Finding Monsters (26 page)

“I packed a few camping items and food. We’ll need clot
h
ing from my world when we get there and also lodging and currency.”

“I’ll handle those items,” Charlie said. Turning back to Saal he said. “I think father was going to change you into a large dog of some sort. You will have to keep silent when we are around the other humans, but other than that, you should do fine. Pets don’t talk in the human realm.

“A pet?” Saal scoffed.

“We love our pets in the human realm, Saal. Don’t be a baby,” Missy teased.

“Fine! Let’s get this over with,” Saal said. Charlie chuckled as he pulled up his blue light and touched Saal. The light su
r
rounded the jackal transforming him into a dog. When the light faded, Saal went to the mirror to check out his new form. His ears perked up when he saw the reflection.

“I’m rather large, don’t you think? I might scare the h
u
mans,” Saal said as he regarded his image, all black with a hint of brown around the face. His short shiny coat looked sleek and his tail, long and slender to match. Overall, he liked the look.

“I couldn’t very well make you into a small dog. You’re almost seven feet in height as it is,” Charlie said. Saal padded over to Missy, his head chest high on her.

“He’s pretty big but it’ll do,” she said. “Shall we then?”

Charlie led the way to their bedroom’s full-length dressing mirror.

“Can you put us near the museum?” Missy asked.

“No, I can only put us in certain places. It is easier to go places I’ve already been. I was going to put us in the cemetery where  … ” He trailed off looking pained at the thought.

“Oh,” Missy said. “Yes that will be close enough, I su
p
pose.”

Saying nothing more, Charlie put his hands on either side of the mirror and pulled up the shimme
r
ing blue light. Missy watched as it created a gateway into a world she’d left behind. A tremor shook her once before she, Charlie, and Saal walked through into the moonless dark of night, leaving the monster realm behind.

L
iss Thomas currently resides with her husband in Santa Barbara, California. She is currently working on several books in the Guardians of Esurack series which started as a group of short stories before blossoming into a young adult fantasy s
e
ries.

This first novel stemmed from a growing list of short st
o
ries I wrote based on a writer’s prompt. When I completed the first short story I called my sister in tears insisting she read it (it had a sad ending *sniff* *sob*). But my sister, the eternal optimist didn’t want to read a sad story so she told me to make a happy ending.

My brain exploded, before returning to the task at hand. Happy ending, happy ending, happy ending  …  so I continued writing. The second short story led to a third, then a forth and well, you get the picture.

About half way through I participated in a Twitter chat about YA novels and asked the tweeted question, ‘Is there a market for a short story series?’ A lovely and talented literary agent, gave me this advice  …  “No, No, NO! Write a novel!”

So I did!

Read more about the characters and the upco
m
ing sequel, “Becoming Monsters” on her website

www.lissthomasauthor.com