Page 87 of Monster's Baby

“I don’t think it matters which one you release.It’ll be pretty obvious from their reactions.”

“Which one looked smug?”I asked.

“The mess hall.”

I nodded.“I have a plan.”I stood and the professor vanished the chair.“My Aiden is...”I walked over to the one near the office, keeping my gaze fixed on his face.

It morphed into one of pure happiness, a recognizable expression to me.I smiled and pivoted to face the rest of the room.

The other Aiden near the mess had his hands on the side of the bubble as if he were reaching out to me, an expression of pure longing on his face.

“My Aiden is,” I repeated to be clear, “that one.”I pointed at the Aiden near the mess, who collapsed into a puddle of relief, shifting back into human form in the blink of an eye.

“No!”shouted the Aiden in the bubble beside me.“Don’t you recognize me?Please, Siobhan!You know me.You have to!”

The second guard left the office and murmured to the first one.

“Are you sure?”the first guard asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Step away from the bubble, miss.”

I headed for the other Aiden, sure I’d made the correct choice.The bubble popped before I got there, and I threw myself into his arms, wrapping mine around his neck as I curled up in his lap.

“Thank you,” he whispered in my neck.“I was so scared.”

“Why did he stop trying to leave?”

“Because I saw him as me.He knew I’d raise a fuss and he wouldn’t be able to leave without someone stopping him.You can’t teleport off this island, and I could contact the docks and stop the ferries from leaving before he could make it there himself.”

“Did he tell you all that before I got here?”I asked, even more sure that I’d made the right decision.

“What?”

“How do you know the shapeshifter’s plan?”I asked.I finished the spell I’d been working behind his head, and he froze rigidly.

“What?”he repeated through a clenched jaw, unable to move his lips.

His form shimmered and melted, revealing a stranger.

I pushed to my feet.“You’re not as good as you think you are,” I spat.“You may have been able to copy Aiden’s mannerisms, but deep down, all you are is a weak facsimile.You don’t have the emotional maturity needed.”

The guards had released Aiden and quickly took charge of the immobile shapeshifter.

I ran to Aiden’s arms, and he buried his face in my hair.“I thought I’d lost you,” he admitted, his voice hoarse.He squeezed me tightly.“When you chose him—” His tone cracked and he stopped talking.

“I didn’t choose him, though,” I said.“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure until I saw his expression of victory, but I needed to be absolutely sure.That’s why Ipretendedto choose him.I needed to get close to him, and I needed him to not be shifted when I did.He had to let down his guard and believe that I chose him, or else he would have noticed that I had tricked him.”

“You are brilliant, but I’m not sure my heart can take another panic attack like that,” Aiden said, inhaling deeply in the crook of my neck.He licked over my pulse point.“I seriously thought I was going to die in jail because you chose him.”

I pulled back slightly and cupped his face in my hands.“Even if I had made the mistake of choosing the shapeshifter, there is no way he would have been able to keep up the facade over an extended period of time.He’s not as brilliant as you are, and your thesis would have floundered in his hands.”

Aiden frowned.“But he was able to copy me entirely.”

Professor Reynolds spoke up, “Excuse me for interrupting, but not entirely.Your form, yes.And he studied your mannerisms.He is quite a good mimic.He also would gain access to your memories over time, but that doesn’t mean he is capable of drawing the same conclusions.It’s like the difference between rote memorization and understanding concepts,” he explained.“If you memorize, you can regurgitate, but if you understand, you canapplywhat you’ve learned to a new concept.He wouldn’t have been able to do that, and Miss Doyle is correct, your thesis would have shown his true self.”

Aiden nodded in understanding, hugging me close again.

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