Page 93 of Monster's Baby

I blew out a long breath.

Edgar slipped the ring onto his finger and opened the book.He chortled with glee when its pages filled with my family’s magic spells.

It was creepy to see a smile that wasn’t mine on my face.I really didn’t like it.I also felt super violated, having him paw through my grimoire.

He turned a few pages before he got frustrated and closed the book, letting it fall open to a random page.

I knew he must have asked it for a key spell or something, because that was what it revealed; the skeleton key page.

I had never used it, but I had seen it in passing.

He plucked the skeleton key from the page, closed the book, and strode to the door.

“All units, out of the hallway.He’s heading out,” Niamh said into her microphone.To us, she added, “We’re going to let him leave the building before we pick him up.Then we can put him away for longer because he made an escape attempt.”

Edgar used the key in the lock, and the door swung open.

Niamh tapped the hallway wall and it turned transparent to our eyes.

He held onto the grimoire and strode confidently down the hallway.

“That’s my walk?”I asked Aiden.

He winced.“Yes.”

“My hips don’t swaythatmuch, do they?”

“He’s not exaggerating.”Aiden squeezed my hand.“I like the way you walk.”

“Once the redhead leaves the building, pick her up and return her to the holding cell, please,” Niamh said into her mic.

Edgar disappeared down the hall, out of our sight.

“How long do you think it’ll take?”I asked.

“Not long.”Niamh put her hand to her ear, listening to the radio chatter from the other guards.“They got him.”

Soon enough, shouts and screams were heard preceding Edgar’s reappearance.He was still wearing my body, and was putting up quite the fuss about being detained.

“What are you doing?You can’t do this to me!I’m innocent!”he kept saying, before he finally burst into tears.

I crossed my arms.“Rude.”

The guards put Edgar in the same holding cell, placed my grimoire and ring on the table in front of him, and stood guard on either side of him.

“That’s my cue!”Niamh said cheerfully.“This will be my treat for the day.”

“Not getting engaged?”Professor Reynolds teased.

She pretended to consider it for a moment.“That was my meal.This is my dessert.”

Professor Reynolds laughed.“You go get your man.”

She kissed him lightly.“I already have him,” she whispered.

I glanced shyly up at Aiden.He grinned down at me and lightly traced the back of my hand with his thumb.

Niamh left the room and headed straight into the containment cell.“Hello, Edgar,” she said.

---