Page 64 of Misfit Monsters
The trap door lies open. Peri’s stance tenses, but she heads down the rickety stairs without hesitating.
She stops at the bottom. “The sorcerer I knew kept the beings he trapped in his basement. It makes sense. Easier to keep us out of view from other humans when he was living in a city. Easier to set up protections against escaping. But there are no cages or protections down here. Not even nets.”
Jonah descends after her with the gleam of his artificial light. He scans the walls. “It’s like whoever was using the place cleared it out and left.”
Hail grimaces. “Did the sorcerer realize we were coming?”
The basilisk shakes his head. “The smells around here are too faint. He must have left before we were attacked, and we weren’t even heading in this direction then.” He pauses. “Maybe he moves around a lot. That’s a better strategy for a predator who doesn’t want to be turned into prey.”
“He’s not going to get any choice about that!” Perideclares, but the faint bluish glow that’s formed in her hair gives me the impression of disappointment.
Jonah sighs. “Well, I can’t see anything that would tell us where he went next. I’d better get in touch with Rollick and let him know about this development.”
Pulling out his phone, he clambers back up the stairs. The rest of us follow.
As Jonah taps text messages onto the phone’s screen, Peri meanders along the edge of the clearing as if looking for more clues. The determination on her face tugs at me to join her.
I extend three of my tails as I do, swirling them in a playful spiral, but she hardly seems to notice, let alone give me the laugh I wanted. She just shoots me a small smile and continues her search.
Tension ripples through my chest. When she’s talked to me, she’s always tried to understand me. To make room for whatever ugly feelings I’m holding in that even I don’t want to face.
What if she needs the same thing now? To know thatsheisn’t alone in being haunted by memories?
Would acknowledging a little of my own history be so terrible if it makes her feel a lot better?
My throat constricts, but I push the words past it. “I was trapped by humans once too. Kept in a cell. Hurt. And?—”
No, I don’t want to even think about the rest of it. My tails snap in a tighter whirl behind me.
Peri stops and focuses on me, her pretty eyes so wide I’d like to dive into them. “That’s awful. No wonder you’d rather be having fun and playing around now.”
Just like that, most of my discomfort melts away. Shedoesunderstand—we both have our own kinds of chaos.
I want to wrap my arms around her and bury my face inher hair, tumble around in a giddy embrace, but even I can tell this isn’t a good place forthatkind of fun.
Instead, I simply lean in and give her a quick peck on her temple. “You deserve all the fun too. Whatever happened before, it doesn’t matter.”
Her smile comes back, a little warmer this time.
Before I can decide what else to say, Raze’s voice carries from the other side of the cabin. “I followed the sorcerer’s scent a little farther.”
Peri and I hustle over just as the lizard man points off to the east. “About a mile from here, there’s a road and a spot where a large vehicle was parked recently. His trail ended there. He must have driven away. I can’t tell which direction to keep following.”
He grimaces, but Jonah claps him on the shoulder. “It was a longshot anyway. I’ll take pictures of the cabin in case there’s something we didn’t realize the significance of. Then Rollick wants us back at the school so we can give him our full report—and decide what to do next.”
24
Periwinkle
When Jonah wraps up his account of our mission so far, the administrative staff study the rest of us. I can’t call most of their gazes friendly, though Pearl is smiling in her usual encouraging way and Rollick simply looks thoughtful.
The demon rubs his chin. “It seems your collaboration has kept you all in one piece and revealed more information than my past investigations turned up. I’ll call that a win. Why don’t you return to classes for a couple of days before you head north again? Take a breather from each other.”
Gnash jerks his head around. “Rollick—do you really think?—”
The school’s founder cuts him off with a mild look that nonetheless makes the hairs on the back of my arms stand up. There’s no missing the demon’s aura of power.
“Why shouldn’t they have a quick break and continue their education?” he asks. “If you have specific concerns about their performance, you’ve gotten plenty of time to question them.”
