Page 3 of Monsters' Manor

When I turn to leave Renwick behind and head into the ticket booth to start my shift, he stops me with a hand on my shoulder. A massive, maroon hand with wicked black claws tipping every finger. Ignoring the little jolt of surprise that moves through me at the warmth of his touch, I shake his hand off and glare at him.

“You sure you’re satisfied with that, Rose?” he asks, nodding toward the booth.

“I am. And what makes you think I’d be any more satisfied training with you?” Too late, I realize how that came out and mentally curse myself at the gleam in his eye.

“Oh. I certainly think I could satis—”

“Is there a problem here?” another familiar voice asks, cutting through the night air with the unsettling quality of being everywhere and nowhere all at once.

The shade the voice belongs to appears a moment later.

Well,appearmight be a generous word for it.

Silas isn’t quite… solid. In the most literal sense. As a shade, he exists mostly in shadows, able to disintegrate completely into darkness and reappear anywhere he wants in a matter of seconds or minutes, depending on the distance. And even when he reconfigures into a man-shaped figure cloaked in wisps of darkness that spread from him like ink in water, there’s something about his form that makes it hard to fix your eye on any given spot. Shifting, swirling, never quite restful or solid enough to make out what he really looks like.

Despite his somewhat unsettling presence, I like Silas. He’s been kind to me since the day I arrived at Edgar’s Acres, and seems to have a knack for showing up to play referee just when Renwick is about to push me into snapping at him. It’s part of Silas’s job here—helping to monitor the manor and maze and market and the rest of the grounds to ensure everyone is safe.

And apparently making sure the new witch doesn’t wind up murdering Odelia’s star demon has been added to his list of duties.

Renwick pulls back, shooting the shade an irritated look. “No problem, Sy, just making sure Rosie here knows I’m available to start her training whenever she’s ready.”

“And I was just telling Renwick I have no interest in training with him.”

Silas’s shadows shift and he lets out a sound that might be a sigh, but it’s lost in the night air a moment later.

“Ren, I think I heard Kella was looking for you. There’s a problem with some of the lighting in the Parlor.”

Renwick doesn’t quite look like he believes Silas, but apparently he’s done annoying me for the evening because he just nods and turns to go.

I let out an irritated breath, glaring after him.

“Ignore him,” Silas says gently, one of his shadows brushing against my shoulder in a not-quite-caress.

I can only make out the barest hint of an expression on the shadowed planes of his face, but there’s something affectionate and a little sad there as he watches Renwick stalk off.

“Is that what you do? Ignore him?”

I’m not really sure what their deal is. By the way they interact with each other and the knowing looks they get from the rest of the crew, there seems to be something there. What thatsomethingis, I have no idea, and I definitely don’t know either of them well enough to ask about it outright.

Silas’s next words are laced with rueful laughter. “No, Rosemary, I don’t ignore him. I fear I would find that all but impossible.”

Before I can reply, Margot—one of my distant cousins who also works for Odelia—marches over with a clipboard in hand, frowning sharply.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in the booth already?”

“Yeah,” I say, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice. “Just headed in.”

“Good,” she says, then turns to Silas. “Can you check in on Mira down in the market? She was having an issue with a guest who wasn’t happy with their tarot reading.”

Silas tells Margot he will, and she’s gone with a whirl of the dramatic black dress she’s wearing, ready to go off and interrogate someone else with her clipboard and drill-sergeant’s attitude.

“Have a good evening, Rosemary,” Silas says, voice low and kind. “And if you’d like, I can speak to Ren. Let him know to ease up a little.”

“No,” I say quickly. “I can handle the demon.”

His shadows shift again and I catch a flash of something that looks almost like concern. It’s gone in an instant, replaced by more darkness and a quiet laugh.

“I have no doubt you can.”

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