by Amy Hopkins
“If he’s not, it’s not our problem.” Penny’s eyes traced the line of the mountains. “But yeah. I think we got him.”
A rustle nearby made her sit up. “What was that?”
“It was Boots.” Amelia jutted her chin in the direction of the snake, who was headed toward the trees, dragging a pair of jeans. “Uhh, Boots? Where did you get those?”
Boots coughed and continued on her way. Penny shaded her eyes and looked toward the trees. A moment later, she clapped her hands over her eyes. “Argh! I’m blinded!”
“Well, you shouldn’t have been looking! It’s not my fault you’re between a man and his pants.”
“Red!” Amelia jumped to her feet and threw herself at him, yelping when he squeezed her arm by accident.
Penny peeked through her fingers and dropped her hands in relief when she saw Red's jeans were now firmly on his body.
“Ah, sorry, love. Are you all right?” Red carefully placed his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.
“We’re fine.” Amelia’s voice was choked, and when he let her go, her eyes were red. She slapped his chest. “No thanks to you, idiot.”
He gave a chagrined smile. “That’s true. I’m so sorry, Amelia. I shouldn’t have left like that.”
“Did you find a cure?” Cisco asked.
Red shook his head. “No. I was so sure! The answer to your question is at the beginning of the journey, it said.”
“Are you sure it was real?” Penny asked gently.
“One hundred percent certain,” Red said. He dug in a back pocket and pulled a tiny scrap of paper out.
Amelia examined it closely, lips moving as she read the fortune. She flipped it over to check the back. This time, her slap was hard enough to elicit a grunt. “You moron! This isn’t real!”
Red leaned forward to look. “What? How do you know?”
“Real Chinese fortune cookies aren’t ‘made and packaged in Taiwan,’ you numbskull.” Amelia screwed the paper up and tossed it on the ground. “All this, and you didn’t even find a cure!”
Red blushed. “Aye. But maybe I did get something out of it.” At Amelia’s quizzical glance, he continued. “I was in full control last night. I was strong and fast, and I saved you all!” He dodged another slap. “Okay, I know you wouldn’t have needed saving if I wasn’t a giant rock-brained idiot, but being a werewolf isn’t the end of the world.”
“It’s the end of my food budget,” Amelia muttered. Still, she leaned in and squeezed him tight.
“What happened to you, anyway?” Penny asked. “Do you know where Tobias is?”
Red shook his head. “What a mess it all was. Tobias and Corey found me searching for that altar. I got a bit lost, you see. They tied me up, and Corey figured out pretty quick that I wouldn’t be alone out here, that you’d be looking for me.”
“So they set a trap for us.” Cisco shoved his hands in his pockets. “Did they know you’d wolf out?”
Red grinned, baring his teeth in a decidedly wolfish manner. “Nope. Tobias damn near shit his pants when I started to turn. He ran like a pussy. I started chasing him, but I turned back to look for you lot.”
“So, if he didn’t know you were infected, does that mean he didn’t summon the first wolf?” Penny frowned, trying to put it together.
Red shook his head. “I don’t think he knew anything about it. The bandaged bastard, though? That was all Tobias. Some local legend he dug up. Said once he had a few more sacrifices, he’d be able to control it.”
“Where’d you go, anyway?” Amelia pulled back. “You left us to fight that thing alone!”
“Moonset,” Red said with a shrug. “I was starting to turn back and I didn’t want poor Penny to get an eyeful of me giant dog balls, so I ran. Only I got turned about, and couldn’t find my way back.”
“Thank you,” Penny said gratefully. “Your human balls were horrifying enough. I’m very, very glad I didn’t see the wolf version.”
“Ah, you don’t know what you’re missing!” Red glanced at Amelia and was crestfallen to see her unimpressed glare.
Penny walked over and wrapped her arms around the couple, squeezing them both tightly. “I’m just glad we’re all okay.”
Munder sipped at his milk thoughtfully. “You went into the dark wood to find the one you call friend?” The Myther made a sound of curiosity when Penny nodded. “That was very brave. I do not think I could have done that.”
“I’m sure you could,” Penny said reassuringly. “If you had to save someone you cared about.”
“Perhaps.” Munder nibbled a cookie. “But I do think you are all very courageous.”
“Damn right, we are!” Red raised a mug of beer and toasted the monster. “Aren’t we?”
“Some of us are.” Amelia ignored his shock and sipped at her pina colada. “Did you go to see Crenel today?”
Penny looked up at the question and nodded. “He’s doing well. The arm is almost better, at any rate. He’s pissed at the bureau, though. Said he gave them an ultimatum.”
“A what now?” Cisco leaned in, his curiosity piqued.
Penny nodded. “He told them they had to commit to faster response times or he and March wouldn’t let us go out in the field.”
“What?” Cisco’s screech brought more than one Myther’s attention to him in the bar. “He can’t do that!”
“Well, he probably can,” Penny admitted. “But I don’t think he will. Hopefully, we won’t have to find out. Delouise came in as I was leaving, and she said it looks like they’ll agree to it.”
Cisco slumped back into his chair, relieved. “So, what now?”
Penny grinned, eyes twinkling. “Now, we revel in the fact that we don’t have to do our surveillance assignment, or our defense practical, or our defensive driving exam. We got enough credits to pass us for those classes!”
To her surprise, Cisco pouted. “Damn. Do you think Mack will let us take the Jeeps out anyway?”
