“They went to travel America, and last thing I heard was that they were loving it so much, they were going with the nomad lifestyle.” He shrugged. “And now I feel like a jerk.”

  “I… can’t help you there,” I said. “But it sounds like that’s their choice, not your fault.”

  He shrugged. “I’m kinda giving you a hard time. Even if they were around, I doubt we’d have time to go stop by. She’s a talker, and—ouch!”

  Steph had hit him. “We’d totally go see her. Don’t be an ass.”

  “How about your parents?”

  “Now who’s the dick?” she asked. “My parents are dead.”

  “Shit, how did I not know that?”

  She started laughing. “Just fucking with you. No, I hate them. They’re evil bastards.”

  “Oh.”

  The rest of us were just staring, watching their little exchange. Now that it was over, they looked at us awkwardly, and he grinned.

  “So… have fun?” He shrugged. “Tell her we said hi.”

  “Will do. Let’s get this mission going in… three hours?”

  “Perfect. We’ll have time to research where we’re going from there, trying to find the location of some stones and whatnot. Nothing crazy.”

  It was agreed then. I was going to chat with my mom, while he was going to figure out where to look for stones. Clearly, that didn’t make much sense to me, but I figured it was his issue to deal with.

  From there, I excused myself and headed to meet Randi and find the garage.

  6

  Driving through the old neighborhoods had a nostalgia that I wouldn’t have expected, considering I hadn’t been gone from there that long. Maybe it was all the near-death experiences or the major growth I’d had as a man. Whatever the reason, this felt like I’d gone back in time.

  “What kind of kid were you?” Randi asked.

  Arturo laughed from the backseat. “My guess, same kind of man he was before meeting bat lady back there. Nerdy as hell.”

  “You, nerdy?” She eyed me and laughed. “No, this is different. What you might have seen as nerdy, I see as enticing.”

  Arturo scoffed. “Sure, sure. Another gorgeous woman falls for our nerdy buddy. Why not?”

  “You worked at a boardgame place,” I countered, but shrugged at his frown. We both knew I didn’t think that was nerdy but awesome as hell.

  I glanced over at Randi, who was smiling with pride. Arturo had called her gorgeous. Maybe she was, but considering who she was, and what we’d been through with her, it was hard for me to see her that way. Yes, even as stunning as her breasts were.

  “What about you?” I asked Randi. “How long ago was it that you came over?”

  She considered the question, then shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t remember. It was in the days of silent movies. I got my start back then, under another name.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Right. It was a different world, one where someone could slide out of the spotlight and barely get noticed.”

  “You look damn fine for a woman that old,” Arturo said.

  I eyed him in the rearview mirror. “Dude, you trying to build yourself a team of lovers now, too?”

  He laughed. “Everyone else is doing it. But, no. The team is more than enough women for me.”

  Randi grinned, eyeing me with a lick of her lips. “I don’t usually go for human males.”

  “No?” I asked.

  “It’s like, why do I need to find someone with a cock when I have my own to play with? When I want one, anyway.”

  “That’s some backward thinking,” Arturo said, chuckling.

  “It’s not about penis or vagina,” I explained. “It’s about—”

  “Love?” She scoffed. “I’ve tried that, and trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Love, dear Ferris, is a myth. When you find it, you either have it long enough for it to grow into hate, or you live long enough to see your loved one burned at the stake.”

  “You’re cold,” Arturo said.

  “I don’t buy it,” I interjected.

  “And I don’t care what you buy. Point is, I like Ferris here, but that’s as far as it goes.”

  “Wait, so this whole thing you do with your breasts hanging out, and all that, why?” Arturo asked.

  “Because I’m a monster, and always will be,” she laughed. “Silly humans, always taking everything personally.”

  I couldn’t deny that. When a woman shows her breasts and more to me and smiles my way, I make certain assumptions. Not that it mattered, as we had arrived at my mother’s house.

