Page 44 of Insidious Monsters
“You too.”
I tucked my phone into my pocket and ducked back into the kitchen.
It smelled of cinnamon and chocolate, the recipe for Uncle Fred’s famous Christmas hot chocolate. The shock of Nandi’s almost-demise had thrown him into a frenzy of needing to do something, a need to control something, and the hot chocolate was the result.
Soothing.
Comforting.
Home.
Telarion had left as soon as we’d gotten home. He didn’t need to feed, and I’d been tempted to ask him why he needed to leave but I’d stopped myself. I had no right to question how he spent his evenings. Things might have gotten intimate between us, feelings had been shared, but we weren’t a couple.
Didn’t stop me wondering what he was up to, though.
Quentin was in the north wing, unaware of what had gone down. I needed to update him on it, but not just yet. Right now, I wanted to make sure my best friend was okay.
She sat staring into her half-empty mug, eyes glazed as if she was recalling the events of the past few hours. It was impossible for us to understand what it must have felt like to be fed on by the dead. To have your energy, your life force, drained to the point of no return.
“Nandi.” I lightly touched her shoulder.
“I can’t believe I slapped him.” Nandi covered her face with her hands. “He saved my life and I slapped him in the face.”
Ah, so we were back to Lothos.
“Personally, I don’t think he needed to kiss you for that long,” Archie said.
“It’s fine.” I gently tugged her hands away from her face. “He said it was fine. He understands, you were confused.”
“I hit him hard.” She widened her eyes. “Like, my palm stung from it.”
“I’m sure he can take it,” Archie said.
“Lothos will be okay.” I smiled reassuringly.
“I’ll bake him a cake and you can take it to him,” Uncle Fred said. “As a thank you.” Nandi leaned into him, and he put his arm around her. “We can bake it together.”
She nodded, then puffed out her cheeks. “Margie got away, though.” Her jaw tensed. “I wish I’d slapped her stupid huge glittery glasses right off her stupid tiny head.”
“Bit fancy for a nomad, don’t you think?” Archie said.
The back of my mind itched. “What did she look like?”
“Small,” Archie said. “Dark hair, but she’s going gray, and she has these huge spectacles that slant up like this.” He used his hands to make imaginary spectacles on his face. “They’re all glittery at the edges.”
My pulse sped up. “Wait…I met someone with that description at Roll With It. Bertie called her Mrs. B. She runs a non-profit organization.”
Nandi and Archie exchanged shocked glances.
“Didn’t Betsy say that Margie ran a charity?” Archie said.
Nandi nodded. “Yeah. She did. Margie does. It has to be the same person.”
“Which means we may have an alternate address for Margie,” Archie said. “I’ll go speak to Bertie tomorrow.”
“I’ll come with you,” Nandi said.
“No!” We both glared at her.
