Page 86 of Monster's Baby

Door-Aiden cast the fireball that had nearly hit me, just as I remembered.The Aiden in the middle managed to deflect it just enough that it zoomed over my head.I rubbed my arms to flatten the goosebumps that erupted from how close that call had been.

The memory faded, the guys vanishing from my sight as I focused on the stairs.

“Nonono,” I muttered, squatting down on my haunches as if that would help me to see.

When the guys reappeared, they were already in their new positions in front of the office and the mess hall.

I had to start over from scratch.

“Expression of anger and offensive versus defensive spells,” I said to myself.

But the shapeshifter must have realized that I would be able to do something like this, because his expression mirrored Aiden’s nearly exactly.

On top of that, both Aidens were casting similar spells now, the shapeshifter having switched to containment spells like the real Aiden had been doing before.

“Fuck!”I exclaimed.

“Everything all right?”Professor Reynolds’s voice came from far away.

“They moved and I’m not sure who is who now,” I said.

“I might have an idea,” he said.

“I’m going to finish this memory.Maybe something else will jump out at me,” I said.

“Okay.”

I refocused on the fighting pair.It was coming close to the end of the fight at this point.

The guard appeared and cast the containment bubbles around the two Aidens, and the fight was over.

I slumped, disappointed.

The Aiden near the mess hall tried to cast a spell, and the bubble ate it.My eyes widened.

“Why didn’t this one,” I indicated the Aiden near the office, “try to cast a spell?He must have already known that casting a spell wouldn’t work within the bubble.”

I picked up the book of my memory and closed it.

Before I left my library, I put the book back in its spot.Then I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, preparing my mind to return to the real world.

“I’m nearly one hundred percent sure I know which one is Aiden,” I told my professor.“What was your idea?”

Instead of answering me, he turned to the guard, who was standing nearby and looking bored.“Excuse me,” he said.“Are these containment bubbles soundproof?”

“They can hear us and we can hear them,” the guard said.

The professor turned back to me.“When you said that you weren’t sure which one was which, one of them looked smug, and the other looked worried.”

“That sounds pretty conclusive to me,” I said, looking between the bubbles.“You remember which did what?”

He nodded.

“I think my Aiden is the one near the mess,” I whispered behind my hand.“Because he didn’t know that the bubble wouldn’t allow a spell.”

Professor Reynolds’s eyebrows rose.“Or perhaps the real one didn’t cast a spell because he didn’t need to deflect any more spells.”

“Oh fuck,” I muttered.“I hadn’t thought of that.My memory wasn’t helpful once they moved to this position.Before this, the one at the door was definitely not mine.”

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