The Goblin Warrior (Beneath Sands Book 2) by Emma Hamm (100 books to read txt) 📕

voice would intimidate the man. Her voice had a hint of strength, but her eyes kept flicking away from his.

Predictably, he didn’t even flinch.

“I just deliver the animals. I do what people tell me to.”

“I think it would be best if I spoke to your supervisor. This is unacceptable. I cannot take care of these creatures right now, I have other matters to attend to.”

Again the man shrugged. “We can leave ‘em out here I guess.”

Willow watched as the woman’s chest expanded slowly and then let go.

“No. No we can’t leave them out here. Fine I’ll go with you.”

What caught Willow’s attention was the way the woman stared back at the door. There was something important in there. Or at least, important to the woman.

Then she tucked the clipboard under her arm and followed the man back towards the room where the animals were still screeching loudly. Willow could hear their cries echoing through the vent.

She was supposed to go find Luther. That was her only reason for being in this vent in the first place. But the expression on the woman’s face was so intriguing. What was behind that door? Willow knew that if she jumped down from the vent, she would likely find it locked.

She loved locked doors.

Instead of finding her brother, Willow travelled along the length of the vent once more until she could peer down into the room the woman had been so interested in.

She hadn’t expected to see a man strapped down to a table there. That was boring. Men were always strapped to tables here. Women too. The hospital was not the place of healing that most people thought it was.

Willow had seen too much in her adventures to believe that.

Then she started to notice little details about the man strapped to the table that she would never have thought to see.

Yellow skin. Claws on his hands. Finely tipped ears. He was bigger than any other man she had seen before.

This was not a man. The thought popped into her head as she stared down. Her eyes grew wider as she realized she may be looking at something entirely different. Was that what the Doctor was doing here? Was he creating some sort of humanoid creature?

She had to find out. Her curiosity would never rest if she didn’t.

Against all reason, she curled her body into the small space of the vent and kicked out at the grated opening. One, two, three, she struck the flimsy metal hard until it fell with a loud clatter onto the floor.

She held her breath, certain that someone would come running.

But no one did.

After she counted to thirty, Willow poked her head from the ceiling and then leveraged herself out of the vent. She dangled by her hands for a little while before letting herself drop onto the floor.

She made far less noise than the grate did. That she was proud of.

When she turned towards the table, she realized that the creature had its face turned towards her.

“So you’re awake then.” She whispered.

Willow took a good long look at the creature. She started at his toes, noticing the long nails and the blood smeared across them. Long legs and strong muscle lines curved up and over his thighs and chest. His torso looked longer than human’s, that she could at least tell. Those deadly claws were locked down onto the table.

Finally she looked at his face, the sight of which immediately made her shake her head.

“Weird eyes.” Milky white, they tracked her movements even though they shouldn’t have been able to.

“So you’re blind huh?” She asked it. Then she snapped her fingers so that those eyes could lock onto her position a little better. “There was an old man in the mining camp who was blind. His eyes looked like yours.”

The creature didn’t respond to her. He simply breathed in and out.

It had to be a he. Willow didn’t have a lot of experience with anatomy, but even she could see that a naked creature strapped to a table had a few parts more than her and a few parts less.

“So did they make you? Or are you something else?”

Again, no response. The longer she talked, the more it seemed like it was reacting to her though. It didn’t understand her. She somehow knew that. But maybe, just maybe, it wanted to understand her.

Willow was just as skittish as the goblin boy. She stalked closer to the table and peered over the edge until just her eyes showed over the lip of the table.

“What are you?” She asked it.

A low rumble came out of the creature’s mouth. But it hadn’t sounded like a growl. It sounded like something else.

“Do you have any idea what I’m saying?”

The creature’s head turned so that it could be pointed more clearly in her direction.

“You’re pretty good at tracking me. Even without your sight.” Her brow furrowed. “Think that means you used to be able to see? You’d be better at knowing where I am if you were used to hearing footsteps.”

She stood a little straighter until her chin rested against the edge of the table. Her throat pressed against the metal, and she wondered for a second if he would be able to feel the vibrations.

“You’re not super scary though.”

It bared its teeth at her. She flinched when she saw the sharp points. “Okay maybe a little.”

One hand raised, and she slid it along the table until just the very tip of her pointer finger touched his bicep. This time it was the creature who flinched.

Willow kept her finger against his skin.

“Willow.” She said quietly. Her other hand reached out to tap against his hand and then thumped her fist hard against her chest. “Willow.”

The goblin seemed to think for a moment, and Willow repeated the movements. Again and again she said her name until the creature’s claws scratched against the table.

She fell silent then, wondering if she had overstepped the line.

But then, so quietly she almost didn’t hear it, the creature whispered,