“Huh? What are you talkin’ about?” Annie questioned as her brother slowly helped her up from the floor.
Virginya made a series of faces at Annie as if to speak some secret, silent language that only the two of them could understand. Then she said slowly, “Hoot here has gotten it in his head that Nervous…is the Night Beast.”
Annie stared at her brother in absolute disbelief. Mention of the Night Beast had shut her up completely. The revelation roused concerned whispers from the saloon’s patrons.
“It’s all makin’ sense to me now,” Hoot began to explain. “I always thought there was somethin’ off about the guy. And then he suddenly goes missing? Just when more and more complaints of a beast start turnin’ up?”
“I tried to tell him it didn’t make any sense,” Virginya said to Annie. “The beast is just a beast. There’s no human in there.”
