Love Croakies by Sam Cheever (the kiss of deception read online .txt) 📕

With a squeal, Hobs dropped the book.

“Take Slimy and Wicked out of here!” I yelled at the hobgoblin. Hobs grabbed the frog and reached for Wicked, but my obstinate feline leaped away from his reach, sailing off the fifteen-foot high shelves.

“No!” I screamed, shoving to my feet as pictures of him broken and dying on the unforgiving carpet filled my head.

Wicked landed so softly he seemed to float the last couple of inches to the ground. Of course he did. And he ran through the melee to fling himself into my arms.

Another blast of acidic goo slashed in our direction. I jumped away from it and dove behind the sales counter.

Sebille buzzed over in her sprite form.

“What’s going on?” I asked as a roar filled the air. One end of the store was shrouded in yellow fog. The roar had come from there. “What’s happening?” I repeated when Sebille didn’t answer.

She shot skyward and sent a jolt of energy into the tin ceiling, leaving a large char mark along the once pristine tiles. For just a beat, her energy bolt burned away the yellow fog clinging there, and a cherubic face peered down. Then two tiny fists emerged, a small bow clutched in fat little fingers, and an arrow burst out of the acidic goo, slashing toward us.

Sebille threw up her hands, and a wall of sprite energy took the hit. “That baby thing with the scary teeth is trying to kill us. I have no idea why.”

A snarky thought shot into my brain before I could stop it. Of course, it fell right out of my brain and onto my tongue. “Maybe it saw what you did to Hobs and Slimy and has a burning desire to avenge them.”

“Har!” Sebille said, then shot skyward and filled the air with several bursts of energy. The fog dissipated under the assault and the cherub slammed backward, hitting the wall just beneath the ceiling and sliding bonelessly to the floor.

Another roar filled the air.

“What in the name of the goddess’s favorite sushi restaurant is roaring?”

Sebille popped into full size and hurried over to the downed cherub. She tugged the bow away and flipped it over, encircling its pudgy wrists with her fingers and leaving behind a set of magical cuffs. “It’s Rustin.” She straightened, arching a single red brow at me. “He’s…” she shook her head, seemingly without words to describe what the ghost witch was.

“He’s what?”

Another roar shook the glass in the window, and another cherub flew out of the fog, slamming hard enough into the bookshelves to make them wobble. The cherub slid to the floor, eyes closed and harpy-like teeth pressed against its pink lips.

Something moved in the fog, and Sebille grabbed my arm. We forgot all about the second cherub as something huge pushed through the quickly dissipating mist and lumbered toward us on enormous, clawed paws.

“Mythical,” I breathed out, answering my own question. Rustin was mythical. I turned to Sebille, a smile finding its way onto my face despite the terrifying aspect of the creature standing not twenty feet away.

“He’s a Chimera?”

Sebille nodded, her grin matching mine.

I was five feet nine inches tall and the Chimera was easily twice as tall as I was. Its wings were massive, as well they’d have to be to carry the enormous creature through the air. The living myth moved closer, smoke wafting in fragrant streams from its leonine nose. The nostrils flared and a hollow chuff sounded, the thick golden mane quivering with interest. The eyes were golden too. They were intelligent eyes, but not in any way human.

The thing’s leathery dragon wings had curved claws at the apex of their bony frames, and the back paws sported long, deadly-looking claws that could rip a human apart in a single slash.

His tail was thicker than a lion’s but had the same general shape, with a ball of fur on the end like the big cat’s.

The thing that was supposedly Rustin moved closer, his steps ponderous in the relatively small space. The glass in the big picture window rattled with every step. The nostrils flared again, the leonine head stretching closer as if to scent us. He threw back his head and roared again. Sebille and I scuttled backward with matching yelps.

“Are you sure it’s Rustin?” I asked, my eyes popping wide as the enormous mouth opened and an annoyed huff escaped, along with thick coils of pale gray smoke.

“It’s him. But I don’t think he changed on purpose and he might not have full control over this form yet.”

The Chimera lowered its head over the cuffed cherub, nostrils flaring again. Rustin bellowed, stamping an enormous paw near the fallen creature. His wings lifted, waving lazily on the air.

“What if he tries to eat them?” I asked, nodding toward the cherub.

Sebille shrugged. “It will be gross, but better them than us.”

“Sebille!” My sharp tone had the Chimera whipping in our direction, wings lifting as if it was thinking about taking off. It snarled at us, spittle flying as it angrily whipped its head.

“Festering Frog freckles!” I said.

“Do something, Naida,” Sebille muttered, clamping her bony fingers around my arm.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You have about a billion artifacts in this place. Throw something at it!”

I nodded, my mind racing. Throw something…

SB! No. Rustin would never forgive himself if he ate the ancient parrot. And Blackbeard’s blade, which went where the parrot went, might hurt Rustin.

I thought of the magic hand vac but decided I didn’t want to see a hundred songbirds get eaten either.

Think, Naida. Think!

“Ah!” I swung a hand toward the dividing door and it flew open, a silvery ribbon of keeper energy winding its way into the artifact library.

A moment later, a single feather floated into the room, dancing its way toward me.

The Chimera’s golden eyes found the feather and followed it, widening as it swirled and spun in the air between us.

The creature swiped at the feather with a thick paw and sent it flying away,