Page 45 of Monsters of Midlife

“I always thought she was,” I grumbled. “As it turns out, she’s a banshee.”

“Banshee? In new Attica?” Tymer asked. We had entered the antechamber, which was a large stone room with the walls draped in curtains. There was a side table with a couple of decanters of purified water on it. Tymer helped me to a glass of water and handed it to me as he toasted.

“Well, congratulations on your wedding, my friend. I never got a chance to toast you before.”

“I’m not married anymore,” I grunted.

“I don’t understand,” Tymer said. “I thought this whole thing was over your wife?”

“My ex-wife,” I said, gritting my teeth because I hated the way it sounded. She was my ex-wife. I never wanted that. She was mine and I wanted her.

Tymer, being a eunuch and living his life in temple, was perceptive. He took a sip of his water and after swallowing it he looked me steadily in the eye. “You still need her.”

“It’s none of your business,” I almost spit the words at him.

But Tymer was my friend. He’d been my friend for hundreds of years. He didn’t deserve that kind of treatment from me, even though my monster side was aching to tell him to fuck off and leave me alone. But he wasn’t asking to be nosy. He was asking because he was concerned.

My shoulders sagged a little as I thought about it, but the truth was never far from the forefront of my mind.

“She doesn’t want me.” I shrugged my shoulders like it was no big deal. I knew Tymer could see straight through that, though he didn’t say a word.

“I see,” Tymer said, giving a slight nod. “Come, let’s see Grimelda. Maybe she can help with something.”

In moments we were before the high priestess. I didn’t waste any time. I held out the rings. “I need a place to hide these,” I said to Grimelda, who sat on the dais in her throne room, staring down at me in quiet serenity.

“Is that your father’s adamantine?” Grimelda asked.

“Yeah, that’s exactly it,” I said. “We have to keep it safe, but they’re going to kill her to try and get to me and it.”

“All things must die, Ryder,” Grimelda said. “Even you, a demigod, will one day fade away and die. But she, well, she is human. She will die much sooner than you will.”

“I understand those things,” I said. I could feel the hackles of my neck rising and the black bristly hair of my monster-self beginning to poke out of my shoulders. I took a deep breath to calm myself and stay in my human form. “That’s not the point,” I said. “The point is I don’t want her to have a premature death at the hands of the supernatural world just because she happened to be married to me.”

“Well then maybe you should focus on what people are trying to do to you and why,” Grimelda smiled.

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to do,” I grunted. “Can the rings stay here?”

“They may stay here,” Grimelda said.

“And Caroline?” I asked hopefully.

“She is welcome also, but only of her own volition. I can extend an invitation, but it’s up to her to choose to come, I will not keep a prisoner against their will.” Grimelda explained.

I sighed. “Can’t we just magic her into thinking she wants to say?”

“You know it doesn’t work like that,” Grimelda said. “You’re going to need to go back and convince her she’s going to want to stay in the temple for whatever reason. We’ll make her very comfortable and give her a place to stay while you figure out who’s trying to disturb you.”

“That’s going to be an impossible task,” I said.

She looked at me kindly and smiled. “If she does not want to be here, then it is probably not the place for her,” Grimelda said. “What you need to find out is what does she really want? Where does she want to be? Who does she want to be with? Once you discover those things, it will be much easier to hide her and protect her. But you can’t just command her to do certain things. You must ask it of her.”

I turned away from Grimelda, my fists balling together. What she was asking me to do was very human. It was against every fiber of my being. I needed to get back to Alameda, get Caroline, and talk some sense into her so I could deal with the real problem: the unknown creatures trying to invade Earth.

Chapter 28

CAROLINE

The passageway was dark and narrow as we hustled through the bowels of the temple. It didn’t take long to get down below to where there was a gridiron gate that separated us from something that looked to me like a sewer tunnel. “Are you serious?” I asked. “We’re going to go in there?”.

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