sharp teeth before it ambled away. She swore it wrinkled its nose in disgust.
“Thank you, Neeve, for making me stink.” Brea wasn’t sure her heartbeat would ever return to normal. She stared at the creature until she couldn’t see it anymore. “Get it together, Robinson.” She reached for the lantern at her feet. Her hands shaking as she wondered how many of those things were out there.
Her body said, “I live here now,” but her mind disagreed. Taking a careful step off the mossy perch, the tension in Brea’s shoulders eased some. Solid ground.
With her compass guiding her way east, Brea moved as quickly as her feet would allow her, ever mindful of what she might step on. Nocturnal creatures were out and about, making a ruckus all around her. Insects and small furry creatures she could handle. Even the orange salamanders that scurried about didn’t bother her.
Owls hooted and fish splashed in the ponds. She even heard the distant growl of a very large cat she hoped she wouldn’t encounter. As the ground grew soft again, Brea searched for an alternate path. She didn’t want to end up in mud up to her knees again.
Her stomach growled, and she thought of the food Neeve packed for her. Setting her lamp down, Brea rushed to retrieve the bacon sandwiches from her pack. Just a quick bite, and she’d be on her way again. Resting against a cypress tree, she ate quickly. Feeling better with something in her stomach, Brea leaned her head back against the tree, sipping from her canteen.
“No crazy swamp dragons here.” She shoved off the tree and hauled her pack up on her shoulder. Leaning down for her lantern, something heavy and scaly landed on her back.
Brea screamed, throwing the huge snake across the swamp. The slithering, hissing black snake landed with a thud. It was huge and angry. Brea took a step back and stumbled over her lantern. Darkness fell all around her as her only light source went out.
“No!” Brea nearly wept.
Hissing sounded nearby, and she wasn’t waiting around for the snake to find her or call his buddies in for a group attack. Clutching her compass, Brea followed the path of semi-solid ground until it ran out.
Within moments, the mud reached her calves, but she kept moving East. Without the lantern, the bugs had finally left her alone.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Brea laughed. “Of course it’s going to rain.” She threw her hands up toward the sky. “It’s certainly not wet enough around here.”
She trudged forward, avoiding the nocturnal growls that sounded far too close for comfort. The larger creatures seemed to want to check her out until they got close enough to smell Neeve’s concoction on her, and then they probably decided she didn’t smell like food.
“Thank you, Neeve. I smell so bad not even the dragon monsters want anything to do with me.”
To make the time pass and to keep her mind off the creepy crawlies, Brea kept her eyes glued to a grove of trees in the distance. When she reached it, she found a long branch to use as a walking stick. Checking her compass to ensure she was heading in the right direction, she selected a new landmark to focus on. This time it was an outcropping of rocks rising from the swamp.
She was on her fifth landmark when it started to rain. Her seventh when it started to pour. By the tenth landmark, Brea was in mud up to her thighs with no solid ground in sight.
She was exhausted and scared out of her wits. The area around her was more water than mud, and Brea’s heart raced with the fear of what monsters might lurk nearby. She clutched her walking stick, using it to keep her balance in the swamp.
The magic she didn’t understand thundered through her body. She had no knowledge of how to control it, only that it responded to her emotions. Griff claimed he was going to teach her how to harness her emotions so she wouldn’t lose control, but that had never happened. The evidence against him continued to mount, and Brea wondered why it had taken her so long to see it.
She could feel it sizzling under her skin, begging for release. The longer she struggled to move through the swampy waters, the more the magic gathered inside her, latching on to her fear and anger like a blazing fire consuming oxygen.
Brea took another step forward, and she was up