The second excerpt of my fiction story, "Whispers in the Woods" - I was going to wait a day or two but figured time didn't matter in this case. So, here it is: 

                                                                         🌄🔥

          The day had began to clear nicely but once in the woods, the 20- to 30-foot trees cut out the mid-day sun quickly. Emma was surprised by how dark it seemed so early in the day but attributed it to last nights story and the wetness of the pine-needle covered ground and canopy. Walking deeper into the forest, Banjo slowed his pace and came to walk beside her. Continuing on, she looked for tracks and listened for anything like what she had heard yesterday.

          Suddenly, she heard the ghostly call! It sounded like a creepy toad flying overhead- ROARK ROARK! Then she heard “hello”. Banjo barked and ran ahead. Emma called out to him but he kept going. She followed her dog, deeper into the woods, shivers now danced along her spine.

         All at once, she found herself in a small clearing. Emma could smell smoke and thought she saw a small fire through the next stand of trees. She slowly walked forward, wondering where Banjo had disappeared to.

         Jumping at  the sound of “hello” next to her, she glanced to her left and saw a raven perched on the branch of a very near pine tree.

          Well, that explained the strange sound! Ravens can make all kinds of interesting sounds. Emma had just never been around any. This one was beautiful: iridescent colors to its wings, eyes so black the shine reflected her image. Wings nearly brushed her face as the bird took off from the pine branch and flew toward the small fire. “Come on”, it said. Shaken and feeling more than a little out of her element, Emma followed slowly, still wondering where her dog was and why he’d left her.

           As she walked through the next stand of trees, Emma came to a campfire. There sat Banjo, with an older woman and the raven, wagging his tail and looking quite pleased with himself, as if he’d led Emma to this delightful place.                                                                                                         

       “Come and sit Emma”, the older woman invited and motioned to a log near the fire.

         Emma was shocked! How did this woman know who she is?! The look on her face must have said everything she was thinking as the woman smiled, not unpleasantly. “I’ll try to explain everything”. 

                                                              🌕🌟🐦