Seymour had a lot of questions but he dared not ask a single one.
There wasn’t time anyway—Absolis and Vilanos appeared before them and neither looked very happy. They had on no makeup, no jewelry, and not a single flower between them. While still quite beautiful, Seymour didn’t think he could have ever imagined seeing them without all the window dressing they liked to pack on.
They looked at Seymour, Sariel, Shiloh, back to Seymour, then to Shiloh again. They exchanged a sour sneer, glared at Seymour, and snapped in perfect unison, “What in thefuck?”
“Yeah, about that.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
The first thing Seymour realized was that he could no longer hear the burning man screaming.
While that was a relief, he then saw that Sariel and Shiloh were gone. He and Day were standing in a new room he had never seen before, and they were far from alone.
Lou, Absolis, Vilanos, and Mr. Heiss were all here.
Fuckin’ hellfire.
The space was round, dark, and the walls were lined with giant overflowing bookshelves. There was no overhead lighting, only some sconces hung up between windows covered in thick drapes. A circular table was positioned in the very center of the room, and there were five fancy chairs set up around it. One was bigger than the rest, and the man seated there was one Seymour did not know.
He was Black, handsome, and had a goatee with a few tiny hints of silver. He reminded Seymour of a high school principal—firm, probably grumpy, and definitely not the kind of man who would take any shit.
Well, monster anyway.
Seymour figured this must be that Q. guy, though he didn’t see any tentacles.
Probably for the best.
Lou stood, nearly knocking his chair back as he growled low. “What the fuck were you idiots doing in Faerie?”
“Exsqueeze me?” Seymour narrowed his eyes, and his tongue officially took off on its own. “I was fuckin’ doin’ my job for those assholes—” He pointed at Absolis and Vilanos. “—so I could getthatasshole—” He pointed at Mr. Heiss. “—off my dick! Seein’ as how all of this bullshit is probably connected, figured trackin’ down that damn robot brain was the best thing I could do to make sure nobody gets all musically murdered or what the fuck ever!”
Mr. Heiss remained seated, but his eyes burned into Seymour’s as he snarled quietly, “By all means, keep being disrespectful in our house. I promise you it will not end well.”
“Disrespectful?” Seymour spat. “Oh, I ain’t even begun to be disrespectful, you absolute motherfuckin’—”
Day clamped her paws over his mouth. “Seymour!”
Myrna peeked out from behind Lou and waved. “Probably best to behave a teeny bit here!” she whispered loudly. “Everyone is in a dreadfully awful mood.”
Seymour shook his head, but Day wouldn’t move her paws. He couldn’t think of what else to do, so he stuck out his tongue to lick them.
“Ew!” Day squealed and jerked away.
“As I was sayin’!” Seymour huffed. “You absolute motherfuckin’ piece of refried dog shit! Yeah, lookin’ like somebody chewed you up once and spat you out twice!” He stalked toward Mr. Heiss. “What the hell have you done with Sariel?”
Mr. Heiss didn’t react other than his eyes flicking over Seymour up and down in a bored sort of way. Maybe he was measuring him for a casket. “Take a step back before I pull yourheart out through your throat and yank that nasty tongue out along with it.”
“How ’bout you open up real wide and have yourself a big, juicy bowl of my fuckin’ balls?—”
The table rattled, and the patterns in the wood grain swirled around to form words.
I Am frreeeeee
FREEEEE
NO PRISON CAN HOLD ME
