“Seriously, here?” she asked.

  I grinned, pulling Milrae close. “We’re waiting on them, right? I can’t stand seeing you so… covered.”

  “This world of yours would have me always like this.”

  “It’s getting to you?”

  With a deep breath, she said, “I’m not sure. By the waterfall, everything was perfect again, but here, seeing the way people look at us, especially those with… less clothing.” Her eyes went to Jalee, who frowned as Milrae finished, “It isn’t right.”

  “You know what?” Jalee undid the apron, hanging it on the flower tree behind us. “She’s right. What do I care if the world sees some leg or a nipple?”

  I pursed my lips, knowing I’d been raised in Earth’s prudish ways and that it was best not to argue the case. Where they came from, many monsters walked around nude and it wasn’t a big deal. Why should they live by our standards, when it wasn’t like they had chosen to come here?

  My only concern was that we were in Tunisia, and I was willing to bet they were more conservative than back home in California. Of course, when my eyes went to Jalee’s exposed, dark nipple, my tongue wetting my lips, I couldn’t care less about all that other stuff. Right now, it was just me and them. I pulled her close as I kissed Milrae, then turned to kiss Jalee as well, hand gently caressing the top of her breast, then fingers moving along the edge of her areola, teasing.

  Kinara was eyeing me, I noticed, so I went to her next, but she shook her head, pointing past me.

  Standing there, arms crossed, was Aziz.

  “Really?” He shook his head and held out a new outfit for Kinara. “Maybe this will help your man keep his libido in check.”

  “Maybe I don’t want his libido in check,” she countered but stepped away from me to try on the new dress. Not the type to be shy, she quickly had the tattered clothes off—I would miss those—and the new dress on. It was stunning! A green sundress with long sleeves that were loose at the end, yellow flowing patterns that started at the naval and worked their way up around the loose collar. She did a quick spin for us and put the headpiece back on, then asked, “You came alone?”

  He chuckled. “My godmother went to look for you inside, while I agreed to search out here. She had a feeling you might be… distracted.”

  “Can you blame him?” Kinara asked, slapping Jalee on the ass.

  Aziz chuckled, shaking his head. “Not at all. Or you.” He winked my way at that, leaving me unsure what he meant. Regardless, my little idea of having a hidden romp next to the museum was spoiled, so the others put on their new clothes too, and I scooped up Basty to follow Aziz inside.

  7

  As it turned out, we weren’t there only for the museum. In the back was a large tent with hanging lights. Torches lined the path, and I turned to Jalee at my side with a look of curiosity.

  “Back home, this would terrify me,” Kinara said.

  I turned back to her, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  She grimaced, eyes on the tent. “This is the kind of event they’d hold after catching one of my kind. The type of event where my kind would be served as part of the feast.”

  The thought brought bile to my mouth, and I stopped, turning to face her. “If you don’t want to go, we can turn back. I get it.”

  Low music started from the direction of the tent, and she startled.

  “I hadn’t even thought of it,” Ahlaksiz admitted. “I’m sorry. He’s right, let’s go—”

  “I want to stay,” Kinara countered.

  “You’re sure?”

  “I am.” Kinara wrapped her arm through mine. “Replacing the image of this type of event with a new one isn’t a horrible idea, after all.”

  “You have us if you need an escape, or a shoulder to lean on,” Milrae said, giving her a half hug.

  Jalee wore a frown and kept back, causing me to wonder about the time she had worked for a hunter. Could she have gone to these events? Surely she had never eaten a chirop. The thought made me queasy, so I decided it was best if I never knew.

  We continued, entering the large tent that felt like a gateway to a dream. Within, tables were set with couscous covered with vegetables and lamb, circular pastries with egg and parsley inside, and other dishes of vegetables, kefta, and an interesting style of bread they called khobz taabouna.

  Kinara had to be assured that we weren’t eating bat before we sat to eat, and even then mostly relied on the raw meat Ahlaksiz had. As she snuck a bite, I had to wonder how long that would last.

