Purple Prose + Novel

A familiar male voice behind her made her jump. “Who would have ever thought goody-two-shoes, Rachel Harker, would be such a rebel?”
“I’m not a rebel,” she said, greeting not one but two boys strolling up to her.
“Oh, really? My brother tells you to stay on the trail and not veer off, and what do you do? You veer… you’ve veern.” Sid smiled like the cat that ate the canary as he glided toward her.
“I saw the sign and wanted to investigate. That isn’t a sin.”
“Neither is what I did.”
“Sidney,” she said trying to remain calm. There was no way she was going to have this conversation again.
“Children, let’s play nice,” Asher said as he strolled up a few feet behind Sid.
“She started it,” Sid said, imitating a five-year-old and giving Rachel a half smile.
She rolled her eyes at him and asked Asher, “How did you find me, anyway? Where’s Susan?”
“She’s busy at the moment getting Dawn-Alice off of the mountain. Turns out her allergies aren’t allergies. Susan thinks it’s a bad cold or maybe the flu and wants to get her to the hotel pretty fast.”
“Of course,” Sid added, “when we finally noticed you were missing, she sent me and Asher to find you. Your knights in shining armor have arrived.” He raised his arm and bowed. Typical Sid. Never serious.
“Yay me,” she said unable to hold in a snicker. Sid had the ability to make anyone laugh even when they didn’t want to.
“Oh, Rachel. Aren’t you even a little happy to see us?” Sid asked, scrunching his fingers together. “Maybe a little?”
“I was fine on my own.”
“Fine?” Sid scoffed.
“Cut it out. Let’s go,” Asher cut in. He motioned for her to follow him. “We need to start getting back. It’ll be dark soon. I’m not stayin’ out here.”
“It won’t be dark for a few hours. I haven’t been out here that long, and we still need to eat at the top of the trail. It can’t be past one.”
“Try three, sweetheart,” Sid said, showing her his watch. “You’ve been gone awhile.”
From CROSSING THE DEEP by Kelly Martin Available from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, Astraea Press.com OCTOBER 9, 2012