Page 35 of Monster Mansion

He marched through the double French doors to find a dark corner to hide alone with his thoughts. As he did, a thought buzzed in his ear like a mosquito, impossible to ignore.

Could Ruse be right?

Chapter13

Logan

Monday morning brought with it something else to think about that my weekend brain hadn’t considered.

Ted.

Ever since I’d gotten to the mansion, I’d had an inkling of a thought that the old man knew more than he let on. He never specifically stated how long he had worked for Mr. Silver, and he definitely knew a lot more about the property than someone who had just recently been hired to do some groundskeeping and updates. On top of that, the grounds looked pretty well-kept and certainly not like the neglected overgrown jungle I would have expected from a freshly purchased flipper property. Once I’d learned the truth for myself, the seams in the story had begun to unravel before me. I couldn’t help but feel disappointed in myself that my employer had nearly pulled the wool over my eyes. I wouldn’t be fooled so easily again.

If there was one thing I was especially bad at, it was pretending things were fine when they were anything less than, and I hoped that wasn’t too obvious when Ted politely knocked twice on the side door before letting himself into the kitchen, where I was sitting drinking my coffee and surfing the internet. I had just hung up the phone with my dad, who was still under the impression that my summer job was going just swimmingly with nothing at all unusual on the docket, so I hoped I had practiced enough for my second round of bullshittery.

“Good morning, Logan. How was the weekend?” he asked with a broad smile under his mustached lip.

“Oh, it was fine over here,” I responded, probably doing too much to remain non-suspicious. “Nothing too exciting. Mostly just relaxed.”

“There are definitely worse ways to spend a weekend, I’ll tell you that,” Ted responded with one hearty laugh as he fished a bottle of water out of the fridge. He opened it and took a mighty swig like he was already beyond parched. “There are a couple of projects I want to get a headstart on today. Picked up a nice lookin’ bag of wildflower seed I wanna spread in some of the bare patches in the beds, and the stepping stones out back could definitely do for some power washing.”

I could feel the questions brewing within me, but I wasn’t ready to confront him,yet. Best-case scenario, he spilled his guts with remorse, but I had an unfortunate hunch that wasn’t terribly likely. Worst-case scenario, he let Jonas know I was poking around where I shouldn’t be, presenting me with an even larger conundrum than I was already in.

“That’ll look great when they start to bloom, like a storybook,” I smiled. The air felt thick with tension, but I couldn’t guarantee Ted was feeling it as well.

“Plus, with wildflowers you don’t have to do much to maintain ‘em.” Ted informed me, still doing his very best to keep up with the small-talk in order to avoid an awkward silence.

“Uh, yeah,” I nodded. “If you can find ways to make less work for everyone, why not, you know?” I forced a chuckle from my chest to make myself sound engaged, but I could tell how fake it sounded.

“Alright, well, I better get to movin’. Enjoy the rest of the day!” Ted announced after chugging the last half of his water bottle and tossing it into the garbage can.

“You, too,” I mused as Ted walked back through the door, allowing it to smack shut behind him.

With Ted finally gone, I took a sip of my coffee then promptly cringed and dumped it out. It had gone unappetizingly cold, but the interaction with Ted had left my stomach in knots, anyway. The next time I saw Nox, I would ask him if he knew anything more about the groundskeeper and his involvement in Mr. Silver’s power-scheme, but I hadn’t seen much of him since we’d had sex. Part of me worried he might not be interested in a continued relationship with me—even just a friendly one after what we had done—and I did my best to ignore the pang of regret that came with it.

At the same time, though, he wasn’t human, and he wasn’t well versed in human niceties or customs. There was a very real possibility that things were justawkward, not necessarily bad, or even anything to worry about. Besides, it hadn’t even been a full day since I’d last seen him, so there was no reason to sound the mental alarms. It was just strange pining for someone so different. The human men I’d slept with at least gave me the illusion that they were interested in more than just sex for a while after the deed.

Emphasis onillusion. Human men came with their own pitfalls.

Jake’s face flashed across my mind as I considered the human men I’d been with. I still had no idea what happened to him, and in the chaos of the past twenty-four hours, I hadn’t really allowed myself to consider all the possibilities. It would be another thing for me to ask Nox about the next time I saw him. He seemed to be the sort-of leader among the trio, so I hoped he would have some insight as to what exactly happened that night. Perhaps he would know if Ruse really did have something to do with the mess of blood in the bathroom, which I deeply suspected.

My body was on autopilot as I made my way back upstairs and got ready to get in the shower. Not a single unusual shadow shifted in the hallway, I kept my ears pricked for Thorn’s noisemaking, and my peripherals on guard for any unusual animal sightings. For a house infested with monsters, the place had been pretty quiet since I pulled them from their hiding places and demanded answers. I wondered if it was the promise that they wouldn’t harm me that made them start acting like regular roommates as opposed to paranormal creatures who wanted me for their next meal.

I thought about the list I’d made in my journal and used the quiet warmth of the shower to try to organize my thoughts. I had made effectively no progress in my goal of freeing the monsters from the mansion, and I wanted to find some sort of forward momentum. It would be a reward to be able to tell them I had some sort of plan, but I wasn’t even close.

As my fingers began to turn wrinkly in the water, I decided it was time to get out. I turned off the water and reached for my towel through the steam. I could barely see anything, so I just did a quick towel-dry before wrapping myself in my robe and opening the door.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I came within inches of Nox, who had been standing just outside the door waiting for me.

“Fuck!” I yelped.

As glad as I was to see him, I definitely did not expect him to beright therethe moment I opened the door.

“Hi!” I said as I tried to catch my breath. “You scared me.”

“I was just about to knock and let you know I was out here,” Nox assured me as he tucked a piece of my wet hair behind my ear. “I genuinely did not mean to scare you. I am so sorry.”

“Well, don’t let it happen again, or you might go back to wanting to eat me,” I joked.

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