Intuition: The Premonition Series by Amy A. Bartol Page A

stopped breathing then, as my eyes grow wide and I stare at her face.
    “Are you trippin’?” she asks, trying to hide her smile from me. I just nod because there are so many things about that vast amount of time that disturbs me. “Sweetie, science is not always an exact… well, science,” Buns says in a reassuring way. “They thought the Earth was flat for a while, too.”
    “So you’re saying they’re wrong?” I ask.
    “No, I’m saying they may not be right,” she smiles at me when I shake my head in frustration. “You could ask Reed how old he is. He might know,” Buns says with enthusiasm.
    The ridiculousness of that statement is enough to have me frowning at her as I ask, “When would anyone answer that question honestly? I mean, my neighbor’s mom still lies about her age any chance she gets and she is somewhere in her mid forties. I can’t imagine anyone willingly telling someone else that they are four billion-years-old.”
    “I doubt he is four billion-years-old, Evie. He lived in Paradise for a while before being sent here, so he must be much older than that,” Buns says pleasantly.
    “Buns, stop talking. I don’t want to know anymore,” I say briskly, trying to wave a piece of paper over my toes to make them dry faster.
    “Evie, now do you see just how special you are?” Buns asks as she watches me from the seat next to me. “Can you fathom all of the creatures who have inhabited the Earth along with man throughout time and you are the most extraordinary thing any of us has ever seen.”
    “What do you mean, Buns? What other creatures have lived alongside man?” I ask, honing in on the bit of information she let slip.
    “Let’s just say that some fairytales aren’t delusions,” she says, wiggling her toes to see if they are dry enough to slip on her sandals.
    “What?” I ask, shifting forward in my seat so that I can see her face better. “Which fairytales are true?” I ask in an urgent tone.
    “Pretty much all of them,” Buns says casually. “Don’t freak out, Evie. A lot of those creatures are extinct now and some found really remote places to hide.” She blows lightly on her toes to try to get the last bit to dry faster.
    “Name some that are extinct,” I respond, trying to figure out if she is teasing me, but I’m not getting that vibe from her.
    “Let’s see… gorgons I’m pretty sure are extinct now, but I’ve seen some pretty hideous women lately that could use a spa treatment,” she says, chuckling until she sees that I’m not laughing. “Okay, you are way too serious.”
    “Gorgons… like Medusa? Women who can look at you and turn a human to stone?” I ask for clarification.
    “Yes. But they were gone before I got here,” she shrugs.
    “What else?” I ask.
    “Well…we thought the Chupacabra were all gone, but I think maybe a few of them survived because there have been reports of them in Puerto Rico lately.
    “You mean the little vicious creatures that people think are aliens?” I ask, looking around to see if anyone was within hearing distance.
    “Yes. Not aliens, they’ve been around for a while,” she says with unconcern.
    “What’s not extinct?” I ask as goose bumps rise on my arms.
    “Well, you already met a drude,” Buns says, and when she glances at me and sees that I don’t understand her she adds, “A drude is a possessing demon from German folklore. In central Africa they are called the mbwiri. You call them ‘shadow men,’” she says. I shiver, remembering just how I had met one yesterday. “The Germans and Danish also speak of erlkings who are supposed to be malevolent elfish creatures who inhabit forests and carry off travelers to their deaths…can you say Fallen?” Buns asks. “Just imagine what someone a couple of hundred years ago would think if Alfred showed up in the forest with his wings exposed and attacked them. They would think they were being jumped by a fairy king with dragonfly wings,” she explains,