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Graves stepped through the door of his library. His hands were bare, and he ran one through his dark hair. The sight of him in that suit with the ferocious look on his face just made her want to drag him back upstairs.

“Everything all right?” Kierse asked.

“Laz is in place,” Graves said without preamble. “Schwartz was taken off of security from the Curator.”

“What?” Kierse and Gen gasped at the same time.

“Since the auction, the Curator decided to go with in-house security,” Graves said. “We’re going to have to find some other way to get him inside.”

“Fuck,” Kierse grumbled.

“And you inside,” Graves added. “Since we thought Schwartz would be able to bypass security for you.”

“Double fuck.”

“Plus, I just got the final information from the con. Increased security, due to the nature of the business—monsters—and the new collection being showcased.”

“Curator,” Gen said with a sigh.

Graves nodded. “No plus-ones are allowed inside the conference space at any point. Everyone will have a badge given to them at check-in with a bar scanner that matches a picture verification.”

“So Walter just adds me to the list,” Kierse said.

“Then they’d know you were there,” Walter said. “The uninvited thief.”

“Correct.” Graves glanced at Walter. “Rodriguez, you got anything for me?”

“In fact, I do.” He pressed a button, and a small printer Kierse hadn’t noticed at his side whirred to life. “This is the Monster Con schedule.”

“You had no difficulties getting into the con network?”

Walter looked up at him with skepticism. “Should I have? It took about three minutes.”

“Good,” Graves said. His eyes shot up to hers, and she mouthed, I told you so. He tipped his head at her in concession.

“I’ve reestablished your security net and reinforced it with my warding.

I’m working on the problem of the Curator now.

That might take me a little longer.” Walter ripped the papers off the printer and passed them to Graves.

“I’d print the list of registrants, but it’s hundreds of monsters long.

If you’re looking for anyone in particular, I can do a search for you.

Otherwise I’ll send it to your email for review. ”

“Excellent.”

Graves scanned the schedule that Walter had given him. Kierse abandoned the decoy to take a look at the second half of the papers and see what all the fuss was about.

Saturday, June 22nd 11:00 a.m.

The Rise and Fall of Vampires: A Comprehensive Look at the Changes in Blood Composition by leading experts in the field, including ex-Visage scientist Harry Hayward.

Saturday June 22nd 11:00 a.m.

The Monster Treaty: Pros and Cons for Wraiths including panelists Gregory Amberdash, Michelle Lombardy, James Van Dyken, and Anders Larsson.

Saturday June 22nd 11:00 a.m.

Monsters in Academia: A Who’s Who of Tenured Monster Faculty including Waylan Yarrow, Bastian Williams, Ifetayo Musa, Samantha Smith, and Jorie Nguyen.

Saturday June 22nd 12:00-2:00 p.m.

Lunch served in The Oak Room. Dietary restrictions pass required.

Saturday June 22nd 2:00 p.m.

Blessed Be the Peacemakers: The Role of Human Religion in Upholding the Monster Treaty with Harvard anthropologist Eugenie Ethridge

Saturday June 22nd 2:00 p.m.

Don’t Say the M Word: How to Talk to Humans About Magic with the leading Fae folklorist, Andrea Chapman, paired with human/monster psychologist Henrietta Sanchez.

The list was endless. Every time slot had six to ten different panels of varying topics for monsters.

“This is…exhausting,” Kierse admitted as she continued to flip through the pages.

“Yes. Everyone who is going is required to speak. It’s the bipartisan contribution, blah, blah,” Graves grumbled.

“ You’re speaking?”

He glanced up at her. “On Sunday.”

“We’ll have the cauldron before that.”

He smirked. “Exactly.”

She flipped through the pages until she found the list for Sunday. She almost missed it twice because there was no name associated with it.

Sunday, June 23rd 8:00 a.m.

Monsters Not Magic: A Comprehensive Look at the Myth and Lie of the Motto featuring a surprise guest, a renowned Monster Treaty specialist.

“You got your name removed?” Kierse asked.

“ I did,” Walter said with a grin.

“Worth his weight at least,” Graves said.

“Eight in the morning,” she said with a snort. “They should have known you’d never agree to that.”

Gen snorted. “Facts.”

Kierse went back to where she’d left off.

She already had more questions than she could keep in her head all at once.

Amberdash would be there, which made sense.

He wouldn’t be able to avoid being included in something like this.

A Fae folklorist sounded like someone Kierse should corner in a bathroom for information.

The dietary restrictions card had her worried.

She knew what monsters ate—who they ate—and what that card must look like. She doubted it was just gluten free.

“Oh,” Graves said softly.

“What’s oh?” Kierse asked.

“I might have found your way in.”

Kierse peered over his shoulder and saw that his finger was pointing toward the Friday night entertainment. “A welcome reception benefit for the arts?”

“That’s where the Curator is going to be showcasing his collection.”

“How is that going to get me inside?”

He pointed at the next line: “Including the cast of New Amsterdam Theatre’s Aerial Garden reproduction of A Midsummer Night’s Dream .”

Kierse’s mouth formed an O .

“Lyra.”