I am in some kind of fog that makes me dizzy, and stupid, and…
The next thing I know, I’m standing by myself on one side of the gate and Tomas and Russ Roth are on the other. Then they are in their truck. Men come from the woods, piling into the back. Seconds later, they are all gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT – PELL
When Tarq and I step out of my tomb, the sanctuary is pure pandemonium. Monsters everywhere. Yelling, and pointing, and waving their hands around.
I grab one as he runs by, jerking him back. “What the hell is going on?” He tells me, but of course, I don’t understand him. “What?” Then I’m just frustrated. “Dammit! Speak Latin!”
“He said something about a sheriff?” Tarq offers.
“What?” I look around, frantic. “Where’s Pie?” No one answers me. They just keep freaking out and running by. So I roar it. “Where the fuck is Pie?” And this time, my words shake the ground, reverberating off the nearby tombs, making them tremble.
“Here!” Her voice is distant. “I’m over here, Pell!” It’s coming from the cathedral. I take off in a run, bounding over crumbling ruins, my hooves slipping on wet grass as I weave my way through the maze of tombs and statues.
When I come out from the tombs I see her, standing in the middle of the back patio, surrounded by monsters. “Pie!” Relief washes through me.
“Pell! Oh, my God! They took him, Pell! We have to go!”
I reach her. Pull her into my arms and hold her tight. “Thank the Gods you’re OK. Someone said the sheriff was here—”
“Pell! They took him! We have to go!”
I don’t want to let her go, but her voice. It’s filled with panic. So I push her back and hold her at arm’s length. “What’s going on? Took who?”
“Tomas went on some hunt tonight looking for monsters and… I don’t know what happened, but something bad! They know, Pell! The town knows. They were here! And Russ Roth came inside! They took Tomas! We need to go save him!” Suddenly her eyes dart over my shoulder and she actually gasps. “What’s he doing here?”
She’s pointing at Tarq.
“We can’t save Tomas, Pie. We need to help Tarq.”
“Fuck him! He’s… he’s… not one of us! And Tomas is!”
I grab her shoulders and give her a small shake. Because her panic is real and I haven’t seen her this freaked out since the day she arrived. She’s looking at Tarq the same way she looked at me that first day. “There are things you don’t know, Pie. Circumstances you don’t understand.”
“I’m sorry that I scared you,” Tarq says. “I was upset. And confused. And I was really, really hoping that you were gonna help me, and then it became quite clear that you weren’t, so—”
Pie puts up a hand to cut him off. “Oh, I’m not.” Then she looks at me. “Did he convince you to bring him here and talk me into this?”
“Umm…” I don’t know what to say, because he kind of did.
“Pell!” Pie’s eyes are wide and crazy. “What the fuck?”
“Pie, listen. You need to hear the whole story—”
“We don’t have time for fucking stories! We need to save Tomas! They have him! They’re gonna hurt him, Pell!” I scoff at this. Which just pisses Pie off. “What?” she snaps.
“Tomas is fine, Pie. He can take care of himself, trust me.”
“What’s that mean?”
“It means he’s a fucking dragon, Pie. He doesn’t need our help.”
“But no! He’s not! He’s a dragon chimera and—”
Now it’s my turn to put up a hand to stop her. “He doesn’t. Require. Our help.”
She looks at Tarq, then over to Batty and Eyebrows. Both of them nod at her, agreeing with me. So she lets out a long breath. It sounds like relief. But a moment later, her face is all scrunched up and angry. “If he’s not fine…” She lets the threat dangle.