Only a Monster(Monsters #1)(55)

‘We’re not going to the Monster Court!’ Aaron said, just as impatiently. ‘We’re never going to the Court!’

‘I’ll go without you if I have to!’

‘Oh, really? How are you going to do that? How are you even going to find it? I wouldn’t know where to find it.’ Aaron turned to Ruth. ‘Maybe your family should have actually taught her something. Then she wouldn’t have such stupid ideas about things.’

‘Will you shut up about that?’ Joan snapped.

‘No,’ Aaron said. ‘You almost fell out of this time twice yesterday!’ To Ruth, he said: ‘That should never have happened! Your family never even taught her to be safe!’

‘Gran wouldn’t let us tell her what monsters were,’ Ruth blurted, as if surprised into honesty.

‘What?’ Joan felt as though she’d been punched.

Ruth saw her expression. ‘Oh, Joan. It’s not like we—we just thought you couldn’t travel. Most monsters can’t if they have a human parent. Gran probably thought it would be kinder if you didn’t know. I mean . . .’ Her voice gentled. ‘I suppose she thought it would upset you too much to learn the truth of it.’

‘But . . .’ Joan blinked, puzzlement overriding hurt for a moment. Gran had known that Joan could travel. Gran had known to wait up for Joan the night she’d first travelled. She’d known. ‘Don’t the records say I can travel?’

‘But that’s what I mean,’ Ruth said. ‘The records said you can’t.’

‘You thought she wasn’t a monster,’ Aaron said.

‘I didn’t say that,’ Ruth said.

‘A person who can’t travel isn’t a monster.’

‘Is that what you say about Olivers who can’t?’ Ruth sounded disgusted.

‘An Oliver who can’t travel is an oxymoron,’ Aaron said. ‘Your family makes me sick,’ Ruth said.

Joan found herself standing. Her head was starting to hurt. She needed to think. ‘Where are you going?’ Aaron said suddenly.

‘For a walk.’

‘A walk where?’ Ruth asked.

‘I need to think.’ And she couldn’t do that with all their bickering.

Joan left the monster street and walked until her head started to clear. She needed to figure out how the key worked and where the Court was. Maybe she should go back to the Lius.

The sun was out. She tipped her head up to feel it. She waited for some sniping comment from Aaron about the pause, but it didn’t come. She’d forgotten for a second that she was alone. The silence gave her a strange feeling of relief and, unexpectedly, something closer to loneliness.

There were cafés all along the street. Joan picked an American-style diner with big windows and seats that got a bit of sun. Inside, tired tourists were eating hamburgers and hot dogs and all-day breakfast sausages and eggs.

Joan sorted through her money, carefully separating the monster notes from the human ones. When the waiter came, she ordered a pot of tea. Then she sat there, leaning her head back against the headrest and watching a couple argue over a map the size of a tablecloth. In thirty years, they’d have GPS and nothing to argue over.

The waiter returned with tea. ‘Thanks,’ Joan said as he set it down. Then, to her surprise, he slid into the seat opposite hers.

Her heart stopped. It was Nick.





THIRTEEN




Nick’s hands shot out before Joan could react, clamping around both her wrists. Joan’s heart pounded painfully. She heard the catch of her own breath. He looked just the same as he had two nights ago—the night she’d kissed him; the night her family had been murdered. His dark eyes were the same: serious and earnest. Just like when he’d asked her to stay with him.

‘Do you remember what I told you the last time I saw you?’ he said.

He’d told her he’d kill her if she ever stole time again. A shot of fear went through her. She tested the underside of the table with her knee. It didn’t budge, even when she increased the pressure. She glanced at the neighbouring table. It was bolted down. She couldn’t kick the table over.

Nick looked casually out the window. People were walking past them, dressed for work, in the loose suits of this time. Joan followed his eyes from the window to the security camera above them, to another camera on the other side of the room. ‘Next time,’ he said, still soft, ‘I’ll make sure we’re alone.’

‘How can you be here?’ Joan whispered. But there was only one way. And like a storm hitting, her shock and fear at seeing him gave way to pure fury. ‘You’re a monster too? After all you did, you’re—’

‘No!’ Nick’s jaw tightened. ‘I’m human.’

‘You liar!’ Joan said. He was too good at lying. Everything he said was clear-eyed and true. ‘Only monsters can travel!’

‘Only monsters and me. And I travel in a different way. I don’t steal time.’

‘How, then?’

He didn’t answer, and Joan shook her head in contempt. She thought about how she’d left Aaron and Ruth back at the market and couldn’t believe how cavalier she’d been. If Nick’s people found them, they’d be helpless.