The semi-opaque glass gives me a distorted view inside. After being told that Talina is writing up reports on me, I’m in no mood to see her. But there’s a shadow moving around on the other side of the doors, so unfortunately, she’s already here.
Even though I did learn some very useful magic yesterday, I don’t like this job. I don’t want to be here with these people. I just want to go home.
This makes me pause, then smile. Because the sanctuary feels like home now. I like the protective walls. I like my magic cottage and I love Pell’s forbidden tomb now that I can go inside it. And I like my monsters. All of them. Even weird Batty.
At first this place was kinda cool. The city is pretty and the magic is interesting. But I don’t like Tarq and I can’t trust Talina. That second part makes me a little sad. I was looking forward to Zantha’s celebration tomorrow. It would be nice to have a real friend. And everyone in Talina’s group is so intriguing.
But here’s the problem with this place—it’s just like the outside world back home. It’s a bunch of people clawing their way to the top. It’s just another rat race. Just the same old, same old that feels… very, very old.
And this whole royalty thing is not what I thought. Not that any monarchy is good—I’m not that naïve. But I guess I expected more of this place. A queen who is so suspicious of her monster subjects that she needs them to supplicate themselves weekly by wearing no clothes or punish them with dragon fire is… just… well. A bitch.
I don’t want any part of that.
But I have a debt. And I must repay it. So I open the doors to my lab and enter.
Talina has her back to me, working at her bench. There is a line of glass beakers on the stone table top, all different shades of purple. Some of them are glowing and some of them are smoking.
She turns and smiles. “Hey. There you are.”
So innocent. Like she didn’t write up a report on me last night.
But I don’t have space in my head to think about that because I’m actually kind of stunned at how pretty she is without clothes. She looks a little bit like a dairy cow. Mostly chocolate brown, but with white spots on her shoulders and stomach. Even a long swatch down one thigh. It’s a striking pattern.
“I’m so glad you didn’t wear clothes today,” Talina says. “It didn’t even occur to me that you might not know what Fireday was until late last night, and then it was too late.”
I walk over to my bench and set my bag on the floor. “Well, I did come in clothes but Luciano pulled me aside and took to me to see Tarq.” I narrow my eyes at her. “You’re writing reports about me.”
She looks a little surprised. “You didn’t know that?”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
Talina shrugs. “It’s just my job, Pie. And it’s not a report. It’s just an update. Anyway, I didn’t say anything bad. I told him you were doing amazing.”
“I’m a private person, OK? I don’t like people talking about me.”
Talina chuckles. “Well, duh. No one does. But you can’t stop people from talking about you.”
I can’t say I disagree. And I don’t have anything else to say, so I take my notebook, pencil, and list of words Tarq gave me out of my bag and take a seat at the table without answering.
I open the notebook up, tap my pencil on the table, and stare at the key words.
Hoof. Horn. Eye. Bone.
“Oh, fuck,” I mutter.
“What?” Talina asks.
“Nothing.”
Talina sighs. “Look, I’m sorry I have to give progress reports. That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”
Yes, it does. But I don’t say that out loud.
“I’m here to help you, Pie. So if you’ve got a problem—”
“I don’t have a problem.”
But I do. I have a very big problem. Because the spelling that Tarq is looking for is the very one that is written above all the freaking doors in the sanctuary.