Page 120 of Land of Monsters

Chirp!

“Lies!”

Chirp!

“Don’t listen to her.” Opie shook his head.

Chirp!

“That was a misunderstanding!”

“What is going on?” My brother’s expression was pure confusion. “Why is there a brownie dressed in a glove and… I don’t know what the fuck that is?”

“This is not just a glove! It’s top fashion, sir.” Opie frowned. “Okay, I didn’t have much to work with!”

Chirp!Bitzy flipped him off.

“This is Opie, and the imp is Bitzy.” I nodded to them. “Don’t piss her off,” I whispered, flicking my chin at the imp. “And tell him his outfits are amazing.”

My brother stared at me like I had gone insane.

“My gods, these hands are so talented!” Opie sang after a few moments, the cuff falling from my brother’s wrists.

“Fuck, Ravy.” Rook’s arms instantly went around me, hugging me so hard to his chest. “Thank you.”

“Like I could ever leave you.” I stuck out my pinky. He hooked his over mine with a smile. Our gesture that we were always there for each other. No matter what. “Now let’s get the fuck out of here.”

I helped him up as Ash called Opie and Bitzy over to Celeste’s bed to uncuff her.

“I heard him with her.” Pain flickered over Rook’s face as he gazed at Celeste, like putting her face to her cries broke something in him. “She tried to fight. Even after they drugged her.” He couldn’t break his eyes from her face.

“Ta-da!” Opie threw up his hands when the cuffs dropped away from Celeste’s arms. Ash scooped her up the moment she was free.

“Go do Viorica nex—”

BOOOOM!

An explosion shook the ground, dropping debris on us like raindrops.

Ash’s form went stiff, his attention toward the passage out. Then I smelled it too.

The burning wick of dynamite.

“Ash!”

“Raven—” My name barely made it out of his lips before another explosion detonated through the room, crumpling the ceiling like a dry pastry, the crust folding on itself. “Raven!”

I heard him before I was hit with force, and everything around me went dark.

?

Hacking, my lungs filled with soot, my body was curled up on its side. A heavy weight lay over my legs and torso like a giant dog guarding its owner.

A giantdeadlydog.

“Rook.” I coughed, the ceiling showering down chunks of dirt, thickening the air. “Rook?” I nudged at the dweller, my fingers running over the familiar fur caked with dirt. His body could instantly shift, fully becoming a dark dweller, while mine strained to be anything more than a twisted version. Like a child drawing a picture from a vague memory of a monster.

A rumble broke from my brother’s throat, his eyes opening. Red fire glowed before they turned back to green. Inching off me, he shook his back, the metal blades clinking, tossing more tiny debris off him.

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