Heroine of Holly Ridge

Chapter nineteen

I bruised my side, but at least we were off that accursed train. Alan laughed with relief. Duffy smiled fondly at us. We were pretty happy. But we still have a problem. I have no idea where we are.

"Alan?" I ask," do you know where we are?"

"No," he said brow scrunching up. A though hits me. Is Duffy a vampire or mythical creature of any kind? "Hey Duff, are you a mythical creature?" I voice me thoughts. "Yep," he grinned at me. "Well?" I ask.

"I'm a werecat,"he said.

My jaw dropped. Alan's did too. "So like, you turn into a panther or....?" I gawped. Ole Duffy, the werecat, nodded. Woah. Well that's a good thing I suppose. The train whistled in the distance. I glances around. Lots of redwood trees surround us. We must be in California. We are very very far from Holly Ridge.

"Well, let's get to running," Alan suggested.

"I don't have super speed," Duffy said looking down.

"You should leave me," he said.

"No. We couldn't," I said firmly. I gesture to my small back. "Hop on," I said. I figured if I have super strength Duffy shouldn't be very heavy. He hopped on with childlike glee. My spine feels like it's about to give out. Maybe Duffy is too much. But I can't leave him here alone. To fend for himself. Nuh-uh. And we take off. Every once and awhile Alan and I switched Duffy around.

What's quite funny is that he talked like the whole time. There was Alan and I sweating and panting while Duffy chats about the Bassett hound he had when he was in kindergarten. It really made the trip move along.