Myths: The Folklore Trilogy

Chapter 27-In Which We Fight One Last Time

Hey guys! Oh man, you probably hate me right now. Well, this chapter is longer than usual, so I hope that compensates? Yes? Please?

Here it is.
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I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. I stretched sleepily. I felt refreshed, better than I had felt in a long time.

"Audrey's still asleep," I heard a quiet voice say.

I turned my head and smiled. "Someday, I'm going to teach you how to sleep in."

Sophie smiled. "How exactly do you teach someone to sleep?"

I sat up, stretching more. "I'll find a way."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Excuse me," I heard Primrose say, "may I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," I called out. She opened the door quietly, stepped inside to curtsy, and looked at us nervously. "Lad- I mean, Seraphina, requests your presence at breakfast as soon as possible. And she says there's a change of clothes in the closet."

I swing out of bed. "Thanks. We'll be there in a few minutes." Primrose curtsied and left.

I turned to the sleeping form of Audrey. I put my hands on her shoulders and motioned with my head to Sophie to do the same. She did, with a small smile.

"1, 2, 3," I whispered. Then we shook her as hard as we possibly could. "AUDREEEEEY!!!!"

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Most of the princesses cried when we left. They were so sweet, practically overloading us with food. I got hugged so many times I lost count. Sophie looked like she was about to cry. Seraphina was crying so hard and steadily, she had to sit down. Audrey patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

Finally, we bid them farewell and continued into the forest.

"They were weird," Audrey muttered. Sophie looked shocked. "But they were so nice!"

"Nice, yes," Audrey agreed. "But also weird."

"I thought they were incredible," I whispered, thinking about how they had forgiven Giselle even after the horrors she had forced them to endure.

Audrey's face lit up. "Hey Sophie," she said excitedly. "Can I see the book?"

"Uh, sure," Sophie said, pulling the book out. "Why?"

"I want to see if I can play Tetris," Audrey said, grabbing the book and opening it sideways like how we had seen Seraphina do.

"Can you play Tetris online?" Sophie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You can do anything online," Audrey replied.

Suddenly, I felt it. A twinge. A pang. Something was wrong.

"Hey guys," I said nervously.

They continued talking. "But how are you supposed to play Tetris on a book?" Sophie asked.

"I'll find a way."

"Guys, something is wrong," I said, now convinced. I stopped looking around wildly.

"But there are no buttons on a b-"

"Haha, success!"

"GUYS!" I shouted. They turned to look at me. "Something isn't right."

Suddenly, Sophie gasped. "There."

And sure enough, in the clearing ahead of us, was a tormentor.

My heart crept up into my throat. It was ugly, maybe the ugliest I've seen yet. It was black, black as night, and seemed to suck all the light out of the air, even though it was the middle of the day. It's horns were small, but curved forward, as if they were in the consistent position to kill. It had a long, slender, scaly tail, like a snake. And it's face. It's face looked like it had been smashed with a bowling ball, smushed in all the wrong places so that it barely resembled a face anymore. It grinned, which cause the face to contort grotesquely.