Title: Staying Put
Author: elektralyte
Rating: K+
Characters/Pairings: Sprinklings of Hank/Sheila goodness.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Summary: Friends go missing and Hank's behavior arouses suspicion...
Chapter 3
Eric, Presto and Diana began hiking toward the forest.
"AWHOOOOOOO!"
The three of them stopped. Nobody made a move.
"Um, hey guys? How do crazy people go through the forest?" Eric joked nervously.
"They take the psycho path," Presto answered distractedly.
"You heard that one before Presto?" Diana chimed while fidgeting with her javelin.
"Yeah. Di, do we really have to go in there?" The magician was starting to sweat. He took off his hat and began twisting it in his hands.
"Do you really want to leave Hank in there?" she snapped. Though in all honestly she wasn't happy about going in either.
They started walking again. Diana asked Presto to take them to the last place he saw Hank. Unfortunately, Presto was having a hard time remembering where that was.
"I think it was here..." he said uncertainly, not willing to admit that the trees all looked alike.
"Shh!" Diana whispered.
"What?" Eric mouthed silently as glanced her way. He'd been getting the creeps since before they entered.
She pantomimed a finger to mouth gesture, and then cupped her ear. Quietly and cautiously the three of them closed rank. After a minute nothing happen.
"I don't hear a thing Di--AAAHHHH!"
Something charged out of the trees and headed straight for them.
It was gold and furry.
And huge.
And wolf-like.
The gold, furry, huge wolf-like thing swerved past them, then halted at the end of the path. It turned around and growled at them. Diana and Eric both unconsciously stepped in front of Presto. He was both annoyed and grateful at the overprotective gesture.
With its blue eyes flashing the wolf creature snarled and snapped its monstrous jaws. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared down the path. Presto sank to his knees, shaking from the encounter. The other two were just as scared.
"You okay pal?" Eric asked with concern.
"Yeah, just scared spit less..."
"I'm okay too, Eric," Diana mumbled.
That was when he noticed he had the girl in a vice-like grip. Mortified, he loosened his hold on her.
"Sorry," he muttered.
"No problem, really."
"Did you see that guys? I told you there was a wolf!" Presto wheezed.
"Wolf? What kind of wolf has blond hair and blue eyes?"
"This isn't the time for jokes Eric!" Diana admonished.
"Who's joking? I'm dead serious! Did you see the size of its head? It looked more like a bear than a dog," he screeched.
Diana had to admit that there was something weirdly mal-proportioned about the wolf's body. It was like something out of a monster movie.
"Maybe it's a werewolf?" Presto suggested.
Considering the thoughts she was having Diana decided that wasn't far fetched.
Eric had his doubts though. "Presto, you need to lay off the Elvira marathons. There are no such things as werewolves."
"You mean like there's no such things as dragons and unicorns?" The magician shot back.
While the boys bickered back and forth Diana had the impression they were no longer alone.
"Keep it down guys, you're being too loud--"
CRACK!
The noise startled the three friends. They all looked at each other. Had it come back?