Lou was there by the counter, digging through the stack of mail.
Flanders had a throw pillow in his mouth, ripping it to shreds while Myrna was frantically trying to tidy up the mess and shrieking, “You know what this does to me! It’s absolutelyunacceptable!”
There was somethinghorriblywrong with Myrna’s left shoulder. It was bulging out like a balloon rapidly inflating beneath her skin, and she trembled all over.
Whatever was happening couldn’t be good.
“Flanders, stop destroying things faster than Myrna can clean, please,” Lou grumbled without even looking up.
Flanders let the pillow drop out of his mouth with a roll of his eyes. “You are zero fun.”
Myrna sighed in relief and got to work cleaning up the destruction at an inhumanly alarming speed.
“Ding dong, Avon calling.” Seymour glanced around and grimaced. “Hey, guys. Wow. Really love what y’all have done with the place.”
Lou continued to read through the mail. “Your father was quite the witch.”
“Hi to you too.”
“Hello, Seymour!” Myrna called out. “Lovely to see you again! Hello to you too, Sariel!”
“Hey, Myrna.” Seymour gave her a little wave.
Sariel simply nodded.
“And of course hello to you, Miss Day,” Myrna cooed sweetly.
Day giggled and wiggled a paw at her.
Flanders flopped on the floor near the window with his back to them, apparently intent on ignoring everyone.
“So, what’s this major important thing we had to hurry the fuck up for?” Seymour asked. “I already know my old man was some kinda witch.”
“Oh, a very talented one!” Myrna replied, frantically trying to shove the stuffing from one of the pillows back inside. “He had a running tab with Anna Graham’s! That’s a top-shelf magic shop if there ever was one. Why, you can still get frog’s breath and?—”
“Myrna,” Lou chastised gently.
“Right! Sorry!” Myrna grinned. “I’m a bit of a chatterbox! I could really go on for days and days, especially when I’m excited! Having new people who can see us spirits now is always quite the thrill, and… Oh. I’m doing it again right now.” She bashfully ducked her head and returned to attempting to fix the pillows.
“Architect awaken,” Lou said as he set the mail down. He waved for Seymour to follow him, walking toward the bedroom.
Seymour, however, was stuck dead in his tracks because what the fuck was that thing?
It was a tall, thin creature with white skin like marble, so massive that it had to sit on the floor to avoid hitting its head. There were tiny archways, stairs, and towers sprouting right out of its skin, and its gaunt face had big black eyes, a small nose, and a long mouth packed with giant teeth.
“Pretty please clean this up,” Lou said firmly before turning to look back at Seymour. “Come on. He’ll take care of this.”
“Right. Heh. I’ll be, uh, I’ll be right there.” Seymour couldn’t stop staring, and he was pretty sure his feet were never going to move again.
The Architect daintily plucked the torn pillow from Myrna’s hands and then shoved it in his mouth.
And the cushions.
And the entire couch.
There was an awful retching and…
Oh God.
