Page 77 of Misfit Monsters
Surprise flickers across his face, and his friends turn toward us too.
One of them elbows him. “What’s up, Henry? Got bored of our company?”
“They told Marcy they’re collecting strange stories.” Henry chuckles and runs his hand over his hair. “I don’t really go in for that stuff. I was just thinking they should talk to Ted McGaffery.”
The other friend’s eyebrows shoot up. “He’s just crazy.”
Mirage leans toward them with a glint in his eyes. “Crazy stories are good too. What does Ted McGaffery talk about?”
The three men exchange a glance.
Henry shakes his head. “I’m mostly kidding. He’s an old-timer, usually keeps to himself on his property out in the middle of nowhere. A regular hermit. But he comes by the bar every now and then. A few days ago, he was waving his hands around with these ridiculous claims.”
My own curiosity wriggles up inside me. “What claims?”
Henry pauses. “He said his house got attacked bymonsters.”
29
Hail
No matter how I try to focus on the jangly music, the varied human figures around the restaurant, or the shine of artificial light across the posters on the walls, my gaze keeps sliding back to the short, curvy shadowkind woman in the hooded leather jacket.
It doesn’t make sense. If I’m evaluating human-esque visual appeal, there’s at least one face in even this small crowd more striking than hers. The hood is covering her vibrant hair. She isn’tdoinganything except perching on a bar stool and gabbing with one of the locals.
But maybe it does make sense. I’m still wrapping my head around the idea that Periwinkle’s short but generous hourglass frame held enough power to sear my skin raw in the time it takes to blink.
Watching her beam at her conversational companion, Ican’t help thinking that there’s a glow to her even when her hair is out of view.
The cream puff has some kind of energy beyond anything I’ve encountered before, crammed into a deceptively innocuous package. Of course that fact would gnaw at me.
It’s not even the only power she possesses. As little as I care about the feelings of the humans we’re surrounded by, I’d have to be blind not to notice how the older woman Peri’s talking to has lit up after just a couple of minutes of chatter.
Peri pats the woman’s hand. “It sounds like you’re doing your best. The way you describe them, I can tell how much they matter to you. You shouldn’t let anyone tell you not to give it your all.”
I have no idea what she’s going on about, but clearly her new friend does. The woman smiles even wider. For fuck’s sake, are those tears shimmering in her eyes before she blinks them away?
“I’m so glad you stopped here tonight,” she says. “Are you sure you have to leave town right away?”
Peri laughs, the sound sweetly apologetic. “We’ve got some work to take care of. But maybe we’ll be able to drop in again on our way home!”
I don’t give a shit about the happiness of any of these humans. If they’ve made themselves miserable, it’s their own fault.
So why can’t I stop watching Peri work her weird magic? What is this stupid tug inside me as if I’d want to go over and bask in her presence up close?
I yank my attention away and find myself looking at Raze, who’s sitting at a table with our fearless leader and a few regular restaurant-goers. His eyes flick toward Peri more often than they’re fixed on his supposed companions.
The big lug has gotten somewhere with her. That kiss…
The image pops into my mind with a twinge I don’t like at all.
How the fuck would a brute like him know how to handle any woman, let alone one as soft as Peri? Why would she look so pleased about it?
My jaw clenches. No matter what I do, I end up thinking about her.
After all this time forced into her vicinity, she’s gotten under my skin.
How many other powers does she have that we don’t even know about? Maybe she’s some strange variation of succubus?
