Page 33 of Starry with a Chance of Nightshade

The monster stared at him, appearing confused. They were never what anyone might label brilliant, but this one looked particularly puzzled by the man’s question.

He lifted it off the floor a good foot.

I gasped and clung to Shaggy Professor as the fighting continued around us. I wasn’t sure where all the demons, robed guys, and monsters were coming from, but the house was brimming over with them all.

The stone guy glanced down at Emily, who was in Krissy’s arms as Krissy huddled in the corner of the room. The man’s expression managed to harden before he struck one of the robed men right in its forehead—on the symbol. The robed man burst into flames, burning away then and there to nothing. Stone Guy turned quickly—way faster than a guy who looked to be made of stone should be able to move—and went at Krissy and Emily.

I was all set to run for them, to do only God knew what in an attempt to help, when he bent, nodded to Krissy and then lifted a hand, touching Emily’s cheek ever-so-gently.

A black mass that took the shape of a demon appeared out of thin air next to them. Stone Guy was lightning fast, coming up and ramming his hand clean through the thing. It burst into black ash that fell to the floor.

I’d seen a lot in my life, but I’d never seen anything like what was happening here.

“Go!” shouted Shaggy Professor at me.

I twisted and visually scanned the room for signs of Stevie, Mina, and Colleen. Stevie had the bronze Frankenstein figurine and was using it much like a bat to hit a monster over and over again. She looked to have the matter well in hand. In fact, she looked a bit excited by the idea of beating the crap out of something. “Stevie?”

There was no sign of Colleen whatsoever. Maybe she was in another room kicking the backside of one of the many different things attacking us. She wasn’t the type of woman who would give up without a fight.

A cauldron of bats came flying in from the broken-out stained-glass window in the living room. I barely had time to register what they were before they swirled into a dark mass and quickly became the same vampire who had needed to have permission to enter the house.

I had the strangest urge to ask him about Mina, so I did. “Where is Mina?”

His gaze flickered to me and then darted around the area. Concern filled his face as if he too was only just now realizing she was no longer anywhere to be found; he spun and in his place were bats again. Off they went, flying out the very same window they’d just come in.

“Tell me where the hell they are! Where is my wife and my child?” demanded the other professor who was still holding the monster off the ground.

A robed man rushed around the dining room table, coming right for me.

Astria!Torid shouted in my head, snarling, and biting the head clean off a demon near the basement door. He tossed the head aside and scrambled around.

Shaggy Professor moved me aside and kicked the robed guy, sending him flying through another of the dining room windows.

Eat bad man?Torid asked.

“Yes! Eat him!” I shouted as he ran and leapt over another robed man, before then diving out the window the one who had tried to hurt me had gone.

“I know you’re hunting for them,” snapped the other professor at the monster he was holding off the ground, making me take pause.

The monsters weren’t hunting anyone he knew. They seemed to have one-track minds for my family and my family alone.

As the other professor turned his head partially, I stared harder at his profile, noticing again how familiar he looked. So did the Shaggy Professor, who was now breaking the arm of a robed man right before Craig did a roundhouse kick on the guy.

The monster with the female and male arms came up and off the floor, right behind the other professor. It lifted the hand with the manicured nails and pointed at me. “We hu-unt her. Hunt Frank—”

Before it could finish what it was saying, the ring on my chain heated to the point it made me hiss and pull it away from my skin. I yanked the chain out of my shirt and held it up as the purple gem began to glow. I turned in a slow circle, shaking my head at the chaos happening all around me. All I could think about was how much I wishedeveryonewas safe. That everything could just be fine again. That the fighting would stop.

In the next second, white light bathed the entire area, followed quickly by the flash of lightning from outside.

The last thought I had was how much IknewLight as a Feather was going to suck.

PartII

Now

“Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come? What was my destination?”–Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818

ChapterTwelve

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