mel pressed eagerly.
“Sadly, no,” the woman replied, looking over her shoulder at the site. “I was coming out to my car to drive to work when I saw it. I tried to grab my phone from my purse in order to get a picture, but by the time I had, the thing had disappeared.”
Mel frowned, disappointment coursing through her. “What do you mean? How could something so big just vanish into thin air?”
Sally just held up her hands at that, looking tired and lost. “Your guess is as good as mine. For all I know, it was just a mirage or something.”
That couldn’t possibly be true. The ground was showing telltale marks of being torn asunder as if something were wrenching its way up into the open air.
“Look,” she added. “I just want to forget about it, so if you don’t have any more questions for me, I’ll be going back inside to get some rest.”
Mel nodded. “Of course, thank you.”
With that, Sally nodded and walked back inside her home.
As she watched the lady leave, Mel felt her heart begin to sag. No video, barely any evidence except for a bizarre description from a witness who seemed to only have glimpsed it for a second.
What had sounded so promising over the phone had become a huge disappointment. Part of her wished she’d stayed home and slept in with Dallas.
How nice that would have been.
Speaking of, he had edged his way over toward the torn-up ground and was kneeling, his eyes narrowed at it. Then he looked back up and around as if searching for something.
She watched him for a second, then turned to look at the small crowd that was clustered, chattering and pointing at the wrecked dirt.
Suddenly, Mel got the feeling she was being watched, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man glowering at the scene from an alleyway across the street.
He was wearing old, ratty black clothing but was extremely tall and muscled, not unlike the men at Dragonclaw. He was also handsome, in an intimidating sort of way, with a chiseled jawline, straight nose, and full lips.
He folded his arms, and suddenly, she noticed the lines of tattoos
