I want to out him. I want to tell her exactly who he is and why he’s here. But I get the feeling that Pie wouldn’t even care. Not in this moment, anyway. She’s trying to convince herself that I’m wrong. That I don’t know what I’m talking about. That her dream, or whatever, of us being children together is what’s real and my actual fucking knowledge and memories of what I know to be true is just bullshit.
So I shut up.
“Hey, do you know how to get out of here?” Pie is talking to Tomas, not me. “I’m ready to go.”
“I just got here,” Tomas complains. “I’ve been locked up in that fucking dungeon for days and now I’m finally free. We can’t just leave.”
“What dungeon?”
I expect Tomas to shy away from this question. In fact, I didn’t expect him to even admit to where he was. But he doesn’t. This chimera form must make him confident. “I’ll tell you later. I’m over it now. Let’s do something fun.”
“We already did,” I deadpan back.
Pie shoots me one of those looks. “He’s not talking about sex, Pell.”
“You two had sex?”
“Yep.” I’m bragging. And it’s not a good look. I get that. But I don’t care. “Twice.”
“Pell!” Pie is no longer annoyed. She’s angry. “Why are you being such an ass?”
“Twice?” Tomas’s tone doesn’t come off jealous or angry. It comes off… wistful.
And now I feel like a dick. So I actually apologize. “Sorry. I am being an ass. But Tomas, shit just happened, man. You missed it.”
“I know. I always miss the sex when we come up here. Why do I even bother?”
“No. Not the sex. Fuck the sex!”
“You have complaints with the sex?” Pie is shooting me a look of are-you-fucking-kidding-me?
“No. That’s not what I meant. I mean”—I nod my head to Tomas—“he… never mind. Tomas, I found a lost memory.”
“Oh, that. Yep. Pell and I were childhood friends, Tomas. Can you believe it?”
Tomas looks at me with one raised eyebrow.
I wave my hand in the air, trying to erase Pie’s statement. “Ignore her. She has no idea what she’s talking about.”
“And now we’re back to this? I’m the stupid one. I’m the clueless one. I have no idea what I’m talking about?”
Tomas puts up his hands. “Hey. Can we not? Like… just for a little bit? I just came off three dungeon days and we’re here in a magical forest—”
“Told you it was magical,” Pie says.
“It’s not magical. It’s a fucking memory. Tell her, Tomas.”
Tomas just looks between us and then says, “How about we move on? Hmm?”
“Do you know the way out?” Pie asks. “I would like to move on too.”
Tomas bows low, waving a hand down the pathway. “This way, my lady.”
I mumble, “Fuck’s sake,” under my breath as we all tread the path. I’m ready to get out of here too—it feels like a very long trip.
Pie and I were not children together. That never happened. That’s not what I saw in the forest room. Anything is possible, but Pie is of the bloodline. So she has to be an eros. And sure, there were a lot of different combinations of monsters back in the day—pretty much every combination possible. With the exception of one. The eros. They were the only pure bloodline left. They were never crossed with anything.
And anyway, I spent my childhood with Tarq. He’s the kid I ran with in the forest, not her.
Tomas and Pie are walking hand in hand. They lean in to each other, like they are gossiping. And who could they be gossiping about? I’m the only person they have in common, so not a hard deduction.
I let that go. Mostly because I have a nice view and I’m a little fixated on Pie’s shape. If she was in human form, I’d be checking out her ass. But as a chimera, her ass is furry. Not shaggy furry, but velvet smooth, the way it is between her legs. I don’t think she realizes that yet, because it’s a lot like a human butt, but it’s got the very light velvety fur over it. It’s cute as fuck, don’t get me wrong. But wood nymph chimera girls are all about the legs and the horns.
And Pie’s are striking on both accounts.
Her horns are gazelle-like. They curve up and twist back, alternating between a light tan and a deep brown. They are more delicate than mine—sharper on the ends and not as thick. And of course, they don’t glow with the heat of hellfire, like mine can under the right circumstances. But they fit her. Perfectly. Because her body is thin and lithe, just like her horns.
Her legs are so damn long, I’m amazed she learned to walk in them so quickly. She bounces with every step, like at any moment she might just spring up and disappear into the canopy of leaves. The fur on her legs is not as shaggy as my own, but it’s very soft and fine. I know. I touched it.