Even in the realm, creatures like hibernating during the winter. Though winter on a mountain of paper wasn’t actually all that cold. Still, that wasn’t the point. The point is that it’s not smart to disrupt a creature’s hibernation. I know that Chaz and I were not the ones who disturbed the thing, but it was still upset when it found our trail.
The roar behind us froze us both in place and then we looked behind us. If scissors could be personified into a monster, that was the thing that was charging behind us. It mowed through paper grass, flowers, and rocks, and cut a tree in half. The carnage of trash destruction was confetti and streamers. The poor origami butterfly didn’t stand a chance.
“Um, run,” Chaz suggested as he grabbed my arm and pulled.
“When were you planning on telling me this place has an abominable paper shredder?” I demanded as we ran toward the flimsy looking bridge.
“It doesn’t live on the mountains we have to cross,” Chaz cried out. “I don’t know why it’s here or why it picked us to chase.”
I thought about trying to make a smart remark, but running for my life was a little more important. That shredder seemed to be gaining faster than we would make it across the bridge. As the snipping and crashing sound barreled closer I began to imagine what my tombstone would read. Probably “Death by Paper Cut” or “Never Run with Scissors,” if there was enough of me to bury.
Not being a runner, I was beginning to lag. The idea of survival of the fittest had my name all over it. Chaz noticed and grabbed my hand, pulling me along. My lungs struggled to keep oxygen flowing but I was able to keep the pace. The abominable paper shredder was practically giving me a new hair cut when we reached the paper bridge. In this situation I probably would have run helter-skelter over fiery coals or a bed of nails. A paper chain bridge wasn’t that much different.
We probably should have thought about the fact that we were running over a paper made bridge being chased by scissors. So close to the other side, and all it took was one snip to elevate my panic. The entire bridge tilted as one post was destroyed and I lost hold of Chaz’s hand. I gripped the wrapping paper tubes that formed the planks of the suspension bridge and looked behind me.
“Amy!”
Chaz’s voice snapped me out of my trance of staring at the scissor monster that was destroying cliff side as it tried to pull the ladder toward it. Any moment and the other post would be gone, sending me swinging down like a stereotypical adventure movie. Chaz grabbed my arm and we both jumped onto the other side of the cliff.
“We should probably keep running,” Chaz suggested.
“That thing isn’t seriously going to try to cross, is it?” I practically squeaked.
“I think it can jump it.”
“Break time’s over,” I said and pulled on Chaz.
We ran, zigzagging between paper-rolled pine trees and through a herd of piñata deer. Chaz wrapped his arms around me and we dove through a bush, receiving paper cuts on any exposed skin. After sliding down a ravine of old newspapers we hid in the small opening of a cave and waited.
I half expected the abominable paper shredder to run by the moment we relaxed, but it never did. Only its angry, snippy bellows let us know that it had lost our trail. Still, to be on the safe side, we waited a while longer. Not like I was going to complain. I kind of liked the way Chaz was holding me.
Chaz tensed and I turned to look at him. “Is the hour near?”
He shook his head and looked a little confused. I was a bit proud of myself. Chaz didn’t look any different, but he was easier for me to see. I had gotten much better at seeing him and his moods. Perhaps it was a little more of sensing him, but still I knew something was bothering him.
“Chaz?” I prompted.
“It feels like…but would…” Chaz started and then trailed off for a moment. “It’s dangerous.”
“Since when has that stopped me?” I teased, trying to keep the mood light.
He sighed and told me what he had meant to after the library incident. “The thieves kidnapped a Timewight. The one who…created me.”
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