back in a minute."
I moved forward and peered into the third crate, my hand reaching forward.
"I mean it Grace!" he yelled back at me. "Don’t fucking touch it!"
My hand snapped back to my side and I inched closer, standing nearly inside the crate, my toes touching the edge. There was only one thing in there.
Shafts of sunlight glinted off of the steel-like surface, showing me brief glimpses, but also keeping the object hidden at the same time.
It looked like a plate-mail cat, but my brain couldn’t connect the dots quite yet. The entire thing blended into the shadows and with every blink of my eyes, what I saw shifted, like liquid metal.
Squinting my eyes so that they were nearly shut and tilting my head to the side a bit, I could make out liquid muscles rippling with each metallic hiss of its breath. My mind was definitely playing tricks on me.
I stepped back and it moved with me. Antennae grew from its forehead as it stalked me, its body lengthening as it moved.
I had never seen anything like it. My breath caught in my throat as the head turned and flat metal eyes bore into me, holding me captive with its gaze.
The muscles between my shoulder blades burned and twitched. I felt an unparalleled need to run. The burning in my back grew hotter, stinging me, urging me to go and go now .
The neck lengthened, stretching toward me as its limbs elongated, becoming spindly.
I gulped and glanced behind me to the relative safety of the house. My legs were rooted to the spot. This is what they meant when they wrote "frozen in terror." A thousand different gruesome scenarios sifted through my mind, leaving me terrified and on the verge of pissing myself.
We both knew who the prey was in this scenario. The Monster in the Box uttered a growl to let me know that it sure as hell wasn't it . I could only hope that someone would come up with something pithy to say at my funeral.
I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t see it bunch up those powerful muscles and spring upon me. Yes, I would die a coward.
"That will do," the gruff voice behind me commanded.
My body immediately relaxed and I nearly did pee my pants when he touched me.
"Oh my God, Adonis! What in the hell is that?" My voice was trembling in time with the rest of my body.
He walked past me and patted the creature that had shifted down into a Golden Retriever dog, tongue lolling out of its metal mouth.
"You’re a bad boy," he admonished and the creature shrank just a little more. "You’re supposed to train her, not scare the piss out of her."
"That—that thing is supposed to train me?"
"This here is a mercury golem. He can and will shift into any kind of nightmare that you can imagine and he’s nearly impossible to kill."
What did you say to that? There was no reasonable response here, so I asked "What’s his name?"
"He doesn’t have one. He’s just a golem."
"What do you mean ‘he doesn’t have one, he’s just a golem?’ If I’m going to be ‘playing’ with this thing every day, I need to have something to call him."
Drew grinned at me and put his fists on his hips. "Grace, what would you like to call him?"
"I dunno. Maybe Scooter or something. Something harmless. I’m already going to have nightmares about the thing."
"Ok, Scooter it is." He turned back to the golem and made an expansive gesture with his hand. "So, it’s going to be a matter of defend and attack and pray that you stay alive," he continued. "Well, except that Scooter here is a good boy and he won’t go as far as killing you. Will ya boy?" he asked as he rubbed behind Scooter’s ear.
"God save me," I muttered and turned back toward the house. "I’m going to try to write a few pages before you start beating me into submission. Give me at least two hours?"
"Sure. I’m going to move the rest of this into the house and get rid of the crates."
"Oh Hey," I stopped and looked back at him. "I forgot to ask you where you were staying last night. Do you want me to make
I moved forward and peered into the third crate, my hand reaching forward.
"I mean it Grace!" he yelled back at me. "Don’t fucking touch it!"
My hand snapped back to my side and I inched closer, standing nearly inside the crate, my toes touching the edge. There was only one thing in there.
Shafts of sunlight glinted off of the steel-like surface, showing me brief glimpses, but also keeping the object hidden at the same time.
It looked like a plate-mail cat, but my brain couldn’t connect the dots quite yet. The entire thing blended into the shadows and with every blink of my eyes, what I saw shifted, like liquid metal.
Squinting my eyes so that they were nearly shut and tilting my head to the side a bit, I could make out liquid muscles rippling with each metallic hiss of its breath. My mind was definitely playing tricks on me.
I stepped back and it moved with me. Antennae grew from its forehead as it stalked me, its body lengthening as it moved.
I had never seen anything like it. My breath caught in my throat as the head turned and flat metal eyes bore into me, holding me captive with its gaze.
The muscles between my shoulder blades burned and twitched. I felt an unparalleled need to run. The burning in my back grew hotter, stinging me, urging me to go and go now .
The neck lengthened, stretching toward me as its limbs elongated, becoming spindly.
I gulped and glanced behind me to the relative safety of the house. My legs were rooted to the spot. This is what they meant when they wrote "frozen in terror." A thousand different gruesome scenarios sifted through my mind, leaving me terrified and on the verge of pissing myself.
We both knew who the prey was in this scenario. The Monster in the Box uttered a growl to let me know that it sure as hell wasn't it . I could only hope that someone would come up with something pithy to say at my funeral.
I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t see it bunch up those powerful muscles and spring upon me. Yes, I would die a coward.
"That will do," the gruff voice behind me commanded.
My body immediately relaxed and I nearly did pee my pants when he touched me.
"Oh my God, Adonis! What in the hell is that?" My voice was trembling in time with the rest of my body.
He walked past me and patted the creature that had shifted down into a Golden Retriever dog, tongue lolling out of its metal mouth.
"You’re a bad boy," he admonished and the creature shrank just a little more. "You’re supposed to train her, not scare the piss out of her."
"That—that thing is supposed to train me?"
"This here is a mercury golem. He can and will shift into any kind of nightmare that you can imagine and he’s nearly impossible to kill."
What did you say to that? There was no reasonable response here, so I asked "What’s his name?"
"He doesn’t have one. He’s just a golem."
"What do you mean ‘he doesn’t have one, he’s just a golem?’ If I’m going to be ‘playing’ with this thing every day, I need to have something to call him."
Drew grinned at me and put his fists on his hips. "Grace, what would you like to call him?"
"I dunno. Maybe Scooter or something. Something harmless. I’m already going to have nightmares about the thing."
"Ok, Scooter it is." He turned back to the golem and made an expansive gesture with his hand. "So, it’s going to be a matter of defend and attack and pray that you stay alive," he continued. "Well, except that Scooter here is a good boy and he won’t go as far as killing you. Will ya boy?" he asked as he rubbed behind Scooter’s ear.
"God save me," I muttered and turned back toward the house. "I’m going to try to write a few pages before you start beating me into submission. Give me at least two hours?"
"Sure. I’m going to move the rest of this into the house and get rid of the crates."
"Oh Hey," I stopped and looked back at him. "I forgot to ask you where you were staying last night. Do you want me to make
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