Page 87 of An Inheritance of Monsters

All three of them looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I smiled to myself as I stirred sugar into my coffee.

Maybe I had, and maybe I liked it that way.

“Who are you, and where’s the real Juno?” Carson asked, giving me a sidelong glance.

I turned around, leaning my back against the counter as I sipped. Behind me, the machine rattled and let out a burp of steam. “I’m right here. How’s your show coming along?”

He and Jack exchanged glances full of confusion and suspicion. Carson had a folder and a spread of pages in front of himself, but as I took another gulp of coffee, he covered them with one hand and began sliding them back into a pile.

“Great. Yours?”

I shrugged. “Dunno. I’m sure Sierra’s on it.”

Carson looked like someone had slapped him in the face. “I know we’re not friends, but… in all seriousness, are you okay?”

“Never been better.” My god, coffee had never tasted so good. Maybe it just took getting dicked down by monsters to make the whole world seem like a beautiful place. It was the small things, really.

Or the giant things.

Jack leaned towards him. “Is she high?” he muttered.

Carson just shook his head in bemusement. But Porter had taken off his glasses and was polishing them on his shirt.

“This trip seems to be agreeing with you.” He raked me with his gaze, lips pursed. “Find anything interesting lately?”

“More things than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” I said cheerfully, knowing it would drive him insane, just as the coffee maker finished its second round of brewing. “Want some more?”

I was even feeling magnanimous towards Porter Hudson. The monsters had worked miracles.

He blinked several times, but held out his cup for a refill. Carson and Jack just shook their heads, still communicating in whispers.

Jack spoke first, wearing his usual smug smile. “Sierra was heading out this morning to film a segment on the Ruby and Sophie Marsh disappearances.”

Ah. I could tell he was using this information to try to get a rise out of me.

A week ago, I would’ve been furious… and now I just felt relief.

Despite the woesSpirit Squadhad begun to give me, at least it would continue on, even if it was without me. I couldn’t prevent feeling fondness for my first-ever pet project.

“Well, we’ve unanimously decided that Sierra should take over as the host on this episode. I will be using the rest of this trip as a research project while she cuts her teeth on leading the team.”

Carson’s eyebrows literally couldn’t rise any higher without disappearing into his hairline. “Wow. Well… congratulations to her, I suppose.”

“Couldn’t handle taking the heat anymore?” Jack asked, and to my surprise, Carson jammed his elbow into his side.

“Shut up,” he hissed.

Porter watched them, wearing an expression I knew extremely well from his YouVid videos.

There was a very good chance theDeadspaceteam would find themselves the subject of a scathing takedown in the near future.

“We should go get filming. Good luck with your research.” Carson smiled at me as he gathered his files. “May the best man win.”

“I intend to.”

Jack rolled his eyes, but he held back any retorts as Carson led the way out of the kitchen. I sighed, realizing they’d left their coffee cups for someone else to clean up, and began piling them in the sink to wash.

But as I began running water, the smell of old lady perfume wafted in.

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