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we sat at the table and emily titled the page : warnings . |
i didnt know why . |
okay , jazell , what exactly did he say ? |
emily asked , pencil poised in the air ready to write . |
he said , hes rising , hes rising . |
i have no idea who he meant or if what he said means anything . |
emily scribbled down , toad dwarf said , hes rising , hes rising . |
whos coming and is he important ? |
i stared at the paper , the question swirling in my mind . |
who did he mean ? |
now what did the dwarf tell you , seth ? |
she asked . |
he said , you wont stop him , little warrior . |
he frowned at the last part . |
emily added , toad dwarf told seth , you wont stop him , little warrior . |
does this mean hes powerful ? |
did you have to add the little warrior part ? |
it makes me sound weak . |
seth complained . |
i did because we need all the facts . |
its obvious the dwarf was trying to make you sound weak anyway . |
now what did he tell you , jason ? |
he said , he will destroy all half-lings . |
whats that supposed to mean , anyway ? |
jason said . |
she added the last bullet ; toad dwarf said to jason , he will destroy all half-ling . |
what does half-ling mean ? |
did the dwarfs tell you anything ? |
i asked , taking the paper . |
none of what she wrote on the paper made any sense to me . |
she shook her head . |
no and if they did , i was too busy trying to burn them to hear them . |
she took the paper back . |
well i think the only thing weve established is that toad dwarves are crazy . |
seth said . |
i noticed a thin , red line on his cheek where a thrasher must have scratched him . |
emily wagged her finger at him . |
never dis facts . |
they might save you later in life . |
seth just snorted . |
jason punched him in the side . |
listen to emily . |
shes actually right sometimes . |
thank you , jason . |
she said cheerfully , huh wait , sometimes ? |
she raised an eyebrow at him . |
jason scowled at her . |
im admitting youre sometimes right so dont push it . |
point taken . |
she tucked the paper in her drawstring bag . |
you guys want to go to the park ? |
they both half nodded , half shrugged , which she took for a yes . |
so we got up and mounted our bikes . |
i threw the bike lock in my bag , clipped on my helmet , and followed the others . |
the three of them raced each other , but i kept my bike behind them . |
what the dwarf had said was still troubling me and i didnt know if anyone else was feeling the same way . |
i saw seth slow his bike down and glide next to me . |
hey , he said . |
hey . |
then a question popped into my head , what were you doing alone in the woods yesterday ? |
he was silent so i yelled to emily , hey , seths lost for words ! |
emily appeared by me and chuckled . |
whats wrong , seth ? |
thrasher got your tongue ? |
before he could reply i said , i asked him what he was doing in the woods yesterday and he didnt have an answer . |
we all know what this means . |
yup , hes hiding something . |
seth , why were you yelling at jazell for being out alone in the woods when you were doing the same ? |
i wasnt hunting down monsters alone . |
jazell was doing that , he grumbled , clearly annoyed . |
but you were still out alone and you yelled at me for doing the same thing . |
the same thing could have happened to you . |
do you think youre stronger than the rest of us ? |
my voice rose slightly at the end of my question . |
no . |
he went quiet and tried to avoid our eye contact . |
now whos keeping secrets ? |
youre breaking your own rules . |
why were you out ? |
emily can be very demanding sometimes , i actually felt a little bad about involving her in my interrogation . |
just a little . |
he mumbled something under his breath . |
i cant hear you . |
emily snapped . |
i was out scouting ! |
he shouted , now can you hear me ? |
yes , and now youve made me deaf ! |
emily yelled back . |
why were you out scouting in the first place ? |
i asked calmly , trying not to shout it out like emily . |
seth gripped the handlebars and i knew he was losing his temper . |
i was being cautious so we didnt have to worry last night , he said through gritted teeth . |
he was lying and both of us knew that . |
i glared at him , nice story seth , now what really happened ? |
he didnt say anything and he rode ahead to get beside jason , who was in the lead . |
the park slowly came in view . |
it was a huge grass circle with a small play set in the middle covered in kids . |
the woods surrounded it except for the side that faced the street . |
a fountain was near the entrance along with a bike rack . |
thats where we parked our bikes . |