“Gordok?” I asked doubtfully, struggling to see his face. “You’ve been watching me.” “Of course. I have eyes everywhere and my eyes tell me everything. But just in case you haven’t heard, this is my world.” He waved his hand at shadows and hostile trees that glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison. The forest smelled evil and made me think of tramped grass bathed in blood and stiff innocent creatures reeking with the foul breath of slaughter. “Concentrate, Aiden.” He clapped his hands. “Please you really need to focus. This is important. Children have to be careful when they venture into the Forbidden Forest. There’s a pack of voracious wolves with gaping mouths and forked tongues each as thick as my wrist. They roam the woods,…show more content… Either he was snickering or blowing me a puckered raspberry. The one goblin freak show bared his fangs. His mouth began to twitch at the corners and his yellow eyes sent a clear message: Look out. I’m about to become demented. “I want it and I want it now!” He stomped his foot and red sparks flew from his flip-flops. I was already moving toward the trees, but the goblin blocked the path. I tried to do-si-do around him, my exasperation increasing with every stonewalled step. “I need its power to unite the kingdom, rule over all the other creatures, and destroy those that oppose me. Stop trying to cheat me out of what is rightfully mine.” “Can’t we talk about this rationally,” I pleaded. “Like you know . . . boy to gruesome goblin.” “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up,” he hissed. I spun around and took off into the woods. I could feel him behind me. Twice he was close enough for his claws to graze my spine, and once, just as I was certain he was about to lasso my throat, he stumbled and fell back. The only reason I made it to a vast, echoing chamber of stone with my head still attached was that I knew the lay of the land, thanks to the centaur who had soared with me over