  “Is this the norm?” I asked.

  Aziz laughed. “Some of this, yes. I have a local woman I’ve been seeing for a few months now, and she’s a wonderful cook. But all of this at once is mostly for big events.”

  “What event does this happen to be?” I asked as music kicked in, reminding me of a shriller version of bagpipes.

  “An acquaintance is getting married.” He grinned and pointed past me to a table that, now that I was looking, was clearly the head table. Seated there were some men and women in fancy tuxedos and dresses. They weren’t Tunisian—maybe European, though the principal couple was Asian.

  “Come, I’ll introduce you,” he said, motioning for me to follow.

  “Uh, sure.” I followed, hoping the monster ladies would find a reason to keep me with them but finding no such luck. Meeting random people had never been something I excelled at, but it wasn’t as if I was the same man I had once been. In the short amount of time since meeting Kinara, then the rest, I had changed. With this in mind, I put on a smile, and when it was time to greet the happy couple, I nodded respectfully. Shaking hands had lost favor with most people after the pandemic and continued to this day—at least, in some cultures. To my relief, that impacted these people as well.

  The man stood and bowed, saying it was nice to meet me.

  “This is Raijin-san,” Aziz said, then motioned to the woman, “and Uzume-san.”

  Raijin eyed Aziz and said something in Japanese that I didn’t catch—I knew some basics, but never could catch words when blurted out so quickly. It seemed the man was annoyed.

  “It’s okay,” Aziz said, waving off the comment. “Ferris-san is with us. He’s… practically one of us.”

  “Us?” I asked, then eyed Raijin in a new light.

  “You’re from the other side?” Raijin asked, eyeing me skeptically.

  “Er, not exactly,” I admitted.

  “Sorry, my miscommunication,” Aziz cut in. “He can summon.”

  At this, both the man and woman stared at me with new curiosity, and another man stepped up next to them as if appearing from the darkness.

  “Impossible,” the newcomer said, wearing old, samurai-style clothes and armor, complete with sword and samurai haircut, the front-middle shaved.

  “It would seem not,” Aziz replied.

  “Well,” Raijin said, interjecting before his friend could get another word in, “it is truly an honor, then, that you would grace us with your visit.”

  “Oh, thank you. The honor is all mine.”

  There was something about the way they eyed me, especially Raijin’s companion. We started for our seats, and Aziz whispered, “Don’t mind that one.”

  I glanced back to see the man still glaring at me. “He’s one, too?”

  “One?” He laughed, then lowered his voice to say, “He used to go by Momotaro.”

  “The peach boy?” I put a hand over my mouth, hoping he hadn’t heard that.

  Aziz nodded. “So many Legends would love to get their hands on him if they knew where he was hiding out. Raijin only agreed to have the ceremony here so that Momotaro could be present. He’s a wanted man in the world of Myths and Legends.”

  “For…?”

  “All the killings, of course.” Aziz turned to the bar, then eyed me. “Oh, right, you wouldn’t know. Basically, a big part of his story was that he went around slaughtering Japanese demons, or Oni, who were committing atrocities. Well, it’s deeper than that—he went throughout the world after those in Japan thought he had been killed. Was saved, nursed back to health, and spent some time with a mutual friend before continuing his quest. Of course, in the real world what that meant was finding Legends who had it out for humans. He killed them, took their ichor, and became a god almost as powerful as Raijin there.”

  I accepted a glass of wine from the bar, turning back to meet Raijin’s gaze before the man turned back to his bride-to-be. This was a whole world of insanity that was beyond my comprehension, and here I was, playing my small part in it. We took our wine back to the others, but I had a thought as we sat down.

  “Their names, they’re like yours?” I asked. “Set free?”

  “Actually, they’re different. Not all immortals are Myth or Legend, necessarily, and even they aren’t all under the same rules. It’s directly connected to what you call ‘monsters,’ or people from the Monsterverse.”

  “You can see why my head is spinning.”

  He laughed and nodded as he took his seat.