  “Try not to seduce her while I’m gone,” I told Arturo, earning a chuckle from him, and a laugh from her. I stepped out, watching as Arturo ran around to the driver’s seat. “What exactly do you have planned?”

  “Man, we need to buy condoms, for one,” he replied. “And I mean a lot of them. I was also thinking of grabbing some pizzas for dinner tonight. Since we can’t exactly order in.”

  “Good thinking.”

  I watched him peel out, then turned to see my mom at the open doorway, watching me. She looked no different than the day I’d last seen her. Blonde, short, and despite her fifty years, looking young enough to be my older sister.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked, jokingly.

  “Sorry, Mom,” I replied. “I know, it’s not often that I make it home. But I’m here now.”

  “For no other reason than to pay me a visit?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah?”

  She laughed. “Fine, don’t tell me, but come on in.” Standing aside and waiting for me to enter, she asked, “Does my son have a girlfriend, or what could explain this glow I see?”

  “Glow?” I chuckled. “Kind of, yeah.”

  We entered the living room, and she went to the kitchen to pour me some lemonade. Calling from the other room, she asked, “When do I get to meet this woman friend of yours?”

  That caught me off guard. Of course, she would want to meet anyone I was dating.

  “We’re actually going on a bit of a trip,” I said, nodding my thanks as she entered and handed me a glass. “Maybe when we get back?”

  She sat opposite me and smiled as I took in the room. White walls, a white couch, and white piano.

  “You’re well?” I asked.

  “Well enough. I miss your dad.” She let that linger. “This is why I worry about you. I want to meet this woman you’re dating, to see if she’s right for you. It’s important you be with someone who treats you right, you know.”

  I nodded. “Mom, trust me—nobody in the world could treat me better.”

  “That’s great. Really.” She took a sip from her glass, then leaned forward. “Tell me about her.”

  Where to begin? Finishing off my glass, I leaned back and smiled wide. “For one, every time she looks at me, her eyes light up. And I feel the same way—like whenever I see her, I…” My voice caught, and I couldn’t ignore the way my mom was staring at me with that wide smile. “What?”

  “You don’t just have a girlfriend. You’re in love!”

  “What?”

  “Love, dear. When your heart pitter-patters at every interaction or even thought of her. I see it in you. No doubt about it, this is love.”

  “Stop it with all that,” I said, waving the comment off.

  As she shrugged and gave me a knowing look, then stood to check on some soup she was cooking, I went to the couch and leaned back, considering what she had said. Was I in love? What she described was certainly true, but… if this was love, then with which one of the monster ladies? All of them?

  It was too much to think about, so I pushed the thoughts aside and focused instead on the mission that lay before me. This might be the last time I saw my mom if the mission didn’t go well.

  With that in mind, I went into the kitchen and helped her with the soup, spending the next thirty minutes or so discussing the old days. When we had a break, she opened photos on her computer and reminisced.

  And when it was done, we ate our soup and I promised to come back and visit more. She had to go to work, so I hugged her and went outside, waiting for Arturo and Randi.

  From there I went to the curb and sat. I couldn’t believe how much of myself I’d forgotten. Shit, that curb I was sitting on was where I’d had my first kiss. Little Bailey, while we were pretending to go for a walk but too lazy to go very far. With her braces, and me wondering if my lips would get cut by them. It had been great, as far as first kisses go. Weird, that we had kissed for like five minutes straight without doing anything else. So not how kisses worked anymore.

  I turned to look at the window that had been mine in my teens, wondering about Linda and how she was these days. We’d used to sneak in that window together, curl up on my couch, and commence with heavy petting—over the pants—while watching movies. One time, we’d gone for under the pants stuff, then my mom had caught me and told her parents. Yeah, her dad never let her near me again.

  Of course, I also had non-sexual memories of my youth, like my old buddy Max, the boy who used to come over to play videogames. I’d come to think of him as nothing more than a videogame friend because I’d later realized we’d never done anything other than that.

