Page 39 of Becoming Monsterous

"We can find Aaron and kill him before he gets the chance," Aleron reassures me, his tone full of violence. "It's past time the little asshole pays for what he did."

I wouldn't mind seeing Aleron in all his dark glory gut my ex and turn him into a smear of blood on the wall. But it seems beside the point—the Magistrate can just find a new worshipper to become Aphrodite's conduit if he needs.

"That's not all I heard, though it's the most important bit," Lise says. "Jean Kincaide objected to his plan, so the Magistrate wiped her memory. But two of the other summoners, Marina and Raphael, were fine with it.

"They all agreed that it's better to prevent a war with the monsters by simply subjugating them entirely. They don't like being in this stalemate. Even worse, they plan on renegading on their proposed contracts to all of you—and taking away any privileges that are in place, including... including this house and in-between realm."

Morpheus snarls. "They'd send usallto the Shadow World?"

"Yes." There are tears in Lise's eyes. "Including me and Madame Renoire. Every since monster, enslaved and imprisoned, for eternity."

It's a horrifying reality to consider.

A reality I have to weigh against the possibility of releasing all monsters on Earth.

I want them to be free—I know it's immoral to banish them all to the Shadow World. I saw how terrible that place is to them. Even the sanest of monsters would become truly dark and evil in that hell.

But standing by my principles to free them is hard to do when I consider the downsides, like the slaughter of humanity.

There has to be a way. Some sort of compromise.

One I need to think of fast, before I'm forced to make a decision one way or another.

Angus anxious snorts. "Can you get us any more information? When are they going to do this? How?"

"Yes, if we can prevent it, that would be ideal," I tell her. "I'm not sure how long it'll take us to get Medusa's powers.

"I don't know anything more—sorry." Lise wrings her hands. "They went to the Magistrate's office to make a timeline. There isn't a good place to hide in there, and he'd skin me alive if he found me spying. Especially because he already knows I have dual loyalties."

"Be careful," I tell her. "Whatever you do next, come to us first. I know you were doing your best—but I don't want you to get caught. Next time we should work together."

"I agree, let's work together," Morpheus declares, a cunning smile on his lips. "In fact, I have a plan that involves doing exactly that."

Chapter28

Ellie

The look on Morpheus's face makes it clear that he's thrilled to share with us whatever it is he's come up with.

So of course he keeps us on the edge of our seats for longer than necessary.

"It's dangerous," he warns us. "We'll have to work together and trust each other. And if we get caught, it'll go very, very poorly for us. We could wind up banished to the Shadow World forever. Or worse."

The way he saysor worsehas a flare for the dramatic. I have to admit, he's an excellent storyteller. It's not hard to imagine how he became the King of Dreams.

Aleron isn't impressed. He rolls his eyes and throws his hands up in frustration. "Just spill it already. We don't have time for theatrics."

"Fine, fine." Morpheus sighs. "No appreciation for the dramatic arts from the man whose presence in West Virginia sprouted an entire pantheon of urban legends."

Morpheus spins on his heels to face Lise and commands her attention in an instant.

"How good are your sleeping spells?"

"Excellent," she responds with confidence. "I've had to learn how to get good at them since Percy put me in charge of—of wrangling monsters so often. I can down a Colossus at a hundred feet."

"Are they good enough to put a summoner to sleep?" He holds a hand out and makes a weighing motion with it. "Maybe a higher level summoner? One with psychic shields?"

Her eyes widen. "If you mean Percy—"

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