Nearly a month drew by before the two returned home. It was partly due to her accidentally killing their acquaintance in a friendly duel involving toothpicks. However, he was not without fault as he felt all the Mountain Dew and bacon donuts would go to waste. After all, his only reason for visiting was to be fed and hers was to fulfill the prophecy of dueling someone with little spikes of wood.

She won. He ate. All was well.

In front of the house, she came to a stop. Something didn’t feel right. He, unknowingly, poked her side to get her to continue which, unfortunately, set her off. She turned, grabbed his hand and bit down on the curious finger so hard that her teeth marks became permanent.

He would have called out her name to stop her had he but only known it. Instead, he clenched his jaw shut and learned yet another lesson.

She tapped her foot impatiently, waited until a small rat skittered out of a small hole, and merrily walked inside. “Come. Don’t dawdle.”