Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Maybe what Pell and I saw earlier wasn’t real? Maybe it was just some kind of mutual hallucination?
But that’s not it. Because if it were, there would be people here.
And there are no people here.
Which presents its own problem.
“I don’t understand.” Jacqueline has pulled her bus over in front of the Honey Bean Diner and we are standing at the front window, looking in at a perfectly functional diner, minus the people. “What is happening here?”
It would’ve been better, I think, if the place had looked like a ghost town. At least then it would make sense.
“Jacqueline.” I sigh her name out. Because this day has been super-stressful and it’s starting to get to me. “Can you just trust me? Can you just… not ask any questions?”
She and I stare at each other and have another private conversation with our eyes.
She’s saying, You’re up to something here. I don’t understand it, or know what it is, but I’m on the run with stolen orphans, so who am I to judge?
And I’m saying, Thank you.
“OK.” She gives in. But it’s one of those tired give-ins. Like she’s tired and ready to believe anything just so she can relax for a moment. “I trust you, Pie. Where should we stay?”
“Up there.” I point to the second floor of the diner building. “There are apartments up there. They’re furnished.” I’m assuming they’re furnished, because up until a couple weeks ago, townspeople lived up there. “Just help yourself to anything you want and I’ll check on you later. We have a load of hay to drop off at home and I have to do a few other things, but I promise, I’ll be back.”
I don’t bother telling her to stay out of the bar. That would just pique her curiosity. I will just do a spell once I’m back in the truck with Pell.
Jacqueline exhales again, this time louder. Even though she is the most confident person I have ever met, she’s stressed out too. She wants this to be real. She wants to let all her suspicions go and relax. She wants to believe me.
She doesn’t believe me, but she wants to.
So that’s what she does.
“Thank you, Pie.” She takes both my hands and gives them a squeeze. “You saved us today.”
We hug again. Then I leave her, and her blue bus filled with stolen children, and get back in the truck with Pell.
“Done?”
“Yep. I just need a spelling. Drive home and I’ll—” But before I can finish my sentence, the words are already spilling out of my mouth.
“‘A woman and kids with monster scars
‘Stay away from the devil’s bar
‘Live your life, be free and roam
‘Never go into the haunted home.’”
I blink and look out the front window, the final words coming out of my mouth just as we pass over the city limits. Pell reaches over and takes my hand, gives it a squeeze, just like Jacqueline did. “You’re a good girl, ya know that?”
“And you like the bad ones.”
He grins, looking over at me. “It’s opposite day.”
We both laugh and some of the stress melts away. But his last words linger in my brain as we make the quiet drive back to Saint Mark’s.
It’s opposite day.
These exact words popped up in my thoughts when I saw Jacqueline. This is how she changes her life. Do the opposite for long enough, and it changes you both inside and out.
That’s the theme of my recent life, I guess.
Nothing is the same.
We’re driving along the country road that leads to the lake and the back of the sanctuary, enjoying the beauty of the woods as the season changes from snowy winter to midsummer, when—
“Do you hear something?”
I’m cranking down my window when Pell says this. And sure enough, yes. Yes, I do hear something.
“Is that… music?” My question is rhetorical. It is music. It is loud, it is thumping, it is obnoxious music.
Pell groans. “Now what the fuck is happening?”
But as we come around a corner and the lake appears, it is very clear what is happening. The monsters of Saint Mark’s are throwing a rager.
Pell stomps on the brakes as a naked nymph goes running by, laughing and squealing as she leaps into the air. A moment later, there’s a pursuing satyr. We watch as he tackles her and they both fall into the lake, disappearing under the water.
“Um…” I’m holding up a finger. “Should we break that up?”
We watch, waiting for the two monsters to reappear, the seconds ticking off, my heart thumping a little in my chest. And I’m just about to get out and go in after them when two heads bob up in the middle of the lake. They are kissing.
“I think they’ll make it,” Pell deadpans, once again easing the truck forward.
My jaw drops open as Pell turns into the gravel parking lot behind my cottage. There are monsters on the roof. Like dozens of them. I don’t even know how the roof is still there. They have to weigh an actual ton. I squint and blink a few times to make sure I’m seeing this correctly. “Are they holding Solo cups?”