“Not at first, but my friends helped me. But now I’m here to help you.”
Byfriends,I mean monsters. And by monsters, I mean lovers.
Tears fill her eyes at the wordfriend.I bet it’s been a while since she had a good friend to rely on. Sure, she’s a few years younger than me, about sixteen maybe, but I suppose I can adopt her.
I always wanted a sister.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
She brushes her long golden hair out of her eyes. “A-Alice...”
Alice? Well, it looks like she fell down the Rabbit Hole indeed. Except this is no Wonderland she has found herself in, but a place of nightmares.
“How did you get here?”
Alice sighs and those blue eyes startle me yet again. It really is like looking at the sky. “I don’t know... I was at home. My parents were arguing, and I was sitting in my room. It was all getting too much. The darkness, the bullying, and... I just shut down. I can’t explain it. Then I woke up here.”
Madoc makes a humming sound, and Alice whirls her head in his direction. “Who’s that?”
I stop Alice before she has a chance to look at him, and I don’t think she’s quite ready to gaze upon all that crazy yet.
“It’s no one,” I lie, flicking my fingers at Madoc. He needs to hide ASAP. I think I can make it back to the cabin on my own. I’m starting to see a little better since helping Alice.
Soon I won’t even need my monsters. I can kick ass on my own.
Alice takes a hard look at me again, and her eyes bug in horror. “You’re naked.”
I am. My monsters tore my clothes. So they better get me new ones.
At least Alice has all her clothes. She dresses like a typical teen with the brightly colored Chuck Taylors, and I adore her blue pinafore and black headband with the bow.
“I know. I... I can explain later...”
Madoc makes an obnoxious giggling sound, and Alice jumps to her feet, jerking her head around. Her blue eyes expand the moment they find my monster, and now her scream splits the air in half.
I scowl at Madoc. He grins like the Cheshire Cat, and I really wish for Alice’s sake that hewasjust some psychotic cat with a half-moon smile.
Finally, she passes out from the shock of seeing Madoc, and I guess we have no choice but to take her back with us.
I think it’s about time we sought an audience with the king.
We need all the help we can get. Or this madness will only continue.
Chapter six
Grey
DarnthatfuckingMadocbringing homestraysagain.
Except the stray he brought home this time wasn’t a demonic puppy, but a blonde, teenage human who fell down the wrong rabbit hole.
He wasn’t able to help the other humans we’ve stumbled upon so far, so he’s making up for all his past mistakes. For the past one hundred years— several months in the human world—humans have been losing themselves to the Abyss. They give in to the darkness and surrender, and there is nothing we can do for them.
Madoc appears to have developed a conscience for humans now, and it’s all thanks to Belle. She truly has tamed the beast in all of us.
Even my second youngest brother, Nero, although he likes to deny having feelings for her.
But the arrival of the human girl does pose a new problem. Apparently, she passed out the moment she gazed at Madoc, and it seems she’s a human with a weak constitution.