Page 83 of Misfit Monsters
Only mild emotions waft off it, like a thin broth.
“It’s curious and a little confused, but not hostile,” I tell the others.
Hail’s stance has gone rigid. “For the moment.”
Jonah looks from the creature to the rift. “I think we’ve discovered where the influx of new, unusual shadowkind are coming from. Now what are we going to do about it?”
31
Jonah
My foster mom leans over the map, her eyebrows drawing together in concentration. “And what exactly was funky about this rift?”
It’s strange seeing Sorsha take anything very seriously. The phoenix shifter may be in the running as the most powerful shadowkind in existence—partly because she’s an incredibly rare hybrid with strengths from both her human and monstrous sides—but she manages to face everything the world throws at her with a lighthearted attitude.
As a kid, growing up under her watch, her breezy approach gave me an escape from the trauma of having my parents murdered in front of me. Which I guess she understood better than I realized at the time. I later found out that she went through a similar tragedy at around the same age.
As an adult, I appreciate how she mixes humor withcompassion and determination. It often makes difficult situations less intimidating to tackle.
But it also means that when even she turns solemn, I know we’re in trouble.
“I couldn’t sense it the same way the shadowkind on my team could,” I admit, peering at the spot we’ve marked on the map. “It was definitely closer to the ground than any rift I’ve encountered before, so I don’t know if the sensations I picked up on were because of proximity or something else. But the energy it gave off felt kind of… twitchy, erratic.”
“Is that how your shadowkind teammates described it too?”
I nod. “Something like that. Like it was larger, more imposing, and more unsettling than they’d expect. None of them were willing to step through it to see what would happen, even though they’ve all traveled back and forth between the realms plenty of times before. It unnerved them enough that going inside felt like a significant risk.”
Sorsha hums to herself, tucking a stray lock of bright red hair behind her ear. “I’ve never come across a rift that shadowkind were repelled from. The weird, morphing creatures that’ve come out of it—do you think the rift changed them into something odd, or does it connect to an odd part of the shadow realm we’re unaware of?”
I spread my hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I have no idea. Have you heard of either of those things happening before?”
“No.” She sucks her lower lip under her teeth to nibble at it and then flashes a smile at me with her usual lively energy. “But the mysteries of this world are endless. It’ll be interesting seeing what comes of this one. At least the worst threat you’ve had to deal with is some minor sorcerer.”
I don’t know how “minor” the sorcerer who’s controlling some of the strange shadowkind creatures is, but it’s true thathe hasn’t posed much of an obstacle to our investigations so far. We can’t be sure whether he intended that one aggressive pack to attack us in particular or just anyone who crossed their path.
He might not even realize that anyone’s investigating him.
I rub my jaw. “The creatures are causing problems too. From the reports we’ve gotten and what we’ve seen, they don’t have the normal shadowkind instinct to be wary of humans. Some of that is due to the sorcerer’s influence, but at least one of them wasn’t under any sorcery at all and was still frightening people.”
Rollick’s voice carries through the doorway. “And that’s why we need to get a better understanding of this unusual rift.”
The demon strides into the small meeting room with an assured air—and Peri hurrying behind him. At the sight of her vibrant hair, my pulse hiccups. I can’t help tensing up in an effort to lock my emotions down.
I’ve been grappling with my attraction to her almost from the start, but it wasn’t always this hard. I’m her teacher and the closest thing to an authority figure on our small team—she’s a student and dependent on my evaluation. I know pursuing anything more than friendly with her would be one hundred percent wrong.
But when she fell into my arms the other day, when I gazed into her eyes and her bright scent flooded my lungs, all my better intentions flew out the window.
She makes mefeelbrighter, from the inside out. As if a light flicks on inside me when she’s around, when she smiles at me, when she makes one of her encouraging remarks.
I don’t know how to turn that light off. An increasingly large part of me doesn’twantto.
I’ve met a lot of shadowkind over the years, but never abeing like her. Why did it have to be like this, in a position that threatens every shred of my integrity?
Rollick doesn’t appear to notice my reaction. He strolls over to the table to join us in studying the map. Sorsha, knowing me much better than he does, raises one eyebrow slightly but doesn’t comment.
I avoid looking at Peri, figuring I’m less likely to reveal more if I pretend she’s not here.
Sorsha taps the marked spot on the map. “I’d like to take an up-close look at this thing. It’d be good to bring Snap along and see what he can taste with his power. Omen might be willing to take a leap through it and see what’s on the other side.”
