Page 91 of Monster's Baby

“I know things will be difficult with our jobs, but I can’t keep on living without you in my life.”

I put my hands over my mouth.

“What are you saying, Finn?”Niamh asked.

“Will you marry me?”

She gaped at him.

“I know it’s been a few years since we last dated—” he began, but was cut off by her mouth crashing into his.

I exchanged amused glances with Aiden.

“Is that a yes?”the professor asked.

“It is a yes,” Niamh said.

“Congratulations, Professor,” Aiden said, drawing the happy couple’s attention back to us.

Niamh cleared her throat and straightened her uniform.“Right.We need to get back, and we need to be faster than the prisoner.”

“And they have quite the head start,” Aiden pointed out.

“Good thing we have a portal,” Professor Reynolds said cheerfully.

“We do?”I asked.“Why wouldn’t they use it then?”

“It’s for students and teachers only.”He nodded at Niamh.“Exceptions can be made, of course.”

He led us down to the basement corridors.I wondered if all the carvings and tapestries were portals.We’d used so many in the past few weeks to get to the Magical Olympics events.

“Here we are,” he said, stopping in front of a boxy carving in the wall.“No trouble at all.”He activated it, and we walked through into the exterior guardhouse.

“I’m glad this isn’t actuallyinsidethe jail,” Niamh said, relieved.“Otherwise, I’d have to cut it off.”

Professor Reynolds rolled his eyes.“It’s ease of use, not ease of escape.”

She waved a hand at him before turning to the guards.“Has the prisoner returned yet?”

They consulted a logbook.“No, ma’am.”

“Excellent.We can prepare.”

“And release Grain?”I asked.

“We have to prove his innocence first,” Niamh said regretfully.

“Finding my belongings on Edgar should be sufficient proof, right?”

“Correct.”

We were led into a small room with a window into an interrogation room.

“Wait here,” Niamh said.“We’re going to bring him in there to debrief.If he has your grimoire, he’ll try to use it right away.It’s much easier to leave from this room than it is once he’s locked up.”

She left us, closing the door behind her, and all we could do was wait.

“How much longer, you think?”Aiden asked, bouncing his knee impatiently.

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