Monsters & Fairytales (31 page)

I just wasn’t ready to tell the
truth
of my feelings and how angry I was at having them. I wished Sebastian would stop pushing it.

“So, he did in fact say he’ll take you home?” Sebastian had a hint of attitude to his voice.

“He said I can go home after tomorrow, yes.” I nodded my head.

“Easy, brother.
Whatever has you upset can be dismissed. She is here now, let us
focus
on that.”

Carlyle stood up and walked to the window. He was bothered by something more than I was with Sebastian’s pressing questions.

“I agree.” I said, smiling after Carlyle.

“Then we should sleep. Tomorrow will come fast and there is so much to do in Aegyssus.” Sebastian said as gaily as he could.

I saw right through that. He had a motive for this, I just knew it.

“This is a good idea. I am sure you are very exhausted, Mirabelle.”

“I, uh, hmm.”
I thought about it for a moment. I was tired, but there was much more I wanted to do right now rather than sleep. I was starving, I wanted a shower, and I wanted to change out of the clothes I had been wearing all day. Heels were a bad idea.

“What?” Carlyle asked.

He sat down at the table in front of the windows. Getting comfortable, he set his feet up on the other bed. His body leaned back with his hands behind his head the way an average male human would do after a long day. My eyes wandered. This room was set up like a fancy hotel.

“I would like to change and eat.”

I thought of the one coffee cake I had earlier. My stomach growled. It seemed to remember its contents at that thought, too.

“Food?
Now?”

Carlyle leaned forward. His hands dropped. I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or intrigued.

“Yes. Are you guys not hungry?”

I really wished Sebastian would say something. This whole angry-at-me-for-nothing was getting under my skin. I hadn’t done anything wrong. I was here for him, he should know that.

“We have already eaten.” Carlyle said.

“Well, then it shouldn’t be that weird that I would like some food.”

I remembered the Minakai telling me that his guards would get me whatever I needed. Deciding to test this, I got up and walked out the door without saying a word to the guys.

The hallway hurt my eyes again. Blinking a lot, I stood there for a second and squeezed my watering eyes shut. I could hear Sebastian and Carlyle were whispering about something. I shook my head to stop myself from listening, partly because I knew it was about me, but mostly because it was in their language.
             

When I stuck my head out of the doorway at the end of the hallway, the guard sitting there instantly stood up.

“What do you want, Human?”

He had a very deep voice. It startled me.

“Yes, the Minakai told me to ask you for food…if that’s all
right?
” I whispered.

I felt very inferior to him. I realized that was the point, but I was so used to hating cops and other people in my world that were meant to protect and serve the government, that it was odd that he got my respect so instantaneously.

“Humph.” He grunted.

I realized that his lack of response was just him talking to someone else. Seconds went by and there was a rattling down the hallway. From the darkness there was a shining light. It was a silver platter being held by a lizard man. The platter was covered with a matching silver top, but I could smell the food under it. My stomach was hurting with hunger now.

“There you go.” The guard said. 

“Thanks.”

I stuck out my arms, waiting for them to hand me the plate. The lizard turned and walked away. He didn’t say anything or do anything. I didn’t understand it. I looked around to see if he had set it on a table or somewhere close by without me noticing, but I saw nothing. The guard nodded down the hallway implying it was time for me to leave him. I didn’t want to cause
an uproar
, so I just cowardly walked away. I supposed they were allowed to have one cruel joke against me, even if I was going to die without food.
             

When I walked in the room, guilt swept over me. On the table Carlyle was sitting at, the platter was right there in front of him. It was so pretty. Carlyle was leaning over, smelling it. He went to tip the edge up but sat back when he saw me.

“Interesting.”
I whispered.

I stepped out of the path of the door and closed it. The scent in the air had me captivated.

“Mirabelle, what is this?” Carlyle asked.

“Food.”
I said, walking over in a catatonic state.

“They need that so they aren’t cranky.” Sebastian whispered.

“We do not. We need it to function.”

I swatted him when I walked by. At least he was playing around with me or I thought he was.
             

He got up and followed me to the table. All three of us were eager to see what was underneath the lid. I carefully lifted it and my nostrils were swarmed with delicious smells. Instantly, the lid was completely off. There was a cheeseburger, fries, onion rings, ice cream, cookies, and a drink. I laughed. The Minakai seemed to read the number one fast food items and prepare that for me. I was ecstatic.

“What are these things?”

Carlyle went to poke my burger in curiosity. I hit his hand away.

“That’s a cheeseburger. Those are fries. Those are onion rings. Those are chocolate chip cookies. That’s ice cream. And that is…” I stopped to take a sip, “… soda.”

“You actually eat that?”

Sebastian leaned over my shoulder to get a better look. My neck got chills. I tried to control myself.

“Yes. You can try it if you’d like.”

I picked up the cheeseburger and held it in front of him. I was hoping he would say no. I was starving. He looked at me very seriously, though, debating. I hadn’t realized how close he was to me. I felt myself holding my breath. I looked at his lips and he looked at mine. My stomach got tingly. 

“I’ll try it!”

Carlyle snatched the burger from my hand. We both turned, shaking from the fantasy of our minds, but indulging a few seconds longer, anyway.
             

Carlyle looked at the burger, inspecting it. With a few sniffs, he licked one of the sides. Then he took a bite right where he had licked it. I was glad he chose that spot. I didn’t want to eat after his slobber and I didn’t want to give him another bite. Can’t a girl eat around here? Sebastian and I watched him chew it around, think about, then swallow.

