Page 12 of Truthfinder’s Promise

5

Valkyrie gave Meredith an odd look she shrugged off. She felt like a monster most days. Maybe a real one was what her life needed.

After a brief discussion, Meredith, Valkyrie, Rath, and the kid—Merlin—headed for the basement with Nova and three of her team. Siren stayed above with Ruin and the others. The redhead wasn’t happy about it, but Val and Meredith both refused to budge. After seeing how Siren had looked after holding back the alligators, Meredith didn’t want to put the woman in the same room as an alleged monster. Something was clearly going on with the little spitfire, and Meredith had every intention of figuring out what it was at the earliest available opportunity.

But for now…

She followed Merlin to an enclosed stairwell equipped with low, flickering lights straight out of a horror film. Her heels made loud, decisive clicks on the concrete steps, echoing off the bare walls.

Rath looked at her footwear with something approaching actual horror. “Why do you wear those?”

Because I am an invalid without them. “You might say I’m made to wear them,” she replied breezily.

“I like the clack they make,” Merlin said seriously.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes. “Don’t encourage her.”

“You’re just irritated by them because walking in heels is like the one thing in the universe you can’t do.” Meredith had put Valkyrie in heels once, and desperately wished she’d recorded it. Her best friend had looked like she was trying to walk on stilts.

A loud, rumbling growl emanated from below. It was low and deep and did not sound like it belonged to any sane creature. They hit the bottom of the stairs and Meredith found herself on a landing facing a steel door. The metal was battered and dented from the inside. Two thick bars on the outside were reinforcement for six deadbolts.

“Monster, it’s me,” Merlin called. The growling ceased, which proved that whatever lived behind that door at least had enough intelligence to know who fed it. Merlin skipped forward and rolled an apple through the four-inch-by-four-inch slot at the bottom of the door.

An apple for the creature, Meredith thought.

“Monster, I brought some people with me.”

Another growl.

“They’re nice,” Merlin insisted. “They’re going to get you out, so you can’t eat them.” Another noise that might or might not be an agreement.

“Does anyone actually know what’s behind there?” Meredith asked. There were no windows on the door, no way to see inside.

Rath shook his head. “They brought it here in a cage, all covered up. Took six people to carry. Elijah used to come down here all the time, after he came back different.”

Came back different. Meredith juggled the timeline of events in her head. A few months before Valkyrie killed Elijah, Siren had nearly accomplished the feat. Elijah hadn’t looked so pretty after the fact.

“Then he stopped showing up and we heard the guards saying he wasn’t coming back. They were thinking about jumping ship. We decided to help them along in making that decision. After, we didn’t really know what to do about this.” He gestured at the door.

Great. “Keys?”

Rath shook his head.

“I tried to pick the locks,” Merlin said. “But it’s easier on YouTube than real life.”

“You tried to—” Rath cut off, which was probably a good thing, because he looked like he might have an apoplexy if he finished the sentence. Clearly, being a dad to twelve kids barely younger than him was wearing on him. She was surprised there wasn’t any gray in his hair.

Meredith studied the door. If she had a set of lock picks she could see if her skills were still up to snuff. But she didn’t. “Val?”

“I can open it.”

“And whatever’s behind it?”

“Is likely half-starved. I can handle it.”

“You won’t hurt my monster, right?” Merlin did not sound very trusting in that moment, and she had an absurd image of them opening the door for the five-year-old to heroically throw himself in between them and a twelve-foot tall, tentacled monstrosity.

“I might have to knock it out,” Valkyrie said honestly. “But I won’t kill it.”