Midway: The Harvesting Series Book 2 by Karsak Melanie

Author:Karsak, Melanie [Karsak, Melanie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Clockpunk Press
Published: 2014-10-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Ariel wept quietly to herself as we made our way through the forest. I could hear her sniffling, but she didn’t complain.

“Puck?” I called when we got deeper into the woods. “Damned dog. Puck!”

I climbed a rise in the forest to get a better view. To the left, I saw a thicket. If I were Puck, that’s where I would have spent the night.

“Puck!”

I saw movement in the thicket then heard a little bark.

Chase and Ariel stopped.

“You hear that?” I called to them.

Chase and Ariel climbed the rise to join me.

“Puck!” I called again.

Again, a little bark came from the thicket.

“He must be stuck on something, otherwise he’d come,” I said then headed toward the thicket, Chase and Ariel following behind.

Foolish dog. In the middle of all this mess, I was chasing my dog through the woods. The thicket was a tangle of rhododendron bushes and blackberry briars. The blackberry bushes were thick with fruit.

“Puck?” I whispered harshly.

There was a soft yelp in reply. My stomach filled with butterflies. Was he hurt?

“I’ll go in. Don’t want him getting spooked.”

“We’ll grab some of these while we wait. Katy will like them.” Ariel said. She pulled off the scarf she’d been using for a belt and started picking berries.

Chase looked at both of us like we were crazy then, with a sigh, started helping Ariel.

Cursing under my breath, I pushed into the thicket.

“Puck, it’s me. I’m comin’, buddy.”

I heard a whimper.

I pressed through the bushes. The thorns scraped my skin, the branches pulling my hair. The scratches itched and burned then grew bloody. I finally struggled through the tangle to pop out in a small opening in the middle of the briars.

For a moment, for just a split second, I thought I saw. . .a man. He was sitting on the ground, his legs crossed. The sunlight shined down on his dark hair. He looked up at me from under heavy eyebrows, the sunlight shining on his golden eyes, making them sparkle. What the hell? Then the wind blew, shifting the canopy overhead. I looked up. A beam of sunlight blinded me, making me wince. When I opened my eyes again, Puck was sitting there. There was no man, only the dog. Maybe I was hungrier than I thought.

“You bad dog! Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

Puck whimpered and rose to walk toward me. He was limping. I bent down and lifted the paw he was nursing. There was a big thorn stuck inside.

“You big baby,” I told him as I gently pulled the thorn away. “People are gettin’ eaten alive, and you are whinin’ over a thorn in the paw.” I had to admit, it was in pretty deep. When I pulled it out, he whimpered and a little blood came out.

“Come on, you. Let’s get you back, and I’ll wash it up,” I said as I scratched him on the head. “The things I’ll do for love.”

Puck licked my face.

“Spoiled rotten. I’ve probably got a hundred more scratches than you just chasin’ in here after you,” I scolded him, but I was also filled with relief.

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