Page 94 of Devil In Boots

“Alllllll moooosssttt—”

Clank.The door whined open.

“Who’s your Monkey God King now?” Sprig held up his arms. “That’s right, I am.”

“Cork it, Marie-Antoinette.” Croygen stuffed him in his pocket before creeping out of the cell, waving me on to take the lead.

My mind charted us down the hall, and my senses turned up high, trying to smell or hear any threat before they saw us. With no weapons, I felt stripped and bare, trotting us up old winding stone steps, each one worn and different, slowing us down.

“I have to find my sword—”

Another boom echoed from a far distance, this time sounding more like cannon fire, halting us in our tracks. My head twisted back to Croygen, his spine stiff, his eyes darting around.

“Now, I heard that,” he whispered, another blast resounding right after, telling us a fight was going on outside this palace. “Go!” He rushed me up the stairs, winding down another hall before my memory had us at a door that led outside.

“It’s locked.” Anxiety pumped at the back of my neck. Gunfire and yells slipped in through the cracks of the door. When I came through, they had guards on these doors too, but whatever was happening outside, they had left their post.

“Sprig?” Croygen grabbed the monkey from his pocket.

He sat in his palm, circling until his back faced the pirate.

“Sprig.” Teeth clenched, Croygen’s eye twitched. “Open the door.”

“No,” he huffed, glowering at the pirate. “I’m not talking to you.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Croygen barked.

“Bhean chait, can you tell the scabby butthumper I am not talking to him?” Hehmphed.

My gaze went to Croygen, not having to say a word but expressing everything he needed to hear.

Croygen breathed through his nose, his forehead lining like this was painful. “Please?”

“No.”

“Sprig!” he barked.

“Say something nice.” Sprig peered over his shoulder.

“I won’t gut your girlfriend like a pig,” he grumbled. I glared harder at him. “Fine. And I’ll get you honey pancakes from Izel’s… someday.”

Sprig jumped up, twittering happily, leaping onto the knob and working his magic.

“See, was that so hard?” I poked at him.

“Kitten, you are walking a thin line right now.”

“Only place I like to be.” I winked at him.

“I could find other places—”

“Easy as honey pie!” The lock snapped, Sprig leaping back to Croygen. “Oh, honey pie sounds so—”

BOOOM!

The passage shook as an echo of a big gun thundered from a distance.

“That was definitely a cannon. Like a ship cannon.” Croygen pushed past me, flinging the door open. The cool night air hit my face as we darted out the side of the palace, commotion pulling us around to the front, the river below us.

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