Page 39 of Forgotten Monsters
She and the others head inside the house to give us some privacy.
Dad observes Barron and Mallory in turn, but his focus quickly settles back on me.
“You look so different,” I blurt out, not comprehending how—if a decade passed—my father managed to escape it.
“And your sister? Is she—” his voice cracks.
“She’s in Faerie, but she’s alive.”
“Thank the Gods.” He sobs in my arms, and I gently pat his back. “What happened?”
I recount the gist of our underworld visit, and Dad explains how Darkwood used the earthquake to explain both our deaths and the hollow invasion that followed. Of course, he didn’t admit his part in it, and how he tried to murder me and my sister.
After a lengthy talk, we join the others in the living room. Potted plants hang from the ceiling in pots of different colors and shapes.
Amalthea invites us to sit on her colonial furniture and serves us tea, the whole scene straight from a period novel. Barron glares at the tea set like he’s asking himself how much it would go for on the black market. Mallory perches on a faded-pink chair, picking at her cuticles.
“Robert insisted that I should join the fight, but my place is here,” Thea says.
Rose sits in the chair closest to her, her fist curled over her thigh. “Darkwood insisted on opening Dark Falls to students again. It’s only a matter of time before more people die.”
Thea’s delicate nose wrinkles. “Theodore Darkwood stole a sacred amulet from me, which he used to build and control the dome that prevents the hollows from swallowing Dark Falls whole. Unicorns swore not to meddle in earth’s affairs anymore, but this time, I’m inclined to help.” She and Deveraux exchange a knowing glance. “I will give you whatever ingredients you need to expose his part in Beth’s murder, and the assassination of the mortals back in the day.”
Dad whips his head in Thea’s direction. “Darkwood was involved in the mortal students’ deaths?”
The unicorn smooths down the skirt of her dress. “Yes. The hollows escaped their tomb once before in this century, right after your time at the Academy, Robert. They can’t begrabbedormovedwhen they aren’t safely tucked inside a body. To contain the crisis, Darkwood and his allies used the students as plastic bags to hold the hollows. They returned the bodies to the Dark Falls’ sanctum, killed the students to keep the hollows from replicating, and buried the evidence.” She draws in a slow, heavy breath. “A crime the highest-ranking officers of your government rewarded by nominating him to head of Senate…”
I knew Darkwood had used the students to contain the hollows, but clearly, no one else did. The stunned silence in the room allows me to take the lead.
“What’s stopping him from using more innocent people to clean out the grounds?” I ask.
“He might be planning to, but he covets the treasure inside the crater, the source of Dark Falls’ power. Hollows guard the entrance to the inner sanctum. That’s why he stole the amulet from me. He thought it would make him impervious to them, but it only strengthened his forcefields.”
Dad licks his lips. “This sacred amulet…is it made from a unicorn horn?”
Thea nods.
Barron squints at Thea, the shadows around him thicker by the second. “What’s the source of Dark Falls’ power?”
Of course, a pirate would only be interested in treasure.
Thea’s lips twitch with barely-contained amusement. “A treasure meant for someone else than you, blakkr rauða.”
My ears perk up. Whatever Barron is, Thea knows, and while I probably couldn’t spell the words she just used, I make a mental note of them.
Barron squares his shoulders. “Can you help my friend get rid of her curse?”
Mallory hugs her arms to her chest. “I told you, Kay. Let it go.”
Thea gives Barron a sad smile. “A curse can only be unwritten by its authors.”
A green sheen spreads over Mal’s face, and she squeezes her eyes shut, shaking her head.
Dad clears his throat. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, Kayde.”
“You and me both, Robert.”
I squint at them. Barron let it slip that he knewofmy dad, but I didn’t think he knew him personally.
