Fairy Tale: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 3) Read Free Page A

rest of me was glad for Kishi. I would never have confidence like that, so it was almost awe-inspiring to see how she carried herself.
    “The only thing that really bugs me is that there are vultures overhead, and we’ve been walking for at least an hour. I can’t see anything but sand and bleached bones,” Kishi said, anxiety etched on her face.
    “Yeah, well every journey begins with a single step,” I said with a shake of my head. “Besides, all adventures can’t be gumdrops and candy canes.”
    “It could have been in the other Court. Maybe I chose wrong?” she asked with a glance overhead at the vultures. Their numbers were clearly increasing, but I tried not to focus on it.
    “Maybe we’d be stripped nude in a blizzard?” I smiled at her and put on my best confident face. “That’s not my idea of a good time.”
    Kishi turned bright red at my comment and looked away from me. “Being naked in a snowstorm isn’t really that bad. You use body heat to keep warm.”
    I tried my best to keep my thoughts away from what she said and not respond. Really, I did, but the silence between us was becoming so thick that I could have cut it with a knife.
    “If that happens,” I said after a moment that felt so long that it must have been two eternities, “we leave that out of the report.”
    “Agreed.”
    The scenery changed so abruptly that I wouldn’t have noticed it if the change wasn’t so drastic. One moment we were trudging through the desert with the sun beating down on us. The next we found ourselves in the midst of a musky swamp.
    Why we were suddenly in a swamp, I wasn’t quite sure, but I was quite ready for a change. The air was so heavy with moisture that it was like being swathed in a thick blanket. Beside me, Kishi coughed and swatted at some sort of thing that buzzed in the air next to her. I was suddenly thankful that, even though the air throbbed with the sounds of insects and birds, the majority of the indigenous insect life made a beeline for Kishi.
    I know it wasn’t exactly right of me to be glad for her discomfort, but I was glad that she didn’t have those Cinderella powers that would make mosquitos attack me instead. Small victories.
    “God damn it!” she squealed and slapped her hand against the back of her neck. When she pulled it away a thin line of sticky green goop clung to her hands. I turned away so I wouldn’t be physically sick and was greeted with the flitting wings of effervescent bugs as they buzzed back and forth between the pink-purple petals of flowers that dotted the jungle floor.
    It was a welcome change from the endless sands of the desert since that scenery was mostly dotted with buzzards and the pale bones of creatures less fortunate than us. The jungle by contrast was beautiful.
    “It’s certainly pretty,” I mumbled as I bent down to examine some kind of fruit. Thick yellow sap oozed from its flesh, and it gave off a sickly-sweet scent that was a cross between honey and rotting meat.
    “Don’t touch that!” Kishi screamed and lunged toward me. I yanked my hand back as I spun toward her. She took another step and slipped in the mud. Her feet flew out from under her in a spray that covered me in reddish-brown slime.
    I wiped the goop from my eyes and tried to glare at Kishi, only I couldn’t find her. There was nothing but a large bubble where she had been standing. My heart hammered in my chest as I raced toward the spot.
    “Kishi!” I called frantically. I was nearly there when one of her hands burst from the surface of the mud. I leapt for her hand and gripped it by the wrist.
    I yanked backward. It was like trying to pull a particularly stubborn fish from the depths of the ocean. I closed my eyes and braced my feet against the ground and pulled. My muscles bulged and strained as, very slowly, Kishi’s arm came out of the muck.
    The air around me was suddenly dense and syrupy. I swallowed, and it didn’t help. That’s when I remembered something I