  The yellow Lamborghini turned the corner and I stood, recalling how many times my buddies in tenth grade had come around that corner, me standing here just like that. They’d pick me up in a beat-up Volvo, and we’d catch a movie or head over to one of their houses to play old-school Halo while eating nachos. I missed those days, yet was so much happier with my new life. Old me never would have believed how much everything had changed.

  “Coming?” Arturo said, stepping out from behind the wheel. “This baby can fly.”

  “Literally?” I asked, going for the driver seat as he got comfortable in the back.

  “Uh, no.”

  I chuckled, glanced back at my old house, and gave it a nod. Then we were off, driving back to the mansion, and I was ready to risk my life yet again.

  “How’d it go?” Randi asked.

  “Surprisingly good,” I replied.

  “Ah, man, now you’re making me wish I could go visit my parents.”

  “Maybe you should. Where are they?”

  Arturo shook his head. “Ensenada, Mexico.”

  “Oh, damn. Someday, maybe then.”

  The drive back went by quickly, with a few near-deadly turns along windy roads in the hills of La Canada. When driving a car like that, it’s expected. Arturo mostly flirted with Randi, and despite her earlier statement, she was flirting back. Maybe toying with him was a better way of putting it.

  Back at the mansion, Jericho and the team were ready. The others were annoyed at me, it seemed, so had taken to training and briefing the new arrivals, instead of seeing me off. I thought that was bullshit but couldn’t argue with the fact that the newcomers needed to get a good sense of where they were and what was going on.

  I went to find Kinara, Jalee, and Milrae in our room, and took a deep breath before asking, “Are we ready?”

  “We are, but…” Kinara frowned at Jalee, who nudged her with a scowl.

  “The troops aren’t all on the same page,” Milrae explained.

  “Sorry, but I was almost food. Why would I want to go back?” Kinara countered.

  “To be part of something bigger than yourself,” Jalee growled.

  “Wait,” I interjected. “Nobody should have to go if they don’t want to. Of course not.”

  Kinara seemed even more annoyed by that, scowling before saying, “Well, I can’t let you go, then sit back here wondering what happened to you. The whole mission is fucked.”

  I took a deep breath, trying to find words. In part, I agreed with her. We’d gone through so much to bring Jalee’s sister back, and it was only by a miracle that we’d made it home relatively unscathed. Now we were talking about going through with less power.

  She clearly read it in my expression, because she turned to Jalee and said, “See, he’s only doing it because he feels like he has to!”

  “That’s not entirely true,” I countered. “Maybe, yeah, I feel a duty to each of you. But if it were my world under attack by those hunter things, I’d expect no less from each of you.”

  “And it sort of is,” a voice came from behind me.

  Fiare, I saw when I turned. She entered, toying with that cloth that covered her chest, so it swayed and revealed her nipples more than once. “You already have one here. The others will find a way through when they find a way, and trust me, humans will be even easier prey than us monsters. But we can stop it from happening. We, Ferris.”

  “What’s happening right now?” Milrae asked, and I glanced back to see her glaring at Jalee.

  “I think my dear sister here is trying to seduce Ferris into taking her through with us.”

  “Of course I’m fucking trying to do that!” Fiare said. “This is my issue, my problem to deal with. I want to kill every last one of those fuck-twigs, to see their blood bathe my feet. If letting this disgusting human rub his meat-stick on me, even insert it, fine. I’ll pay that price.”

  “Shit,” I muttered, stepping back, hands up. “You’ve got the wrong idea.”

  “Do I?” she protested. “Because, way I see it, each one of these ladies has given you a taste, and you’d bend over three ways to give them what they want. So, strip, fuck me raw, and let’s do this.”

  I took a step behind Kinara to hide. As hot as this dragon lady was, and as much as fucking her would have been great under most circumstances, this was not one of them.

  Milrae, to my relief, stepped up to my rescue.

  “Back the fuck up, bitch,” she said. A bit stronger than I would have preferred, but it did the job. Clearly, Milrae’s type was known back in their world, because Fiare retreated at her advance, letting the cloth fall back over her breasts.

