The House of Grey- Volume 4 (33 page)

“What happen
ed
next?”

“All of this
...
” Grayson
gestured around him at
the massive amount of destruction
.
“
It
was a bit scary
,
”
h
e said as an afterthought.

“But that still doesn’t explain how you
managed to remain unharmed.
”

“I’m not really sure how that happened
,
either
.
I
t happened so fast
;
by the time I really understood what was going on
,
it was all over
.
I do remember
a
feeling
of
someone wrapp
ing
their arms around me
,
like my mom use
d
to do
,
you know
?
”
H
e hesitated for the briefest second
,
then
continued.  “Everything that came
towards
me just seemed to miss after that, and then you fell to the floor. I
’
ve been watching over you ever since
.
”

“How odd
,
” said
Monson.

“You bet your grits it was odd,” said Grayson, relapsing into his Southern accent.

Monson cocked the eyebrow.

“Too much?” he asked.

Monson laughed. “Way too much.”

Grayson smiled but it slowly turned into a grimace.
“Monson, you haven’t heard the really weird part yet.”

Monson locked eyes with Grayson
.
“
Y
ou mean weirder th
a
n all this.”

He motioned around the room.

Grayson bobbed
his
head up and down slowly
.
“Yeah
,
Gr
e
y
—
look at your right hand.”

Monson look
ed
down to stare at his right hand. His scars. They were gone.

He
stood up
, went to the small
fridge,
and grabbed
a bottle of water, which he
down
ed
half of in two large gulps.

Grayson
just sat,
deep in thought
.

“
S
o what do we do now?”
Monson sat back down.

“Monson
,
why aren’t you saying anything
?
”

“Because I have nothing to say, at least
not
about
my scars
.”

He
repeated his question
.
“
S
o what do we do now
?"

“I’m not sure there
’
s really anything that
we
can do,”
replied
Grayson
.
“I think you need put
in
some serious time
to get
control of your powers
.
”

“And how the heck do you
propose
I do that?
I just found out about them.
”

“I understand that
.
” Grayson attempted to maintain his
calm
demeanor
.
“I think we need to put some thought into this Magi Blade hyp
e
that your dream provided. Dawn said that was the key
,
didn’t he?”

“Yeah he did. But it’s not that easy
.
T
he only thing I know about magic is that I have
to
believe it exists. Where do I go from there?”

“Again, I don’t have any answers for you
,
” answered Grayson
.
“
B
ut in
the past twenty-four hours
I have seen you use magic not once, but twice. And though it was inadvertent
,
it was
somewhat
conscious. Maybe you should start there
.
T
ake some time, find a secluded spot
,
and
try
to access your power
—preferably without causing widespread destruction
.”

“Well, I
can’t
think
of
a better idea
,
” conceded Monson
.
“I guess I could give it a try.”

“One more thing. You should probably tell Arth
u
r and Casey
.
T
hey aren’t stupid and you don’t want them to find out without an explanation
from you first
. It
’
s better if you explain to them and swear them to secrecy.”

“I already promised Casey I would tell him what’s going on
,
so you don’t have to worry about that. Besides
,
I have something I need to discuss with both of them anyway.”

“What would that be?”

“Never mind, it
’
s not important. Is there anything else? Because I should probably get back to my
place
.”

“Yeah
.
I would try to make up with Taris as well.”

“Why?” Monson went slightly red at the turn in convers
at
ion
.

“You froze most of the inner plum
b
ing of the Atrium just
because you got
upset. I think we need to
address
the reason for that
before you cause the first
massive
snowstorm in Coren’s history.”

“Ha
h
a
,
” said Monson with just a touch of sarcasm. “
W
hile we’re making requests
,
I have one of my own. While I’m doing all this training and damage control I want you
to
translate
a copy of that journal
for me
if you can. I have a feeling there
’
s
more to learn there. I need answers
,
a
nd I don’t know how I’m going to get them otherwise.”

Grayson hesitated, but then said,
“Will do,
a
nd remember to be careful.”

Monson started to move towards the door. “I will
,
Grayson. Thank you. Do you want me to help you clean up the mess?”

“No
,
” said Grayson with a smile and slight shake of his head. “I have people
who
do that sort of stuff.
"

“
Al
l
right
. Touch base with me later.
”

“
Will do.
”

W
ith that
,
Monson opened the door
,
leaving a thoroughly destroyed room behind him.

Chapter
4
5 - Runes

The next few days were quieter than Monson
had
expected. Grayson was quickly cleared
of
any wrongdoing
,
seeing that
the school
still had no idea how the perpetrator
had
destroyed the Atrium’s fountain.  Monson was recovering from the earful he
had
received from both Art
o
r
i
us and Casey.
To sum up:
T
hey couldn’t find him
,
he didn’t pick up his phone
, and they were super pissed about it
. They were worried that Monson
was
in some sort of trouble. He assured them that all was well
and
he appreciated their concern. The awkwardness that followed was uncomfortable
,
but predictable.  He knew that they meant well and that he should
provide them full disclosure,
but working
“magic”
into the conversation proved difficult
.
How
did
one bring up something like that? Would they believe him without proof? Could he
even prove
it?

Monson flexed his unscarred hand
in
the leather gloves he was now wearing
, a fact that his friends were all too quick to point out. He made up
a few
innocuous excuses that sated them…for the moment. However, for the long term he was not sure how he was going to explain them.

Monson
laughed
, unable to help himself.
Baroty
wore
a glove to hide scars
and now
he
wore
one to hide the lack of scars
.
H
ow truly ironic. 

Confused and frustrated by his lack of control over
his
situation
,
Monson
kept
hi
s
mouth shut for the time being
. He wanted with every fiber of his being to tell them, to let them know what was going on, but the words failed him. Just like the weight room experience, Monson held back the information. He did not even have a real excuse. Fear, perhaps
;
he did not know. 

The secret ate at him
,
thoug
h, which was made worse once Grayson starting spending time with them all.
Luckily, Art
o
rius and Casey were pretty easygoing when it came to developments like this
,
so the transition went surprisingly smooth
ly.
But h
e
had
to
come up with a way to
explain
the
sudden
c
amaraderie
with Grayson
. Ultimately
,
he pushed his
fantastical
issues
aside
.
H
e would tell them
.
He just needed
to find
the right time.

His most pressing problem
s
in the mundane realm
were
his relationships with Taris and Cyann
.
H
e knew at some point he was going to have to
f
igure out what was upsetting them so much.
This is what he got for spending time with women;
h
e was about ready
to
kick the lot of them. The situation was starting to get desperate
as
the dance
approached.
“I don’t see what the issue is
.
” Casey leaned against the tru
n
k of an oak tree in one of the more obscure parts of the
Inner
Gardens. “Taris can’t be that pissed you were late. This is just getting silly.”

Monson was sprawled out on the grass
,
an arm across his face covering his eyes. “That’s what I thought, but every time I try
to
call
,
she ignores it. I
’
ve
watched
her do it. Oh
,
and let
’
s not forget
,
when I try to talk to her in class she
gets
tears in her eyes. How am I supposed to talk when she
’
s
practically
crying? I’m just not equipped to deal with females.”

“That’s what I
’
ve been trying to tell you
.
” Art
o
rius supplied a quirky grin
.
“
Y
ou should just leave the womenfolk to me. I
’
ll take care of Taris for you.”