“So… ” Sebastian asked.

I found myself getting goose bumps again when he breathed on my neck. I glanced back at him curiously. Was he doing it on purpose now?

“This is amazing! You have to try it! I want to try everything!”

Carlyle was spitting bits of burger all over the table. His reaction was pretty much priceless and made up for the chunks of chewed up food he was spewing at us.

“Really?”
Sebastian asked.

“Yes!” Carlyle assured, waving the burger in his face.

Sebastian took it, cautiously, and inspected it the same way Carlyle had. He didn’t lick it. He took the smallest bite possible and chewed it much longer. He handed it back to me while he still decided how he liked it. I knew I was going to like it so I took the biggest bite I possibly could. My stomach thanked me.

“Do you like it?” I asked covering my mouth.

“Yes, I do!” He agreed, just as enthusiastically as Carlyle had.

“Fantastic. Tomorrow maybe I can try some of your food.” I smiled. They got silent.

“What?”

I pulled out one of the chairs and finally took a seat. I was starving, I needed to sit down and eat everything I could before Carlyle engulfed it all.

“We’ll have to see.” Sebastian grinned. It was eerie almost.

“Kay…”

I took a crinkle fry and nibbled on it. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful, but condiments would have been superb at that moment.

“May I?” Carlyle leaned over.

“Of course.
Help yourself.” I motioned.

Carlyle lit up. He took an onion ring and stuffed his mouth with it. His amazement at how good my food tasted was over the top. I smiled and laughed while eating for myself. Sebastian tried some more, but he said nothing compared to the burger. I wondered if they ate meat at all. If they were strictly vegan then eating meat meant they’d get sick. Well, eating anything out of the ordinary could get them sick. I hadn’t thought about that before. I hoped that none of this would upset their stomachs. Did they only have one stomach? Were they like cows?
             

When I'd had my fill and Carlyle enjoyed the ice cream all to himself, we all relaxed back in our seats. I was stuffed. My stomach was so happy. I sipped the last few drops of my soda, then got up to see if that connecting room was a bathroom or not. It had to be. When I peaked in I was instantly relieved. A normal bathroom was staring at me. There was a shower, a sink, a toilet…it was a miracle. This place really was a fancy hotel. I rushed in and shut the door.
             

Before pulling my pants back up, I examined my leg. It hurt a bit when I thought about it. There were bruises around the edges of the bandage. I wondered what it looked like under it. But I could tell the bandage wasn’t ready to come off yet. I could see stains of blood on the other side. I doubted they had anything to wrap it back up again if I even wanted to change the wrappings out. It wasn’t that serious right then. I pulled my pants up and washed my hands.
             

I caught myself checking the vanity mirror. I wasn’t all that bad looking. My hair was a little sloppy, my eyes were completely red, but I looked alright. What I really needed was a shower. But there weren’t any towels in the bathroom. Maybe the guys would know where to get some.
             

Both of them were still sitting at the table. The platter had disappeared. They were talking and laughing. I smiled and yawned. With a full belly and empty bladder, I needed sleep. A shower could wait. Yawning again, I stretched my arms out. That’s when I realized that there were only two beds in our room. Were they really going to share a bed for me? Maybe Carlyle didn’t come from the bathroom; was there another door that actually connected to another room? Would that be mine? I just wanted to curl up and doze off for a few hours.

“Okay, so, where are we all sleeping?” I asked pointing to the beds. 

“You think the beds are for us?” Carlyle hiccupped,
then
laughed. It was much like the Minakai had laughed when he had pitied me.

“Where- how do you guys sleep?”

I sat on the closest bed to me. I desperately wanted to take my shoes off, but I was afraid of my feet smelling. I’d do it just before sleep. It could wait. My feet were numb, anyway.
             

Carlyle looked at Sebastian, and then they looked at each other. They whispered something that was apparently funny. Carlyle, with a huge grin on his face, stood up. He started walking towards the wall and then just kept walking. I watched him walk right up to the ceiling. There was a fixture on it I hadn’t noticed before. He wrapped his tail around it then enclosed himself in his wings.

“You’re more of a bat?” I exclaimed dropping my arms. I had never realized it before.

“If these bats sleep upside down from the ceiling, then yes.”

“Yes, they do. They also have tiny tails but big wings and ears, sort of like yours.”

“Ears?”

Carlyle twisted and fell off the ceiling. He landed gracefully without a thud.

“Yes.”

I moved some strands out of the way and tugged on mine.

“Mirabelle, these are our horns. They show age.”

Sebastian tugged on his pointed, curly ears. They didn’t look like horns.

“Where are your ears?” I asked studying his face.

“What are ears?” He asked me.

“These.” I tugged on my ears again. “You hear out of them.”

“Ears?
Huh. Well we hear from the sides of our head. I don’t know that we have anything they are on.” Sebastian said touching his cheeks and head.

“Interesting.”

I wondered what else I had confused. My brain trailed off. I was exhausted. These heels needed to come off immediately. My back was hurting and I wanted to lean against the headboard. I pulled my foot up and unzipped one of the shoes. I slid my foot out and wiggled my toes, it felt great.

“What are you doing?!” Sebastian shrieked and jumped up.

“Taking off my shoes…”

I looked at him curiously. He was looking at me with disgust.

“Those...those aren’t your feet?” He asked, pointing to my shoes.

“No! They’re my shoes that protect my feet.” I said, laughing. I slipped off the other one, and wiggled those toes.