The Girl From Above [Ground: Zero, Book 1]

3: The Strangest Welcome Party

Ryan stifled a yelp, Carson's teeth were freshly stained with blood. At least she assumed it was blood, maybe it was just red Kool-Aid. Maybe he would smile, wipe it off, and reassure her that this was all an elaborate prank.

Considering her past luck, she brushed the thought out of her mind.

Her eyes darted between the people around her. A squeak escaped her throat, the longer she stared at them, the less human they appeared.

They all towered over her, their ears twitching and swiveling. Instead of fingernails they had long hooked claws that glinted in the sun. Ryan wondered silently how she hadn't felt Zack's claws dig into her when she grabbed his hand earlier.

No, she hadn't grabbed his hand, he had grabbed her hand. She couldn't have trusted someone like that again. He had pulled her into the valley, it wasn't her fault for this mess, not again.

She shook the thought out of her head, a red tree branch fell out of her hair and fell onto the grass. Ryan stared at it dumbfounded for a moment, the weight of the situation suddenly hit her like a gut punch.

"Ok." She muttered quietly to herself, getting back to her feet hastily. "I'm ok."

Carson cocked an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "So, do you just not process threats or—"

"CARSON!" The girl in the group yelled.

"What? It's an honest question!" Carson groaned and leaned his head back, his beanie hanging on loosely to his pointed ears.

The other boy scoffed quietly and rolled his eyes. Ryan pegged him to be the Dominic Carson was bickering with earlier.

She squinted at him. Supernatural creature or not, he had the strangest fashion taste she'd ever seen. He wore a grey tank top and baggy black dress pants. A large multi-toned feather cloak draped off his shoulders down to his bubblegum pink shoes.

No, they weren't shoes, shoes didn't have button noses. Dominic was wearing bright pink bunny slippers, their fabric had dulled with the damp grass, and she could've sworn she saw their little sewn faces frown a little.

Carson brushed off Dominic, instead locking his focus onto Devany. "Devany, it's just a round-ear."

Devany clutched something beneath her shirt. "Sure, she's a round-ear, but she's also a little girl, Carson."

"Yeah, but—"

Devany scowled, "I don't want to hear it."

Ryan's face flushed as she looked back to Devany. Devany's warm brown eyes pierced the air and her cheeks looked round and soft enough to squish. Devany was arguing with Carson, yet their words were nothing but bubbles of white noise in Ryan's mind.

Devany flicked her ear. Her brow furrowed and she stepped in front of Zack and Ryan. Ryan still couldn't make out a word she said, but she sighed in relief. All she had to stare at was the red flannel jacket tied around this Devany's waist.

Her mind swirled with puppies and golden fairy dust, a small giggle escaped her lips. Ryan's thoughts flew away as she watched the two magics argue, showing off their pointed teeth as they yelled. Devany's eyes were so pretty, like big handfuls of hard candy wrappers, or the fancy chocolates Ryan was rarely allowed to eat.

Ryan's stomach growled. Was that what people did when they almost died? Went and binged on chocolate? She deserved that at least, chocolate sounded incredible. Delicious creamy truffles, caramel turtles, those pretty glitter stars that tasted like condensed heaven...

She touched her cheeks, drool escaped her mouth at the thought of it.

Zack placed his hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok?"