Page 10 of Shaped to Be Yours

Huge windows looked out at the backyard and nearby woods. Right now, midday, it didn’t look like the sort of place where someone could get attacked by some creature and turned into a monster. But then, where did?

I started to unpack. The other bags and boxes I’d sent ahead with Sandy were waiting for me in the closet. By the time I paused to pull out my phone, there were several missed messages from my mother.

“Mijo? Is that you?” She’d picked up on the first ring.

“Sorry I took so long,mami, but we got stranded on the side of the road.”

“Do not even joke about that!”

I laughed and told her we were fine.

At least we had been fine, but after a few minutes of chatting with my mom, I heard Jason and Sandy’s voices rising in volume above me. Then the door to the basement slammed, and Jason came stomping down the stairs and went into his room.

“Uh, sorry,mami, I promise I’ll call and tell you everything after my first day tomorrow, but I need to finish unpacking and be a good guest. Love you too! Give everyone big hugs from me. Bye.”

Jason hadn’t slammedhisdoor, so I didn’t think he wanted to keep me out. When I peeked inside his room, he was lying on his bed, scowling at his phone. I still rapped on the open door before entering.

“You know, I was really looking forward to those cookies.”

Jason snorted. “I’m sure she’ll give plenty toyou.” He tossed his phone aside to land face-up on the bed. “After trying to convince you to convince me to be a pincushion for some evil scientists.”

So that’s what the fight had been about. “Your mom thinks you should submit to testing?”

“Can you believe it? My own mother. She must really be freaked.” He draped an arm over his eyes.

I padded into the room and sat on the edge of the bed beside him. “Or maybe she’s worried about you and wants, like you do, to figure out the truth.”

“By letting them turn me into the next alien autopsy?”

It wouldn’t be like that, I wanted to say, but I didn’t think he’d appreciate the sentiment right now.

“They don’t even trust me to exist. My ownmotherdoesn’t trust me.”

“That’s not true. Even the officials trusted you enough to let you skip naturalization classes and everything else monsters usually have to go through.”

“Yeah, but I needed permission to return to my ownfuckinghouse. Sorry.” Jason peeked at me from under his arm. “I promised to not be a dick, and there I go again.”

“You don’t need to apologize for being on edge when your whole life has been turned upside down. I get it. I mean, I can’t actually get it, but I’m here. I trust you. I am not freaked. I’m glad to be here.”

Jason dropped his arm, and I took his hand. “Enough to eventually not use both bedrooms?”

I laughed. “Does your mom know—”

“She knows! She even asked if she should bother making up the second bedroom, but I didn’t… I mean, I know we’ve only just…” He sighed and squeezed my hand. “I figured you’d want your own space.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that. Though I’m thinking sneaking into each other’s rooms is probably inevitable.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” We were on Jason’s bed, with him laid out and basically trapped with me sitting there. I kept hold of his hand, drew it to my chest, and started to lean down.

Jason’s phone buzzed, and when my eyes instinctively went to it, I saw a chat screen for—

“The Monster Match app?” I lurched upright. “You’re still on that thing?”

“For Cael!” Jason grabbed the phone but didn’t try to hide it. He pushed the screen closer to me. “See? I use it to message Cael. And Teracht, one of his friends.”

I read the most recent series of messages.

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