The House of Grey- Volume 4 (32 page)

“Ye
s,
well, it
i
s kind of hard to explain
.
I have these recurring thoughts in my head telling me to do certain things and keep you from doing others. My form
,
for example
.
I
do not
know why
,
but revealing my true form would be dangerous
for
you. Whenever I think about doing it
,
a powerful
feeling stop
s
me.  I
do not
know what exactly to make of all this
.
I hope
we can get some answers at some point, but I do know that you are important to the future, that many things have been done for your
-
sake
,
and that I
a
m here to protect you.”

Monson was taken
aback
by this declaration
.
He considered
this
for a moment. “I don’t know that we can do much more without further information
.
”

“It would appear that way,” said Dawn
,
taking a deep breath
.
“
B
efore we
go,
there was something I wanted to talk about…
.
”

“What was that
,
Dawn?”
asked
Monson
,
turning back towards him
.
“
I
didn’t catch that last
—
”
The sight of
Dawn’s face
stopped
Monson mid-sentence
.
Dawn’s eyes rolled into the back of his head just as his body started to go limp
.
Monson screamed
out
as he suddenly understood
.

“Dawn!”

Monson tried to
reach for
him
but stopped as he felt a sudden shift in the stone landing
that he
was standing
on
. Before he knew
what was happening,
the magical world he
had
suddenly
been
thrust into
began to
dissolv
e
around him.
It had been an
experience
un
like
any other, and Monson
’
s
heart felt heavy as the
images
that had been so real melted
in a
burst of energy
-
infused light.  As the light and chu
n
ks of magically created material rushed towards Monson
, he
had the fleeting thought that this
was
probably what aliens in outer space
experienced
. He laughed. He hoped this
would not
hurt
.

***

Monson awoke suddenly
.
S
omething cold
was
drip
ping
down his head. A sharp pain shot violently through his muscles as h
is
consciousness stirred.
Images
of
the
magical
hall
sprang to the forefront of his mind as he remembered Dawn and the revelations of the
day
. He moved his body slightly to get a feel for his surrounding
s
when he realized that he was lying down and that he was shirtless. He felt very cool but at the same time felt like a hot poker was being lightly drawn across his
skin
. It was this sensation that brought him out of his vegetative state.
He could no longer fight it. He opened his eyes.

“You’re awake
,
I see
.
”
Grayson
’
s
voice
sounded in
the
dimly lit
room.

“Where am I?” Monson’s dry
,
husky voice cracked as he spoke.

“Hold on
.
” Grayson placed his hands on Monson and
,
despite
being confined to the wheelchair,
helped him sit up. “You
’
ve been out for
four
or
five
hours and your fever
finally
just we
nt
down
.
H
ere
,
drink this
.
”

A cold glass touched Monson’s lips
and
he drank deeply
.
C
old
,
clean water laced with mint
soothed
his dry
mouth and throat.

“What’s going on?” Monson look
ed
over at Grayson
,
who was sitting in his chair smiling gently.
His
vision was
still
adjusting
;
he could hardly see.

“I was hoping you could tell me
.
” Grayson placed the glass of water in Monson’s hand. “Do you remember what happened?”

“I remember we were talking about some myth and that somehow I’m supposed to save the world, but after that it gets a bit blurry
.
”

“Well
,
before I
explain,
to illustrate you should look around
.
”

“Illustrate what?”

Grayson put up a hand to silence
him
, then a single finger. He
pulled out
some
sort of remote, which he pointed at the wall. Suddenly the lights came on.

“Oh
,
my
...
” Monson said in
disbelief
. The room
appeared as if
a small tornado
had
landed and
hung out for a while. Grayson’s books
and
posters were ripped, tattered and
torn
.
His computer was on the floor; the screen was smashed.
The chairs and tables were contorted to the point where
they
resemble
d
modern stylized art
.
L
arge gashes in the walls look
ed
as if beefy men with axes
had
got
ten
drunk and mistook the wall for a really obnoxious tree.
Clearly, s
omething terrible
had
happened while
Monson
was asleep. He lowered his gaze
,
unable to look at Grayson. Grayson just smiled.

“I’m quite al
l
right,” said Grayson
,
reading the look on Monson’s face. “You don’t have to worry
.
I don’t remember the last time I had such an evening
.
”

“How can you say that?”
asked
Monson angr
ily. 
“I did this
,
didn’t I? Whatever happen
ed
to me when I touched that journal caused this destruction. You could have been killed! How can you be so calm?”

“
Don’t worry,
Monson. I knew something like this could happen
.
I don’t claim to be an expert in magic or know what you are. But I
do
know that you are important to the future and if I have to die for you in the process
,
s
o be it.”

As an almost
-
involuntary reflex
,
Monson’s hand slowly rose and
covered
his eyes. What in the world was he? What was he doing in this world if he
was
not a part of it?

“I know that you
’
re confused,” whispered Grayson in a
n attempt to
calm
him.
“
B
ut you aren’t alone. And I’m
not
just
talking about myself,
either.”

“What do you mean?”
asked
Monson
,
looking up
at
Grayson
.
“
W
ho else knows about this?”

“That’s not what I meant
,
” said Grayson with a slight
headshake
.
“
Y
ou
’
re probably wondering how I remained unharmed while my room looks like its contents had a close encounter with a very large blender
.
”

Monson paused
,
working through Grayson
’
s words
. Now that he thought about it, Grayson
did not
appear to have any conspicuous injuries
,
and
apparently he had
been taking care of Monson for the better part of the afternoon. Maybe Grayson was more powerful than he was letting on.

“The thought had crossed my mind
.
” Monson sat up
.
“
C
an you tell me exactly what
happened
when I went under?”

“Most of it
’
s kind of
fuzzy,
”
admitted
Grayson
,
shaking his head
. 
“
W
e were just sitting there talking about
—
shoot
,
I don’t even remember now
—
when you closed your eyes and started breathing deeply. I spoke to you a bit
,
but
it was
like you
were sleeping
.
T
hen all of
a
sudden a weird sort of energy or light spread around you and then expanded
into something
like a shell or cocoon.
”

“Wait
,
” said Monson as something came to him
.
“
W
hat did it look like? The energy or light
—
was it material or tangible
,
or was it more like electrical energy?”

“What an odd question
.
” Grayson
rubbed his face thoughtfully.
“I don’t even really know
.
I remember
thinking
that if I got close enough I might be able to hold it.
It reminded me of times seeing members of H.U.M.A.N.E use AOI, like you were expelling kei from your body and manipulating your surroundings, but it was truly unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
”

“What happen
ed
after that?”

“The light gathered around you,” said Grayson
while
closing his eyes,
apparently
replaying
it all
in his mind. “There was a
plethora
of pulsating colors that mingled
and competed with
one
another;
t
hen it was like one of those colors
,
or power
s,
or whatever it was
,
gave way. It
was still for a
moment
, and
then it shot out in every direction like you were a radar tower.”

“What?” said Monson
confused
.
“
L
ike a radar tower?”

“Yeah
,
” said Grayson
.
“
T
hat’s the only way I can think of
to
describe it
.
I
t was like the energy was pulsating
,
and then it was as if I could feel it rushing
out
to fill in the empty space around us. It was a very weird feeling.”