Through the vines she saw Daniel and the monster’s female body below, with the boy looking up to seeing his friend through the green vines while the monster was holding onto him with a pained expression.

“Daniel! I’ll get you out of there, just hold on!” Triska called out as she geared back with her sword.

“Don’t!” Specca cried out as she ran over and grabbed Triska’s hand, struggling to push the human away while Alyssa and Squeak looked down through the opening in the flower to seeing Daniel being held by the monster.

“Daniel! Are you ok?” Alyssa called down quickly.

“I think so, what’s happening?” Daniel asked looking around at everyone. Squeak frantically pointed off to the side at something while squeaking quickly, the girl then pointing down to him then shaking her head with a shrug as she squeaked some more. Daniel just stared at her for a moment then looked over to Alyssa.

“Um… what’s happening?” he repeated.

“Let me go, I have to get him out of there!” Triska yelled out as she and Specca stumbled off to the side.

“He’ll be just fine! Stop hurting the monster!” Specca yelled out at her. Triska looked to her with surprise as the nixie pushed her away then ran over to the others.

“What do you mean he’ll be just fine, she’s eating him!” Triska cried out.

“No, she’s not, she just wanted to mate with him, that’s all,” Specca argued.

“How is that any better?” Triska yelled out with disbelief.

“Because if Daniel politely refuses her then she’ll let him go!” Specca yelled out.

Everyone fell silent as Triska and the other girls stared at Specca with bewilderment.

“She’ll… just let him go?” Triska asked shaking her head. Specca scoffed at her then looked down to Daniel as the boy was watching the flower monster with wonder, the creature now wailing and crying with a saddened expression.

“Daniel, it’s alright, she’s not going to hurt you. She’s a very peaceful monster, she just brought you down there to try to mate with you,” she informed with a worried smile.

“Oh good, I was worried I was in trouble?” Daniel replied unsurely while shaking his head.

“You’re not in trouble, not really. Just don’t kiss her, her saliva is a special honey that will cause you to... well, really want to have sex with her. As long as you don’t kiss her you’ll be alright,” Specca reassured. Daniel looked to the plant monster as it held its arms around his shoulders and tried to pull him into a kiss, with him then squirming about in her grip as he kept leaning back and turning his head away from her.

“No, no that’s alright, I’d really rather not,” he said somewhat politely as the plant monster showed a frustrated smile while it tried to get him to hold still.

“It’s trying to mate with him, how is this not a problem for us?” Alyssa asked with disbelief at Specca. The nixie held a hand out to silence her while keeping a close eye on Daniel.

“Her kiss will charm you into submission, but all she can do other than that is to try to act alluring with you, that’s it. Talk to her, she can understand you, ask her nicely to let you go,” Specca informed.

“Are you kidding me? All we have to do is ask that monster to let him go?” Alyssa asked with puzzlement. Specca nodded and then glared at Triska.

“Why didn’t you listen to me? What is wrong with you, Triska?” she demanded.

“What’s wrong with me? For crying out loud, Daniel was pulled underground by a flower monster, how could I not try to save him?” Triska snapped.

“Because if that was a different flower monster you would have killed him!” Specca shot back.

“What?” Triska, Daniel, and Alyssa asked at the same time, with Squeak merely squeaking once with a curious expression. Specca sighed and looked to the entry in the monster book.

“Monster class: Fluugher. A flower monster that attempts to lure and ensnare wandering travelers with its vines. When they catch a human they pull them down into their nest under their flower beds, where they will try to copulate with the man using a powerful aphrodisiac in their saliva. There are several different varieties of fluugher in the world, differentiated by the colors of their flower petals. Red and yellow petals are docile versions of the monster. They are very timid, and are not very aggressive with the men they catch. Should the man politely refuse the monster, or wait long enough for the fluugher to become frustrated, it will simply let the man go and wait for another one to pass by,” she read aloud, then looked to Triska who was staring at her with disbelief.

“Seriously? It’ll just let him go?” Triska asked skeptically. The girls looked down to seeing Daniel watching the fluugher wailing and whining with tears in her eyes, the monster seeming to get frustrated as it couldn’t hold Daniel still to kiss him. The boy glanced up to his friends for a moment then smiled nervously at the flower monster.

“Excuse me,” he said gently, with the monster slowly looking to him while crying still.

“I’m terribly sorry, but… could you please let me go?” he asked kindly. The fluugher let out a small wail as it leaned closer to him, its eyes glancing to his lips then back to him as her hands caressed his rear. The boy squirmed around a bit from the feeling then shook his head with a gentle smile.

“No, I’m really not in the mood to have sex with you right now, please, could you let me go?” he requested kindly. The fluugher whined and looked down with a hurt expression, with Daniel showing concern at seeing her reaction then shaking his head.

“I don’t mean to hurt you, and I’m terribly sorry my friend cut your petals like that. Really, we don’t want to cause you trouble, I promise,” he said gently. The monster slowly looked to him and tilted her head curiously. Daniel smiled and moved one of his hands up out from the embrace and held her cheek.

“Please, can you let me go now? I would really appreciate it,” he asked. The monster let out a small moan then slowly started to raise upward, the vines above slinking away as the other girls backed up while watching with wonder. Daniel and the fluugher rose up again as the remaining petals unfolded and laid down on the grass.