But there is so much more than that too! Monsters of every different kind. So many different kinds, I don’t even have names for them.
But here’s something almost everyone has in common—they are wearing spectacular clothes. Silks, and velvets, and chiffons in pale colors, contrasting against the silver background of the skyscrapers.
Just like the contrast of Tarq and his building.
All of the satyrs are wearing pants. Which seems odd after living with them au naturel at the sanctuary. A shiver runs through my body as I take them all in.
I finally look over at Talina, who has been waiting patiently for me to get my fill. “Impressive.”
“Isn’t it?” She beams. “Welcome to Vinca City. The hub of the entire universe.”
I have a lot of questions, but before I can ask a single one, Talina takes hold of my hand and tugs me into a moving crowd. She smiles at me over her shoulder, and says, “Coffee first!” And then we become part of the pedestrian river that flows on sidewalks next to the real river below, ebbing and flowing at the whims of people and creatures, until Talina tugs me again and we ease over to the front of a coffeeshop.
“This is my favorite spot,” she says with a smile. Then she swings the door open and we go inside.
CHAPTER NINE – TOMAS
I would never admit this out loud, but driving is a tiny bit more challenging than it looks.
Pell is not talking to me. He is barking orders at a group of monsters, telling them to unload the hay and stack it behind Pie’s cottage. But every once in a while, he will shoot me a look. A look that says, I told you so, you incompetent fill-in-the-blank.
We had a few small mishaps on the way home. And by we, I mean me.
First, there was that telephone pole. Then the flattened stop sign. And I didn’t realize that last turn into the woods was so sharp and cut a little corner, almost got stuck in the ditch, but pulled it out in the end like a champion.
All in all, I feel very proud of my first driving experience. And now, after more than two thousand years, I have my own transportation. Which is going to come in handy tomorrow night when I meet Freckle Face from the feedstore for a date in town.
Her name is not really Freckle Face, nor is it Issue Girl, but Madeline. She is a twenty-two-year-old baby with a mouth like a trucker. Her family owns that feed store, so she’s an expert in an abundance of useful things like how to properly strap hay to the back of a flatbed truck so when you run into a ditch, the bales don’t slide off.
And they did not!
I think she is a genius. A delightful, lovely genius.
And I have a date.
I really like that word so I say it over and over in my head.
Date, date, date. I have a date.
“What the—”
I glance up at Pell and find him walking over to Pie’s kitchen window. He plucks a velvet bag off the sill and looks around until his eyes find mine. “What the fuck, Tomas?”
I walk over to him, because that velvet bag is filled with all those magic rings. Rings we’re trying to hide from the new monsters, just in case they are a get-out-of-sanctuary-free card and they can actually get out of the sanctuary for free.
“What’s that doing there?” I ask.
Pell narrows his eyes, looking at all the monsters. “Were they inside our cottage? Did they take this bag and put it on the window sill? Pie and I hid this bag this morning. Are they going through our stuff?”
“Hmm.” I consider this. “I very much doubt it, Pell. They’re not that kind of monster.”
“Then why is this bag of magic rings suddenly turning up in places it shouldn’t be?”
“Perhaps because it’s a bag of magic rings?” I feel like this is obvious.
He lets out a long breath. “I do not have the patience for this right now. If the magic in this bag is doing its best to be seen by these monsters, then I need better magic to contain it.” He turns away and starts walking towards the gate.
“Where are you going?”