“Shit on a—” Shiloh yelped. “Easy.”
“Sorry.” Seymour chuckled as Day devoured it all in one bite. “She is definitely, uh, very food motivated.”
Shiloh grunted, throwing the bread as hard as he could toward the Inferno. He waved for everyone to follow as he stepped through the crack and into the hallway. “We better get a move on. There’s no telling how long this is gonna take.”
Seymour wanted to point out that the hallway had a clear end, but he remembered this was a hallway in a magical world of weird faerie shit and held back. He took Sariel’s hand as Day darted ahead of them, falling into step behind her and Shiloh.
As soon as they were all through, the crack sealed up behind them.
There was nothing else there except more hallway, though that direction didn’t have an obvious exit.
Great.
Shiloh walked fast. Day had to run to keep up, and both Sariel and Seymour had to pick up the pace. The mood was tense, the air thick, and Seymour really had no idea what to expect. They might find more of the mostree belly guys, maybe they’d find nothing, but he had to hope it would be anything that would help them in their current plight.
Stop bad monsters from using robot brain to hurt good monsters.
Well, good-ish.
The silence was draining, and the hallway really didn’t seem like it would ever end. Seymour was confident he’d go insane before they reached the light. Hoping to busy himself and his worried thoughts, he cleared his throat noisily. “So, uh… Shiloh. You knew my dad?”
“I did. We were in the same coven for a while. Never knew he had a kid until Neil told me.” Shiloh glanced back to give a quick, sympathetic smile. “Sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks.” Seymour smiled reflexively. “Don’t suppose you know why he got murdered?”
“Bein’ a witch is dangerous. Especially in a city full of monsters.” Shiloh chuckled. “No offense to present company, of course.”
Sariel bowed his head. “None taken.”
“So, wait a sec.” Seymour thought Shiloh’s words over again in his mind. “Does that mean all witches are human? Or are there monster witches too?”
Shiloh didn’t answer.
They were at the end of the hall, and before them was an infinite twisting maze of bridges haphazardly cutting through the air in a fierce display of giving the finger to gravity. Some paths led to halls like the one they were in, a few to various doors, and more still dead-ending into nothing. There were clusters of platforms and crude stone walls thatformed primitive buildings reminiscent of huts where the paths intersected, including one right below them where the current path sloped down sharply and ended.
“This is the Crossroads,” Shiloh said, his voice low. “We need to slowly, very slowly, head on back?—”
WHAT IS WRONG
I WANT TO SEE
The Rolodex wrenched itself out of Day’s paws, and she squealed as it flew into the air. She tried to grab it and only ended up with a few pages.
Seymour lurched forward, far too slow but desperate to try, and he watched helplessly as the Rolodex slid down the path, tumbled and skittered, and came to an abrupt stop at…
Oh.
Now Seymour saw why Shiloh wanted to leave.
The Rolodex was at the feet of a large werewolf, and he was not alone.
It was an army—dozens upon dozens of monsters clustered together in and around the building. They were taking orders from a tall snakelike imp who held a glowing crystal brain with a golden hue glimmering in all its wrinkles and folds.
Oh, and the squonk was there too.
He was standing beside the werewolf and had turned to figure out what the strange noise was. His gaze shifted up, up, and up until he saw Seymour and the others standing there.
Seymour didn’t know what to do.
