Modern Ranger

Chapter 6:

Will licked his lips nervously. Dang, Bree must be good. But where had this mysterious Alyss look-alike come from? It was if she had appeared out of thin air.

Bree's steely grey eyes glinted for a second. She had a pretty good idea of what Will was thinking. And she had appeared out of thin air.

"I come from the future," Bree told Will flatly. She had to hide her grin at Will's surprise.

"I see," Will said slowly.

"No you don't," Halt said. Both Bree and Will jumped. They'd forgotten that Halt was on the room.

"Bree wasn't kidding," Halt continued, "She is from the future. Although we didn't know about Bree before, she knew about us because our lives were recorded in history... just not in the way you'd expect."

Will processed that. "In what way then?"

Halt turned to Bree. You're answering that Halt's eyes seemed to say.

Bree pretended to not miss a beat. "A fantasy book series," Bree said casually, but then folded her arms across her chest and glared at Halt.

"A fantasy book series?" Will gaped.

"Yup," Bree said, unable to contain her grin.

*******

Halt, Will and Bree were huddled around a campfire, nursing their mugs of coffee.

Bree felt Will staring at her. She gained her composure. "Stop," Bree commanded.

Halt raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "What?" Will asked, confused.

"Stop staring! I'm not Alyss, so just build a bridge and get over it!" Bree snapped.

Will bit his lip and looked away. "Uh... sorry," he mumbled uncomfortably. Bree sighed inwardly. She hated treating Will like this, but she just didn't know how to act. Bree would deny it completely if someone asked, but she was beginning to have a crush on Will.

Will had no idea what to think. He's seen the steady friendship that had been growing between Bree and Halt, and didn't understand why Bree would just push him away. The fact that she's identical to Alyss didn't help either.

Halt sensed what was going on with the two, but didn't interfere. Not something he wanted to get involved in.

Bree turned the grey-bearded Ranger. "So... why am I here?"

"The country, Scrato," she heard Will mutter softly. "Huh? Scrato? Never saw that on John Flanagan's maps," Bree said.

Bree happened to notice that the corner of Halt's mouth twitched. "Shut up," Bree glared at Halt.

"Next you'll be talking about Gorlog's fangs," Halt said easily, unabashed. "Gorlog's fangs?" Isn't that what I usually s-" Will started. He was interrupted by a ferocious glare from Bree.

"Now. On. With. The. Original. Darn. Topic," Bree growled.

Halt held up his hands in surrender.