CHAPTER#93

"Sounds like quite the story."

"It's all true, I swear! I just need to help a snake-woman destroy a magic artifact and we can all go home."

"A snake-woman? You mean that lady who hypnotized me?"

"Yes! She's one of the good guys, she just has some trust issues on account of my great aunt."

"You are shit at telling stories." Beth said, her body relaxing. "The gargoyle bet me fifty bucks that you wouldn't sound like a mental case."

"Abella has fifty bucks?"

"Not anymore." Beth sat on the edge of the bed. "I have no idea how we got to this point, but here we are. Guess I'm a shit estate agent."

"How do you figure?"

Beth leaned across the bed, inspecting something. "Somehow, a house full of monsters slipped by me. It's one of those disclosures I should have mentioned." Beth touched a green toe that had slipped out from under the blanket. Tink immediately pulled her leg back under the cover and growled. "I want to be mad at you for getting me involved, but I would feel like the world's biggest hypocrite."

"You would?"

"Mike. Monsters are real. Do you realize what this means?" Beth's eyes were shining with excitement. "Think about it. We grow up in a world of order and logic. As children, we are allowed to have fantasies that take us outside the box. We get to believe in dragons, and Santa, and Bigfoot. But when we get older, we are told that's it's time to stop imagining, to stop believing in magic. And I think, in a way, that makes that wonderful part of us die."

"I hadn't thought of it like that." Mike looked at the goblin-shaped lump next to him. "For me, I was just happy to meet someone who didn't care that I have my own issues. It's strange, but they feel more real to me than anyone else I know."

Beth nodded. "I think I know what you mean. I never forgot what it meant to believe, and to see all this unfold before me..." she shivered. "It's so damn exciting!"

"So... you're not mad?"

"I'm more mad that I thought I was going crazy." Beth tossed her hair over her shoulder, then stood up. "You'll have to fill me in on why my memory from last week has major holes."

"Uh..." Mike looked down at the foot of the bed. "That's a pretty long story. I should probably go see if Ratu is done with her preparations. How is Abella?"

Beth frowned. "She's injured. Ratu, is that the snake-woman's name? She gave me this nasty smelling cream and had me rub it into Abella's injuries after she released us from that obedience spell. She has to sit downstairs until it cures. We did have a pretty good talk about the state of things between you guys."

"Uh..." Mike looked over at Tink, then back at Beth. "Between us how?"

Beth winked. "It's none of my business, but I find it fascinating that they don't seem to mind sharing you."

Mike blushed, and Beth left. Once he was sure she was out of earshot, he pinched Tink's ass, causing the goblin to squirt out from between the sheets onto the floor.

"Lawyer woman talk funny," Tink said, finding her dress. "Tink think she hide secret."

"What kind of secret?" Mike asked.

"Don't know. Not bad, not good. Just secret." Tink adjusted her hair, then tugged her dress into place. "Go see snake lady, get goggles, smash witch. Plan okay?"

Mike laughed. "The plan sounds great."

-

Mike stared at Ratu, his jaw open in disbelief. They stood at the edge of the frozen lake, fog rising off of the surface and spilling across the rocky shore. Up above them, the chained gem burned silently, its rays gently melting the surface ice into a thin layer of water that was perfectly still. It had taken them almost an hour to get here, bypassing several trapped corridors in the process.

"So you threw it in the lake," Mike said, "and then froze the whole thing."

"I did." Ratu was holding a stack of golden disks in her hands. They were all roughly the size of a vinyl record. "I was worried that Emily would eventually snap and come for the artifact herself."

"Still seems like overkill." Mike looked at the others. Tink stood by his side, followed by Abella (who had insisted on coming) and then Beth. If not for the heat source above, he would be shivering. The fairies circled the edge of the lake, their lights chasing each other through the rising fog. Sofia stood to the side, the dagger tucked into the waist of her pants. He didn't want to have something that sharp if his mind was going to be played with.

"I assure you, it was worth the risk. Asterion?" Ratu handed the disks to the minotaur, then pulled a large crystal from the sleeve of her kimono. Pointing it at the gem, the Labyrinth rumbled as a fiery beam lanced its way into the top of the ice, cutting downward at a gentle angle. "We may have to go digging a bit for it, I'm afraid. Shouldn't be hard to find, but unless you want a fifty foot drop straight to the bottom, that won't do us any good."

The gem melted a sizable tunnel, the tight beam giving off plenty of warmth. Ratu took the disks from Asterion.

"Shall we?" Walking carefully, Ratu moved down the tunnel. Mike followed behind her, stepping carefully on the ice. The melted water made it slicker than usual, and Mike had a horrifying vision of slipping into the beam and cutting himself in two. Ratu was about twenty feet ahead - she tossed one of the discs in the air, and it hovered in the air, moving into the path of the beam.

"Cool," Mike muttered, watching the beam deflect and cut into the side of the tunnel. He stayed behind Ratu, watching her repeat the process several times.