What if every magical creature you'd ever heard of was real, driven into hiding by an army of violent zealots? This is reality for Sarah Heisen and Porter Collins. Sarah is a sphinx living a life of luxury in her family's mansion. Hidden from all da...
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Chapter Twenty Five
(Sarah)
"You've never been to a city, have you?" Misoki asked, leading the way down the driveway.
"Just once," Sarah answered.
Misoki looked back at her, the amazement plain on her canine face. "You went to the city? I thought your dad said..." she paused. "Oh wait, this was after the attack, wasn't it?"
Sarah nodded. "And it involved a cage and a cattle prod."
Misoki's tail began to wag. "Well, this is going to be better, I promise!"
As they walked, a centaur passed them going the other way, and nodded amiably. A naga lounged with her tail curled around a lawn chair, basking in the artificial sunlight while a dryad stretched her branches to offer her a little shade. Some sort of woman with a spider for her lower body was watering her garden. Sarah couldn't stop herself from staring. She'd been around hundreds more Mythics than this at the Historians' Tower, but there was something different about seeing them walking around outside, living normal lives without worrying about who might see them. The strangest part, though, was that Misoki was still chattering away, as if this weren't the single most amazing thing in the entire world.
"This place has a ton of fun things to do," she was saying. "There's a movie theater, restaurants, sports fields, and lots of stores! Everything you buy is made here, of course, but you'd never be able to tell the difference."
"What about the movies?" Sarah asked. "Do they make those here, too?"
Misoki barked out a laugh. "No, but there this thing called the internet where you can download movies for free."
Sarah frowned. "But that's against the..." she stopped talking and looked around again. "You know what? Never mind."
Misoki laughed again, and led her down another street. Now that they were in the town proper, there were even more Mythics walking the streets. A man with a jackal's face was wheeling a hot dog cart down the road, and the smell reminded Sarah that she hadn't finished her breakfast. She was about to suggest that they get one when a shadow passed overhead with the sound of flapping leather. Further down the street, a gigantic red-scaled dragon touched down in the middle of the road, folded its wings, and continued on its way on foot. Nobody gave it so much as a second glance.
Sarah stared openmouthed at it, her manners completely forgotten.
"Hello?" Misoki called, waving a paw in front of the sphinx's face. "Earth to Sarah! Are you in there?"
"I think I'm experiencing culture shock," Sarah mumbled in reply.
Misoki giggled and turned back in the direction they were going. "Well, come on! You're not gonna get used to it hiding in your parents' house all day!"
