Page 94 of Monster's Baby

“My name is Siobhan,” Edgar said, tossing his hair over his shoulder, and thrusting his chest forward.“I’m concerned about your eyesight if you can’t see that fact.”

I wrinkled my nose.“Do I talk like that?”

“No,” Aiden said adamantly.

“If you’re the real Siobhan, how did you get here?”Niamh said, almost bored.“I look forward to this tale of woe.”

“I...I...When I sat in Edgar’s lap, he switched places with me!He cast a spell on me to look like him, and then he took on my appearance!It wore off while I was in here.”

Niamh nodded.“Almost plausible,” she said.“Good job thinking on your feet.Where did you get these?”she pointed at my belongings.

Edgar had the gall to look ashamed.“I only reported them stolen because I wanted the attention.I hid them in my pocket.”

“That’s a lie!”I gasped.

“Of course it is,” the professor said absentmindedly, patting my shoulder.

“That’s how I know how to use the book,” Edgar continued.“Grimoire, I mean.”

“Go on then,” Niamh said.“Show me.”

As if expecting a trick, Edgar cautiously reached out and picked up the ring.

“He doesn’t know that the ring isn’t needed,” I pointed out.

He then opened the book to the first page.“See?It shows the spell I want.”

“Very good,” Niamh said.“Show me a spell for speaking the truth.”

“I...I’m not sure thereisone,” Edgar hedged.

I shrugged when Aiden looked at me for confirmation.“It hasn’t come up before.I’m not sure either.”

“Try,” Niamh insisted.“Speak out loud when you ask the book.”

Edgar swallowed.“Okay,” he said hesitantly.“Show me a truth spell,” he said, closing and letting the grimoire fall open.

The grimoire fell open to the middle.I couldn’t quite make it out.

“I guess there isn’t one,” Edgar said, relief coloring his tone.

“That’s fine,” Niamh said consolingly.“Because I have one right here.If you’re Siobhan, you’d want to prove it to me, wouldn’t you?”

Edgar hesitated.“Yessss,” he said hesitantly.

“You don’t sound so certain.How come?Don’t you need to get back to Aiden so that he doesn’t die from being apart from you?”

Edgar’s eyes widened.“What?”he whispered.

“You know that you are mated to Aiden, don’t you?”Niamh continued.“If you’re away from him, he starts to die.You don’t want that to happen.The sooner you return to the academy, the better.He’s already struggling to breathe without you there.”

Edgar dropped the pretense of being me and became himself.“That’s impossible!What’s wrong with him?It’s not because of me!Siobhan should be with him!”

“That’s interesting,” Niamh said, resting her palm on her hand.“You care about what happens to Aiden?”

“He took good care of me,” Edgar said, pouting at the table.“They both did.I wouldn’t want him to die.”

“Ring, please.”Niamh held out her hand for it.“What exactlywasyour plan?”

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