Page 69 of Starlight

Three monsters under the stars. Mostly fine.

A dozen monsters in one dining room, helping themselves to platters of food. Not Fine.

There wasn’t any air in the room, and if Akai hadn’t been standing behind him, he’d have turned and run and hyperventilated from panic in private. As it was, he felt the panic swell to fill his chest. His pulse drowned out the noise of their voices as they all turned to look at him.

Akai licked the side of his neck, shattering the grip panic had on his body. His claws pricked into his shoulder. “The coffee is to the right if you’d like to grab some.”

Cole blinked, the pain of claws in his skin grounding him. “Yes, coffee.”

There was not enough coffee in the world to prepare him for this. He was the only human, and they were all looking at them. Or it felt as though they were. They had all seen humans before; it was humans who hadn’t seen them. Akai followed him over to the coffee machine, and for a few moments, he had enough of a distraction that he was able to tamp down on the fear. Was it fear or shock?

What had he been expecting?

Could they all smell or hear his panic?

Akai glanced at him as if he expected Cole to bolt and run. “You wanted bacon.”

Yeah, this was on him. “I still do. Fried egg, bacon, and cheese in a bun. Best breakfast.” He was jabbering, and he wasn’t sure he could stop.

“I prefer your honey porridge.” Akai placed his hand on Cole’s lower back, moving him over so he could make coffee.

Cole took a sip, hoping that it would switch on his brain and make him behave normally. What was normal in a room full of monsters?

“How are you two going this morning?” a bigfoot said as he walked over. His hands were the size of dinner plates.

“Great.” Cole smiled and took a drink of coffee so he couldn’t say anything else.

“We are used to sleeping under the stars,” Akai lied smoothly.

Was it a lie? Cole had slept under the stars when building the cabin, and Akai had slept in his nest, watching him. Together, yet alone.

“You, yes. Most humans prefer roofs.” The bigfoot looked at him. “Not nests.”

Was he supposed to say something? “Akai makes beautiful nests. He has one near the cabin I built.”

The bigfoot’s eyes widened, and his gaze flicked from Cole’s head to his toes and back. “How did you get into his nest? I know he can’t fly carrying that much weight.”

“I climbed.”

A few of the monsters at the table behind him gasped.

Cole shrugged and sipped his coffee. “It wasn’t that hard.”

“It was for me,” Akai said. “I worry about him falling. Once my wing has healed, we will be building a ladder to make it easier.”

Oh, would they? It was the first Cole had heard about the idea. But a rope ladder that could be raised would make it easier to climb up, while still keeping the nest hidden. It could also be relocated if they moved somewhere else. What was he even planning when the ladder would never be made?

“There is plenty of food, help yourself. I do have some wild food over there.” The bigfoot pointed to a separate table, and Cole made the mistake of glancing over.

Wild food. As in bugs and things still wiggling around.

He returned his attention to the bigfoot. “I smelled the bacon from outside. Do you have any buns and sauce?”

“I do. Follow me.” He led Cole over to a table loaded up with bacon and fried eggs, as well as whole raw ones from the label…which monster ate them? “Is there anything else you need?”

“No, this looks great. Thank you.” There was a lot of food. Steaks—some of which looked like they were still mooing on the inside from the puddle of blood around them—cheese, butter, butter cut into thick slices like cheese, two different kinds of buns, and three different sauces.

Cole slapped together a bacon-and-egg bun, making sure to add a slice of cheese, not a slab of butter, and topped it off with some barbeque sauce. A nice, normal breakfast.