Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (38 page)

“
I did! It was spectacular.
I even managed to snap a few pics.”

“
I knew they were real! I
searched all over the world for them. Native Americans have been
talking about mythical giant apes for centuries, and in legends
handed down through the ages from Europe and Asia. And I saw them
firsthand!” Adam could barely contain his excitement.

Sarah smiled. “It’s an amazing
discovery!”

“
I must be on my way now,”
Jules announced. “Walk two hours north toward your destination.
There, you will find a cave that should be safe for you to camp in
for the night. It’s used all the time to escape immortal beings or
hide things from them.”

“
What?” she
asked.

“
As long as you are near or
in the cave, Victor won’t be able to find you.”

“
So it breaks the signal
and keeps me off his radar. And he can’t find me?”

He nodded yes and then waved.
“Goodbye, dear friends.”

Sarah nodded, a tight sensation
choking her. “Thanks, Jules. I hope we’ll meet again. Send Mia our
love.”

“
I will. Just do not forget
your promise to obtain the Gold Minerals of Life.”

“
I won’t.” Sarah watched
him smile and walk away.

Around them, the crowd had started to
disperse, hurrying home after a long afternoon, some of them
rushing off to buy much-needed food and supplies with the coins
she’d shared. The sky had turned a dirty shade of gray, promising a
cold night and possible rain. Even the air smelled damp, carrying
the heavy promise of precipitation. If they were going to reach the
cave before nightfall, they had to be on their way. Much to Sarah’s
relief, the knights had long since disappeared, leaving no trace of
their presence, as though they had never been looking for
her.

“
Ready to leave, guys?” she
called out to the others.

Frank nodded and wrapped his arm
around Sarah’s waist. Adam scowled as they walked down the
well-worn path past several dilapidated cottages with candles
burning on the windowsills and smoke rising from the
chimneys.

They had barely reached a large meadow
away from the village when darkness rushed in too quickly, a silver
moon appearing in the sky. Sarah looked up at the black sky,
worried and wondering if they’d be able to find the cave in the
darkness. “You know what really bugs me?” she whispered to
Frank.

“
Besides me?”

“
Well, yeah. How does it
manage to get dark so quickly?”

He shrugged as though he didn’t care,
but she could discern the deep set lines around his
mouth.

“
Dude, nice ring.” Steven
pointed at her finger. “Didn’t know you were so loaded, buying
antique jewelry and all. Otherwise I’d have charged more for my
services.”

Sarah smiled and held up her hand. Any
other would’ve pissed her off with such a remark, but Steven was
quite the joker. He was bound to be forgiven for his
trespasses.

Beth touched the ring, her eyes
lighting up. “Now that’s a rock! How did you get it?”

Before Sarah could answer, she saw
Adam shove Frank in the chest. He hissed, “She’s way too good for
you, and you know it.”

They were fighting like two gorillas
squaring off over a banana. Her team hated Frank more than
anything, mostly because he’d spent his life trying to prove
researchers wrong, and he’d been debunking their hard work for
years.

Why couldn’t Adam behave? After all,
he was the oldest out of the bunch, maybe in his late thirties. He
smoothed out his brown hair to one side before putting his fedora
hat back on. He was a true explorer if there ever was one,
traveling from one part of the world to the other. He was
definitely an asset to the team when he kept his temper in
check.

“
What’s your problem?”
Frank yelled. “I just saved your sorry butt.”

“
You’re my problem, punk.”
Adam shoved him again. “I’d rather be here with anyone but you. I
don’t see why Sarah told you the location of our
expedition.”

“
I didn’t tell him,” Sarah
hissed. “He found us on his own. You know he’s a journalist…and
apparently a stalker.”

Frank ran a hand through his hair. “I
know you guys are pissed about some of my articles, but get your
crap together. We’re in a different dimension here. Obviously,
getting out of here is much more important than rehashing who did
what to whom back in the twenty-first century.”

