Read Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' for Free Online

it.”
    He moved both of my hands to one of his
and used the other one to brush some stray hairs back behind my
ear.
    I slowly opened my eyes.
    “Ask away,” he said, keeping his eyes
locked on mine. He frowned. “Wait.” He turned to Dodge. “No. She
needs to know. She’s about to have a meltdown.”
    I started to object to that comment and
stopped. He was right. I was having a meltdown. Here I was,
imagining that this most beautiful man was sitting across from me,
arguing with my horse about my sanity. I didn’t know if I should
laugh or cry, so I did both. It came out as a snort.
    Jasper seemed about to say something so
I held up a finger to stop him. I started with the
obvious.
    “Am I awake?”
    He smiled. “Yes.”
    “Is my watch broken?”
    “No. Things from there don’t work
here.”
    “Where is here?”
    “Quelondain.”
    I paused and took a deep breath. “Did
you turn into a tiger?”
    “Yes.”
    I looked into his eyes, trying to find
any indication that he was lying, joking. “How?”
    “I am one of the Namael. We are able to
change our shape.”
    “You can turn into anything?” This was
ridiculous.
    He shook his head. “No. I turn into a
tiger. That’s it.”
    “You talk to Dodge.”
    “And he talks to me. I can hear his
thoughts. But I can’t do that with all animals.”
    “What is he thinking now?”
    “He is not pleased. It is not my place
to explain things to you. My job is to find you and get you to
Queen Melana.”
    “How does he know all of
this?”
    “He is one of your guardians. He is
from here.”
    “Does he change into a
human?”
    Jasper laughed. “No. He is just a
horse.”
    Dodge stomped his foot. Jasper laughed
even harder and looked at him. “Oh, don’t be so sensitive! I didn’t
mean it like that.” He turned back to me. “Anything
else?”
    I looked into his eyes for a moment, my
train of thought starting to slip away.
    Dodge and Jasper’s heads snapped up to
look at the other side of the clearing.
    “A pack!” Jasper growled. In a flash he
was on his feet. He picked me up and threw me into the saddle.
“Go!” he yelled at Dodge. “I’ll meet you in the blue
woods!”
    Dodge spun and galloped off past the
waterfall and deeper into the forest.
    I couldn’t think. Only years of riding
was keeping me in the saddle. I held the reins but didn’t used
them. Dodge seemed to know where he was going.
    Behind us, I heard a deep growl and
some excited barks.
    Dodge ran for all he was worth and soon
the sounds of the fight faded away.
    I let Dodge have his head and he
continued at a speed I had never thought possible of
him.
    After a while he slowed to an easy lope
but kept heading deeper into the woods. We made it up a hill and I
caught my breath at the sight.
    Jasper hadn’t been kidding. On the
other side of the hill was a field, and on the other side of that
field was forest made up of blue tinged trees.
    A flash of orange and black streaked
through the trees to our left.
    “Jasper!” Was it normal to feel this
happy at the sight of a tiger? I wasn’t sure, but I thought that in
these circumstances, maybe. One tiger seemed a lot safer than a
whole pack of whatever was behind us.
    Dodge slowed to a jog and we entered
the field.
    Jasper was ahead of us. He slipped
behind the cover of the blue trees and reappeared as
himself.
    “Are you ok?” His eyes searched my face
for an answer.
    I nodded weakly.
    “Let’s stop here for a bit. Dodge looks
like he needs to cool down.” He laughed and gave my horse a playful
punch to the shoulder, though he was breathing just as hard as him.
That sounded good to me. I needed a drink and some time to think
before anything else happened.
    I grabbed a bottle of water and poured
it into Dodge’s collapsible bucket.
    I looked at Jasper. “Um. Is that
ok?”
    Dodge answered by coming to have a
drink.
    “How did Dodge know where he was going?
I got him as a weanling and he’s never been anywhere without
me.”
    “It is in