The House of Grey- Volume 4 (21 page)

Monson relayed
what
had
happen
ed
between him, Cyann, Taris and Damion. As he finished his story
,
he watched Casey
,
who continued to look thoughtful.

“Wow, I don’t even know what to say to that. What are you going to do?”

“I have no ide
a.
” Monson shrugged
.
“
W
ho would have thought someone could get that pissed over someone
else
being late.”

“Amen to that
,
” agreed Casey
.
“
W
hy not ask Cyann
?
S
he might have some advice for you
.
Besides
,
it
’
s about time you t
w
o work out whatever is going on between you. ”

“Cyann’s still acting weird
.
” Monson shook his head
.
“I don’t know what
’
s
going on with her. I think she may be on cloud nine with all this Diamond business
.
”

“You really are dense
,
aren’t you?
"

“Me?” retorted Monson defensively
.
“
W
hat about you? I don’t see you taking any
big
strides. Who are you to
criticize
?” Monson shifted in his chair to glance towards a table on the far side of the room where Kylie was talking with some friends.

Casey’s face went white
.
“There’s no story there! There aren’t any strides to make. We were friends. We aren’t anymore. Why do you keep bringing this up?”

“You want to make up with her
,
I know you do. I don’t know why you just don’t call her out and speak to her about what happened.”

“I think the attack on
the bridge
addled your brain more than you
’
re letting on.”

Monson sighed
.
“
Y
ou have no idea.”

Casey continued
,
not hearing him
.
“I couldn’t do that
anyway
; there
’
s too much bad blood. Too much history.”

“Tell you what,” said Monson
,
not really thinking about what he was about to say. “I
’
ll talk to Cyann if you
’
ll talk to
K
ylie
.
”

The color instantly returned to Casey’s face.  He was looking more uncomfortable th
a
n Monson could ever remember seeing him.

“That is impossible
.
T
here is no way
—
”

“Then be quiet about Cyann.”

“Fine, but then you have to tell
Artorius
and me what happen
ed
to your hand and why you
’
ve been acting so weird
since yesterday.
”

Monson’s eyes narrowed in disbelief
.
“What? Why is that part of the deal?”

“Because I just made it part of the deal. Kylie and I have history. I can’t even begin to explain. I have to go through
way
more th
a
n you. This evens out the exchange.”

Monson
looked doubtful
.

“Besides
,
” continued Casey
. “Artorius
and I are worried about you
.
”

Monson deflated. He
had
lost this argument. “You’re not going to believe me
,
but I
’
ll tell you and
Artorius
after
you talk to Kylie.”

Monson put out his hand to shake Casey’s. Casey slapped his hand and then went into
the
weird handshake
he exchanged with Artorius
, the one that
culminated
with them smacking
t
heir fists together.

“This is
our
handshake
—the three of us.
I
t’s like a promise among brothers
,
”
intoned
Casey with a look so serious it was almost comical
.
“You break a promise on this shake
,
I’m going to punch you in the face.” 

“Between brothers
,
huh
?” Monson
went
over the handshake in his mind. “You too. If you break a promise on this shake I’m going to punch
you
.
”

“Done
,
” said Casey with a small smile
.

The two boys sat
lost
in their thoughts.  In that moment, Monson ascended to
way beyond
cloud nine.
Brothers
. He did not have any siblings
and
the only family he had
ever
known was his grandfather
.
S
o the idea of having
a
brother
—two brothers—
appealed to him a great deal.

“You guys are still eating?”

Monson, a full
cup of
juice halfway to his lips, bobbled it in surprise
,
causing the contents to
splash
all over his shirt and pants.

Artorius
choked on a laugh
.
“Oh sorry, dude. I didn’t mean to
surprise
you.”

“Well
,
this is the icing on an absolutely wonderful day,” said Monson
with
heavy sarcasm
,
mopping up his shirt
.
“
I’m going back to my room
,
you two. I think I’m going to go
to
sleep until this semester is over
.
”

“Wait
!
” pleaded
Artorius,
sounding excited and catching Monson’s arm before he could get up
.
“
B
efore you go
,
you gotta hear this.”

Casey and Monson settled back in
their seats,
both saying, “What?”

“I overhea
r
d some of the staff discussing what happen
ed
to the fountain. They think they know who did it.”

Monson felt like someone
had
just kicked
him
in the crotch.

Casey sputtered in excitement
.
“Really, who do they think it is? That’s it! It’s all over
!
H
e’s
totally gonna
get kick
ed
out of school.
”

Artorius
leaned in as if
sharing
some monstrous state secret. “Apparently a single individual was seen leaving
T
he Barracks around
the
time they think it happened. They’re pretty sure it was him.”

“Arthur, who is it?”

Artori
us put his hands to his mouth
,
cupping them around his lips
.
“Grayson
Garrett
.”

***

“I have to go
.
” Monson put down his fork and stood up.

Artori
us and Casey tried to protest
.
“
W
ait
, Grey….
”
Monson was already out of
earshot
. He tried not to run. He wanted to
,
b
ut he did not want to seem suspicious
,
so he walked as fast as he could through
the
double doors of the
cafeteria
. His mind whirled
as
he moved.

Grayson was there. He was in
t
he Atrium. Did he see Monson and Taris? Did he see Monson at the fountain? All very important questions
.
He
had
to find Grayson.

Monson
burst
into a run once
he
hit the hall outside the double doors. He rounded one of the many corners leading to the master hall of
T
he GM.
Unfortunately
,
he turned the corner a little too sharply and ran headlong into Ms. Miranda
Blake
.

Papers, bags and variety of other
items
scattered into different directions as Ms.
Blake
let out a scream that probably reached the Roman deities. Monson did not fare any better as he slammed into the
stone
wall
.

“It is just not my day
.
”
He
rubbed his head
and then noticed
the
rumpled
form of Ms.
Blake
slowly
stand
up
,
which triggered a stream of apologies
from him
. 
He, too,
tried to stand but immediately felt dizzy
,
so
he sat back down and closed his eyes again.

“I’m so sorry,” said Monson
again,
eyes still closed
.
“I shouldn’t have been running. I can’t believe I knock
ed
you over.”

“It’s quite al
l
right. Here
,
let me help you
.
” Monson
’
s
lids popped back open. He made eye contact with her as he took her hand. “Ms. Blake, I think you lost one of your contact lenses.” Monson attempted to stand. 

Monson
was not
sure why
,
but apparently this
revelation
was very startling
.
The
second that Ms.
Blake
realized what
Monson had
said
,
she
yanked
her proffered hand
away and covered one of her eyes. This,
consequently,
caused him to fall back to the ground. 

“Oh
,
I’m sorry,
Monson.
”

She
again
extended
her hand.

Monson ignored the hand
, rising
on his own
.
“It’s
OK. Ca
n I help you find it?”

Please say no. Please say no…
.
Monson waited for her answer.

“Oh
sure, that would be fine, Mr. Grey,
” said Ms.
Blake
offhand
edly
. Her face abruptly went pale.

“Wait
, no.
No,
n
o
,
no
,
you can’t help. I don’t want your
—!
I mean
…
”
—–she took a deep breath—
“
sorry, I’m so scatterbrained today. Don’t worry about it
.
Y
ou seem to be in a hurry
.
”

Relieved and a bit
lightheaded,
Monson shot her a cocky wink
.
“You have really pretty eyes
,
Ms.
Blake
. It’s a shame yo
u hide the real color.
”