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The man’s lids narrowed. He was guarded. Suspicious. “How much?”

“One thousand yuan.”

“Seven thousand.”

Croygen choked out a laugh. “You’re joking.” He shook his head.

“You want to go to thesameplace?” The man tilted his head, a challenge in his tone.

“You want to know where your son is?” Croygen countered, his expression hard, giving away nothing.

“You don’t have him.”

“You want to take that chance on your son’s life?” Croygen lifted a brow. “That I wouldn’t hold him as collateral?”

The man’s nose flared, calculating Croygen was exactly the type of man who would do that.

“Six thousand. And I take you exactly where I took them,” he said firmly.

“Two thousand, and I won’t gut you and feed your entrails to him.” Croygen flicked his head to the side. From the darkness, a low growl shuddered the air. Two red eyes glowed from the bushes as the enormous outline of Cooper’s beast stepped forward, the razors lining his back glinting in the firelight.

If I didn’t know him, I would have shit myself.

The man watched the beast, his face emotionless, but the bob of his throat signaled his anxiety. His jaw clenched down. “Three thousand. No less.”

Croygen slanted his head as if he was pondering it, letting the man stew while Cooper let out another low vibration.

“Okay.” Croygen nodded, though I had no idea where he was going to get three thousand yuan from. “But you tell us every single thing you know. Everything you heard. And you take us to the exact spot.”

The man dipped his head, having no allegiance to them.

“My son?”

“He’s probably back home.” Croygen shrugged, a cocky grin showing he was deceiving the man the whole time. “Though he might have nightmares of mythical monkey gods now.”

The older man’s lids lowered in confusion.

Croygen strolled closer, his own puzzlement wrinkling his forehead. “You are human.” Croygen stopped right before him. “How do you know the doors? How is it possible a human can access the doors when most fae cannot? It shouldn’t be possible.”

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.” The man spoke an old proverb, staring at Croygen cooly.

Croygen peered down at him, huffing as his lips twisted in a ghost smile. Respect for the old man danced in the pirate’s eyes.

“You better be right, old man.” He turned, picking up Cooper’s clothes and tossing them toward the beast shifting back in the bushes. “Let’s go.”

It took us barely ten minutes to get our minimal stuff together and get Annabeth up.

The man’s only reaction to Sprig was to stare at the sprite, not moving from his spot, showing no outright panic over a talking monkey, which made me curious about was going on in his head.

“But I don’t want to say goodbye.” Sprig darted to the horses, climbing up on Cooper’s horse.

Honestly, I was having a tough time too. Rubbing Tootsie’s nose, I leaned my head into hers, thanking her for being such a wonderful companion. I was going to miss her a lot.

The man promised when he returned, on Sprig’s claim that he would smite his whole family, to take the horses back and give them a good home.

The man seemed to take his promises very seriously. I guess when a monkey king demands you to do something, you do it, not willing to chance your luck or his wrath.

“Chocolate, oh Chocolate… you know how I love you.” He hugged his ear. “How you melt in my mouth… and sometimes I pour you over my body and Pam’s.” He leaped from Cooper’s horse to mine. “And Tootsie… I could suck on your tasty goodness for hours.”