Persie Merlin and the Door to Nowhere by Bella Forrest Page 0,17
is the best way of harnessing their energy, but they are necessary to magical society, so it’s my job to make sure that they are, at the very least, comfortable while they are in my care. And I have no doubt that the Beast Master of the Bestiary behaves the same way, because he understands these creatures and their merits in a way that you clearly don’t. I hope that changes, or you’ll find life as a hunter a thankless task.”
“Why don’t you ask the SDC’s finest?” the musclebound jackass grumbled.
Nathan smiled at Persie and me. “That’s an excellent idea. You must know the Beast Master quite well, I’d imagine. What does he believe?”
Persie nodded. “Tobe knows every creature, and he cares for each of them with the biggest heart. Even the ones who might not deserve it.”
You say that, but he’d rip Leviathan a new one if that slimy son of a biatch ever actually tried to hurt you.
I didn’t say it aloud. There was no use in bringing him up when he was clearly already on Persie’s mind all the time. She always shuddered when she heard his name, and I hated the hold he had over her. She should’ve been enjoying her life, not worrying about what Leviathan would do next. I’d never forgive him for that, or for ruining my best friend’s eighteenth birthday. Who did that? The slippery snake clearly had zero manners.
“If you love him so much, why didn’t you stay there? You could’ve added to the Bestiary,” the other ponytail muttered under her breath, growing some serious sour grapes.
Fortunately, I liked the taste of sour. And I wasn’t about to let anyone talk to my friend like that. I knew she could defend herself, but she wouldn’t.
“Why, you worried it might give us an advantage because we’ve seen more real-life monsters than you’ve had hot dinners?” I retorted.
Ponytail #2 sneered. “I’m not afraid of you, Genie.”
“You’re the one who said it, not me.” I smiled, sweet as anything. “Now, I’d like to hear more from Nathan and less from you.”
Nathan nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, thank you, Genie. I’m pleased to hear that the Beast Master is everything I thought he would be, and I’d like to speak with you about him in more detail, but… that can obviously wait.” He walked up to one of the bubbles and coaxed the creature inside to appear. It flitted around like a dragonfly, with wings that looked like browned leaves. It resembled a stick insect with its crooked arms and thin body, with the exception of an eerily human face that observed us with milky white eyes. “This is a sprite called Archimedes. He’s very shy, and he likes—”
“Long walks on the beach?” I joked. This time, I got a proper laugh, free of nerves.
“I imagine he would, though he’d probably prefer a long flight in the park,” Nathan replied, smiling. “Many people used to believe that sprites were the spirits of the dead, who could be benevolent or malevolent, depending on how they were treated. They are ancient and were feared, but not so much anymore. This one is an Earth sprite, with weak spellcasting abilities that it uses to grow flowers and fruits, and to help crops. But the point is, there are sprites who would batter against this glass, or shrink away, or not emerge at all. I’ve gotten to know this one, and it’s proof of my theory that they have awareness and are far more complex than people make them out to be.”
A long-haired dude folded his arms across his chest. “You’ll be saying they have souls, next.”
Nathan put his palm to the glass, and the sprite raised a crooked, twiggy hand to his. “Actually, there is a great deal of evidence to suggest that they do, but proving the presence of a soul in a Purge beast would be like proving the existence of a soul in a human being.”
Nice comeback, O’Hara! The long-haired guy huffed grumpily. Nathan had silenced him without so much as raising his voice. He’d slapped him with a wet fish of intellect, and I had to admit… it was kind of sexy. Not the wet fish part, but the smarts part. And he’d shown me a flash of a sense of humor, when I was fairly sure he’d had a humorectomy. Still, I wasn’t sure he would be much use in an actual hunting scenario. Not to sound shallow, but I’d always gravitated toward brawnier types.