Griff let out one more frosted breath before Kato released him, apparently accepting his quasi-apology. I let out the breath I was holding too, relieved that this little confrontation was over and that everyone was still standing—and uneaten.
Bob, however, wasn’t going to let Griff get off that easy. “You forgot the priestess.” He pushed his way through to stand next to me.
Rexi didn’t take too well with being pushed aside. “Look, Bob, I don’t know what baby fur ball over here”—she stuck her thumb out at Kato—“has been telling you. But she’s no priestess. Just a delusional princess with major hair issues.”
And here I thought I had trouble knowing when to keep my thoughts to myself. Bob stared down at Rexi. I couldn’t see the look on his face, but it must have been scary because it made her shrink a few inches and hastily mutter something that might have been a sorry.
Bob turned back to face the other chimera. “Your turn now. Apologize.”
“Apologize to a human?” said Griff haughtily. Apparently arrogance was a natural chimera trait.
“Use your eyes. No mere human stands before you. See the emerald sparks in her living flame? That is not mere magic. That is the sign of the Fire Priestess come to deliver us.”
Oh spell. Now Bob had done it. I had no idea what he was going on about (Kato had conveniently left that out of our talk), but I didn’t get the chance to correct him. If Griff had offered an apology, which was doubtful, I wouldn’t have been able to hear, because every chimera started shouting at once. A few muzzles got very up close and personal, trying to examine Bob’s claims for themselves.
“Silence!” Kato bellowed and the temperature in the room dropped significantly, causing the crowd to still. “Bobbledandrapous, not another word. Please see our guests to my chambers, where they can rest.” He turned and focused his icy glare on me. “I will speak to the council and join you shortly. Don’t do anything until then.”
Kato was in full Lord of the Universe mode. So much for being equals. I didn’t want to be led to some room. While it was nice to have found a safe place—if you could call a mountain filled with lava and large beasts safe—the situation had changed. With Verte captured or worse, nobody was coming to the rescue. We all needed to come up with a new plan to find my parents and put back the rules of fairy tale. What did Kato have to deal with that could be more important than that?
I stepped to him. “Can’t I—?”
“No.” Kato turned away and stalked off toward an opening near the hearths. The remaining chimeras followed him or went back to their nests until it was just Rexi, me, Bob, and Griff. Griff looked over me like I imagined trolls looked over billy goats.
Sneering, he turned and flew away. As he raced into the sky, his tail hissed menacingly. The stress must be getting to me, because I could have sworn it sounded like, “Sssleep with both eyesss open.”
“There’s really nothing to fear but fear itself. And trolls. Fear and trolls. Oh, and I guess gigans and dragons too. And can’t forget wicked witches. Yeah, I guess there really is a lot to fear.”
—Prince Charming, excerpt from an interview in Hero Beat
18
Blanc Stare
While Bob led us through the claw-carved corridors, Rexi quizzed me on what had happened at Black Crow’s. I gave her the back-of-the-book version. Crow sold us off to Griz. Kato learned to talk. I got hit in the head with a potion and now had hair you could toast marshmallows on. The end.
“So what happened to Black Crow? Is she going to come after us again?” Rexi asked, her voice tight.
My heart stopped for a moment and so did my feet.
I coughed to cover my unease. “No. I think she’s dead. After all, the Tinman and a house fell on her.”
No one else needed to know what happened to Crow before that.
“Good riddance.” Rexi’s whole body exhaled, the tension disappearing. “Ding dong, the bi—”
“Are you two even listening? I feel like I’m talking to myself,” Bob interrupted.
Both of us assured him that he had our utmost attention.
“Good.” He turned and continued on, apparently satisfied. “And on your left, you’ll see the original hearth where Pufflepotomous the First slept.”
“I’m not sure what’s more surprising, the fact that chimeras preserved a centuries’ old nest or that there was more than one named Pufflepotomous,” Rexi whispered, nudging me.
“Shhh,” I whispered, but gave her a small smile to let her know I appreciated being included on a joke that I wasn’t the target of for once.