Year of study: fourth
Assignment type: solo (with mentor observing)
Bald, misshapen head? Check.
Scrawny, wrinkled body? Check.
Patches of hair in random spots? Check.
Ferocious, human-devouring tendencies? Not so much.
“He looks so lonely,” I say to Tora. More than lonely, in fact. The urisk sitting on the rock beside the dam looks as though he may burst into tears at any moment.
Tora frowns. “You’re not supposed to be talking to me. I’m just here to observe, remember? Not interact.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Unless you appear to be in mortal peril.”
Now who’s talking? “Mortal peril isn’t on my agenda, so I think we’re good.” I make my way slowly toward the urisk. The Seer who passed on this assignment told Tora she’d Seen a family arrive to go out onto the dam in their boat. The urisk tried to make friends with the little girl, who fell into the dam in complete terror and got pulled under by the current.
I’m here to stop that from happening.
I heard Ryn telling a first year that urisks have been known to literally scare people to death. I’m pretty sure that’s just a rumor, though. I mean, the poor guy’s not that hideous. I take a few more tentative steps forward.
“Um, hi,” I say. The urisk turns his head toward me, and the look of complete joy that lights up his unsightly face makes me feel weirdly choked up. “Um, ahem.” I swallow. “So . . . I hear you’ve been looking for some friends?”
YOU ARE READING
An A to Z of Creepy Hollow Fae
Teen Fiction**CREEPY HOLLOW Prequel Short Stories** Before Violet met Nate, the human boy who followed her into the fae realm and turned her life upside down, she was the perfect guardian trainee. She followed all the rules and did her best to protect her human...
