Free This Broken Wondrous World by Jon Skovron Page A

vendetta against Claire.”
    â€œWhich is why you’ve brought her here.”
    â€œUh, yeah.”
    â€œAnd rightly so.” He turned to look at Claire, his red eyes glinting like a cat’s. “I can assure you, my dear, if Robert sets one foot in the lobby, he will very much wish he hadn’t.”
    â€œThanks,” she said.
    As we neared the Queens Midtown Tunnel, and I saw Manhattan looming in front of us, I felt a surge of peace wash over me. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the city. It was big, crowded, loud, and dirty. And it would always be home.
    We made our way to Times Square, and I stared out the window at all the stores with their holiday decorations. The cabsand people moved like currents through the streets. I remembered my first time out of the theater. It had been so overwhelming at first. But thrilling, too. I had met my first human that day. At a thrift store. I’d been so nervous. . . .
    Back then, I could never have imagined actually living with humans, much less being friends with them. Even later, when I’d run away from home, I’d still mostly kept away from humans. I had missed out on so much. Sure, some humans were assholes. But most were pretty amazing, these fragile creatures pretending to be indestructible.
    â€œFirst stop! Human sanctuary!” said Charon.
    Ruthven turned in his seat to look at Henri. “I assume you’ll want to drop off your things and freshen up after your long flight. That will also give Boy time to visit with his family alone.”
    â€œSure, okay,” said Henri.
    â€œThe room is held under your name. The theater is only one block down, on the left.” Ruthven inclined his head in the direction. “You can’t miss it. Charon should be back in the box office by then, so you won’t have to worry about any . . . misunderstandings. He’ll call Boy up to come get you.”
    Henri turned to me. “Do you mind if I keep Vi with me?”
    He looked like he could use the company right now, and Vi seemed to want to spend every possible moment she could with Henri, so I figured she wouldn’t mind, anyway. “Yeah, that’s fine.” I patted his shoulder. “Welcome to New York.”
    He climbed out of the car. Charon had already popped the trunk, so he grabbed his bag, slammed the trunk lid down, and headed toward the hotel entrance. The way he clutched Vi’s phone in his free hand made me wonder if maybe it wasn’t as one sided a relationship as I thought.

    THE THEATER HADN’T changed a bit. A big marquee that just said THE SHOW in a swirl of colors that had once been bright but over the years had faded. The same posters still hung out front in their glass cases—silhouettes of mysterious creatures on sun-bleached colored backgrounds. It looked retro, but actually it had all just been there a really long time.
    The lobby was still decorated with fabrics and swirls of color that gave it a vague international carnival feeling. It still smelled the same, like humans, sweat, old wood, and some other thing I’d never been able to pinpoint.
    The two goblins peering with yellow eyes from the box office window were new, though.
    I waved at them. “Hi, ladies.”
    They whispered to each other and giggled nervously, then waved back.
    â€œMy, aren’t you the local celeb crush,” said Claire.
    â€œJealous?” I asked.
    â€œYou better hope not,” she said. “I’m bloody terrifying when I’m jealous.”
    â€œI’ll take that into consideration.”
    â€œCurmthulia, dear,” said Ruthven. “Would you call down to Boy’s parents and let them know he’s arrived?”
    One of the goblin sisters nodded and picked up the phone.
    â€œLet’s see what kind of mess you’ve made while I was gone,” said Charon as he climbed into the box office.
    I smiled as I watched him fuss around