  “He can’t summon you,” Jalee said, shaking her head as she addressed her sister. “I agree, bringing you would be great, but there’s no guarantee.”

  “Then leave me over there! I sacrifice myself, as long as—”

  “No!” Jalee stepped forward, taking her sister’s hands in hers. “Trust me, okay? We’re going to figure this out.”

  Fiare looked like she was going to bite her sister one second, then the next she looked like she was about to cry. Turning on her heels, tail whipping around and nearly hitting Jalee, she ran from the room.

  “I’ll… talk with her,” Jalee said. “We’re meeting outside?”

  “Yes, where we last saw Jericho.”

  She nodded, then headed out. Kinara and Milrae turned to me, the latter saying, “I think you handled that well.”

  “What else could I have even done?” I asked.

  “I’d have fucked her if I had a cock,” Kinara answered. “She was looking good.”

  “Don’t listen to her,” Milrae said with a chuckle.

  Kinara shrugged and started for the door. “Wait, but she was kind of wrong, no? We’re not exactly going ‘back,’ or not only back, right?”

  I nodded. “From what I gathered, we have to go a circuitous route, and even once we’re in, the point is to find the hunter’s access point, and cut them off.”

  “Exciting.”

  She skipped out of there, leaving only Milrae. “Armor up, then,” she said, heading for the door. “Since we don’t have to fit in, you get to wear whatever you want. As much as it saddens me that your lovely cock won’t be flapping around.”

  I laughed. “Cool, cool. Anytime you want to see it, we can run off to some private cave or dark corner of the void, I imagine.”

  She licked her lips, blew me a kiss, then headed out while I gathered up my new armor and wrist devices.

  “And us?” Suiko said, floating out to my side.

  “Us?” I asked, then saw Basty sitting on the dresser, staring at me.

  “Since you can both sort of become one with me, I don’t see why not.”

  She nodded, floated into me, and muttered, “Great,” as Basty ran over and jumped onto my shoulder.

  It was go time.

  7

  I was pleased to see everyone ended up coming to see us off.

  “No goodbyes,” Ahlaksiz insisted. “See you as soon as you get back.”

  “Hopefully tonight,” Koharu said, holding her staff suggestively.

  “Agreed,” I replied. Turning to make eye contact with Fiare, who stood at the rear of the group, I added, “We’re going to take care of this. Whether it’s a job that takes a couple hours, months, or years.”

  “Fuck that,” Bloodsong said, looking pale. “If it’s taking that long, I mean, even longer than a week, I want you back here.”

  “Actually, she might be right,” Ahlaksiz agreed. “Better to regroup and re-strategize if it’s proving too difficult.”

  I nodded, but wasn’t fully committing to that. We’d see what situations presented themselves, then decide accordingly. Going to each of them, I hugged and kissed my goodbyes, high-fived Arturo, and gave Greg a fist bump. Some of the new monsters stood behind Ahlaksiz, having come to see me off, and bowed as one. They seemingly saw her as their sensei, which was kind of cool.

  Without further ado, we turned to Jericho and his team—of which he’d decided to only take two since he’d be dropping us off and returning for the others to continue his search for stones. Plus, we were traveling in daylight, so overdoing security didn’t seem necessary. His chosen members were the white-haired one named Steph, and the strange Asian one named Megha. The others would be useful in continued magic adjustments to our borders, he insisted, and might be of help in getting us back.

  He led us to an inner courtyard of the house, one we hadn’t yet explored and was out of sight. There he held up his staff, the end glowing.

  “Here’s what I’m thinking,” Jericho said, looking to us with excitement. “The Liahona is connected to Avalon, as part of its magical source, and we can leverage that to find an entry point to this monsterverse.”

  “Works for me,” Jalee said with a shrug.

  Of course, she had no idea how exciting this was—to go to Avalon was a dream come true. And wait, hadn’t the Protector talked about Arthur being real, and even residing there?