The Secret Whisper

“You think they’re monsters?” Sam asked, crouching low behind the boulders.

“I don’t know,” replied Asa. “They don’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before. They could be.”

Sam peeked out and saw the creatures gathered in a circle around the bonfire. They were singing some kind of chant that made the hair on Sam’s arms and legs stand up.

“Do you think they took our parents?” Sam asked, turning to Asa.

Asa shook her head. “I don’t think so. We know these woods better than anyone else does. There’s no way they’d get in here without us knowing about it.”

Sam nodded in agreement but then looked back at the creatures circling the fire, concern etched across his face.

“We should go tell Reba,” he said, chewing nervously on his bottom lip.

“No,” Asa replied, grabbing Sam by the arm as he started to rise from his crouch behind the boulders. “We can handle this ourselves. Besides, we don’t even know if she’s home yet.”

Sam turned to Asa with wide eyes and promptly extracted himself from her grip.

“What do you mean we don’t know if she’s home? Where is she?”

Asa shot him a look that said ‘shut up.’

“She went to see Dax,” Asa whispered when she was sure Sam had gotten the message.

Sam bit back a sigh of annoyance. Their sister had been spending a lot of time with Dax lately and it was causing tension between them all for various reasons.

“What is she doing spending so much time with him anyway?” Sam asked as quietly as possible given how worked up he was getting over this whole situation.

Asa raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t answer his question because there was no answer to give him right now.

“We have to figure out what those things are doing in the woods,” Asa said. “And if they’re a threat to us.”

Sam nodded and turned his attention back toward the creatures gathered around the bonfire.

“We should sneak closer and try to hear what they’re saying,” he suggested.

Asa shook her head. “We need a plan first. We don’t even know how many there are or what they’re capable of.”

Sam chewed on his bottom lip, thinking.

“Right,” he agreed finally. “Okay, so we’ll split up and—“

“No!” Asa whispered fiercely, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence. “We need to stick together. At least until we know more about them.”

Sam opened his mouth to argue but then thought better of it and closed it again without speaking.

“You’re right,” he said finally. “Okay, so how do we—“

The crunch of leaves underfoot brought their heads snapping around and Sam’s hand flew out to grab Asa’s arm as she started to rise.

“Shh!” he hissed at her, though she hadn’t made any noise yet.

The crunching sound continued and both children looked at each other wide-eyed as the shadowy figures moved closer in the darkness beyond the firelight.

“What do we do?” Sam whispered frantically.

Asa didn’t answer him because she had no idea what to say that wouldn’t get them caught by the strangers advancing through their woods.

Just when it seemed like all hope was lost for not being discovered, a piercing shriek rang out through the night air from somewhere nearby,