Phoenix in My Fortune (A Monster Haven Story Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page B

harm’s way?” She glanced sideways to see who was listening.
    Everything Kam did was exaggerated. It was part of her charm. But she also understood me. She knew being stuck at home for my own safety had nearly driven me crazy the last time. If I were in prison, Kam would be the first to smuggle in a hacksaw baked into a cake to break me out. Kam had been kept in a box for most of a century. Nobody understood the twitchy feel of being confined like she did.
    “Not this time,” I whispered, then raised my voice so everyone would hear me. “I’m not hiding out. This is the last battle, and I will not wait for it to come to me this time.” Behind me, Darius let out an irritated chuff. I spun around and gave him a nice solid stink-eye. “Not negotiable. I will hunt this bastard down if I have to. And I refuse to let anybody or anything dictate whether I can do my own grocery shopping and take in my own dry cleaning.”
    Kam winked at me. “Understood. I’ve got your back.”
    I knew she did.
    Maurice whipped up a bunch of sandwiches and a huge pot of tomato basil soup, and we all sat around the table, feasting and planning for war.
    Mom pushed her spoon around in her bowl. “Do you think he’s on his own this time or should we expect minions?”
    “Expect the worst, hope for the best.” Riley reached for a second sandwich. “We’ll double check the invisibility bubble in the backyard. Make sure there aren’t any holes. Maybe talk to the fairies about reinforcing the fairy ring around the property. Double check that it’s all secure.” He took a bite, chewed with a thoughtful look on his face, then swallowed. “We should keep a full-time watch on the property’s perimeter in case we get a bunch of those cultists again.”
    Darius grunted in agreement. “Glad we fixed the roof last month. Looks like I’ll be spending time up there again.”
    Maurice gave him a half-threatening glare. “Try not to knock any more shingles off this time.”
    Darius’s dark face split into a gleaming smile. “I’ll be careful.”
    Maurice couldn’t keep the glare for long, and his lips curled in a smile. “See that you are.”
    The fondness the mothman and the closet monster shared had grown over time, and the goofy looks they gave each other filled my heart. In the beginning, Darius had been hard, gruff and not particularly likeable. Now, I couldn’t imagine not having him around.
    Plus, he made my mom happy. Since they’d moved into their own place, it was a lot easier to be pleased for them. Not living in the same house with them took away the ick factor. In fact, I’d spent more time with both Mom and Darius since they’d gone to the cabin than I had while living under the same roof with them, trying to avoid awkward moments.
    By the time we finished lunch, we had something of a plan—as well as some rules. For safety, a team of at least two people would always be positioned as lookout, keeping an eye on our property either for a tall, thin man in a dark red suit, or suspicious Hidden wandering around my yard causing trouble. Mom and I were no longer allowed to go anywhere alone outside of the fairy ring surrounding the house. Riley, Kam or—during the day—Darius had to be with us.
    So, yay. I could still go out and buy bread and tampons, but I had to have a magically charged buddy go with me to do it. Sara had turned out to be pretty kick-ass when the zombie apocalypse played out in my yard, but she couldn’t pass for human anymore. Spending sprees with Sara would be limited to websites or television shopping channels now—a fact that broke my heart, in spite of being proud of how well she’d embraced her new situation.
    We still didn’t know what we were up against, exactly, so the third rule was simple, but crucial.
    “Nobody approaches this Shadow Man alone.” I swung around and fixed Darius with a hard stare. “Nobody.”
    He opened his mouth to object, then snapped it shut. The muscles in his jaw