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if our paths meet theirs again before this is over,” Ahlaksiz said, leaning back and eyeing me. “So I hope you made a good first impression.”

  “He did fine,” Aziz interjected. “Momotaro can be a bit rough on the edges until you have a chance to prove your worth.”

  “He hated me until someone finally told him it was me who originally saved him from his deathbed and brought him to meet the watcher.”

  “The watcher?” I laughed. “Like in the comics?”

  “It’s one title for our mutual friend. Our friend I’m hoping we don’t have to pay a visit to, but will know after tonight. For one, I don’t know how to find him.” Ashlaksiz turned to her meal, now halfway eaten. “Enjoy yourselves and the music. When it’s time, I’ll let you know. I need to finish my meal, then have a few words with our friend Momotaro-san.”

  I was fine with that; I needed time to sit back and process everything I’d just learned. Too much of the world before knowing about monsters hadn’t made sense to me, what with its politics and crazy cultures. Now there were not only monsters and at least one other world out there, but this whole other culture of Myths and Legends, prana and ichor and ways to cultivate one’s power to sort of level up or ascend to higher tiers of awesomesauce, and… what the fuck else? Oh yeah, some weird watcher-type person whose location was unknown and who had once been involved with the mass-murderer of Legends, Momotaro.

  It was a bit much.

  With a bite into my lamb, though, all of that managed to fade away, at least momentarily. The meat was so tender, so flavorful, I simply closed my eyes and enjoyed it. I chewed, listening to the music, then opened my eyes again for a sip of wine before taking another bite.

  “That good, huh?” Kinara asked, eyeing me. She had eaten her raw meat, and while the others caught up, she simply watched me.

  “Back home I’d eat a lot of chips, burritos… delicious food, but nothing like this.”

  “Welcome to a new way of living,” she replied with a grin, then scooted closer. “When you’re done, I’ve heard you humans like to dance.”

  I nearly spat out the next bite at a laugh, then finished chewing and swallowed. “Me, dance? Hmmm, not likely.”

  “Oh, come on!” She gestured to several old couples who had already taken to the dance floor while that strange, bagpipelike music played on. A band with several other instruments had joined in the music-playing, so at least now it wasn’t so alien to my ears.

  I took another bite, hoping to simply avoid the request, but now the others were eyeing me, too.

  “Don’t leave her stranded,” Jalee said, “or she might have to go find someone else to dance with.”

  Milrae laughed. “I bet Aziz knows a thing or two on the dance floor.”

  “I can cut a rug, as they used to say,” Aziz replied, but nodded at me. “Not that I’d ever dance with one of your ladies.”

  “Thank you,” I replied.

  He leaned over and around Jalee. “I will say, though, that I’ve learned one-too-many times not to leave a woman wanting. Get out there, show her a good time. More often than not, they have more fun with a goofy guy who doesn’t know how to dance than an experienced one. It’s about having fun, after all, not showing off.”

  I groaned. After words like that, how could I sit there and not dance with Kinara? I finished up then went out on the dance floor with her. To say it was embarrassing was an understatement, at first. But then I realized that Aziz had been right—Kinara really was just having fun. As naturally as she moved her body moved, she was just going with the music, not caring at all if I knew some fancy move or not. So I followed suit, and soon we were laughing and had the other ladies out there with us. Even Ahlaksiz joined in, and soon Aziz went off with his date after wishing us luck.

  Soon after, when I was quite exhausted from the dancing, I turned with a satisfied grin to see Ahlaksiz giving me a nod.

  “It’s time,” she said, eyes moving to the streaks of red and orange on the clouds above.

  As much as I hated to say farewell to this evening of relaxation and cultural eye-opening, I looked forward to our next destination. We all made our way to the car, and soon were out of there, flying over sand dunes, arriving at a spot in the desert that had small buildings on the horizon.

  “There it is,” Ahlaksiz said. “I believe it’s the city where they found little Anakin.”

  I sat back, heart pounding, a smile on my face. Even if it were the prequels, this was all hitting more than I had anticipated.

