Page 28 of Monster Whisperer
“Aside from the grease fire, no. I stayed away from it. I didn’t light candles or the fireplace because I didn’t want to risk the house catching on fire and someone asking questions when I didn’t have a single burn on me. People used to think I was insane when I would tell them things their pet told me. I had to see several doctors and go on several medications before I started pretending I couldn’t hear them.”
Was I feeling pity for the dangerous creature? Before I ended up in the Underworld, monsters didn’t have to hide. We were in constant danger from demigods looking to impress daddy, but we never hid. People showed us proper reverence and fear. No one would have made us see a physician or take medication because of how we were born. She was still an unknown, but maybe I needed to be a little kinder to her if her own parents looked at her like she was unnatural. Back in my day, she would have been celebrated, and some king would have made her his queen.
“If you have fire, then it runs through your veins. We just need to figure out how to access yours. You’ve been afraid of fire too long.”
I couldn’t imagine that. I’d never been afraid of fire until I met her and learned she might be able to call a type that could kill me. My house was lit continuously with scented candles from a seer with a little shop. When the temperature dropped just a little, I spread out in front of a roaring fire. She didn’t get to enjoy any of that because she had to hide.
“I’m not afraid of fire. I’m afraid of ending up in a lab and getting experimented on when they find out not even my hair burns.”
“What has that realm come to since I ended up in the Underworld? You should be a queen, not hiding.”
“All the witch Charley would tell me was that I was precious cargo. There are not really kings and queens anymore.”
“Let’s figure out what kind of fire you have and how you can access it. Hold out your palm. Imagine a small flame flickering in your hand. Picture your blood heating up and rushing to your palm. But keep it small. You control the fire. Don’t let it control you, or this entire jail will go up, and I don’t know if you have a kind of fire I’m immune to.”
I might think she was dangerous, and this was a stupid idea, but even I could admit she was totally adorable sitting on that dirty floor with her face screwed up like that. She was concentrating so hard, and she didn’t need to. She was making this harder on herself.
“Relax, River. You’re too tense. Let it happen naturally. Don’t force it. Just picture the blood rushing through your veins and focus on your breathing.”
I watched, and she shook out her hands and shoulders. She visibly relaxed, and I watched the slow rise and fall of her chest. I wasn’t sure if she could do this on the first try. She’d spent so long suppressing this side of her and thinking she was only human.
I flew straight the fuck out of that cell and back to mine when she called a flame to her hand. The fire in her hand was bright green.
Her father definitely wasn’t any type of monster I knew. I didn’t know if that green flame would kill me, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out.
I still didn’t understand what she was, but I didn’t want to find out what that green flame would do to a phoenix.
Chapter 20
River
I
thought I was getting somewhere with Demos. He was being helpful to me and trying to help me. He noped right out of that cell again when it finally worked. I felt the tickle in my palm, but I didn’t open my eyes until I heard the furious flapping of wings.
I was pretty shocked myself when the flame in my hand was bright green. I knew my monsters had a theory that my father was some monster that never ended up in the Underworld, but if Demos freaked about the color of my fire, I was guessing it wasn’t a monster they knew.
My father sent a witch and a warlock to protect me. Did this mean I was half witch? Or was he some creature from Hell? Or maybe it was a monster all the other monsters feared, and that was why he was still alive and never ended up here. I needed help, and I knew Demos would not give it to me.
I walked towards the back of the cell.
“Okay, do any of you know of a monster that used green flames?”
“There isn’t one, River,”Demos said.“I don’t know what you are, but there’s not a single monster that uses flame that color. No one in the Underworld does either.”
“Well, then that narrows it down to witches or Hell.”
“Not necessarily, River. Everyone in the Underworld populated a particular area of the world. We didn’t know how big the world was, but we do now. If monsters, Gods, and demigods lived in our area, then there’s no telling what manner of creatures lived in other parts of the world. You met a witch and a warlock. I was watching them and listening to them. The girl had one accent, and the man spoke more like you. None of you sound like us.
“That leads me to believe that there are witches and warlocks in two distinct places on Earth. Think of the stories you know. They wrote all sorts of tomes about monsters during our time. Some creatures you read about could be very real, and one of them could be your father, baby bird.”
I ran through all the fiction I’d read in my entire life, scanning through plots and legends. I couldn’t think of a single one that was immune to fire, talked to animals, and could make green fire. The only thing I could think of was a witch, but that wasn’t right either. Humanity had a history of burning those suspected of witchcraft. They were generally wrong and did it out of spite against women, but they had to have gotten it right at least once based on the sheer number of witch burnings.
That left Hell. All I knew about Hell was that it was a place of eternal torment, but Charley and Finn looked pretty damned healthy and happy when I met them. They didn’t look abused, and they seemed well fed. I thought Tartarus and the Underworld were all a myth, but I’d not only met Hades, but he also kidnapped me and brought me down here. I was trying to figure out what I was with the minotaur and Kraken from Greek mythology.
“Guys, I’ve run through every single supernatural creature I’ve ever read about, and none of them can do what I do. I know what I’ve read about Hell, but maybe that’s wrong. Charley and Finn seemed happy and not like they were here against their will. I think whoever my father is, he comes from Hell.”
Maybe Demos had every right to be afraid of me.
