She dropped it back on the ground, intending to leave it there and keep on walking, but Brock nudged it closer to her again with his nose.
Frowning at him, she said, "No. I'm not playing his stupid game."
He shook his head up and down and pushed the coin right up to her foot. Heather sighed and picked it up again, sticking it in her coat pocket. "There. Now let's go."
After a brief hesitation, he joined her. They'd been walking for about five minutes when Heather asked, "Why does it seem like we've been passing that same exact fallen tree over and over again?" She glanced over at Brock, and his eyes were narrowed on the same tree she was talking about. So, he'd noticed it too.
He stopped and dug at the ground with his front paw. When he was finished, there was a distinct "H" dug into the dirt. Glancing over at her, he only started walking again after making sure she'd seen it.
A minute later, Heather saw that same fallen tree, and watching the ground in front of her, she wasn't surprised to see the form of an "H" dug into the ground. They stopped again. Looking behind them and then ahead of them, she asked him, "How is this possible? We can't be walking in circles. We're following the stream! We didn't cross it…" Unless the stream just went around in a circle and reconnected to itself? "Does the stream go in circles?"
He snuffled and shook his head.
"Then why do we keep coming back around to the same place?" she asked.
Brock shook himself, then sat down on his haunches and stared at her.
"What?" she snapped. She hadn't meant to sound like that, but she was frustrated and tired and she wanted to go home.
His eyes went purposely to her pocket, then to her hand, and back up to her face.
Heather shook her head, "Oh, hell no. I am NOT tossing this thing."
He cocked his head and stared at her, an infinity of patience in his gaze. "I said no," she told him adamantly.
He huffed out a breath and gazed off into the distance. Waiting. "Brock, we should try to keep going."
Other than one ear twitching towards the sound of her voice, he gave no indication that he had heard her.
"This coin is not the reason we can't leave where we are." But deep down inside, she knew that it could be exactly for that reason.
Rubbing her forehead with her fingertips, she sighed. "Fine. I'll throw the damn coin." With a feeling of dread, she pulled it from her pocket. Brock watched with anxious eyes as she flipped it into the air and called out, "Tails!" Catching it and flipping it over onto the back of her opposite hand, they both peered at it.
The narrow face of the Fae prince stared back at them. "Well, hell," Heather breathed nervously.
Brock's blue eyes shot to her face, and then he jumped to his feet and began scanning the area around them. Shoving the coin back into her pocket, she slid her fingers through the hair on the back of his neck again and did the same, hanging on tight. Just in case. She had no idea what to expect. All she knew was that they had just lost the coin toss, and if winning one got them sucked into another world with no supplies or shelter to survive, the gods only knew what was about to happen now.
Suddenly he spun around in front of her so fast, he didn't give her a chance to let go of his fur and a hunk of it came away in her fingers. A growl rumbled deep within his throat as he zeroed in on a single point in the distance. She peered through the fog, but try as she might, she couldn't see or hear anything.
His head suddenly whipped over to the left, and the hackles on the back of his neck stood up so high they formed a ragged mohawk from his head to his rump. He leaned against her, stepping sideways as he pushed her back towards the water, his eyes intently studying the trees.
Heather got his drift and stumbled back to the creek until she was standing at the edge of the water. He took up a protective position in front of her and bared his teeth in warning, his eyes shifting back and forth. Lowering his head and chest, his snarls ripped through the air, accompanied by snaps of his teeth as he made his claim on her known.
She backed up some more until the icy water was lapping at her sneakers and drenching the already damp hem of her yoga pants. Sweat beaded on her upper lip as she desperately tried to see through the damn fog, but try as she might, she couldn't see what was coming for them.
But something was coming, that much was sure. And it wasn't anything they'd be happy to see. She could feel its menacing presence weighing on the air around them.
They waited for what felt like an eternity. Heather tried to keep her breathing quiet, even though she really felt like screaming, just to break the tension. She still couldn't see anything, but she could hear it now: Puffs of breath in front of them and to the left. Branches and dried-up pine needles broke under heavy footsteps that came steadily closer. Whatever it was, it sounded large. The cloying smell of rotten meat hung heavy in the damp, cool air, becoming stronger with every passing second. Her stomach heaved and she tried breathing through her mouth, but it only made it worse.
Brock paced back and forth in front of her nervously a few times, and then stopped and held his ground. Head lowered, teeth bared, eyes glowing with a preternatural light, he watched and waited.
She wiped her clammy palms on his clothes and hugged them to her chest. This was so not going to be good. She could sense that much at least. Her heart was racing, and her blood was roaring through her veins at such a speed that her vision was beginning to darken at the corners. Taking a deep breath, she willed herself to calm down.
Brock's head dropped lower still, until his chin nearly touched the ground, and more vicious snarls ripped from his throat one on top of the other until chills broke out on her skin. He stared hard straight ahead, every muscle in his wolf-like body tensed and ready.
The mist stirred in front of them, breaking apart like wisps of a cloud. Heather caught a glance of a yellow eye narrowed at Brock. It was surrounded by muted green leather skin and black stripes. As it came closer, a large head with rows of sharp teeth revealed itself, and then swung around to its right. She followed its gaze to find an identical pair of yellow eyes pinned on her.
Raptors? Velociraptors? How could that be? Heather's blood pulsed as her heart started pumping in triple time. She was both fascinated and terrified of dinosaurs. Ever since she saw the first Jurassic Park movie. Thank
God there was no way in hell those things still existed.