  As far as I was concerned, this was my heaven.

  8

  Having visited the Galaxy’s Edge part of Disneyland and touching their version of the Millennium Falcon was one thing, but being on an actual set was another entirely. As soon as we were out of the car, I was practically jumping with each step.

  “Holy shit,” I said, then spun, repeating myself. “Holy shit!”

  “We get it, you’re happy,” Ahlaksiz said with a sly grin, the others looking confused.

  “It’s a bunch of old, run-down houses,” Jalee pointed out. “And small ones at that.”

  “What you’re looking at is a bit of history,” I countered. “Also, a glimpse into the imagination of a genius—the man who created Star Wars! I mean, some were better than others, but the universe, everything that came out of that man’s head… Kaboom! Am I right?”

  Judging by the confused looks they were giving me, I had lost them in my nerdfest, but I didn’t care. Nothing was going to pop my bubble.

  “Take a pictu…” I started, only then wondering if we even had a phone anymore.

  “One step ahead of you,” Ahlaksiz said, pulling out the cell from before. “I even had the foresight to set up international calling before we left, should we need it. Let’s hope we won’t.”

  I held out my hands wide, standing in front of the old set, and grinned. She snapped a few of just me, then we did a group one while resting the camera on the car with a ten-second timer.

  “Cheese,” I said, and the others looked at me with confusion as the camera snapped.

  “That’ll be a fun one,” I said with a laugh.

  “You’re still hungry?” Milrae asked.

  “Um, no. When you say ‘cheese,’ it makes the corners of your lips go up, like a smile.”

  “Why not just smile?”

  “Like this.” Kinara smiled wide. “All I had to do was imagine you with your head between my legs, and there it is—a smile as natural as can be.”

  “One more time, then,” Ahlaksiz said. “This time, everyone imagine Ferris with his face buried between your legs.”

  Of course they were smiling, while I was blushing for that one. It was the best.

  “It doesn’t have to be in your imagination,” I said, eyeing them, then one of the small huts.

  “We don’t have time for that,” Ahlaksiz said, “and you’re going to need your concentration.”

  “Way to ruin the fun,” Kinara said with a pout.

  “Do you really want to risk all this sand getting into the wrong places?” Jalee asked, shaking her head with a laugh. “Not I.”

  “Good point.”

  “With that image in mind, do we at least have a minute or two to look around?” I asked.

  Ahlaksiz eyed the sky, darkening with silver lining the clouds, and nodded. “Quickly, though.”

  I got my tour of the domed beige buildings that had been made as the foundation of the spaceport of Mos Espa. It was almost like I was seeing the town where Anakin had once lived, not some leftover movie set that had required a lot of CGI to make it work.

  I paused at one of them, looking past to the myriad stars showing through an opening in the clouds, and lost myself in wonder. While Star Wars had been fiction, I was quickly learning fact was at least as strange as fiction. What really lay out there, waiting for me to discover it? Judging by the way my new life was going, it wouldn’t be too long before I found out.

  “Do you mind if I lose myself in nerdom for a moment?” I asked, eyeing Kinara and Milrae, who were closest. Jalee was walking around the buildings halfway between us and Ahlaksiz, who had stayed near the car, on the lookout.

  “Have at it,” Kinara said, eyebrow raised with curiosity.

  “Just… stand back.”

  Hand out, I summoned the sword and held it up as I made a lightsaber sound—anyone would’ve done the same! To my surprise and utter delight, it lit exactly like a lightsaber. I turned, slicing down, then turned again with an upward block; it even made the sounds.

  “How…?” I started, when suddenly all around me the town came to life, all of the extra CGI bits as real as the rest of it. The various aliens even appeared, walking about. Two got into a fight nearby, and I stood, dumbstruck.

  “You okay?” Milrae asked.

  “I… I’m in heaven.”

  “Good?” a small purr of a voice asked, and I startled, turning then to look around for the source of the voice. For a second I was confused, then Basty popped up in his furball form and slid down my arm before hopping to the ground. “Good?”