Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (most interesting books to read TXT) 📕

you, and we got to talking about last night, and then we both were feeling quite turned on thinking about all the things you did with us and…”

I held up my hands, laughing. “I don’t mind at all!” I said. “You guys do what you like, so long as I’m included when I’m around. I’m not jealous if you’re not. The more the merrier, that’s what I say.”

I’d been thinking about Selena, and the way she’d kissed me once, back before all this had started. I had decided that I wanted to pursue that further when I got the chance, so I was not likely to begrudge Kyrine and Astrid a little fun in my absence.

It took us about half an hour to move the boxes through from the mansion, by which time Trevor had recovered himself enough to come through to the storeroom again. As I carried the last box into his shop, he was on his knees beside an open box, enthusing over the quality of a batch of inks with Selena.

I tried not to laugh as he explained in detail to her how this was a much better ink than he’d ever seen before, and how he couldn’t wait to try it out on a new enchantment. She nodded and smiled at him as he chatted, but she met my eyes and I saw the amusement there. Trevor’s prejudices hadn’t stood up for very long after all.

“So, Jeremy, how much do I owe you for all this stuff?” he said, standing up and dusting his hands off. “I’ll make a pile from selling the inks alone, never mind the potions, but it’ll take a while.”

I thought about it. “Ten percent,” I said after a moment. “Just keep a record of what you sell, and I’ll be back regularly to check in and take my cut.”

“Done!” he said, too quickly, and reached out a fat paw to shake me by the hand. Amanda explained to him that he would have round-the-clock protection from a team of Drow heavies from now on, and he accepted that without question. She also assured him that he wouldn’t have any trouble from the police’s Magical Items Enforcement units.

He looked impressed at that, but again he didn’t ask any questions. “This is the coolest thing that’s happened in years!” he enthused, carrying an armful of inks and engraving sheets out to the main shop. “Long may it continue!”

“One other thing,” I said to Trevor. “I’m going to need a supply of Ghost Jade. Small pieces, cut and polished to about this size.” I pulled out the nugget that contained the pocket dungeon to show him. “Can you do that?”

Trevor peered at the piece in my hand then nodded enthusiastically. “Sure can. It’ll take me a couple days, but I’ll call ya.”

“Great,” I said, shaking his hand.

We left the portal generator fixed in place and open but closed down the portal itself. Now that the two had been linked, we could activate it from the mansion side when we needed it again. To my satisfaction I found that the generator was now fixed in place on the floor, and nothing would move it.

“That’s one cool piece of kit,” I commented, and Amanda nodded.

“They’re great,” she said, “but there’s never enough of them. We’ll not have that problem anymore.”

She was right. Now that Kyrine could create them at will, we could have portals generated between anywhere we wanted. I wondered if the EDI would want me to supply them with portal generators? On the surface it seemed like that would be a good thing to do, but on reflection I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to get involved with the EDI officially. My agents were mavericks at best, and Amanda seemed to have almost gone entirely rogue. Somehow, I didn’t think that the upper echelons of the EDI would be as good to work with as my team were.

I would certainly think more about it before making any offers.

We said goodbye to an exultant Trevor, and then Amanda said she was going to go see her Drow contacts and sort out Trevor’s protection detail.

“I’ll make my own way back to the mansion,” she said. “I’m not going back to EDI headquarters yet—I’m not sure if I’m going to go back at all, to be honest. I’ll be back at the mansion in a day or so. I’ll call if I’m going to be longer.”

She surprised me with a hug, then turned and walked quickly off down the busy street, her hands in her pockets.

“Back to the Mansion, then?” said Selena as we got back into her Chrysler.

“Not just yet,” I said. “There’s something I want to do first.”

I directed Selena to take us back to our old apartment. We parked up opposite and watched for a while, but there didn’t seem to be any activity.

“Chances are they’ve not got to clearing the apartment out yet,” Selena said. “You have something you want to go in for?”

“I sure do,” I said. “Come on.”

We hurried across the street. I still had my key in my jacket pocket, and I unlocked the door and went carefully up the stairs.

“No one here,” I said as we entered. “And it doesn’t look like anyone’s been here either. Just as well.”

I moved quickly round the cramped apartment, gathering up some stuff I wanted to keep. I filled a bag with my better clothes, grabbed my laptop, and then pulled open a drawer to get out my stash of weed and my bong.

Selena laughed as I stuffed them into the bag. “Is that what you came back for?”

“That and my Black Sabbath t-shirt,” I laughed, holding up the backpack containing my clothes. “Got some good music on my laptop too.”

“And your porn collection,” she teased.

I glared at her. “How’d you