LOT'S MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER TWENTY: In the Court of King Kuzenbo

After I give the ax back to the green thing, I sneak back to school in time to get picked up by the Stone Man. I'm waiting for a lecture or worse, but nothing happens. The Stone Hounds must not have said anything. Maybe they're worried about getting their asses kicked for stepping out of line. But they could lie, right? Either way, it looks like I'm getting away with standing up to them.

Cheap-Watch actually talks to me some. That's something new and kinda weird. It's not what he says—asking me how my day was (at first I think he knows what happened and he's trying to get me to admit it), saying that things aren't bad as a Stone Man, and how ending the war between Stone and Glass before it begins is important—but it's how he says it. There's a hint of emotion in his voice.

Then he says, "I'm sorry."

And then that little glimpse of him being human is gone.

There's a box in the backseat that's all taped up that he wants me to give to Tim Sherman. When we get to the Shermans', a car I don't recognize is parked in front of the house. At first, I think that the Stone Men have finally decided to do worse to me, than, you know, before. But these people are human.

So after he drops me off, I put Cheap-Watch's box down in the entryway. The house smells like bleach. Yeah, nothing says welcome home like the place smelling like a freaking hospital. I just saved a frog-man from a bunch of cemetery hounds, but I didn't expect to come home and have actual people here, you know, besides Tim and Diane. I guess the Stone Men didn't want to fool with mind control stuff or are willing to let Tim and Diane have other people over sometimes. I guess that helps with them pretending to be normal.

Diane takes my arm and tells me that they're Tim's family and that they decided to visit. She seems as thrilled about this surprise visit as I am. In a way, it's weird to think of Tim as having kin. He never talks about them. After about ten minutes with them, I understand why.

Back when I lived with Mom and Greg, we'd go see my cousins sometimes. I haven't seen them in a really long time. I guess my aunt could have taken me in, but she wasn't interested. She thought I was weird and didn't want to have to deal with me. I think she lives in Charlottesville now.

Most of these guys, all but one, live pretty far away.

After he puts the box the Stone Man gave me in the closet, Tim spends most of the time talking to one of his brothers, the one that's the businessman. He introduces us, but I didn't really pay attention.

Tim's mother is this woman with a beehive hairdo. Seriously, it looks like a wasp's nest I found hanging from a tree one time — gray and swirling to a rounded point. Hopefully she's friendlier than a wasp. Yellow jackets are the worst wasps, I think. They look like a bee, but they're not, and they're mean as hell. Granddad Sam always said those things would bite and sting you for looking at them cross-eyed.

So what I need to figure out is if the old lady sitting in the chair is more the type that's gonna come after me even if I leave her alone or only if I mess with her. From the way she's squinting at me and the frown that's dug deep into her mouth, it's best to play it safe and stay the hell away from her. She seems fine with that.

The other brother, though ...

"Dylan, was it?" He hands me a cup of soda like I'm the guest and he lives here. Well, let's face it. I have a room here, but I really am just a glorified guest. I'm not even the nice kind of guest that you know will be gone in a day or two. I'm the other kind. The fungus kind that takes root and never seems to fully go away.

"Yeah," I answer him, as soon as I realize that he's not going to go away.

"I'm Drew," he says, pushing his hand at me. I shake it mostly because I know he won't leave me alone until I do. "How do you like Tim?"