(Skeleton Key) Game Master (2 page)

Except I wasn’t in the garage.

I was standing on a covered porch.

And it was daytime.

I shook my head hard and scanned my surroundings again. I
was
on a porch. The sun was out, not the moon. There was a small, light brown dirt road in front of the…cottage’s…porch I was standing on.

I moved down the two steps, each wood plank creaking beneath my feet, and stopped right before the road. Brown dirt sprinkled the soles of my black boots. Across the road were trees. Lots and
lots
of trees. The brush was so thick I couldn’t see more than twenty feet through it.

I mumbled in awe, “This isn’t right.”

“Bad timing on your part, dear.”

I stopped moving. My head swiveled left and right, in an attempt to find the individual who had just spoken. But there was no one nearby. My brows furrowed as I cocked my head. While I couldn’t see anyone, there were people headed in my direction. I could hear shouts in the distance, all sounding as if they were frightened silly.

“Down here.”

The afternoon sun beat down on my forehead as I snapped my attention lower. I stared for a full minute. I couldn’t comprehend what I was viewing.

There was a tree stump about waist high to my right. On it sat a red frog. That frog had green moss wrapped around its lower section as if it were modest and wearing pants.

Its mouth opened. “I don’t blame you for staring. I am a handsome devil.”

My jaw dropped, and I took a quick step back.

The
frog
was
talking
. To me.

Had I hit my head trying to escape those goons?

“Are you a fly eating creature?” the frog asked, staring at my wide-open mouth. It sat back on its haunches and raised its front arms. The right one tapped on its cheek while it watched me. “I thought you were intelligent since you look like the rest of the humonas.”

My mouth bobbed. “I’m not trying to catch flies.”

I must have hit my head.

The frog’s lips curved up.
It was smiling.

I stared. “You were making a joke, weren’t you?”

Its red head bobbed. “Yes. It helped, didn’t it?”

My brain was addled. “Actually, it did.” I stepped forward and squatted in front of the tree stump. My eyes were level with the talking frog. I eyed him closely, evaluating his very human nature. “Are you real?”

“You’re not hallucinating if that’s what you’re asking.” The frog used his right front arm again and pointed behind me. “You should really run. You couldn’t have arrived at a worse time.”

I tore my eyes from the frog and glanced over my shoulder. There were now people racing on the dirt road, headed our way. Their eyes were wide with terror, their old-era simple clothing stained with streaks of brown dirt. Some wore shoes and others wore only mud on their feet. There were about fifty of them.

I whispered, “Where am I?”

“You’ve landed in the country Terlant.” He tipped his head to the door. The
front
door to the rundown cottage. “A humona occasionally comes out of there, but the cottage has been vacant for years. And the door can’t be opened from this side. Not without the skeleton key.”

“Humona?” My attention snapped back to the frog. “Terlant?”

“Humona. Your kind.” Its head nodded. “And Terlant. In the realm of Baaz.”

I stared. The people were getting closer. “I’m not on Earth?” I lifted my hands and probed my head with my fingers. I didn’t feel any bumps from a fall. “Is this another joke you’re making?”

“I never joke about magic.”

“Magic?”

“Are you going to repeat everything I say?”

“Probably, until it makes sense.” A few racing individuals flew past me, their terror palpable. I watched as they ran as fast as they could, their chest pumping hard and sweat dripping down their faces. “What are they running from?”

“They’re trying to flee from the Royal Guard.”

I blinked. I didn’t repeat his words this time. I knew all about fleeing people. It was time to roll with the punches for right now. “Are these people criminals if they’re running from the Guard?”

More ‘peasants’ dashed passed.

“Yes. There’s been a prison break. The royal family is extremely displeased by this turn of events. Their Guard was overtaken when the prisoners revolted against their living conditions. It’s been the talk of Terlant for the last week. And, it appears, the Guard has finally found them.”

I straightened and watched a large group of them pass, only a few stragglers left behind now. “I wasn’t a prisoner. I won’t act like I was.”

The frog snickered. “That won’t help you, not with the royal family on a rampage. I suggest you run, dear. And fast. Very, very fast.”

Apparently, I had jumped from one horrible situation to another. Just on a different…realm? I glared down at the frog. “You have a name?”

“Of course.”

I cracked my neck and stretched my arms over my head, preparing to run like the rest of them. “Is it a secret?”

“No.”

My eyes narrowed further.

The frog was smiling again.

“Not funny, Ribbit.”

His smile faltered. “How did you know?”

I laughed outright. “Now, that’s funny.”

He winked. He freaking
winked
. “My name’s Kingsley.”

“It’s an honor…”
Right!
“…to meet you, Kingsley. I’m Arizona Creed. And I’m sorry for what I’m about to do.”

His head tipped back. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you see, I’m in a place I know nothing about. You, on the other hand, seem to know the gossip. So I’m going to kidnap you.” Before he hopped off the tree trunk, I grabbed his body in a firm hold. I brought his face up to eye level. “I truly am sorry for this.”

He sighed, his tiny arms hanging over my finger. “It’s not the first time. And it won’t be the last.” Kingsley wasn’t upset. He was annoyed, his tiny forehead crinkling. “But don’t jiggle me. I have a very sensitive stomach.”

I snorted and unzipped my backpack.

I dropped the frog inside.