“
You debunked us by name in
that trash book you wrote.” Adam clenched his fists. “I should sue
you for slander.”

Frank shrugged. “Suit yourself, but
I’m pretty sure you won’t find an attorney here. You have to get
home first, and that might be difficult since I’ve no intention to
save your ass a second time.”

Adam lunged, the vein on his forehead
ready to burst any minute.

Steven grabbed his arm and held him
back. “Listen, man, we got bigger problems. He’s so not worth
it.”

“
He made us look like the
laughingstocks of California,” Adam said. Even though he was still
fuming, he took Steven’s advice and backed off. “I can’t believe
Sarah would ever date a guy like that, let alone let him put his
arm around her. Are you two shacking up or something now, Sarah?
Sleeping with the enemy?”

As much as she would’ve liked to have
convinced him otherwise, Steven was right. They had other worries
to take care of first. Frank was often obnoxious, as were the
claims he made in his book, but alienating him wasn’t an option.
They needed all the manpower they could get, and he’d risked his
hide more than once to save her. “It’s none of your business who I
spend my time with. We’re all stuck here, so quit acting like
preschoolers. Let’s figure out how to find my sister and then get
the heck out of here!”

He looked at her, shaking his head
slowly. “I don’t think you’re running this expedition anymore,
boss.”

“
That last word said it
all.” She smirked. “As long as I’m paying you, you’ll do as I say,
and as of right now, you’re still on my payroll.”

“
Fine then. You’re the
boss.”

“
Wait…Liz? Your sister’s
here?” Beth asked.

“
I’ll explain later.” With
a last warning look at Adam, Sarah turned and focused on the path
ahead.

To both sides, large trees stretched
as far as she could see, their thick canopy of leaves filtering the
last natural light of the day. Branches and twigs snapped under
their booted feet, the only noise exchanged between them until Beth
resumed the conversation after a few minutes of walking. “So,
you’re back with Frank? I thought you two split up.”

What is
this? Why can’t people butt out of my private life?
She opened her mouth to answer when Frank slipped
his arm around her, beating her to it. “Listen, all you enquiring
minds, we’re trying to work things out here. Digging up dirt isn’t
going to help our blossoming relationship, so just shut the hell
up, will ya?”

“
You’re unbelievable! Such
an idiot,” Beth said, unfazed. She went to slap Frank’s face, but
he caught her hand.

“
Listen, Beth, don’t start
on me too. I hope we can all be friends.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not a
chance.”

Steven turned on his camera and
started filming the trees and narrow path. “Come on, man, that’s
enough. Everybody stop. I apologize for their behavior, Sarah.
Being stuck here with Frank Hedford is the pits, but we’re also
stressed. You’ve no idea what we’ve been through. Fortunately, I
caught it all on film.”

Sarah grabbed the camera and looked
directly into the lens, anger edging her voice. “On the contrary, I
just might have a feeling. It hasn’t exactly been champagne and
caviar, limos and five-star hotels for us either. We’ve gone
through quite a bit ourselves.”

Adam adjusted his fedora against the
gust of wind blowing in their direction. “Well, we almost died
countless times. Like Steven said, you’ve absolutely no
idea.”

Sarah waved her finger in the air,
showing off her ruby ring. “Well, you poor, poor babies. I mean, I
was only mistaken for a princess and thrown in a dungeon crawling
with bugs and rats. I was then forced to marry the king of Tastia,
who just so happens to be an Immortal eager to impregnate me with a
whole freaking medieval baseball team. He slapped this ring on my
finger, and I can’t get it off, and now fireballs shoot out of my
hands.” She took a breath and gathered her thoughts. “Oh, and did I
mention I pissed him off by running away, and Frank and I had to
fake being monks to escape him and his knights? If that’s not bad
enough, the king of Dornia is pissed at me, too, and this is his
turf. He wants me dead too. There’s also a group of Immortals who
want to kill me because I became one without their permission,
which is how I managed to get shot in the heart, and I’m not
talking about eighties music here.”

