Cursed: Expulsion

Chapter 3

“Let go of the egg, Zak,” Layla said slowly. “That is a Namron egg. You don’t want to be around it when it hatches.” She thought that Zak should look a bit more scared, but it seemed that he didn’t care. Should I use force? She asked herself. Nah, I might hit the egg by accident since he’s holding onto it so tightly. I need to persuade him somehow. She knew that Zak was like a baby in a lot of ways, so she figured that she should reason with him like she would reason with a child. She knelt next to him slowly till her face was at his face’s level. “Heyyy Zakky. Do you like that egg?” She smiled at him with what she thought was a warm and tentative smile.

Zak looked at her in bewilderment.

“That looks like a bad egg. If you let that one go, we can get you a new one from the big store in Zayan. Whaddya say big guy?” She gave him another one of those smiles.

Zak opened his mouth like he was going to say something then stopped.

“I promise I can get you two chocolate bars as well. Zayan has lovely chocolate, too.” She looked at him expectantly. She knew her plan was working.

“Why are you talking to me like I’m a puppy?” Zak asked, his eyebrows crossed.

Layla looked stupefied. “A PUPPY? YOU THINK THIS IS HOW I TALK TO PUPPIES? THIS IS HOW I TALK TO BABIES!!”

“Are you trying to say I’m like a baby?” Zak asked clutching the egg harder.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying!! Now let go of the egg.” Layla decided that force was now the only option; this guy was unreasonable.

She grabbed his shoulders and tried to pull him off.

“What the hell is your problem?” Zak was struggling against her tugs. “First you call me a baby, and now you want to take my egg away from me? Who’s the baby now, BABY!”

“That is a dangerous egg. Why can’t you understand that?!” She pulled harder, but he just wouldn’t budge or let go. She heard another crack come from the egg.

“You think I’ve never cooked already cracked eggs before? I’m a university student, woman. Sometimes it’s all I get to eat.” Zak knew this was a lie. He always had resources for pizza.

“It’s a Namron egg, you moron. They are not edible.” Another crack. Her arms were around his neck now.

“You keep saying that like I’m supposed to know what it means. I’m not from around here, remember?”

“JUST LET GO!!”

“FINE!”

Zak shoved the egg away from him like a child would throw his toy before having a tantrum.

The egg rolled. Zak huffed and folded his arms. Layla’s eyes were on the egg. She saw the egg go round and round in slow motion, all the while holding her breath. This is bad. It crashed into a tree; shattering the shell and revealing something that Layla knew was only going to be trouble.

“Zak,” she whispered. “I don’t think it’s noticed us. We should back away slowly and get out of here.”

Zak’s eyes were now on the creature. Most of its body was still under the broken shells, but he could tell it didn’t look like a bird or a reptile. In fact, it looked like a mammal. “That’s weird.” Zak got to his feet and walked towards it.

WHAT IS HE DOING? IS HE REALLY THAT STUPID? Layla’s mind screamed.

Zak crouched down next to the broken shells and moved them off its body. “Woah. That’s one cool looking cat.”