(Skeleton Key) Game Master Read Free

over my finger. “It’s not the first time. And it won’t be the last.” Kingsley wasn’t upset. He was annoyed, his tiny forehead crinkling. “But don’t jiggle me. I have a very sensitive stomach.”
    I snorted and unzipped my backpack.
    I dropped the frog inside.
    I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t piss on my clothes in there.” I lifted one red brow. “And do not shit.”
    He lay down on his left side, crossing one red spindly leg over the other, and propped up his head with his left arm. He looked like he was ready for a lady-friend to meet him at dusk. He drawled, “Dear, I am the epitome of graciousness. I don’t shit on a humona’s clothing.”
    “I’m going to hold you to that,” I mumbled and then zipped my backpack. I pulled the other strap over my free shoulder and ran as quickly as my feet would take me across the road into the treeline.
    The woods would be a better cover than the open lane. Especially, when the thump-thump of horse hooves pounded the dirt and a horn rent the air.
    The Guard was almost here.

“You. Are. Bouncing. Me.” Kingsley wasn’t a happy frog.
    Didn’t frogs kind of bounce, anyway?
    “I’m running to save my life,” I hissed, wondering if he could even hear me through the material of my backpack. “You said to run. So I’m running.”
    He groused, “I did not tell you to kidnap me.”
    Guess he could hear me.
    My lips twitched. “I can’t hear you. You’re all muffled in there.”
    “That’s because I’m shoved against a pair of socks.”
    I snickered silently. Those hadn’t been washed yet.
    “And, may I add, no humona wears this color here.” He paused. “What it is this? Pastel pink?”
    I didn’t fall for it. I didn’t own anything pastel pink.
    “Hmm. I guess you can’t hear me.”
    I jumped over a slight dip in the ground and grinned.
    My boots were ruining the pretty flowers. Even though the beat of horse hooves were no longer pounding behind me. The flowers would grow back. Maybe.
    I truly had no clue in a different realm .
    I stopped behind one of the many trees and placed my left hand on the rough bark. I leaned heavily, trying to catch my breath. I had run at least two miles already—all at a racing pace.
    “Is there an issue out there?” Kingsley questioned.
    I licked my lips. Decided to answer. “No.”
    “Mmm-hmm. You can hear me. Did they not teach you manners on Earth? Because, when you’re spoken to in Terlant, others will expect—”
    “Shh.” I cut him off mid-tirade. I swayed forward and turned my right ear straight ahead, listening closely. There was definitely a road up ahead—minimal traffic turning dirt. “Are we close to a town?”
    No response came.
    I rubbed at my forehead. “I’m sorry. All right?”
    “Thank you,” Kingsley returned curtly. “And, yes, there are a few towns near here.” He paused, and then his voice turned dry. “Let me guess. You’re planning to steal a horse, so I will definitely be sick all over your laundry?”
    My forehead crinkled. That had been the plan.
    “Maybe?” I mumbled.
    “Bad idea. Then you really will be a criminal running from the Guard.” He hummed quietly, deep in thought. “Perhaps you could get a job somewhere. That’s what most humonas do.”
    “I’d have to be paid under the table. Do they do that here?”
    “Occasionally. If you find the right individual.”
    I tapped the tree bark with my knuckles. “Can I really not get back through that door?”
    “You can only pass through with a skeleton key.” He grunted. “Yours disappeared faster than most.”
    I scowled. “It’s magic like you said before?”
    “Oh, yes. The skeleton key is very powerful.”
    I inhaled another lung full of crisp oxygen. The air was cleaner in this place, almost as if I couldn’t feel it when I inhaled. It was rejuvenating.
    “I need to find a place to stay first. If the Guard is searching, then I need a hiding spot.” I didn’t want to sleep under the trees on the hard