Penny snorted. “You think he’ll say no after we brought those donors in?”
Professor Madera had told Cisco, who of course had told Penny immediately, that the news coverage of the events at Cannon Beach had pulled some very wealthy individuals out of the woodwork, all promising financial support for the college.
Although they were an official training school for the FBI, that funding was going to be used for the private arm of the college March and Blaisey maintained for research purposes.
“Fair call.” Cisco brightened. “Anyway, Mack would never say no to you. You’re the teacher’s pet!”
Penny rolled her eyes and put down her drink. “That’s bullshit. You’re the one he offered to take skydiving next week.”
Smirking, Cisco nodded proudly. “To celebrate passing my first year at the Academy.”
Penny smiled too, but wistfully. She swirled her almost-empty drink, watching the bubbles circle the bottom of the glass. “One more semester down. Do you realize that means we’re halfway done?”
Cisco’s face softened. “Halfway. Just one year to go.”
Penny brightened and raised her glass. She gave a short whistle toward a nearby table, and Bacchus looked up from his conversation with an undersized bunyip.
The glass filled, and Penny held it out toward her friends. “To one more year of ass-kicking fun. Together.”
“Together!” Glasses clinked as Cisco, Amelia, and Red echoed Penny’s toast.
“Together.” Munder smiled, quietly tapping his glass against Penny’s. “And to friends.”
THE END
The Story Continues
Book three in the series, Pixels and Poltergeists, is coming soon and will available at Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited.
Since myth and legend started coming to life, Penny has seen everything. Werewolves, ghosts, witches, gods, spooky video games… wait, what?
It seems the stories told through the ages aren’t all as old as the hills (or Agent Crenel). Weird stuff is coming through, t
he sort of stuff only recent generations could have come up with.
It’s not just Nigerian princes and ‘like for a cure’ memes, either. One of Penny’s friends stumbled on a conspiracy involving a secret government agency, some missing people… and a computer game.
Now, he’s missing, and it’s up to her to find him.
Penny and Boots are working the case with Cisco, while trying to dodge creepy professors, dealing with break ins, and recovering from the Worst. Date. Ever. (It wasn’t her fault, really!).
What do you get when you cross Area 51, Space Invaders, and a rip in the Veil? One BIG mystery. And Penny and Boots will solve it… if they don’t die first.
Author Notes - Amy Hopkins
October 19, 2019
If you’re reading this, it’s been at least a month since Snakes and Shadows came out. Here in Australian time… it’s still six days until launch. Well, a week in US time, because I’m ahead of them but behind you. Clear as mud?
Did you like it? I mean, I guess you didn’t hate it if you’re here. You liked it enough to grab book two. Is it selling well? I always get nervous before an LMBPN launch. When I launched my own series, it was just my own time and money on the line. Now? There are so many people invested in the success of every book.
Here’s where I hope to be when this little letter of mine goes live: It’ll be November, so I’ll be in Christmas prep mode. Hopefully by then (like, SERIOUSLY), my dog will know that poo is for outside, not in my damn hallway. I won’t lie — I know I won’t have started my Christmas shopping yet. I’m notorious for doing all that at the last minute.
I’d like to be really close to getting my yellow belt in Tae Kwon-Do. I’m getting my yellow stripe on Tuesday, so it’ll be a stretch, but I’m practicing really hard and have the advantage of ten months observing classes before I joined. Also, I’d like my blister to be healing. Ouch-face-emoji.
Most of all, I’d love, love, LOVE to see a little orange flag on my books. I want people to be buying, reading, loving them. I want people to count Penny and Boots as a couple of new friends, not just words on a page. To walk the streets of Portland beside me, not just read it in a book.
So… how did I do? I’ll probably have forgotten this whole thing in a month. Remind me. Tell me if I met my goals (and I’ll tell you if my blisters healed)!
-A. H.
P.S. I’m still salty about Diego.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
November 21, 2019
Thank you for reading this story and making it to the back for our Author Notes!
Sometimes… No, scratch that. ALL THE DAMNED TIME, you can’t be sure what will come out of Amy’s mouth or be typed by Amy’s little fingers. One of the things I find so fun about her is her funny unpredictability.
She is like a little Australian (Tasmanian) Devil, with a chunk of attitude on one shoulder and a heart of gold three sizes larger on the other.
If you have a few minutes and care to drop Amy a note, just open the reviews and leave her a message. You and I both know that for her, they will be little Christmas gifts received a bit early, or late, or really, really early for NEXT year.
Right now, we are in the last third of the month—20th-30th (we are on the 21st at the moment.) I know Amy is sitting on the 22nd. I’ve been to Australia which is one (1) hour behind the new day. I’m pretty sure it’s sometime around 2:30 in the morning for her.
Which is FRIDAY! (WOOT )
I am traveling between Las Vegas and Los Angeles at the moment. Above me are masses of clouds arrayed like warships ready to pass through the sky over the mountains as we travel south by southwest. In the distance, shadows play against the land that is jutting into the sky, and it looks fantabulous.
However, the sun is aimed right at my stomach, streaming through the front windshield, and I’m burning up.
I’ll reach LA and be nothing but a burnt skeleton…yuk.
Why does my imagination always go for the dark side?
Well, lunch was too much food, and I’m in a losing battle with my eyelids. I wish you well in whatever you are doing at the moment. May the day bring you something special and cool like you reading this book has brought me.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
Books By Michael Anderle
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