Eight Legs Too Many

Chapter 18: Shiori meets an orca

Shiori froze, bracing for pain.

But there was no pain.

In fact, nothing was happening at all.

"Huh," said the park ranger, fiddling with the trigger. "I thought there was supposed to be a bang or something. Does this gun only work when shooting tigers? That's not what the movies suggest. Did you feel anything?"

Shiori's bewildered brain cleared—just long enough for her to hurl herself across the desk, straight at the unsuspecting park ranger. The woman went down with a shocked 'oomph!' Her head smacked against the wooden floor and she went still.

The door burst open. "Shiori!" called a familiar voice. "Shiori, are you in here?"

"Devland?"

It was indeed Devland. He looked battered and bruised, and there were more than a few twigs sticking out of his head at odd angles, but he was somehow still standing, somehow still not poisoned, somehow still alive.

He skidded to a halt as he took in the scene. Shiori could only imagine the picture she must have made crouched on top of the unconscious park ranger, a very lethal-looking gun on the floor several inches away.

Shiori scrambled to her feet. "You're alive."

To her dismay, her lower lip started to tremble. Tears welled in her eyes.

She scrubbed them aside with her hand. More tears emerged to take their place, as though her face was an arcade game, and her eyes were the holes those stupid whack a moles popped out of.

Devland, curse him, was starting to look mildly concerned. Shiori turned away. "How did you—the ravine—the octopuses—"

"There are some perks to having magic."

On the floor, the park ranger muttered something. Shiori hadn't paid much attention to her features before—she'd been too worried for Devland's safety—but now, she noticed the woman's face was very young, probably younger than Shiori's own. Her youth was accentuated by her flaming pink hair, which clashed noticeably with her park ranger hat.

Shiori turned her attention back to Devland. "Are you all right?" she demanded. "An octopus didn't bite you, did it?"

"No octopus bites... although I can't say the same for the tiger that attacked me. I think it was already a bit woozy when it pushed me off the mountain, and it barely did anything to me when I landed on it." He grimaced. "I used up all my remaining magic stores getting here. Next time we go for a hike, I'm definitely bringing a Hazmat suit."

A giggle from the floor made them both look down.

"Hazmat suit, shazmat suit!" said the park ranger. She laughed again and rolled on her back. "Was that funny? Did I just make a joke?"

"Who's this?" said Devland. "Also, where did that gun come from?"

Shiori swiped the gun off the floor before the park ranger could get any ideas. "Some crazy chick Boris sent after us. She knew we were looking for something on the mountain. She tried to shoot me."

"I did shoot you!" the park ranger burbled. "The gun just didn't work!"

She sat up suddenly—so fast, Shiori and Devland both jumped. Shiori tensed, half-expecting her to pull another gun from beneath her ranger uniform. But instead, the woman clutched her hair in her hands, looking alarmed.

"I don't suppose," she said, "you'd let me try again. Would you?" She held out her hand for the gun, her eyes going wide and beseeching. "Please?" Her lower lip wobbled. "This was my very first above-ground mission. Mum even let me have a proper body! I don't know what Mum'll do if I come back empty-handed, but she might send me back to the underworld, and I don't like it there. There's much more interesting stuff here. Like mountains! And television!"