Page 78 of Monster's Mystery

As I climbed, I thought about the misconceptions I had developed based on my fears.

Was Bruce really innocent of all wrongdoing?

“How did you get the students out of the academy without triggering any of the traps?” I asked over my shoulder.

Bruce chuckled. “You’re not starting at the beginning, but I understand why you’d ask that. The traps are only forunwillingpeople. Every person is here because they agreed to help me. If anyone said no, I didn’t take them.” He sobered. “I know we’ve only gotten to know each other over the past few days, but I had hoped you’d know me better than that.”

“Why did it take so long for the ones who didn’t want to help to return then?” I demanded.

Bruce shrugged. “Some had agreed and then changed their minds. Others took a little longer to return because I didn’t want to be seen. They were all safe in my study room in the library while they were ‘missing’.”

“And their memories?”

“In jars in my room here. I’ll return them after Clarissa is cured,” he said. “They all agreed to that. Taking an unwilling person’s memories is very painful for them. But I needed to work in secret. I wasn’t sure who I could trust.”

“Surely any of the teachers would understand and help you! Professor Dunlop would have!” I exclaimed.

“Are you one hundred percent certain of that?” he asked mildly. “You still don’t know how I intend to cure her.”

“Are you going to drain any souls?” I snapped back.

“Not exactly.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Let me tell you the story from the beginning,” Bruce said with a sigh. “Then you can make an informed decision about whether you want to stop me or not.”

“You trustme, though, don’t you?” Aiden asked from the top of the stairs. “I wouldn’t do anything that would hurt me.”

I sighed. “I do trustyou. I’m not so sure I trusthim.” I indicated Bruce over my shoulder with my thumb.

“Understandable,” Bruce agreed.

“Siobhan?” shrieked a voice from above.

“Hazel?” I called back. Even though Bruce had said she was all right, I hadn’t quite believed him until that moment.

I ran up the rest of the stairs, brushing past Aiden, to crash into Hazel’s arms. “Are you okay?” I asked, pulling back to look her over.

“I’m fine,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry I didn’t meet you at the ferry.”

“I’m more concerned about the fact that you didn’t leave a note!”

Hazel looked the same as ever, her greenish-brown skin smooth like the inside of a fresh cutting of a tree. Her hair reminded me of a weeping willow’s leafy branches, except brown. She had a blush of color on her cheeks from excitement.

“Sorry,” Hazel said. “I tried to convince Bruce that you could be trusted, but he was paranoid. He thought he could trust the people of Wellspring, too.”

I didn’t have an answer for that, but it hurt.

Hazel frowned at Bruce. “I didn’t have time to leave any notes, even just to tell you not to worry.”

“I was worried that it was already too late,” he said. “I knew that there were a lot of tests that you’d want to run.”

“You’ve been busy with them every waking moment,” Aiden agreed. “That’s what you told me this morning when I got here.”

“Five days of intense plant magic.” Hazel snorted. “I barely finished on time.”

“You were the best person for the job,” I said. “Although I’m certain a professor or two might have helped.” I rolled my eyes at Bruce.

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