Pumpkin Seeds (Pt. 3)

The Beast's tongue flicks out between its front rows of teeth, licking its lips wetly, small dabs of spittle flying out onto the three terrified creatures pined between its paws. “I can't wait for this. I've heard you things taste good . . .”

“Cally?” Sneezle's body is pressed tightly against him as they both crouch over Moribund, trying their best to shield him from the beast, but failing.

“Yes, Sneeze?”

“I love you.”

“Me too.”

Suddenly it's darker and the Beast's head raises from them, looking up and above, all three of its eyes wide open, and it lets out a meek roar of annoyance. “Shelly!” And a voice like thunder booms around them, falling out of the sky on them from far above. There is the shadow of a gigantic figure there. One of the Big Ones.

“Shelly, what are you doing? What have you found, love?”

The Beast pulls back from them as the Big One flicks its foot against the side of it, pushing it's foul, furry body off of them and sending it tumbling to the side. It yelps in surprise and, coming to rest, jumps to its feet and starts to lick itself.

“And what are you little things?” Sneezle shoves herself ever closer to Cally and faints as a giant face approaches them from above, coming at them with incredible speed to pause over them, breathing softly. It looks to be a female, her brows furrowed and her mouth in the shape of a frown.

“Oh, children, I fear this is the end. Both of you were good kids, please know that. Even if you were lazy.” Morry's eyes are getting watery and Calcifer has never seen so much emotion from the angry old one, but it might be from the pain his arm.

“Oh, don't worry.” The woman is whispering to them, or at least it must be whispering to her. It's still much louder than any of them could manage themselves, but it has a calming effect. “I'm not going to hurt you. Was that beastly pet of mine bothering you?”

Morry is silent and Sneezle is still out in Calcifer's arms, so he reluctently speaks up. “Please, please don't hurt us. We didn't know it was a sacred temple. We thought it was just a pumpkin and we've had a bad harvest this year. Please.”

“But, I just said. . . Sacred Temple?”

Calcifer nods gently and begins to shake Sneezle softly, trying to wake her. He eyes flutter open and she looks up at the woman's face, her ears shooting straight out rigid in fear as she sees it.

“The Jack-O-Lantern? That thing? Oh, that's just for fun!” She laughs. Or what must be a laugh, and raises back somewhat. The three tiny figures begin to climb to their feet, Morry stumbling a little from the pain in his fractured arm. He leans on Calcifer's shoulder while Sneezle grips his good arm.

“I may be a crazy old witch, but I'm not going to hurt the ltitle forest people for setting up shop in my dumb old Jack-O-Lantern! You little things are so silly. Are you okay?”

“Old Moribold here broke his arm when your . . . pet attacked us.”

“What? Shelly!” The witch kicks out at the beast again, narrowly missing it as it jumps away and runs off. “Dumb thing. Let's see how it likes skipping a few meals.”

Cally and Sneezle look at each other confused as one of the monster's hands comes down towards them. As the cower the other hand comes as well and suddenly the three of them are in the palms of the monster, lying back on its warm soft skin. “My name is Bette. What about you little things, eh?”

Again there is silence until Calcifer speaks up. “My name is Calcifer, this is Sneezle, and the hurt one is Moribund.”

“Oh, the hurt one? Wait, what happened to your nose? Did Shelly do that?”

“No!” Sneezle shouts at the monstrous woman, her patience finally run out. “This is just the way I am, and I like it! Morry is the one that's hurt because of your damn monster! We were just trying to scoop out the seeds and it was going to eat us!”

“Oh, now, now, calm down. You look quite lovely like that. Come, let's all go back to my cottage for a bit.”

And the world begins to shift, and they are all shaken to their knees as Bette begins to walk, cupping them gently all the while. In what seems like mere moments they are entering what is like a giant cave, but with lights inside, and they are being settled onto a slab of smooth, worn wood.
“Now then, let's fix that arm first.”

Bette walks from the table and over to her herb cabinet, rustling around until she finds the proper bottle. “Here we go.” 
 
She comes back to them, leaning over Moribold's slightly shaking body crouched on the table. Sneezle and Cally step to the side as she sprinkles something from the bottle onto him, glittering in the air as it falls. 

“My. . . My arm! It's okay. It feels great.” He stretches it out, flexing it back and forth and shaking it. “It's incredible!”

“There we go now, all fixed.”

“Thank you, kind monster.”

“Oh, call me Bette. Now, I heard you all had a bad harvest this year. What do you eat and how much do you want?” And as she smiles down at them, she seems much less of a monster.