Page 69 of Wrath

On closer inspection, I saw that green tinged their skin, with tiny yellow spots scattered throughout. Their eyes were abnormally large and had a solid red iris, not a pupil to be seen. Instead of a nose, they had two holes in the center of their faces, both of them so long that they reached the top of their mouths. They weren’t smiling, but they didn’t need to be for me to see their teeth—nearly the size of my thumb, and all of them carved into serrated edges.

Remaining silent, I began to flip through the book rapidly, searching for anything that would tell me what this creature was and how to stop them.

Maybe…no.

No.

Definitely not.

No. Not that.

Perhaps…wait, no.

No.

No.

Frustration built in my chest as I glanced at the passing army once more.

All of the creatures stood shorter than an average human and wore threadbare clothes that did very little to cover their frames. They had hats on their heads, but even they didn’t hide their long, curved ears.

The army continued to pass, and I paid attention to their movements, their confident strides, the way their arms swung.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No—

I paused on the current page of the book, my eyes widening.

Green and yellow skin…

Serrated teeth…

Curved ears…

Excitement filled me as I glanced at the top of the page, where the creature’s name was listed in boxy letters.

Goblins.

We were dealing with goblins.

I waved my hand to garner Ryland’s attention and then pointed towards the page in question. He hovered behind me, his feet not touching the ground, and began to read.

Now that I knew for sure what we were dealing with, I quickly darted my attention to the bottom, where the book detailed ways to kill the various creatures. My stomach plummeted at the words I found there.

Goblins are known to travel in groups of at least twenty, which they call a family unit. The leader of each family unit is called the monarch. Some believe that goblins have what researchers call a “hive mind,” meaning they all share the same thoughts. Since goblins

And that was it. The rest of the words were nothing but faded ink and smudge lines.

Fuck!

I scanned the passage yet again, searching for something, anything, that would help us.

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