A Dragonlings' Haunted Halloween: Dragonlings of Valdier by S. E. Smith Page A

followed him at a
safe distance, waiting for the perfect opportunity to sneak up on
him.
    She bit her lip when she heard him admonish
Harvey for not following the twins inside the Fun House. The girls
loved going into it. This entrance led to the bottom floor Hall of
Mirrors. There were six ways in and out of the building, although
three of those were hidden for the most part.
    Carmen moved to one of the side entrances
that was a double door for moving things in and out. She slipped in
the side. There were lots of corners and spaces to hide in.
    This time, I’ll be the one to follow and
catch him sneaking around, she thought with a grin as she
narrowed in on where the girls were giggling.
    *.*.*
    Vox froze as he turned in a circle. Sweat
broke out on his brow again as he listened. The hair on the back of
his cat’s neck was standing straight up. This was the place where
those damn beasts had been.
    His eyes darted back and forth as he tried
to see where Kelan had gone. A light, cool fog floated along the
floor of the forest…
    “Cavern,” he muttered. “It isn’t a real
forest. It is just a created one.”
    He hissed and jumped when a firm hand
gripped his shoulder. Turning, he gripped the forearm connected to
the hand on his shoulder. He almost threw the body attached to arm
before he realized it was just Kelan. A low snarl escaped him.
    “I’m with you,” Kelan reminded him, looking
at where Vox was still gripping his arm. “Can you pull the claws
in? They are a little painful.”
    “Sorry,” Vox muttered as he released Kelan.
“Just... don’t sneak up on me. My cat is about ready to go crazy.
It knows those beasts are in here.”
    “Wolves,” Kelan replied in an absent-minded
voice. “It took me a little while to remember what they are called.
Paul showed me some when I was on his world. They are like Harvey,
only wild and meaner.”
    “I don’t give a damn what they are called,”
Vox muttered as he scanned the darkness and fog. A slight giggle
and movement to his left had him and Kelan turning at the same
time. “Roam, come here, son.”
    A low hiss echoed before the tip of a tiny
tail flickered above the fog before it disappeared again. The sound
of scurrying feet and more giggles sounded, this time to their
right.
    “B á lint, come to
daddy,” Kelan called out.
    “Daddy,” a happy voice echoed. “Play tag
wiff momma.”
    Kelan released a relieved sigh as he walked
toward the sound. He stopped with a frown when the spot where
B á lint had been turned out to be empty. He
twirled as the faint sound of giggles moved beneath him.
    “I think they are going under us,” Kelan
told Vox as the big Sarafin cat-shifter backed up to where he was
standing. Kelan knelt on one knee and tapped the ground. A giggle
escaped under where he had tapped. “Vox…”
    “They are coming,” Vox growled. “You find
the kids and protect them. I will take care of this.”
    “Vox, I don’t…,” Kelan started to argue as
he stood up, but Vox had already shifted and was padding away from
him on silent feet. “I don’t think this is what we think it is,” he
finished with a shake of his head.
    Kelan’s eyes scanned the area. The dark
shadow near the base of a nearby tree kept pulling at him. Striding
over to it, he knelt again and shifted enough so that he could see
better in the darkness. A black cloth covered a hole at the bottom
of the tree.
    Pulling it back, a grin spread across his
face as he saw the rope lighting running the length of a tunnel.
That was how the kids kept moving around so damn fast! Sitting
down, he pushed his legs through the opening. A choked gasp escaped
him when he found himself sliding further down along a long, wide
tube. He laughed as he twisted and turned.
    No wonder the kids were having so much
fun, he thought as he spun around so he was sliding on his
belly. It is a maze of tunnels built just for them.
    Kelan’s laughter echoed as he landed in a
pit of large, round, colorful