Decimate

Chapter Twenty Eight--Dan--Lacy Laced Our Muffins

I woke up pale and sweaty.

I had had the worst dream. A man with dark skin and dozens of scars...

"Hey," Sean said. He was sitting up on a log next to me. "Are you okay?"

I hastily nodded. "Fine. Just... dreams."

He seemed to understand. "Annabeth said demigods get a lot of bad dreams."

I nodded, but my mind was elsewhere.

"We should get going," Sean said. "I'll wake Mark." he stood and walked over to the sleeping boy, crouching next to him and poking his nose.

"Wake up Markimoo," he said.

Mark groaned. "Five more minutes mom."

I laughed a bit. "Mark get your lazy ass out of bed."

Mark reluctantly sat up and glared at me.

Sean grinned. "Come on Mark, let's go!"

I was struck with nostalgia as I remembered what Phil had said that one morning. Sean was a lot like him in some ways, but not in others. Like he wasn't as cute.

Before long, we were all heading out.

"So," Mark said, walking beside me. "Any idea where we're going?"

I scowled. I had been driving back those thoughts for a while. I was hoping that it would come to me, but that was probably about as likely as it was for Mark to wake up early.

"Nope."

Mark swallowed. "Uh Dan? I don't really want to alarm you but... that lady is staring at you."

I glanced across the street to see that there was in fact, a lady staring at me. She had a sickly smile on her face. Her nose was unnaturally long and crooked. Were her eyes two different colors? I couldn't tell from this distance. But she wore a pink dress with a white apron, like one that you would see on someone in a bakery. It kind of hurt my eyes. Her brown hair was short and wavy, curling around her shoulders like a snake.

Before I could tell Mark and Sean to hop into an alley or something, the woman hurried over to our side of the street and spoke to us.

"Oh you poor dears," she crooned. Up close I could see every wart on her giant nose. "Are you homeless?"

Mark opened his mouth to say something, but she interrupted him, as if she hadn't expected an answer.

"Would you like to come to my bakery for some sweets?"

I wanted to say no, but before I could Sean spoke up. "Yes Ma'am!"

I elbowed him in the ribs. "Thank you very much, but we'll have to say—" "Yes," Mark agreed, then shot me a glare, like I was the one being weird.

"Come along," she croaked. Not actually croaked mind you. Although she did look old enough to.

She waddled away, gesturing for us to follow her. Sean and Mark did without hesitation, but I did less willingly. I wasn't about to leave my friends behind, but I also wasn't eager to be murdered by this creepy ass lady.

She led us a bit farther to a place just as hideously pink as her outfit. The sign simply read 'bakery'. Creative. Despite the décor and the name, the place smelled fantastic. Like fresh-baked muffins. But there was another smell in there too... like pine needles.

"So," Sean said. "Where's the sweets?"

I rolled my eyes, but the woman just gave us another sickly sweet smile. "Stay here dearies. I'll be right back." and with that, she dissipated behind the counter.

"What were you thinking?" I hissed, glaring at Sean. "For all we know, she's some psycho who puts razors in muffins!"

Sean furrowed his brow. "She seemed nice enough. She offered to give us food, which we kind of need."

I scowled. "Yeah, but—"

The woman came back out from the back room, holding a tray of weird scone looking things. "Here you are dearies," she said. "Eat up!"

Sean took one and bit into it quickly, making me frown. Mark took one as well, eating it slower but still eating it. I took one and simply held it, deciding not to eat it until I knew it was safe.

"So," I asked the woman. "What's your name anyway?"

If she had done it any faster, I wouldn't have noticed it, but her face momentarily turned to panic. "My name is L-Lacy."

I frowned, suspicious.

"Well?" Lacy asked. "Aren't you going to eat your scone?"

I glanced at the brown food in my hand. "I'm not really hungry."

She continued to smile, but it seemed a bit more forced now. "It's very good, you'll like it."

I frowned again. This was weird. I was beginning to suspect this lady wasn't human.

Suddenly Sean dropped his scone and fell to the floor, giggling and hiccuping. "Let's hop on the magic school bus!" he laughed. I dropped my food and faced Lacy. "What did you do to him?"

She cackled. Then she began to change shape.

Her stringy brown hair turned into what looked like roots cascading from her head. Her legs grew shorter and her arms longer. A beard made of roots and grass sprouted from her chin. She seemed to be turning into a tree. Her pink dress disappeared, to be replaced by a green tunic like outfit with a brown leather belt. Her nose stayed the same, but turned into wood. Her silver serving tray morphed to make a crude ax.

Lacy was no longer Lacy.

The creature—definitely now a man—laughed. I would have expected a deep voice to come from his mouth area, but instead came a whispery, high pitched noise. Like wind flowing over a bottle.

He brandished his ax. "Foolish mortal," he wheezed. "I am a Leshy!"

I grabbed the dagger from Mark, who was laying on the floor laughing like this was the funniest thing ever.

"A leash?"

The creature laughed again. "No fool, a Leshy. I am a creature of the woods, that you entered without my permission. I was told you would come to my forest with the intent to destroy. So I must kill you now."

I brandished the dagger. "If you want to get to my friends, you'll have to go though me."

And with that, I flung myself at him.