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t piss on my clothes in there.” I lifted one red brow. “And
do not
shit.”

He lay down on his left side, crossing one red spindly leg over the other, and propped up his head with his left arm. He looked like he was ready for a lady-friend to meet him at dusk. He drawled, “Dear, I am the epitome of graciousness. I don’t
shit
on a humona’s clothing.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” I mumbled and then zipped my backpack. I pulled the other strap over my free shoulder and ran as quickly as my feet would take me across the road into the treeline.

The woods would be a better cover than the open lane. Especially, when the
thump-thump
of horse hooves pounded the dirt and a horn rent the air.

The Guard was almost here.

“You. Are. Bouncing. Me.” Kingsley wasn’t a happy frog.

Didn’t frogs kind of bounce, anyway?

“I’m running to save my life,” I hissed, wondering if he could even hear me through the material of my backpack. “You said to run. So I’m running.”

He groused, “I did
not
tell you to kidnap me.”

Guess he could hear me.

My lips twitched. “I can’t hear you. You’re all muffled in there.”

“That’s because I’m shoved against a pair of socks.”

I snickered silently. Those hadn’t been washed yet.

“And, may I add, no humona wears this color here.” He paused. “What it is this? Pastel pink?”

I didn’t fall for it. I didn’t own anything pastel pink.

“Hmm. I guess you can’t hear me.”

I jumped over a slight dip in the ground and grinned.

My boots were ruining the pretty flowers. Even though the beat of horse hooves were no longer pounding behind me. The flowers would grow back. Maybe.

I truly had no clue in a different
realm
.

I stopped behind one of the many trees and placed my left hand on the rough bark. I leaned heavily, trying to catch my breath. I had run at least two miles already—all at a racing pace.

“Is there an issue out there?” Kingsley questioned.

I licked my lips. Decided to answer. “No.”

“Mmm-hmm. You can hear me. Did they not teach you manners on Earth? Because, when you’re spoken to in Terlant, others will expect—”

“Shh.” I cut him off mid-tirade. I swayed forward and turned my right ear straight ahead, listening closely. There was definitely a road up ahead—minimal traffic turning dirt. “Are we close to a town?”

No response came.

I rubbed at my forehead. “I’m sorry. All right?”

“Thank you,” Kingsley returned curtly. “And, yes, there are a few towns near here.” He paused, and then his voice turned dry. “Let me guess. You’re planning to steal a horse, so I will definitely be sick all over your laundry?”

My forehead crinkled. That had been the plan.

“Maybe?” I mumbled.

“Bad idea. Then you really will be a criminal running from the Guard.” He hummed quietly, deep in thought. “Perhaps you could get a job somewhere. That’s what most humonas do.”

“I’d have to be paid under the table. Do they do that here?”

“Occasionally. If you find the right individual.”

I tapped the tree bark with my knuckles. “Can I really not get back through that door?”

“You can only pass through with a skeleton key.” He grunted. “Yours disappeared faster than most.”

I scowled. “It’s magic like you said before?”

“Oh, yes. The skeleton key is very powerful.”

I inhaled another lung full of crisp oxygen. The air was cleaner in this place, almost as if I couldn’t feel it when I inhaled. It was rejuvenating.

“I need to find a place to stay first. If the Guard is searching, then I need a hiding spot.” I didn’t want to sleep under the trees on the hard ground.

I trotted at a sedated pace this time and kept a careful ear out for any abnormal sounds. The woods were eerily quiet. There weren’t even any birds chirping. No insects on the ground. It was a dead forest, yet trees lived.

The more I thought about it, the faster my feet moved.

There may have been a good reason the prisoners hadn’t fled into the woods. This place could be haunted for all I knew. Or little green men could string me up from a tree.

There was a talking frog.

The possibilities were endless.

I shoved brush aside and stopped.

The road. I had made it to the road.

I sighed in relief and stepped onto the powdered dirt. My footfalls caused little clouds of dust to fly up with each step. “Hey, Kingsley, you know those woods across from where you were sitting—”

“Don’t go in there!” he cried. My backpack rustled against my shoulders. He was trying to get out. “My dear, can you hear me? I’m serious!”

I halted from my stroll and blinked several times. “I won’t.” I lied. It calmed him down, my straps no longer tugging at my shoulders. “But what was wrong with it? Why weren’t the prisoners—”

“The Charmed Ones live in there,” he whispered.

I kept walking. “What are they?”

“Those are creatures you don’t ever want to cross.”

I rolled my eyes. “That explains nothing.”

His voice trembled. “They eat baby humona.”

My throat went dry. “What about adult humona?”

“It’s said the Charmed Ones will allow one humona to enter their woods every ten years. If anyone steps inside the forest, and they aren’t the chosen one, then they steal their eyeballs—and then roast the body over a fire.”

My face scrunched in disgust. “Why doesn’t the Guard take them down?”

He hummed. “Only one has tried. It didn’t end well.”

“Are they magic?”

“In the moonlight, they are.”

I shook my head. “Then someone should take them out in the daylight. Letting fear dictate your actions only lead to shame.”

“The humonas might feel as such, but they’re still alive. And you saw that cottage. No one has lived near the woods for over forty years. The Charmed Ones no longer have a flock of sheep to pick from, yet they stay in the woods. That is a win for the humonas after centuries of death.”

My brows puckered. “Maybe they moved too.”