And just as that thought manifests, I’m in Vinca. Standing in the lobby, as per usual, as many, many office workers pass by me.
And three things hit me all at once.
One. Wow. I didn’t need the dragon scale. What’s that about?
This is a fairly big realization which, under normal circumstances, would occupy quite a bit of time and space inside my brain. But these aren’t normal circumstances because…
Two. Instead of the office workers being mostly humans with a smattering of monsters, it’s all monsters. Which leads me to…
Three. They are all naked.
Gone are the pretty fashionable clothes and now, front and center, is… well. A full-frontal of everyone. “What the fuck,” I mutter.
And just as these words come out of my mouth, everyone in the entire place stops what they are doing and just looks at me.
That’s weird thing number four. Because all the other times I’ve come through, no one really noticed. They just acted like the whole walking-through-a-portal thing was normal.
Then I hear a voice calling me. “Pie!”
I turn and find Luciano rushing towards me. “Hey—”
“What the hell are you doing?”
“What?” I’m so surprised by his angry tone, I take a step back. “What do you mean?”
He grabs my arm—kinda hard—and tugs me into a nearby hallway. It morphs as we walk. And I’m a little bit distracted by this because I’ve never actually seen a hallway move like that. Not in real time. “What are you doing?” Luciano growls again.
I yank my arm from his grip and stop walking, forcing him to stop too. “What are you talking about? I’m not doing anything. It’s a work day, right?”
“Work day? This has nothing to do with a work day. What the hell are you wearing?” He’s looking me up and down and then his eyes stop on my hand and he gasps. “Holy shit!”
I hold my hand up to see the ring. “What the—”
“Where did you get that ring?” Luciano is seething.
The ring isn’t my ring. It’s not even the new, double ring that was just there on my finger a few moments ago. It’s a wide band of gold covered in pavé diamonds, with one ginormous center stone that I cannot identify. It’s not a diamond because the facets shimmer like a rainbow when my hand moves. But it looks more expensive than some fake heat-treated quartz crystal.
And from the look Luciano is shooting me, it must have more meaning too.
“Why are you so angry?”
“Because you are wearing the queen’s jacket and”—he lifts up my hand—“the queen’s ring! How did you get these things? Were you in the palace? Did you make a door into the palace?”
Once again, I yank away from his grip. And one more time I ask for clarification. Only this time, I’m just as angry as he is. “What. The fuck. Is happening?”
“What’s happening?” Luciano is practically squealing. It’s not a good look for him. “You’re wearing the queen’s clothes and flaunting the queen’s ring! On Fireday!”
“Luciano.” I force myself to stay calm. “I’m new here, OK? I don’t know what any of that means.”
“I’ll handle this, Luciano.”
Luciano and I both look down the hallway—which is still morphing and changing in real time—and find Tarq—also naked!—standing between two shimmering, almost shapeless, walls.
“Go back to the lobby and convince everyone that they did not see what they thought they saw.” Tarq flicks a finger at him. A very dismissive, and regal, gesture that implies absolute power.
And this right here, yeah. This is the Tarq I expected on day one. A massive monster with polished ebony horns, polished ebony hooves, and nothing but fur and skin from top to bottom.
“Holy shit,” I say. “Where are your pants?”