Free Joshua and the Arrow Realm by Donna Galanti Page A

rich wine. She trotted under our tree as Charlie’s foot slipped on the trunk he sat on. A branch snapped and fell. And another. They landed in pieces on the ground, arranging themselves in letters. Not letters but words! GET … TO … TOP … . I blinked but the words remained. Another branch fell on Artemis’s saddle and she pulled her horse to a stop, grasping a falling twig shaped like the letter J. For Joshua? My brain squeezed in and out trying to understand this mystery.
    Artemis turned the twig in her hand as her horse nickered, trampling the words formed on the forest floor. They were soon erased. Artemis looked up, her hood falling back. My heart fluttered with her stare, begging for the leaves to hide us. She tossed the twig away, kicked her heels into her horse, and sped off after her army. They were soon gone but Charlie and I sat for a long while to be sure they weren’t coming back. The J still called to me from below, a mystic symbol of hope.
    Signs.
    Like the signs I’d drawn in the Lost Realm with the hope someone would follow our trail. Now we had signs to follow. Someone—or something—was trying to help us.
    Branches cracked below, and a head peeked out from between the trees. I let go of my branch in surprise and nearly fell.
    â€œShe’s gone,” the face said.
    â€œAsh?” I whispered, looking closer.
    â€œWhy are you here?” Charlie said, shaking his branch.
    She shook her head and whistled low, waving at us to come down. Charlie shook his head back.
    â€œWe need a friend,” I said to Charlie.
    He grunted. “You need help picking friends, Joshua.”
    â€œI picked you.”
    He grunted again, and we climbed down to face the girl who’d forced us to the Arrow Realm.
    With her animal skin clothes, she fit in here much better than my kitchen. Her earthy smell sprung up and blended with the woods. Her pale face stood out against the dim shadows. She now wore a bow clasped to her back and a quiver of arrows across her chest.
    Ash pressed her thin fingers into mine, her bright green eyes darting around, and pointed up. “Got to scram to the tree house.”
    â€œYour camp?”
    She nodded fast, jerking me to come.
    Charlie crinkled his eyes. “Lions can’t climb, right?”
    I shrugged and followed her around a boulder, coming face to face with a giant black beast bearing a bear’s body and a wolf’s snout. Charlie and I scrambled backward. The beast hung its head and she pet it. “My Agri.” She climbed up the rock and vaulted onto its back, urging us to do the same.
    â€œ
Mon Dieu
! An agrius beast for a pet?” Charlie said with a groan. “Why not a nice pony?”
    â€œBetter than being eaten by that lion-bull beast,” Isaid, pulling myself up on the rock.
    â€œYou met a cretan?” Ash said, whipping her head around.
    I nodded.
    â€œNot many survive those. You’re either very lucky or very smart.”
    â€œThis whole place is unlucky,” Charlie said.
    â€œMaybe you carry more than luck,” Ash said.
    â€œMaybe,” Charlie said squinting at me.
    Luck seemed to be all we carried for the moment. I jumped on the back of the creature behind Ash, sinking into its thick fur. She urged Charlie on who stood frozen, mesmerized by the beast’s boulder-sized, shaggy head. Its pointed ears and snout twitched as it trembled, eager to be on the run.
    â€œCome on, Charlie! The army might come back.”
    That did it. He scrambled up the rock and jumped. I grabbed him as he slid sideways and, with a leap, the agrius beast sprung away. Raindrops doused us from trees as their leaves shook in the wind.
    â€œIt’s like the forest in France behind my home,” Charlie said. “Well, what used to be home … where my mother and brother live.”
    â€œI’d like to see it someday when we get back.”
    â€œIf we get back—”
    â€œWe