Only a Monster(Monsters #1)(61)

‘What charming advice,’ Aaron said.

Tom leaned back against the wall, chewing. He seemed to be enjoying watching Aaron squirm. ‘I’ve heard that Hunts can steal anything from anyone.’

Joan nodded. ‘Bet there were things at the Court that you wanted when you worked there.’ He was probably pretty annoyed that he’d been fired too.

Tom took his time finishing the sandwich. ‘I might be interested,’ he said finally.

‘Really?’ Joan said. She breathed out, relieved.

Tom seemed to come to a decision. He held out a big hand for Joan to shake. ‘Yeah.’

‘Okay.’ Joan took his hand. It was nearly double the size of her own. ‘Okay.’

‘Why are you shaking his hand as if you’ve made a bargain?’ Aaron said to Joan incredulously. ‘You haven’t made a bargain! You haven’t even agreed on a price!’

‘Oh, don’t worry, sunshine,’ Tom said to him. ‘I’ll open the big door. As long as your little thieves open the other doors, we’ll be square.’

‘Ah, I see,’ Aaron said a little faintly. ‘The Hunts will steal what they want. You’ll steal what you want. And I’ll just continue to live my best life.’

‘Be ready in two nights’ time,’ Tom added.

‘Two nights?’ Joan said. She’d been barrelling through the conversation, her only concern to get into the Court before Nick. Now, though, she felt a wave of unease.

‘That’s when the gate opens,’ Tom said.

‘The gate?’ Joan said.

Tom nodded. ‘There’s going to be a gala at the Court. Lucky you, huh? Last time the gate opened was centuries ago. And it won’t open again for another century. It’s like it’s opening just for you.’

‘Lucky us,’ Joan heard herself say. But all she could think about was how she and Aaron weren’t even supposed to be in this time—they’d overshot. Lucky. It didn’t feel like luck.

With that new monster sense in the back of her head, Joan could feel the timeline stirring—as it had when she’d watched those envelopes fall.

And she couldn’t have said why, but the unease bloomed into foreboding.

Back at the flat, Aaron was furious. ‘We’re not doing this,’ he said. They’d left Tom at the market, already half-asleep again. ‘This is ridiculous. This is not a plan!’

‘Well, not yet,’ Ruth said. ‘But I think he could get us in. He was a Court Guard. And if we have a way in, then we have the start of a plan.’

‘Were we looking at the same man? He could barely hold his head up!’ Aaron’s voice was shaking. ‘Do you have any idea what the Court will do to us if they catch us? And they will if we have to rely on that fool.’

‘We’ll be careful,’ Joan said.

‘Look,’ Ruth said to Aaron. ‘If we’re wrong about Tom—if we’re caught at the gate—then we’ll get arrested. So what? We’ll just make up some lie about gatecrashing the party.’

‘Arrested?’ Aaron said. ‘Have you ever actually met a member of the Monster Court? Have you come face-to-face with one of the Curia Monstrorum?’

‘No,’ Ruth admitted. ‘I’ve seen Court Guards.’

Aaron looked at her with a bleak expression Joan had never seen on his face before. ‘One of them came for my cousin once,’ he said.

‘You actually saw a member of the Monster Court?’ Ruth sounded disbelieving. ‘One of the Curia Monstrorum? Which one?’

‘Conrad,’ Aaron said. He answered the question in Joan’s expression. ‘We call him the King’s Reach. He’s the King’s authority in this time. He’s responsible for enforcing the law two centuries into the future and three centuries behind.’

‘Kind of like a policeman?’ Joan said.

Aaron’s face went pinched. ‘Not really like that, no.’

‘Conrad came. In person?’ Ruth asked. She still sounded disbelieving.

For a moment it seemed like Aaron was going to leave it at that, but then he set his jaw. ‘I was there. I was at school with my cousin Kit when Conrad came.’

Joan glanced at Ruth. Her posture was still sceptical, but Joan could tell she wanted to know more.

‘They say that Conrad was a Nightingale once,’ Aaron said. ‘When he ascended to the Court, he revoked all ties to his family. His loyalty is only to the King now. But he still has the Nightingale power. He can steal life from monsters.’ His tone was becoming more subdued. ‘And . . . they say he can do other things. They say he can force people to travel with him.’

‘He forced your cousin to travel with him?’ Joan asked Aaron.

Aaron didn’t seem to hear her. His attention was on something inside his own head. ‘Kit and I were walking back to our dorm room. When we turned the corner, Conrad was waiting for us.’

Aaron swiped a hand over his mouth. ‘He told us to follow him outside. He took us to the pond down by the football field. Well, they called it a pond, but it’s more like a lake. I didn’t go down there much. People used to say it was haunted.’ Aaron’s mouth twisted. ‘Conrad just stood there, looking at us. Then he said: “Do you know why I’m here?” He was so casual. He said: “Someone’s been taking time at this school. Students who attend are eighteen percent more likely to die before the age of seventy-five than the general population.” He said that one day that anomaly would draw the attention of human authorities. He said that the King didn’t tolerate mistakes like that.’