Chris and I both stiffened and whipped our heads about searching for the source. A shadow dropped from the canopy and landed on bent knees across the trail ahead of us. It was Duncan in his human form.
He straightened and clapped his hands. “Bravo! That was a wonderful show!”
Chris drew me behind him and glared at our acquaintance. “You were watching us.”
Duncan grinned and bowed his head. “Guilty, as charged, but I had to follow you because you two left the initiation ceremony a little early, so I’ve come to give you the rest of the trial info.”
“Did any of that ‘info’ mention a human-eating plant?” Chris quipped.
Duncan tapped the side of his nose and gave us a wink. “No, because that would be telling.”
“Telling us how we’re going to die?” I retorted.
The werewolf’s bemused expression softened. “My dearest woman, nothing like that will happen to you.”
Chris scoffed. “So that plant was only going to give us a little kiss and let us on our way?”
Duncan’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “Well, I wouldn’t say that, but what would a prize be without a little effort? Besides” He strode toward us with arms opened, “the two of you handled that brilliantly! I would never have guessed Gerard would have been defeated so easily!” He paused and furrowed his brow as he looked off into the distance. “But then again, I wouldn’t have dared hit his-ahem” His eyes darted down to his own crotch, “his personal space, if you know what I mean.”
I snorted and I looked up at Chris. “Looks like you were right about the ‘eyes.’”
“Right, and alive!” Duncan pointed out as he clapped his hands together. “Now then, about what you missed at the initiation. Bonnie and I will be assessing your progress along the way, so don’t worry if you see one of us.”
I looked over my shoulder in the direction of ‘Gerard.’ “I think we’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“Yes, indeed!” Duncan agreed as he folded his arms and tapped his chin. “The others aren’t very far ahead of you, but one false move and they could easily win the prize.”
Chris frowned. “Is this ‘prize’ really worth risking our lives?”
Duncan shrugged. “Well, you don’t have to take the prize if you don’t want it, but the chance to become a werewolf is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He leaned toward us and gave us a wink. “If I were you, I wouldn’t pass it up.”
“Because you didn’t?” Chris asked him.
Duncan smiled. “Touche, my good sir. You’re as quick-witted as your lovely companion here. I wish I could give you my life story, but Bonnie burned my book draft when she found out I’d included some salacious details about her dying her hair.” A howl came from far off. Duncan looked in that direction and winced. “And on that note, I’ll finish your instructions.” He straightened and cleared his throat. “You two are to stick to the trails, and only the trails. No heading straight across, that would be cheating, and we don’t allow cheaters in our pack.”
I plucked another vine leaf off my sleeve and let it flutter to the ground. “Are we disqualified if we’re dragged off?”
Duncan grinned and shook his head. “Not a bit. Detours are just fine as long as you get back on the trail. Also, no attempting to murder or maim any of the other contestants. Maybe a little bit of nails in a scuffle, but no teeth.”
I folded my arms across my chest and snorted. “I’ll try to remember that if I’m in a life-or-death struggle with one of them.”
Chris cast a side-glance at me. “Are we supposed to interact with any of the others?”
Duncan followed his gaze and his grin widened. “I wouldn’t keep anyone away from such a beautiful woman. Of course, you could all have a rousing drinking party together, just as long as you’re all home by twilight.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And if we’re not?”
He shrugged. “Then nobody wins, and we’ll pick you up, or what’s left of you. Anyway” He stepped back with his eyes a-twinkle and that mischievous grin on his lips. “You two have fun and watch out for the bears.”
Duncan turned and jogged into the trees. They soon swallowed him.
I looked up at Chris. “You think he was joking about the bears?”
Chris shrugged. “I don’t know. Reading him is like trying to read a fortune cookie that’s upside down and in Hebrew. You know there’s something there, but you just can’t quite read it.”
I snorted and offered him the crook of my bent arm. “Well, I guess we should keep going, otherwise we might not get the chance to learn Hebrew.”
He smiled and accepted my arm. “Let’s see what they can throw at us this time.”
We strolled down the trail arm-in-arm and had gone another hundred yards when something interrupted our incredible journey.
“Help!”
Chris and I froze, and we whipped our heads to face each other. My eyes darted in the direction of the scream. “Did you hear what I heard?”
“We’d better check it out.”
Chris hurried forward, and I glared at his back a moment before I scuttled along. “Do you ever believe in ‘ladies first?’”
“Only if they can outrun me,” he quipped before he broke into a sprint.
I frowned but hurried after him. Jokes aside, my heart pounded in my chest as the trail climbed up onto a short plateau. We found ourselves staring at a large group of boulders and rocks. A wide dirt path sprang from our trail and wrapped around the stones, creating a dusty barrier that allowed anyone to leave their footprints. A dark shadow in the center of the stones told us there was an opening to a cave of some sort.
As we crept forward, I couldn’t help but look at the dusty ground. Six sets of shoe-covered feet had passed by ahead of us. Four different kinds of sneakers, a pair of hiking boots, and some designer boots that bore the maker’s mark as free advertising for an overpriced sole on an under-souled person. Two of the pairs veered off in the direction of the stones while the other two kept going.
“Somebody help!”
The voice was female and came from the hollow in the stones. Chris and I tiptoed up to the outer fringes of rock and peeked around the curved corner. The shadows led at a steep angle into a large hole in the ground.
I happened to glance down, and my heart skipped a beat. There, nestled in the dust and squashed over the human shoes, was a huge human-shaped footprint. My jaw hit the dirt and I grabbed Chris’ arm. He looked at me in annoyance until I pointed at the naked truth on the ground. His eyes widened and his mouth caught almost as many flies as mine.
“Please let us go!” It was a male voice speaking now. “We aren’t tasty at all!”
A deep guttural female laugh echoed out of the hole. “But you look so darn tasty! Why, I could just eat you both up, but you, cutey-” A horrified scream mingled with laughter came from the woman’s victim. She giggled. “Why, aren’t you the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!”
I crawled on my arms and climbed over the top of the boulder to get a peek inside, but the smooth top was slicker than it looked. A stifled yelp escaped my lips as I slid over the right side and landed in a little crevice between two stones. Something brittle and sharp broke under me with a bunch of loud cracks and a white cloud of dust flew up around me. I unwillingly choked on the powder and waved my hand in front of my face. The dust cleared and I saw what I’d crashed into.
A pile of human bones.