Lafonda and Leo Second Sneak Peek

Reminder: this is considered ROUGH and does not reflect the final product

Here’s the first chapter in case you missed it. If not, welcome to chapter two.

Enjoy;)

Chapter Two

Greetings, dear reader. Last we left our heroes, they had encountered a ferocious troll under a bridge. Rather cliché with you ask me. The troll leapt from the shadows like “Boo!” And Leo shook like a young chihuahua, and- What? You remember?

What about Luna with her spoon, growls, and fur. Surely there must be more to say about her being a were…

Oh. Yes, I see. Well, what am I here for then? I swear, nerds.

Well Smarty-pants, let’s get right to it then. Buckle up children; we’re diving in right where we left off.

Leo took cover behind some spruce trees. Luna sprinted behind him like an overgrown puppy bounding through the woods. The night grew colder. The wind whistled through the trees, and the leaves scattered in tiny whirlwinds across the beaten path.

Leo’s heart raced. Raced faster than a chariot in a rainstorm. And believe me, when I say, that’s pretty fast. Practically zipping.

Luna sniffed his arm. Her wet nose made him jump. The large wolf nuzzled beside him licking his wounds. He pulled his arms away, and Luna whined.

Luckily, he survived with only a few cuts and scrapes.  He hunkered lower to the ground and prayed the troll wasn’t following them.  Alas, there really was no hiding with a two hundred fifty-pound mound of fur. Not to mention her racket. Luna whined incessantly as she licked his face. He might as well had been traveling with a swarm of gnats.

Eventually, he decided it was pointless. He took a deep breath and peeked down the path. Leo needed to make sure he wasn’t being followed. The troll had tricked him once, and he wouldn’t get the drop him again.

A few leaves tumbled in the breeze. The soil seemed undisturbed. Not a sign of movement, yet it remained hard to tell. Not even the moonlight couldn’t break the dense canopy.

Leo couldn’t move a muscle. He felt safe here. Well safer. At least now he had back up should the troll strike again. Luna rested her head on his knee and huffed looking up at him. Her eyes dimmed.

He stroked her ears back.  Despite her smothering and “cleaning,” if you could call it that, his arms and chest throbbed. Bruises make nastier boo-boos mind you.

“At least we’re safe,” he said to himself.

“I’m sorry.”

Leo jumped and crawled away.

Luna glanced at him with her ears back. Her eyes drifted to the ground.

“You can talk?”

She nodded. “Sometimes… when I have enough control. The moon’s setting, and it can’t make it here.” Her voice flowed soft and echoed. At times it almost groaned.

Leo crawled away a bit further. “You’re not gonna try and eat me again, are you?”

Leo reached but realized he lost his spoon.

Luna sat like a dog and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

“For trying to eat me?” Leo swallowed with fear—half-ready to bolt if need be.

Luna nodded. “I have no control.”

Leo sighed in relief. “What do you mean had no control? You understood earlier.”

“Yeah, after some branches hit me up the head. The moon, it changes me. Instincts take over. Sometimes I have no memory.”

Leo stared into the dirt too. He felt unsure of what to say. “Thank you for—you know, saving me back there. You’re a hero I guess more than I am.”

Luna shook her head. “Wrong again. I’m no hero. I tricked you, boy. I-” The werewolf whimpered. She lay prone with her paws over her eyes. “I needed to run away. I thought the troll could scare you off and I’d ditch you. The troll he- I didn’t think he’d eat you. I thought it was just a story,” she said.

The werewolf howled unable to cry before burying its face again. Leo couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. He crept closer on his knees. “Hey, it’s all right.”

“No, it’s not,” Luna moaned.

“Sure, it is. You saved me. And you weren’t in control, right?”

Leo began petting her head.

“Don’t touch me!” Luna snapped. Leo’s back flattened against the tree. With one paw Luna held him in place. “Listen, boy. Let me make myself perfectly clear. Don’t you never. Ever! Touch me. Ever. And IF you do, it will be your last. Understand?”

Leo nodded.

“I’m not your pet, or your puppy, or whatever. Don’t touch me, Don’t pet me. Don’t even look at me that way. Is that clear?”

Leo nodded. One paw pressed right one his bruise from the river. Her second paw now extended over his windpipe.

“Good. The last thing I need is someone else babying me with ‘oh sweet puppy dearest’ this and ‘sugar dumpling’ that,” she mocked.

Leo wheezed, and Luna looked down from her monologue. Her eyes widened and she lifted paw.

Air sucked into Leo’s lungs as he choked. A thick mud-stained pawprint covered his shirt.

Leo felt five small divots where her nails had broke his skin. She looked at her paws and whimpered. She trotted off and turned her back to him. Leo slowly walked after her.

“Luna?”

Her ears cocked back, and she exhaled. “I said I sorry. I’m a monster; now go away. You will only get yourself hurt.”

“No, you’re not. Come with me. Maybe I can help you and-”

“This why I need to run away,” Luna interrupted. “I’m tired of being treated like a little kid. Stop it. No one can fix me. I’m a monster. Get away.”

“You came back didn’t you?”

Luna turned with her head cocked.

Leo scratched his head. “You didn’t have to, yet you came back.”

“Yeah, after leading you right to him,” she snapped. “Look at me, I’m hideous.”

Leo came around the front and clicked his bellybutton.

Her fur mangled in the deepest black. Briar, thorns, and hucklebucks stuck to her side. Her black berry-stained gown clung in tatters to the wolf. It only covered the waist down. Her paws impressed into the mud and muck. He knew one false move they could end him in a single swat.

