(19) Going to Sam's

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Shade and the others were jolted awake at Dusk’s growl. Once she looked over she saw a kid frozen in fear as he backed away from Dusk. Ray groaned awake, “Come on can’t a guy get a peaceful sleep without any―” he saw the boy, “Hey, give that back!”

     That’s when the boy broke into a run with the brown satchel. Dusk started to chase him but Shade stopped him. “Don’t worry, I got it,” she said. Just like that Shade melted into the shadows and followed Sam.

     As Sam ran with the bag, the trees of the forest passed by as he was sure he was going to make it with his new loot. That’s when the Goth girl appeared in front of him, and Sam yelped. She crossed her arms, and Sam sighed and handed her back the bag.

     “Thank you,” said Shade, “Now―”

     “Please don’t take me to the Dark Witch!” pleaded Sam, “I’ll do anything!”

     “Whoa, kid relax,” said Shade, and she kneeled down at eye level and put a hand on his shoulder, “No one is taking you anywhere, except back home.”

     That just made the poor kid freak out even more, “No! Bad idea!” Shade blinked, “Why is that such a bad thing?”

     “My parents died in a fire last year,” mumbled Sam, “And my foster parents are mean. They try to turn me into something I’m not, and they think I am crazy. Please don’t make me go back there, I’ll do anything you want.”

     “I can’t just let you live on the streets,” protested Shade. She sighed, “Look, we’ll take you back to your house, and if it’s true what you say then we’ll figure something out. Deal?” Sam looked at her, then sighed as he nodded, “But what if the dragon eats me?”

     “Don’t worry,” said Shade, “He wasn’t going to eat you. Dusk is just really protective over my friends and I.”

     “Who?” asked Sam.

     “The dragon,” Shade clarified, “So, do we have a deal?”

     Sam nodded.

     “What’s your name?” asked Shade, getting up. “My name is Sam,” he said.

     “Shade,” Shade replied, “Listen, I’ll take you to my friends if you want. I promise none of them will hurt you. We just want to make sure you come home safe before we head to the next town.”

     “O―okay,” said Sam. It made Shade a little sad, mostly because he looks so scared, when all Shade wants to do is make sure he’s safe. That’s when Paige’s face entered her mind, her sweet smile and sparkling blue eyes.

     Shade shook the image out of her head. Now was not the time to get homesick, “Come on, I’ll take you to my friends.”

     Ray looked ticked.

     When Shade returned the satchel, she told him about their new plan. As she told, Celeste and Sam were busy chatting. Thankfully Dusk is no longer scaring the kid, for he’s allowing Sam to pet his snout as Celeste talked.

     “Are you going to argue with everything I decide?” asked Shade, crossing her arms after listening to yet again Ray’s why we-can’t-delay-to-help-people-it-is-a-bad-idea speeches.

     “Yes!” said Ray, “At this rate we’ll never get to stop the Dark Witch in time. We can’t keep doing these delays.”

     “If we don’t get the kid back to his house the police will get him,” counteracted Shade, “We shouldn’t let things get more complicated then they need to be.”

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