The Seven Whistlers by Christopher Golden & Amber Benson

Author:Christopher Golden & Amber Benson [Golden, Christopher & Benson, Amber]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Daring Greatly Corporation
Published: 2012-07-09T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Marco Ferrara and his best friend, Evergreen Knollson, were sitting cross-legged on the floor of their makeshift fort smoking a bowl when they heard something weird in the woods below them.

When they had told Marco’s dad their plans for building a fort out in the woods behind the Knollson House, Cesar Ferrara had told them to put the fort high in a tree so that no wild animals would be tempted to attack them. At the time, the boys had thought he was joking, but now, almost five years later, they both had the exact same thought at the exact same time: Marco’s Dad wasn’t so full of crap, after all.

“What the hell was that?” Marco said, as he almost dropped the lit match he was holding in his hand. He quickly shook the tiny fire out and dropped the match head onto the wooden floor, where it promptly rolled away into a corner.

“I don’t know, man,” Evergreen said, his voice cracking a little.

They waited in silence, the only sound the thrumming of the woods around them. Marco sat up on his knees, trying to get a look over the walls of the fort, but Evergreen grabbed the neck of his T-shirt and yanked him back down out of sight.

“What’re you doing, idiot?!”

Marco turned and glared into Evergreen’s chubby face. His friend was trying to grow a mustache to impress the senior girls, but Marco thought the pathetic wisps of facial hair only made Evergreen look like a 1970s child molester.

“I’m trying to see what’s down there, turd,” Marco snapped.

The sound came again, and both boys shrank back from it. It was a deep, guttural bark accompanied by a sharp, reedy, whistling sound. Neither of them could think of a single animal that made a sound like that.

“Maybe it’s a wolf, or even a bear or something, but wounded. My dad said a hurt animal can sound like a human baby sometimes,” Evergreen whispered, but Marco could tell by the panicked look on his friend’s face that Evergreen didn’t believe a word he was saying.

“I don’t know, man. I’ve never heard an animal sound like that before.”

Evergreen’s eyes lit up and he gave Marco a knowing smile. “You know what it is, man? It’s the pot. It’s, like, laced with acid or something. We’re totally hallucinating!”

Marco shook his head.

“We can’t both be hallucinating the same thing, dumb ass!”

“How do you know?” Evergreen shot back.

“Because I just know,” Marco said. He’d never tripped before, but he was sure whatever they were hearing was real, not some drug-induced auditory hallucination.

“Besides, I don’t care if it is a hallucination. I’m not taking one step outta this fort till it goes away.”

“Yeah, bro, I’m with you on that one.”

Evergreen nodded sagely and they settled back into silence, listening for the telltale signs of the creature’s departure. After a few more minutes of silence, Marco began to relax, the tension flowing from his shoulders and neck. The reek of burnt marijuana was still strong

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.