Page 9 of Monster's Mistake

Oh good, that’s going to mean I can have more opportunities to talk to Meic and discover whether his missing one opportunity is just a fluke, or if he’s really stopped them all.

“If you turn to page sixty-four of your textbooks, you’ll find instructions and tips on the best way to interpret multiple things from the same set of tea leaves. That’s what you should start with.”

I sigh. Of course, we’re moving onto advanced stuff when I’m still yet to see anything in the tea leaves at all. I try not to let my frustration show, but Meic still seems to notice.

Somehow.

“I can help,” he says softly.

I snort. “Of course you can.”

“I know how to do this already, remember.”

“Some kind of ghoul magic?” I ask, genuinely curious. I don’t know much about ghouls, and even if I was a little curious to investigate after learning he was one, I decided against it.

He shrugs. “Maybe, I’ve never actually asked. But my Gran always used to say that anyone can learn to do anything if they set their mind to it.”

“Hmmm.”

“She also told me not to make snap judgements about people.”

“Well, Nanna told me that the best way to deal with someone annoying is to turn them into stone,” I respond.

He nods. “I guess that kind of advice makes sense from a gorgon.”

I stare at him for a moment, in complete disbelief that he’s let go of an opportunity to say something about me making him into stone without even trying.

I don’t ask him about it. Mostly because I know there’s nothing I can say, not after I’ve spent months telling him not to make jokes like that.

The cups of tea arrive, making it so that I don’t actually have to come up with anything smart, which is a relief, I don’t feel like I’m doing a very good job at interacting today.

The tea doesn’t smell any better than last time, and I wrinkle my nose at the thought of having to drink it again. “You’d have thought they could at least give us decent tea,” I mutter.

“Probably too expensive,” Meic responds.

“Do the different kinds create different readings?”

“Not as far as I know,” he responds. “But I don’t know that much about reading tea leaves, just the basics.”

“Oh.” I look down at my cup. “Well, I guess it’s best to just get this part over with.” I drink down the tea, trying not to taste it as it goes down. It’s not the best, but I think it could be worse. Or that’s what I’m going to keep telling myself.

The dredges of tea leaves at the bottom don’t look particularly appealing, but I know that’s kind of the point.

I stare at the bottom of the cup and try to make sense of what I’m seeing, but no matter what I do, I can’t get any divining to come to me.

“I’m never going to get this,” I mutter.

“You will,” Meic promises. “Want me to help?”

“To read my leaves for me?”

He shakes his head. “Here.” He stands up and comes to stand behind me. “You’re holding the cup too close.” He reaches out and almost touches my hand, but I flinch away, the response natural after so long spent avoiding touching people, and even overriding the inner need I have to be close to Meic.

He doesn’t press the issue and instead holds his hand about a foot away from my face. “You should hold your cup here,” he says.

I clear my throat, doing as he suggests. “Okay, now what?”

“Close your eyes.” His voice is low, and his breath tickles my ear, making me extremely aware of his proximity even if we aren’t touching. This isn’t like any interaction I’ve ever had with Meic before, and it’s making me hyper-aware of everythingabout him, including a fresh linen scent from his shirt, and something that must be just him.

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