Page 140 of Cherish

“Damn straight. I expect nothing less,” Hudson tells him. “And thank you. We appreciate this more than we can ever say.”

“Yes,” I agree. “We’ll never be able to thank you enough.”

“Thank me when you get to the other side and you’re not dead,” is his cryptic answer.

“Now that we’re here, can you at least tell us what to expect?” I ask, because really, the mystery is going to kill me faster than whatever awaits us.

“I hear it’s a little different every time,” he answers with a shake of his bangs.

“Wait, you don’t know?” Eden asks, her eyebrows disappearing under her fringe.

“I’m a chupacabra,” he replies, and his chest puffs out a tiny bit. When we all just blink at him, he shakes his head and elaborates. “Let’s just say whatever is down there wants none of this”—he gestures down the length of his body, then taps his forehead—“and definitely none of this.”

“That has to be the weirdest flex I’ve ever seen,” Flint murmurs to Jaxon, who shoots him a half smile but says nothing.

“Basically, whateverisdown there leaves ol’ Polo alone. But that means they’re smart and wily.” He looks at each of us one by one. “But I’ve seen…somethingwith others I’ve tried to smuggle out, and if you relax for even a second, they’ll be on you. Whatever you do, do not let them swallow you.”

Don’t let them swallow you? That’s the best advice he’s got? Like, isn’t that self-explanatory?

I exchange what-the-fuck looks with my friends as the tension in my stomach increases threefold. Don’t let them swallow us? How the hell big are these things, anyway?

“No offense, Polo, but I feel like that’s pretty generic advice,” Flint comments. “Does anyone ever actually want to be swallowed by anything?”

“I’m not saying youwon’twantto be swallowed by them,” Polo says with a half-hearted shrug. “By the end, you may be praying for it. I’ve seen it happen to others.”

I’ve got nothing to say to that, and judging from the expressions on my friends’ faces, neither do they. I do know, however, that the longer we stand here, the more freaked out I’m getting. I don’t know if that’s what Polo is aiming for—a last-ditch attempt to get us to change our minds—but I do know these kinds of nerves aren’t going to do us any good.

It’s time to either suck it up or get the fuck off the playing field. And since the latter isn’t an option, I reach down deep. Then say, “Are we going to do this or what?”

“By all means,” Polo says. Then he gestures to the wishing well. “Ladies first.”

“Wait. That’s it?” Jaxon asks. “We just need to jump into a well?”

“That’s notit. But it’s a start.” Polo lifts a brow at me, as if asking if I’m brave enough to be the first one down.

Truth be told, I don’t think bravery has anything to do with it. But a good leader never asks anyone to do what they wouldn’t. And while I have no idea if I’m actually a good leader or not, I know that I want to be.

Besides, I’ve got to go down the dark, scary hole no matter what. I might as well be first and get it over with. And if something is waiting down there to swallow me, then maybe this will give my friends a better shot at not getting eaten.

“What do I do?” I ask, stepping closer to the well. “Just jump?”

But Hudson is already there. “I’ll go first,” he tells me.

Like I want him to be the first one to get swallowed if something is actually waiting at the bottom? No fucking thank you.

“Puh-lease,” I say sarcastically and shift into my gargoyle form. “I believe the girl made ofstonehas the distinct advantage over the chewy vampire in the monsters-might-eat-us race.”

Hudson raises one haughty eyebrow and gestures toward the well as though he were showing me the way to my throne. Cheeky bastard.

I turn to Polo and ask again: “Just jump, right?”

He nods. “Yep. You just jump.”

As if to prove it to me, he shifts into his chupacabra form—which looks sort of like a coyote, if by coyote you really meant a giant fucking hellhound with menacing, foot-tall spikes along his spine and massive, razor-sharp fangs built solely for ripping flesh from bone like tissue paper at Christmas.

“I totally get the flex now,” Flint murmurs to Jaxon, who rolls his eyes this time.

“Why didn’t he do that when we were fighting together?” I murmur to Hudson, who just shrugs as if to say we shouldn’t question our badass chupacabra guide.

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