Steven laughed. “Wait…fireballs? Shot
in the heart? And you’re…married to a king? Wow, Sarah, you should
start writing fiction. You’re pulling my leg. If someone shot you,
you’d be dead as a stone, sweetheart.”

“
She ain’t kidding,” Frank
muttered. “And remember, I’m the skeptic here. I saw it all for
myself.”

Sarah nodded. “Yes, I was shot
directly in the heart and the back as well. I had to walk disguised
as a monk through a village of knights whose only goal in life was
to behead me. So Adam, do fill me in on your little horror story,
won’t you? I’d love to hear it.”

Beth put an arm around her. “You were
mistaken for a princess? And you married a king? Seriously? How
come that stuff doesn’t happen to me?”

Sarah smacked her hand. “Stop
it.”

Beth laughed. “But blondes are
supposed to have more fun.”

Steven gave her a fist bump. “Yeah,
baby! Us blonds have to stick together.”

She smiled, and then continued. “Is
this king a good kisser? Was it nice and slow or fast and furious?
And more importantly, if he was any kind of kisser at all, what in
God’s name are you doing traipsing around poor villages and
sleeping in caves when you could be sleeping in one of those fancy
canopy beds ordering room service from the royal
kitchen?”

“
That’s enough!” Frank
hissed.

“
Oh!” Beth squealed. “Even
better? Is he hot?”

“
How about we don’t go
there right now?” Frank asked.

Beth smiled. “Jealous? Bet you never
thought you’d have any competition here, of all places. If I were
you, Frank, I’d be worried—for more reasons than one. Just look at
the muscles on some of these guys. A knight in shining armor is
every girl’s dream…and don’t even get me started on the dark hair
and broodiness.”

“
Ain’t that the truth?”
Sarah said as Victor’s face flashed across her mind. “Actually, it
was Frank’s brilliant idea for me to marry the king, when he came
to rescue me like a knight in shining armor.”

Steven cocked an eyebrow. “Say
what?”

“
Long story,” Frank
said.

Adam ran his hand across Sarah’s
forehead. “How hard did you hit your head, boss?”

“
You better get your
employee on a short leash, Sarah, or I’m going to slug him into
next week,” said Frank, “or maybe last week. God knows around
here.”

Beth cleared her throat. When everyone
fell silent and she had their attention, she said, “While our
little Sarah here was busy joining the royal family and
impersonating a monk, we’ve discovered a few things. The cave’s
still here, but there’s no portal back home. We tried to snoop
around for a bit longer, but a ton of Bigfoots—or is it
Bigfeet?—chased us out of the forest.”

“
And I got it all on tape.”
Steven’s voice went up an octave. “Six o’clock news, here we come!
No—better yet—Discovery Channel!”

“
There’s a way back,” Frank
said. “You just need a key. Bet you didn’t know that
part.”

“
Frank!” Sarah elbowed him
in the ribs. “Don’t be rude. Just because you stumbled across that
little tidbit of information doesn’t mean you knew it all along.
You got lucky.”

“
Hmm. I don’t recall
getting lucky…yet.”

“
Shut up. I meant you got
lucky with Jules…er, uh…” Sarah smacked her forehead and scowled at
him. “You know what I mean.”

“
A key?” Steven asked,
interrupting their chiding. “How exactly do we get one of those? I
haven’t seen a Ye Olde Portal Locksmith shop around here yet,”
Steven asked.

“
I’m wearing it.” Sarah
held up her hand.

Steven pointed the camera down at her
ring. “Awesome. Then what are we waiting for?”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “I told you I
have to find my sister first. She’s here. She’s been here all
along.”

“
I thought you were
delusional,” Adam said. “You’re for real?” When she nodded he
continued, “Let’s hurry up then. This is a dangerous place. We
can’t stay here one minute longer than we have to.”

“
I’m carrying the key, so
you know what that means, right?”