And yet, her voice remained soft. Her tail twisted a cutesy curl. Luna’s look glistened in his skin’s under-glow. The way she blinked with her sad puppy dog eyes reminded him of fireflies. In all her monstrosity, she reminded him of his mother. She couldn’t be that bad. Leo had always wanted a dog.

“You rescued me. Who wouldn’t like someone you? Why deep down you’re nothing more than a sweet little puppy d-”

Luna bristled and barred her teeth. Leo’s eyes darted toward the dirt.

Funny, the ground must have seemed very interesting tonight between them.

“Sorry…Look, Luna,maybe we both can learn to be heroes.”

She shook her head. “A hero wouldn’t run away from home.”

Ouch. Leo, how’s that crow taste? Probably not very good. You shouldn’t eat birds. It’s not very nice.

Leo bit his lip and took a moment to compose himself.

Luna continued, “I have no control in the moonlight. My only thoughts are food and survival.”

Leo kicked a pebble and dug a hole with his foot. “You had enough control to save me.”

Luna growled.

“Please Luna, take me to town. You have to go home.”

Luna stuck her nose in the air turning her back again. “No. I can never go home. Do you know what my parents would do to me?”

Leo wondered what his parents would do to him. Deep down, he knew running away was wrong, and he could never tell Luna he had. Then how would he look? Probably still the same, but you get the point.

“Maybe they can help you. You’ll be safe.”

“No. I’ll take you to town, but then you’re on your own.” Luna darted into the woods.

“Luna, wait up,” he said.

“Good luck with the troll. Better keep up if you wanna make it, hero.”

This time Luna refused to wait for him. She just kept going. Whenever he stopped. She only eased her paced. She kept going. Whenever Leo tried to catch up and walk alongside her, she’d gallop until he’d run out of breath. Then she’d return to a trot with a smug smirk on her snout.

The entire trip Leo could catch her mutterings like “what kind of hero could sell her out?” She emphasized “hero” in a mocking tone. He remained unsure if she meant for him to hear her or not. He thought to himself how girls were confusing, and grown-ups were crazy for ever getting married.

Smart boy. Fall in love and before you know it, you’ll have six mouths to feed and be doing laundry of all things. Flee from the married, young gnome. Save yourself from the laundry. No hero should have to wash dirty undies and sweaty socks.

Soon the trees parted, and the path became clear again. A moonbeam shone in the center of the walk.

Luna stopped. Leo saw his chance and took it. He bolted full speed. He expected her to run, but instead, he crashed into her curly tail falling into the dirt.

Leo spread out like a snow angel catching his breath. “What’s wrong?

Her voice rasped as if she was having trouble speaking. “The moon. What if I lose control?”

“No, you won’t.”

Luna glared back at him. “You don’t know that,” she said indignantly. “I thought gnomes were smart.”

Leo shrugged on the ground with a yawn. “I know you were sweet enough to rescue me.”

Luna’s ears flattened. Leo swore her tail wagged before she remembered her grudge.

She cleared her throat and threw her head with attitude. Scolding sass, I tell you. She spoke down to him like a child. “Well, if I go forward, I could forget everything: where I am, who I am. I could even turn evil.”

Leo sat up.  “But you won’t. You don’t seem evil. This is the only way to the city, right?”

Luna whined. “Are you sure this can’t wait until morning,” she said.

“By morning, we’ve lost more time. And the troll could come back.”

Luna sighed. “Fine, but it’s your funeral.”

With a deep breath, she stepped forward and closed her eyes.  Her oily fur glistened in the moonlight. Her tail sank between her legs and she pressed on. Only after a while did she begin to peek. She glanced over herself in disbelief, then elation. She hadn’t turned. It was amazing.

Her tail swayed as they pressed on. Only this time, Leo walked alongside her and she didn’t seem to mind. If there were any hard feelings, she didn’t show it.

Luna stole glances at Leo as they walked. “So, what’s with the pack?”

Leo tightened his torn bag over his shoulders. As the night pressed on, it was starting to feel heavier. “What about it?” He said.

He struggled to think of a way not to tell her he was a runaway too.

“What are carrying that you need so bad?”

“Clothes, toys, and tools. Stuff I may need as a hero.”

“Tools?” Luna‘s head turned, confused.

Leo put his hand on his hips and proudly displayed around his waist was tool belt with a tiny hammer and screwdriver. “I’m an inventor too.”

Luna laughed. “Like what? Show me.”

Leo rifled through his bag and his hand came out the hole in the back. Luna’s eyes darted toward the ground.

What an interesting thing ground is, yes.

“I’m sorry.”

Leo sighed. “It’s okay. I can always make more. Besides, you weren’t in control, right?”

Luna nodded.

Leo continued, “My grandfather was a toymaker. He made the best tin toys, and I learned how to make a few of my own. One of my favorites was a squeezable claw for reaching things.”

“Because you’re short.”

Leo remained silent. They pressed on. The light of a tower shined over the trees. Gazillions of stars lit the way now. And the full golden moon crested the canopy and was slowly sinking.

“Beautiful moon,” Leo finally broke the silence.

Luna shook her head. “None of them are beautiful to me,” she said.

“You didn’t even look.”

Luna stared up at the moon and shuddered. Her body collapsed with a thump.

“Luna?”

No response. Her muscled bulged with veins and sinew. She bashed her head into the ground and raised a howl into the night sky. Her eyes fluttered open in a misty haze.

“Luna?”