Hi all! Annabelle here with the next chapter of Home for Horny Monsters!
Full confession, I honestly thought I had uploaded this a week ago. I'm so sorry for making people wait, I've just been really busy with this, finishing Iceman's last chapter, and other writer things (which you will eventually see on here, so don't worry).
As always, if you are new to this, you are going to be SO lost. Start at Chapter 1, cause this home certainly has its secrets, characters, and more than a couple of villains.
Returning reader? Welcome back! I've gotten some awesome comments and letters from some of you regarding some of the house's bigger mysteries, and it always amazes me how close some of you have come to solving them. I love hearing from you all (even if I don't respond), so keep them coming. I love how active this community is, and will stick around for as long as you all keep reading, so don't forget to rate, review or share this tale with your friends!
Page of Pentacles
Mike gazed morosely at his cellphone, watching the timer for the sundial eventually hit zero. For good or bad, he wouldn't be there to reset it.
Time was up.
Standing on the terrace of the tower, it took a supreme effort to stick his phone back in his pocket rather than throw it off the side.
"I take it the dial has reset." Ratu spoke from the chaise lounge behind him, her legs dangling off the side. She was engrossed in another of Yuki's journals. She had stayed up most of the night, unable to sleep herself, poring over as many of them as she could. Apparently, Yuki had quite the talent for poetry, and Ratu had shared more than a couple with him.
He had been up most of the night as well. They had built a nice fire in the fireplace to keep the room warm, and he had done his best to try and sleep. It wasn't meant to be. On top of his concern for the others in his house, he realized just how much he depended on snuggling up to Tink to stay asleep. Apparently she had somehow become his personal security blanket, because he had woken up more than once with a sense of dread.
Zel was down below, rummaging through Yuki's alchemical stores. It would seem that the kitsune wasn't particularly skilled at making potions, but Zel was hoping to put together a few basics before they set out.
A centaur horn played outside, eliciting a groan from Ratu.
"They're still there, aren't they?"
"Have been all night, as far as I can tell." He turned his head toward the cliffside trail. Orion was down below, pacing back and forth. The centaur had gotten particularly vocal last night with the help of a concoction likely brewed by his shaman, but the wind had carried away most of his words. Mike shook his head. "I don't think they're going to leave."
"Neither will we, unless we discover a secret exit of some sort." Ratu turned the page. "How is Zel doing?"
"Still shaken up, but she's determined." Last night, Zel had discovered a comfortable stable for her to sleep in. It was attached to the yard out back, and she had quickly wandered amongst the statues, a look of horror fixed on her face. She was adamant that she recognized some of the faces out there as members of her tribe that had wandered off to face the Snow Queen, never to be seen again. He found it odd that Yuki would keep them stored away like that, rather than simply pushing them over a cliff.
Then again, based on what Ratu had told him, Yuki wasn't all she seemed to be either. Her journal spoke often of her journeys among the island. Any encounters with centaurs typically ended with her sneaking off or, at worst, getting into a fight or playing a magical prank. There was no malice or hate in her journal, only a desperation to understand what had happened to her dearest Emily.
Daisy had explained it to them as best as she could when asked. It had taken forever with only a few words at a time on the slate, but she told them that Yuki and Emily had made the tower their own personal love nest. Apparently it had become a home away from home for them, discovered completely on accident during a trip abroad. Emily had destroyed the old portal to this place after connecting a new one, and the two of them constantly snuck away to enjoy the tower's relative peace and quiet.
One night, Emily got out of bed to wander the tower, leaving both Yuki and Daisy behind. Several years passed, years of searching for her. Yuki had been unable to use the portal, and had assumed the centaurs had taken her.
After months of constant harassment, she was forced to believe that Emily had simply vanished.
That was, until the night many years later when Emily came back. Daisy couldn't say much about that day because she had been off scouting a new area for them to explore. She had come back to discover that Emily had suddenly returned, bypassing the many wards that had been placed around the portal. Instead of a greeting or an explanation, Emily had attacked her former lover, essentially leaving her for dead.
The experience had changed Yuki, and not necessarily for the better. Daisy insisted that the fox was still a good person, but when challenged by the centaurs, she had started collecting them, using one of the magic items that had been hidden away in the tower called the Gorgon's Eye.
Daisy took them to the room she had warned Mike about when asked about what had been kept there. Upon entering, they discovered a room similar in structure to Ratu's laboratory, only it was primarily an armory. Lit by some torches and a natural skylight, it looked similar to the old library he had stumbled into with Tink and Cecilia.
A few of the objects had been broken apart and stacked on the tables around the room, but the rest were stored in protective cases that had no hinge or latch. Daisy explained that they had been locked up with spells to keep anyone from getting them, and he knew better than to attempt to open them.
A case made of thick wood held nothing but a few inches of water in the bottom. When he approached it, the water formed into a sword, then a handax, then a bow, as if trying to figure out what he would like best. When he moved away, it turned into a massive trident, then collapsed into a pool of water once again.
One of the displays had been broken apart. The only thing inside was an empty stone box that looked like it held something the size of a ping pong ball. In the locked case attached to it was a strange looking sword with a sickle near the end of the blade.
An odd looking mace was in a super thick case and held in place by several heavy looking chains. It rattled the chains when Mike came near, so he immediately moved away. Ratu suggested there was little to learn from the room after inspecting the broken items, so they agreed to leave it alone.
Throughout the tower they also found several hand-drawn tarot cards, hundreds of them tucked away everywhere. Ratu warned him away from messing with them. Apparently several of them radiated magic, and she was fairly certain Yuki had spent her solitary confinement perfecting the art of inscribing runes into the cards.
It was too bad they couldn't find a use for the cards, he thought, walking to the window to look down at the centaur camp. They had set up several more flags along the edge of the cliff, and a few of them had symbols he couldn't quite make out from here. "So what happens when we get past them? After we get home?"
"If it's like when we came here, probably another fight." Ratu grimaced. "I'd like to think I'm better prepared this time, but Yuki seems like a planner. I imagine the whole house is covered in snow by now."
"And the others?"
"That's a great question. I have my ideas, but none of them are optimistic."
He felt sick to his stomach. Had Yuki hurt the others? Or maybe even turned them to stone? Momentary anger filled him, his hands clenching tight. "I wish we knew what those weapons did. I imagine they would help us turn the tide."
Ratu closed her book and lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. "Do you honestly believe that?"
"Of course I do. If that stuff is locked up, it must be powerful."
