Holy Monster

"I could, but he wouldn't come. He's arrogant like that." I took a deep breath. "We have to do this." I stepped over a pinecone the size of Gabriel's head. "Stay on my shoulder," I told Ryden lightly. If a pinecone fell on her, she'd be squished.

"I will, Silindra. Everything is so big. I could live in one of those pinecones." To prove her point, a hairy spider as big as my fist crawled out of one. "Holy monster, I'm hiding in your hair," she said with a shudder.

I let her do as she pleased.

The spider would make the pixilette into an appetizer if it caught her.

"I'll get rid of him," Gabriel said, shooing the spider away with the tip of his boot. There wasn't much growing under the canopy of trees, just a lot of dirt, pine needles, pinecones, and the occasional fern. It made sense. The sun was all but blocked from view. Shadows danced within the stilted silence. In the distance, I could hear the waves crashing, and something else. Moaning.

"The song of the dead," Ryden whispered,