Page 38 of Land of Monsters

“For what?” Opie padded up onto my chest and I frowned at the oily stains he left on my t-shirt.

“I need your magic fingers.” I cleared my throat. “Let me clarify that. I need your sub-fae talents of breaking locks and getting through tight places.”

“Oh, I love plugging myself into tight places.”

“I’mnotgoing to think about that.” I closed my lids briefly, exhaustion beginning to burn my eyes. “We are going to break into a fortified castle.”

“It sounds exactly like the thing Master Fishy told us to stop you from doing.” Opie sat down, folding his legs.

I plopped my head onto the pillow, looking at him.

“I’m asking for you to not go back to Brex or tell any of them,” I said sincerely. “I need your help, Opie. As a friend.”

His eyes went big, his long lashes fluttering like he was going to cry. “A friend?”

Sub-fae were always treated as less than in fae society. It was even in their name, putting them beneath us. To offer friendship or see them as equals was a great honor to them. And I did see them as that, but I won’t say I wasn’t laying it on a little thick.

“And a partner in crime,” I added.

“Ohhhh, Master Ash.” He leaped up, his cheeks turning a deep pink, his eyes blinking with happy tears. “It is such an honor.”

“Will you help me?”

“These magic fingers are yours!” He put his hands in the air in excitement. “Whatever tight, dark places you want me to stick them!”

?

The next day lasted a week. After taking only an hour to get supplies, I had the rest of the afternoon to sit around and think. Think about what could be happening to her.

It was impossible to fully plan until I had details—the layout of the castle, the weaknesses and possible ways I could get in.

I had to wait for Dzsinn.

Trapped inside the building, inside my own head, and confined with two bored sub-fae, I was about to lose my shit by the time the sun lowered beyond the horizon. I ended up giving Bitzy a bite of mushroom after I woke up with her perched over my face, watching me, an evil smile on her lips like she’d done something horrible while I slept. The little sleep I got. I had dozed on and off all night, leaping awake with a strangled cry. I kept looking at the spot next to me like she would suddenly be there, and all of this had been a bad trip.

“Stay quiet, both of you,” I muttered, coming down the stairs into the busy lounge later that evening, hitching mynew backpack over my shoulder, filled with supplies and my friends. I didn’t trust them alone. Not with the mushrooms, and certainly not after Opie came back tangled in a rat trap this morning.

“What the fuck?” I was barely awake when Opie stood on my chest, a guilty expression on his face, a trap snarled in his beard. “What happened?”

“It wasn’t my fault,” he whined. “I was minding my own business…”

“And where were youmindingyour own business?” I rubbed my eyes, blinking against the sun coming through the window.

“I couldn’t help it! His closet has so many pretty things!” Bitzy sighed dreamily. “So many silky, pretty things. They demand to be touched, to slide over my skin. And his sparkly gems… so, so shiny. I just wanted to look closer at them.”

“You mean steal.” I pried the trap off him.

“That’s not what I would call it.”

“What would you call it, then?” I motioned to what he wore. His eyes were layered with fake sticky jewels, and he had a black silk robe tie wrapped around his figure like a complicated bikini, with a dozen condom packages taped together over his shoulders like a cape.

He crinkled every time he moved.

“Ummm… borrowing. But with no intention of giving back.”

Now both were tucked inside my pack, heading down to the lounge. My eyes scanned the dark, sultry room. The gambling area was boisterous, while a man was already getting his dick sucked at the bar and a male prostitute pumped into a man in a dark corner, his hand over his mouth while they watched the other couple silently. The room was bristling with sex and drugs.

It scared me how little it seemed to affect me, my cock staying mostly flaccid as the man being sucked off moaned louder, his hips pushing harder down her throat.

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