Page 84 of Sweet Nightmare

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

I COULD TOTALLY

TAP-ESTRY THAT

The first thing I notice is that he just came from feeding and preparing no fewer than six monster enclosures, and there’s not a scratch on him—not even from the chricklers.

The second is that he doesn’t look happy at all.

As soon as the door closes behind him, his eyes meet mine from across the room, and for one second, I get a glimpse of pure, pissed-off misery. I start to ask him what’s wrong, but before I can get the words out, the emotional shutters come down, locking me, and everyone else in the room, out.

Not that anyone else seems to notice. Then again, this is how he always looks to them.

“How’d it go?” Mozart asks as she hands him a bottle of water.

Jude shrugs. “Fine. But I can’t stay. I have—” He breaks off, swallowing back whatever he was going to say.

Mozart, Simon, and Ember exchange a look, but they don’t say anything as the song reaches the chorus—and neither does anybody else.

I wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t. He just leans back against the wall and drinks the water down in two long swallows. And he doesn’t look at me once.

A little spurt of hurt starts deep inside of me, but I beat it back. Because, despite everything, this isn’t about me. It’s about something being wrong with him. And I can’t help wondering if he’s not looking at me because he’s afraid I’ll figure that out.

When he’s done, Jude tosses the bottle toward the small recycling can in the corner of the kitchenette without so much as glancing its way. Seconds later, it flies straight in, not even brushing against the rim.

“Show-off,” Simon mutters with a roll of his eyes.

But Jude’s attention has already been snagged by the rolled-up tapestry in the corner.

“What is that?” he demands hoarsely.

And because I want answers from him, I do something I haven’t done with anyone else. I tell him the truth about the tapestry. And watch him closely for his reaction.

“Just something I found in that old cellar on the other side of the island. It’s what I was texting you about.” I watch him carefully, wanting to see his reaction. Does he know what the tapestry can do? And if so, is that why he was so adamant that I stay away from there?

I didn’t think it was possible, but somehow his face goes even more blank—but in a very obviously disturbed way.

“It’s really cool,” Eva starts. “It does this thing where it—”

She breaks off when I shoot her a look.

“Where it does what?” Ember’s dark eyes are intrigued as she glances back and forth between Jude and me.

Eva looks at me helplessly.

“It’s just a picture of the island the way it used to be, when it was still a resort,” I tell her. “No big deal.”

I’m pretty sure Jude’s eye twitches when I say the last part. Which has my own eyes narrowing as I try to figure out why he’s so upset. Is it that I took the tapestry? Or that Eva and I might know its secret? And what’s the big deal if we do? Why does this tapestry matter so much to the Jean-Jerks? And—apparently—to Jude as well?

“I should probably get going—” I start.

At the exact same time, Simon comments, “You know what this get-together could really use?” he asks, climbing to his feet.

“A backup generator?” Mozart answers wryly as the lights start to flicker.

I freeze, heart beating wildly as I wait to see if my manticore is going to rear its head again. It doesn’t—and, as far as I can tell, nothing happens for anybody else, either. Maybe Aunt Claudia is right and Uncle Christopher really did manage to get things fixed for the time being.

I’d like to say I’m disappointed, but after what happened to me earlier, I’m actually really relieved—at least for now.

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