Ollie grimaced as he adjusted himself on the couch cushion propping him up against the shed, a patchwork of bandages wrapped around his shoulder. Everything hurt. His chest, his shoulder, his head, his wrist. Even his butt hurt from sitting on concrete for the last half-hour. He supposed that was the price to pay for taking on an entire goblin pack and living to tell the tale. Not the smartest thing he’d ever done, but definitely a story he’d tell to any hunter who would listen.

  The other goblins had fled into the forest after the fall of Kranka. That’s what usually happened with a pack. They’d flee, take a while to regroup, find a new leader, and then cause a whole new set of problems. But that would take weeks, or even months. Goblin bureaucracy at its finest, as he’d explained to Andy and Kimmie. He’d directed Andy to burn Kranka’s body, and a black, sooty, hobgoblin-shaped residue still covered the grass where he’d set the creature alight. A shotgun blast to the head would do a lot of damage, even to a hobgoblin, but like he’d told Kimmie several days ago, the only way to ensure that a goblin stayed dead was to burn every last bit of them. After killing at least four people that Ollie knew of, Kranka’s reign of terror had come to an end, all thanks to a lame little goblin hiding out in the trees behind the back pen. That part of the story would take some getting used to.

  Andy leaned against the patio railing, watching that same tree line for any sign of a renewed goblin offensive, while also glancing at Ollie every so often. He didn’t envy the sleepless nights Captain Awesome over there would suffer as he wrapped his head around what he’d seen tonight. Ollie recognized the look of barely concealed terror hiding behind those eyes. Not necessarily fear of the goblins, or even monsters in general. No, this was a terror borne of knowing that your entire world had been turned upside down, and there was nothing you could do about it. Not everyone took that well.

  He stiffened as Kimmie sat down next to him.

  “Thanks for trashing my house.”

  Ollie gave a small shrug, the most his banged-up shoulder would allow. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I needed to redecorate anyway.” She grinned. “I was getting tired of my kitchen. And my living room. And my backyard. A couple of my pigs were starting to get extra annoying. Oh, and my washer and dryer. How’d that happen, by the way? My washer has a giant dent in it.” She held out her hands. “Like this big.”

  Ollie motioned to the layer of soot a few yards away. “That happened.”

  Kimmie shook her head as she surveyed the damage in the backyard. Ollie looked away. He still hadn’t decided how angry he should be at her for lying to him.

  “So, uh,” Kimmie started, broaching that very same topic, “About earlier. In the cave–”

  Wendy and Albert appeared at the back door, cutting off her train of thought. Once the goblins fled, the elderly couple reluctantly came back into the house to collect their things. Wendy walked up to Kimmie, her face pale. She reached out a trembling hand.

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  “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, dear,” she said with a painfully forced smile, “but we’re going to find another place to stay.”

  Kimmie shook her hand, then gave her a small hug.

  “I understand. All of this wasn’t exactly in the brochure.”

  “We had a wonderful time. Up until…” Wendy looked around at the carnage on display in the backyard, then fixed an awkward smile on Kimmie, “well–”

  “Hey, you’re still the best boarders ever. You too, Albert.”

  Albert gave a polite nod and reached for Wendy’s arm. “C’mon, hon. Let’s get going, before anything else comes charging out of those woods.”

  They walked around the house toward the driveway. Andy moved up next to Kimmie and crossed his arms. He looked over at Ollie with a frown. Kimmie joined him in that assessment.

  “We need to get you to a hospital,” she said.

  “We can’t take him to a hospital,” Andy shook his head. “He left our holding cell under my watch. If I bring him back like this, they’d probably throw me behind bars with him.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll take him up to McKinleyville, to Allie’s place. I called her a few minutes ago. She’ll help with this.”

  “Allison Cavanaugh? The vet?”

  Andy shrugged. “Unless you have a better idea?”

  Kimmie motioned to Ollie’s injuries. “How are you gonna explain this?”

  “I’ll tell her goblins attacked.” Andy smiled. “She’ll probably buy it.”

  Kimmie smiled. Ollie groaned as another wave of discomfort radiated from his ripped-up shoulder.

  “I’ll pull my car around back. We should get him up there now.”

  Andy left and Kimmie watched the tree line. Buka was hiding in the woods, out of sight for the sake of Wendy and Albert, but they hadn’t seen any sign of Grika, yet. Kimmie seemed to read his mind.

  “I’m starting to get worried about Grika,” she said. “You think they got him?”

  Ollie sighed. “He’ll show up.” He hoped that was true.

  Andy’s car backed up to the side of the house, tires crunching on the rocky driveway. He hopped out and opened the back door. As he did, Ollie reached up and grabbed Kimmie’s arm. He pulled her close.

  “A witch? This whole time?”

  Kimmie’s expression faltered.

  “No. I’m not. I’m… I don’t know.”

  She offered no other explanation, and he didn’t have the energy to press the issue. He let go of her arm and laid his head back. There would be time for this later. For now, he needed to get well enough to be angry.

  Andy jogged over and he and Kimmie maneuvered Ollie onto his feet and into the backseat, jamming the couch cushion behind his back to make him slightly less uncomfortable. Andy turned to Kimmie.

  “Are you coming with us?” he asked.

  Kimmie glanced at Ollie, a slight frown on her face, then shook her head. “No. I’ll stay here and…” she sighed, “start cleaning this mess up.”

  “By yourself?” he said, clearly not happy with that decision.

  “Like Ollie said, they won’t be back any time soon. I’ll be fine.” She held up a hand, halting Andy’s follow-up argument. “If I get scared, or I start to hear too many bumps in the night, I’ll pack the dogs into the car and go stay at a hotel for a couple days. It’ll be fine.”

  Andy had no response, and he couldn’t force her to leave her house, so he nodded and got in the driver’s seat. Kimmie shut Ollie’s door and waved at him through the window as Andy rolled back across the driveway and then out onto the main road. They drove for a few minutes in total silence, until they reached the center of town.

  “So, what happens now?” Andy asked, watching him in the rearview mirror. “Is Kimmie safe?”

  Ollie looked out the window, watching the darkened buildings of Ferndale’s Main Street pass by. He reached into his pocket with some difficulty, making sure the spear point necklace he’d taken from Kranka was still there. He fingered the point, remembering the last time he’d seen it. One of many memories he’d tried hard to forget.

  The lie came easily to his lips. “She’ll be fine.”

  TO BE CONTINUED IN

  Goblin Hunter: Crones