By the time they returned, they found Tessa perched on top of a huge stone, furiously trying to scrape the grime off herself with a stick.
Her hair was matted, her cheeks streaked with dried mud, and thick green slime clung stubbornly to her face like some cursed mask. She looked less like the sharp-tongued girl they knew and more like a swamp monster dragged straight from the deepest pit of the forest.
Zane spotted her first.
He strode forward, ready to question the strange creature occupying their resting stone, but the moment Tessa turned around—
"Arghhhhh!"
He nearly screamed his lungs out.
His eyes widened so much it seemed they would fall from his skull.
"What in the heavens—"
He staggered backward, clutching his chest dramatically.
"You monster! What did you do to my Tessa Yun?!"
He pointed an accusing finger at her, voice trembling with righteous fury.
