Page 67 of Monsterland Mayhem
My jaw clenches. “You’re saying Ailsa’s scent isn’t masked.”
“I’m saying you need to be very careful when you’re above ground.” He gives me a meaningful look. “Once a rabbit, always a rabbit.” He cants his head, his gaze going to Krolic. “She’s always been one step ahead, your sister. Perhaps it takes a woman to beat her at her own game. As they say, the queen is the strongest on the board, yeah?”
With those profound statements, he vanishes, leaving a dusting of purple glitter in his wake.
I scowl. “More riddles.”And a fucking waste of time,I think, my mind whirring.Which can only mean?—
“We need to get back to the Tavern,” Krolic says, a hint of urgency in his voice.
I’m only half a second behind him in terms of coming to the same conclusion, my hand already waving through the air to create a portal.
Because the only reason Ches would want to distract us and waste our time was if he needed us out of the way.
And he clearly knew where we stayed last night—as evidenced by hiscomplaintabout the lack of a show.
Fuck.
Krolic and I enter the portal at the same time, both of us drawing our own form of weapons.
Weapons that end up being needed immediately as we step into utter chaos at the Tavern.
There are jabberwarieseverywhere.
As well as blown walls and shattered glass.
Which meant Craze jumped out the window.
With Ailsa.
And ran.
Krolic must come to the same conclusion as me because he instantly runs back into the portal, and I follow while closing it in our wake before anything can come with us.
We stand in silence for a long moment, lurking between time and space, both of us catching our breath from all the back and forth.
“Plan C,” Krolic eventually whispers.
“Plan C,” I echo, knowing exactly where to go.
But I’m not sure it’ll matter.
Because it seems Ches was right about one thing—my cloaking isn’t working.
Which means Ailsa is a damn beacon for chaos.
Although… he did say we needed to be carefulaboveground.
Was that a hint? Or another game?
Ches’s allegiance has always been to himself first and foremost. But I considered him an ally, once upon a time.
Perhaps he really did mean to warn us.
Or, like everything else in Monsterland, it’s a trick.
I run a palm over my face, exhausted from this morning’s mindfuck.
There’s really only one way to find out if Ches’s words were truly a warning or just one of his ploys.
