Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Jacqueline’s face goes serious now and her eyes narrow down a little. “I rescued them, Pie. You were in the system. You know how bad it is. You know there are very bad people taking in kids just for the paycheck.”
“I get that. But you can’t just acquire kids, Jacqueline.”
“Why not? They disappear all the time. Do you have any idea how many children I’ve seen disappear from foster care in the past three years, Pie?” Her eyes are locked with mine. They dart back and forth a little as we stare at each other. “Twenty-seven.”
“What?”
“Twenty-seven kids. Gone. With no explanation. Just… gone. One of them was only two years old.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Two years old. And no one batted an eyelash over it.”
“How is that possible?”
“How is that possible? Let me tell you how. That little girl’s mother was a drug addict. No family came to claim the baby when she was born and tested positive for opioids. So they sent her to foster care. Everyone wants a baby. So it started out great. Nice middle-class family. Everyone was happy. Until the little girl became a problem. Now, if you give birth to a problem baby, the majority of parents will hang in there. They will commit to that child. And maybe some foster parents will too. But that’s not how it happened for this little girl. She was sent from home to home and finally, she got to her last stop.”
“Did she die?”
“She’s probably dead by now, but no, Pie. She did not die. She was sold.”
“That’s… ridiculous.”
“Is it? Human trafficking is a hundred-and-fifty-billion-dollar business. And don’t ask me any more about that. I know things. I’ve seen things.” Her eyes go a little crazy. “And all the kids on that bus are little monsters. They got to their last stop and it was either send them to the black hole of who-knows-what or take them with me.” She stands up straight, raises her chin, and stares me straight in the eyes. “So I took them. Because the system isn’t gonna save them. Because the system is fuckin’ broke, Pie. The system fuckin’ sucks. So someone has to stand up and say, ‘Enough!’ And that someone is me. I’m gonna save them. And I’m here, looking for you, because I know you will want to save them too.”
There is a pause here. A moment where everyone has to make a decision.
Finally, I let out a breath. “OK. Let me talk to Pell.”
Jacqueline smiles.
She is way too determined.
I walk over to Pell, tug on the sleeve of his leather jacket, and pull him back to our truck. We both get in and close the doors.
“What the hell is happening?”
“OK. This is gonna sound crazy—”
“No.”
“Pell! Just listen!”
“No!”
“You can’t say no until I ask you something.”
“You want to bring those people to the sanctuary.”
“Well…”
“And the answer is no. Saint Mark’s is not a sanctuary for humans. It’s a sanctuary for monsters.”
“Yeah, but… they are monsters.”
He blinks at me. “No.”
“Yes! She used that word. She called them ‘little monsters.’ They’re gonna get caught, Pell. I mean…” I glance over my shoulder. “The bus is blue. How she even got this far is a total miracle. The state police must not know yet.” I look back at Pell. “The point is, these kids are about to be thrown into the abyss of something really bad.”
Pell scoffs and shakes his head.
“They’re problem kids, Pell. With no parents. And in the outside world that means they get thrown away. They’re monsters and they need sanctuary.”
He looks out his window. It’s beginning to snow. “It’s a nice idea. But Pie…” He looks at me. “What are you going to tell your friend when we walk through that gate and we suddenly have horns, and hooves, and fur? Hmm? What are you gonna tell them about Tomas? There are monsters and nymphs having sex in the open, Pie. The sanctuary is not a place for children. And even if it was, these people are not part of our world. You know this.”
“Well…” I sigh. “They’re not part of this world either. And would it be so bad if we made rules for the monsters and nymphs? Shouldn’t we just tell them they need to keep their clothes on and have sex in private?”
“It won’t work.”
He’s right. They’re satyrs. Most of them don’t even wear clothes. They hate pants. And the nymphs are pretty much all bitches. I don’t like any of them.
“And even if we could tamp down the sexual urges, there’s the whole problem of magic doors, and rings, and prisoners, and the fucking Queen of Vinca.”
“Well, I can’t leave Jacqueline here on the side of the road with a bus filled with kids. We need a solution.”
“Maybe we could… hide them.”
“Hide them how? And where?”
“There is a whole town hidden from the outside world by magic fog just fifteen minutes behind us.”