Savage Saints (Monsters of Saint Mark's)

“What will your spell do?”

“I have no idea.” I’m still pouting. And Pia can tell. So now she’s trying to take my mind off it.

“Well, what do you want it to do?”

“What do I want it to do? I want it to take me home so I can spend my day with Pell. But I can’t because I’m in debt and have to be here every day.”

“So maybe you should make a spell so Pell can come here with you?”

“That would be great. In fact, that would probably erase my entire debt because that’s exactly what Tarq wants too. Well, not Pell. He wants me to open the portal doors. And if I can bring Pell here, then I’d be opening portals, wouldn’t I? And if it were as easy as writing a haiku starting with the letter A, then wouldn’t he just do it himself?”

“Hmm. I dunno. Doesn’t hurt to try.”

“I guess.”

“Well, I have things to do and people to see. But I’ll come back and check on you later.”

“No.” I’m still moaning. And it’s starting to irritate me. So I stop. “No, Pia. Go do your thing. I’m fine. And you’re right. It doesn’t hurt to try. Maybe I will write the best haiku spell ever and all the freaking portal doors will open at the same time.”

“That’s the spirit! And if you’re sure…”

“I’m sure. Go.”

“OK. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“OK,” I say. And I do my very best to be bright and happy.

“Have fuuuun!” She flits off and disappears through the doors.

Even though I have every intention of writing the best spelling poem ever, only a few minutes after Pia leaves, I’m slinking back into the sitting monkey-walk posture. I flip the page in the notebook and just stare at the utter blankness of it. “Why does it always seem like the world is working against me?”

“Maybe you read too much into things?”

I turn with a start and find Tarq standing in the doorway holding my Book of Debt.

“I don’t think so.”

He offers me a small smile, then opens the Book of Debt. “It appears you’ve made some progress.” His perfectly manicured clawed finger is pointing to something on the page.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve erased some debt. A significant portion, actually.”

“Really?” I perk up. “How much?”

“From yesterday’s total? Four thousand six hundred and seven vinlomeons.”

“Vinlomeons?”

“It’s our standard of money.”

I sigh. Because no matter what, I’m always going to be a step behind. “What’s the exchange rate for dollars?”

“I don’t even know what a dollar is, Pie.”

“Of course you don’t.”

“If you want to take the book home tonight to see, you can.”