“It threw me for a bit too,” I said. “Don’t worry. You weren’t thinking anything different than I was.”
There were some definite quiet sighs going on around the room.
“Look, even if you are connected or maybe a little freakish in the magic department, we’re still tight, right?” Bibbi asked, as if I’d be the one kicking her to the curb.
“I’m the weirdo, remember? You’d have to get rid of me. That’s how these things work,” I said.
“I don’t care if you’re a weirdo. Weirdos are much more interesting, in my opinion,” Zab said.
“I already knew she was a freak. You people are a little slow on the uptake,” Oscar added, laughing.
I joined him, never feeling so good to be called a freak. Maybe I was a freak, but no one seemed to care, and that felt better than trying to pretend.
The monkeys walked in, little bags in their hands, and cleared their throats.
“We wanted to let you all know we will be leaving,” Speak No Evil said.
No one spoke.
“If anyone cares, we will be going to Zark’s, where we won’t be artistically censored any longer.” His little chin went up, and the other two followed suit.
No one said anything, and they were clearly waiting for something.
“Good luck to you,” Bibbi said.
“Yes, I’m sorry that we didn’t appreciate your talents,” I added. I would’ve said anything to get them out of here.
“Yes, us too,” Zab said.
“Thank you. Perhaps next time you won’t make the same error.” Speak No Evil nodded, and then the three of them walked out.
Hawk walked in from the office a few minutes later.
“Did you see the monkeys leaving?” Zab asked.
“I paid Zark a lot of coins to take them. They better be leaving.”
“Now it makes sense,” Oscar said as the rest of us nodded.
Hawk tensed where he was standing on the other side of the room. He turned in the direction of the office, and I could nearly feel his hackles rise. Without saying a word, he walked back into the office.
I glanced at Oscar, who was also staring in the direction of the door. He took one look at me, and I could read his expression clearly. No way we were both wrong.
We shot to our feet at the same time.
“And here I thought I’d have a relaxing morning,” Musso said.
“What’s going on?” Zab asked.
Neither Oscar nor I replied. We didn’t have answers or time as we rushed into the office. Chairs skidded and clanged behind us.
Hawk wasn’t alone in the office. A few feet from him stood a…a man? The suit he was wearing was the only normal thing about him. His skin was a deep red and unnaturally smooth. He had horns on his head and hoofed feet. There was only one person I’d seen that looked like him. Mertie.
I groaned softly, my mind shooting to a weird memory of a man, a bucket of black goop from hell, and a warning about keeping the situation under control. The goop hadn’t worked so well, and we certainly hadn’t kept things under control. It might not be what I feared, but it very well could be.
“You know what this is about?” Oscar whispered to me as we hung back a bit from this stranger. I shook my head, not wanting to give the newcomer any ideas if that wasn’t why he was here.
The demon’s eyes shot past Hawk, to me, lingering there.
“What’s your purpose here?” Hawk asked, not looking anywhere but at the demon in front of him. He moved, so that he broke the direct line of vision between the demon and myself.
My heart thudded as I waited to hear what the demon said. There wasn’t a whisper behind me, even though there was a full audience.
“You were warned that if you didn’t get this situation under control, we’d step in. The situation is most certainly not under control.”
“You have no authority here, Xazier.”
“The territory of Xest is experiencing unrest that threatens to spill into other realms. We have full authority to come in according to the pact, written and agreed to between the realms.” Xazier held up his hand, and a parchment dropped down. “If happenings in any other realm threaten the peace of a different and separate realm, the threatened realm has full authority to intervene as they see fit.”
“There’s no threat to your realm. This is a power grab, and you know it.”
Hawk continued to argue his point, but I was distracted from him by the low churning of Helen’s gears. A slip shot out of her slot and dropped to the ground. It moved along the floor until it was by my toes.
According to the pact, in order for one realm to assert authority over another realm, a formal warning shall be given first and a full moon cycle shall be allowed to rectify such grievances.
I shoved the note in my pocket and stepped up to the demon, standing shoulder to shoulder with Hawk.
Hawk was giving me the stare that he still thought worked. I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t figured out that it didn’t, but he kept trying. Maybe he’d had such a high success rate with it in the past that he couldn’t wrap his head around it failing. He’d figure it out eventually.
The demon looked intrigued. That wasn’t good either. Didn’t matter. I was all in now. I’d inserted myself. Time to act.
“By the rule of pact, you have to give us a full moon cycle after a formal complaint to rectify that problem before you can assume any authority.”
Hawk looked at me, clearly wondering where this knowledge was coming from. Didn’t matter. Helen knew, and I’d bet my last coin she was right.
“You were warned,” Xazier said.
“By a passing comment? I highly doubt that would hold up,” I scoffed.
The demon went silent. He wasn’t leaving, though. He stood there, staring at me with an intensity that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“I’m correct, am I not?” I asked, trying anything to break the strange moment that was dragging out.
He squinted and tilted his head, continuing to look at me. And he kept on looking.
“I might be able to work something out. I’ll need a moment,” he said, and then walked out of the office. Once outside, he began talking to the air.
Hawk dropped his gaze to me, his stare deepening. “I don’t want you involved in this.”
“If I hadn’t gotten involved, you’d still be arguing that they couldn’t take over Xest right now.”
“I’m handling it.”
“I’m helping you handle it.”
“I’m asking you not—”
The door opened, and Xazier walked back into the office and stopped a few feet from us. He took in a deep breath, and steam literally came out of his mouth as he sighed.
He turned to me. “Fine. You can have your month. But if you want to hold us to the letter of the law, it works both ways. We’ll be expecting collateral during this extension.”
“No,” Hawk replied.
I didn’t know what Xazier wanted, but clearly it was going to be a disadvantage for us.
“It’s not up to you, is it?” Xazier asked. “You know the rules. She brought up the clause. She’ll be the one to offer the collateral.”