Page 69 of My Monster’s Keeper

“And their weakness?”

“Selfishness, bodies, and inability to get along,” she groans. “This isn’t working. Let’s try a different way.”

She bounds forward and grabs a rectangular box, then sits back and points it at the wall. Is she daft?

The wall bursts into colour. I groan at the stupidity of this world. Magic boxes seem to be something of a fascination with them. It’s baffling.

She searches and then nods to herself, chewing her lip and mouthing words. “Yeah, this one. All right, everyone, come sit.”

We sit close to each other, which just has all our tempers skimming the surface. Frost and I exchange hostile looks.

We can appear like we are getting along easily enough, but deep down, we’re just brewing a cold war.

Despite myself, I get absorbed in some ridiculous show with humans who fall in love. Becky gets up and disappears, returning with food. She sits down and curls into Frost, who stiffens and loses his ability to pay attention to the TV. He, no, we are far too focused on the woman in his arms.

“What is that?” Puppy says climbing the wall beside the TV and leaning his head over the screen, staring at two people kissing.

“They’re kissing.”

“Why?”

“It’s nice. It feels good, and it’s what you do if you want to mate with someone,” she mutters softly and shakes her head. “I really hate that word. Kissing is one of the first steps of a courtship process. There is getting to know each other, shared likes and dislikes, touching, and then kissing.”

“What comes after?” I ask.

Becky opens her mouth to answer but doesn’t get a chance.

“Their skins are peeling off!” Puppy growls. “Are they going to eat now?”

Becky has a red tinge to her cheeks. “No. They are going to mate. You know what, we should turn this off-”

“Not happening,” I say and snatch the remote away from her. “Your Shadow kin need an education.”

Frost walks over to Puppy, and I watch him talk the Grim through the process of what is happening.

Puppy looks at the TV and then flicks a glance at Becky. “Does this sex feel good to you, meal?”

She chokes on the soda she’s drinking. “Yes. It feels good for both parties.”

“Hmm. Is that all there is?” The Grim crawls the wall around the TV, peering at it intently. “Is that all there is? Just one little flesh stick? No barbs, knots, or…just that useless pink thing?”

“You can do a lot with a pink thing if you know what you’re doing,” Becky protests. Then in a quieter voice. “Barbs? Knots?”

The Grim regards her with haughty disdain. “Hmmm.”

“What?” Becky snaps, challenging him.

“You don’t need a flesh stick. My tail could do better.”

This time, Becky ends up in a coughing fit that turns her puce. When she looks up, her eyes are watering. “Your tail?”

The Grim flicks the tip of his tail, showing off all the ways he can flex it.

Becky’s eyes follow it, and her mouth drops open. Stix, who is squeezed in on her other side, growls at Puppy, and the Grim climbs down and disappears.

The sex sounds go on, but watching Becky’s reactions has all of our attention.

Eventually, it moves on, and Becky talks us through the social norms and explains different questions we have all the way from philosophical, like what faith is and why there are so many, to explaining what slang is.