For a second, I think I’m going to completely miss, but it smacks into the creature and sends it crashing into an office window.
“Nice work, Reed!”
Ronit breaks us into the building, and we run up the stairs, which is even crueler than running in the streets.
The creature is lying on the carpet, while paper floats around the room, lifted from the broken window.
I walk over to it, put my foot on its shoulder, and rip my trident out of its body. There is no movement.
I look it over. It’s small. Much smaller than Mei, but it’s got long teeth and deadly-looking claws.
“What is it?” I mutter.
“It’s a goblin. It must have got a taste of flesh and started hunting. They become really obsessive sometimes,” Mei says with disinterest. “You can always tell by the smell of rotting flowers, it’s a whole thing with them.”
I nudge it with the tip of my boot. “What do we do with it?”
“Send it to Diablos,” Ronit says with a tiny amount of glee that I know he will deny. “Leaf, open the door to Diablos-”
The portal opens, and I look through and see Diablos, Stix, and Puppy.
Mei giggles.
I grab the corpse and toss it in.
“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!” Diablos roars.
“Close it, close it, close it!” I chant, but I can’t stop my laughter.
It snaps shut, and for a moment, we’re silent, but then we all start laughing.
“Nice, Leaf. That was the perfect spot.”
Leaf smiles, but there’s something contemplative in his eyes.
“What’s the matter?” I ask when we’re on the stairs.
“It wasn’t me. I didn’t open it.”
I frown, if he didn’t open it, who did?
“Hello.”
I turn around and see a woman with brown hair. She looks like she might be about nineteen or twenty. The hair on myarms rises, and I step back towards the stairs, keeping my shiver behind me.
“Hi.”
She rushes me and hugs me.
“What the fuck, lady, get off me!” I peel her off and toss her away. She comes at me again, but this time, I throw her harder, and she lies there limp.
There’s something off about her, but I can’t tell what it is.
The others have left me behind, so I rush down the stairs, anxious to get away.
“You aren’t going to believe me, but there’s this-”
I turn, and she’s there smiling at me, but there’s no sign of intelligence in her gaze, and her smile is too wide.
