Almost everything about Saint Mark’s feels… easier now.
There are a few small snags that we’re still getting used to. For me, it’s that I can’t leave the sanctuary boundary at all because my human form died. I have horns, and hooves, and hind legs at all times. So whatever magic is being used to glamour Pell and Tomas, it decided to skip me, even when I have my ring on. I will not be running errands for the monsters any time soon. I’m OK with this. I have no desire to see Sheriff Russ Roth again. And yes, he’s still there. When I banished him, or whatever, it knocked him back into town and put some kind of memory spell on him. Because Pell and Tomas have been to Granite Springs and bumped into him twice now and he just smiles and tips his hat as he passes. No clue who or what they are.
But if I were to be in front of him, there’s no telling how that magic might go wrong.
Better safe than sorry.
As far as Grant goes—no one has seen or heard from him since Dragon Day.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
I look over at Pell, smiling. We’re lying on a blanket down by the lake. It’s a nice late November afternoon and the sun is warm on my bare back. “Us.” It’s my standard answer because he’s always asking me this question. But I like the question and it’s a true answer too. “I’m just so… content these days. It’s like a dream, Pell.”
We’re both on our stomachs, shoulder to shoulder. He bumps me a little. “Are you worried about waking up?”
I was. Maybe for a day. But what’s the point? So I shake my head. “Nah. I’m not worried about anything. I’m just… counting my blessings. I feel like a princess who was rescued from the tower and now I’m living the full-on happily ever after.”
Pell kisses me, then he flops onto his back and sighs with his eyes closed. Agreeing with me about my conclusions.
There’s some good-natured yelling a little way down the lake shore. A group of monsters are playing Frisbee and one with wings just made a good catch. For whatever reason, all the monsters are allowed to walk through the back gate now. So the lake and the woods are part of their curse. They can’t find the country road that runs past the front of Saint Mark’s, but they don’t seem to care. They like it down here by the lake. They like to wander the forests. They like the hallways in the cathedral too. Lots of them spend time up there. But they do not like the tombs.
Most of the monsters who came out of the dark wood with us hang out here instead of inside the sanctuary walls because even though everything is pretty great, there is still one more mystery: None of the monsters who came back with us were from the tombs. Those are all still locked. Only now, I can’t see the doors. No one can see the doors. It’s like we were banished from the tombs.
I dunno. It’s weird.
And Tarq didn’t come out of the dark wood with us, so he’s still in his tomb.
And here’s another kinda fucked-up thing that’s weird. In fact, there’s maybe a lot of things about Saint Mark’s that are still weird—but this one’s the kicker.
There are no girls. None. I’m talkin’ a zero number of those monsters are female.
And it’s OK now because it’s only been a couple weeks. But eventually—what will they do? I mean, not even Pell was celibate this whole time. He went looking for human women.
One day their satisfaction with freedom and their hesitation about the outside world will wear off at the same time and they will go looking for the out clause the same way I did.
Which leads me to the final snag: The ring.
It’s still here on my finger. Oh, heck yeah, it’s still here and it’s snugger than ever. No way is this thing coming off.
But now there is one for every single monster in this place.
We know this. We counted them.
When we went looking for the Book of Debt, we found a bag of ancient silver rings in its place. This is how Tomas and Pell are able to walk out the gates and go to town. Everyone gets a magic ring.
Which is kinda cool. In theory. Because the whole point of freedom is to be free, right?
But they are monsters. So we didn’t give them the rings.
It’s one thing for Pell and Tomas to leave. They’ve been living in this modern world the whole time. They kinda get it. At the very least, they understand that human society has rules.
But do we really want to set fifty-seven chimera monsters loose in the world?