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r hero. I’ve been hanging around Beranabus too long!
Withdrawing, I decide the plans can wait. I go to the bathroom, then undress and slide beneath the soft bedcovers. I’m worried I won’t be able to sleep, that I’ll lie awake all night. But within a minute my eyelids go heavy, and seconds later it’s lights out.
Breakfast in bed is heavenly. I eat like a ravenous savage, bolting down sausages, bacon, eggs, mushrooms. And toast! How can a few burnt bits of bread smeared with churned-up cow’s milk taste so delicious?
There’s a knock on one of the connecting doors while I’m mopping up the juice from my baked beans. “C’m’ in,” I grunt.
Meera appears like an angel, in an ivory-white nightdress. Washed, manicured, the works. You’d never guess that twelve hours earlier she’d been elbow-deep in demon blood.
“Wow!” I exclaim, dropping the toast and clapping.
She beams and gives me a twirl, then perches on the edge of my bed and picks up the toast. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” I grin, though I’d have bitten the hand off anybody else who tried to take my last piece.
“I’ve been up for hours,” she says.
“You should have woken me.”
“Why? Did you want a manicure too?”
“Very funny. But I could have done with a haircut.”
“That’s for sure,” she sniffs. “I ordered some clothes for you. I can’t wait to see you in them. I love dressing up boys, especially fashion-challenged teens.”
“Me? Fashion-challenged? I never used to be.”
“Well, you are now.” She takes my tray and tugs at the bedsheets. “Come on. Chop-chop!”
“Whoah!” I yelp, only just managing to grab on to the sheets in time. “I’m naked under here!”
“That’s OK,” she says. “You sleepwalked into my room last night and did a dance on my rug. I saw it all then.”
I stare at her, more horrified than I’ve been in the face of any demon. Then she winks wickedly and races out of the room before I batter her to death with a pillow.
Shark’s the last to rise. We hold a conference in his room while he tucks into lunch, wearing a robe that just about covers his privates.
“So,” he mumbles through a half full mouth. “What’s the plan?”
I scratch my head and smile sheepishly. “I kind of hoped you guys would have one.…”
Shark and Meera share a wry glance.
“I thought you were our leader,” Meera says.
“You set the ball rolling,” Shark agrees. “We just came along for the ride.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I grumble. “It was easy in the demon universe. We cornered demons, beat them up, and sometimes killed them. It’s different here. I don’t know where to start. How will we find Prae Athim? It seemed like the simplest thing in the world last night, but now…”
“Not such a big shot in the cold light of day, is he?” Shark jeers.
“Don’t tease him,” Meera tuts. “It was brave of him to volunteer.”
“But stupid.” Shark points a thick finger at me. “What use are you to us? Why shouldn’t we leave you here and pick you up when it’s all over?”
Stung, I focus on the bed. The mattress quivers and comes alive. It throws off the startled Shark, then bucks from the bed and lands on his back, driving him down. He lashes out, bellowing with alarm, but the mattress smashes him flat and pounds at him relentlessly.
“Enough,” Meera says softly, laying a hand on my shoulder.
