Page 53 of Only a Monster

The changing booth didn’t have a mirror. Joan buttoned the skirt. It was high-waisted enough to hide her bandage. But the jumper floated above her navel, leaving a long stretch of bare skin. ‘I think this is a dog vest,’ she said to Ruth through the curtain.

‘It’s supposed to look like that.’ Ruth ducked in and pulled Joan out of the booth.

Joan stared at herself in the mirror. It was like she was wearing the sexy Halloween version of her normal clothes. Ruth uncapped an eyeliner pencil and defined Joan’s eyes, heavy at the corners. When she was done, Joan hardly recognised herself.

‘What was wrong with the T-shirt?’ Joan asked.

‘The cut was wrong.’ The voice was Aaron’s. He came out of his own booth, and his eyes widened as he took in Joan’s outfit. ‘That’s . . .’ He seemed uncharacteristically lost for words. ‘Good.’

He himself had transformed into a member of a nineties boy band: ripped jeans, a bomber jacket, and a little gold earring. He should have looked ridiculous. He did look ridiculous, Joan told herself. Except . . . Aaron made the whole outfit look thought-out and expensive. For the first time in Joan’s life, she kind of understood the appeal of a nineties boy band.

Aaron stepped closer to her—close enough that Joan could feel the warmth of his body as he lowered himself to his knees in front of her. For a moment, she was weirdly tongue-tied. ‘What are you doing?’ she managed. Aaron reached up and plucked a pair of scissors from a nearby table. Before Joan could protest, he sliced into her stockings. And then she wasn’t tongue-tied anymore. ‘What the hell are you doing?’ she said, outraged.

Aaron dropped the scissors and used his fingers to tear the slashes into bigger holes.

‘That’s not bad,’ Ruth said grudgingly.

‘What—what if you’d cut me?’ Joan said.

Aaron had finished tearing the holes, but he was still kneeling, looking up at her with his cool grey eyes. ‘I wouldn’t have cut you,’ he said.

Joan wanted to accuse him of deliberately making her look as stupid as he did. But the Joan in the mirror looked unexpectedly good—almost as good as Aaron—like they could be in the same band.

It struck Joan suddenly that Aaron had saved her life too. He’d said that he owed her. That he couldn’t leave her until he’d repaid her. But he’d saved her life at the Pit and again at St. James’s Park. Surely, he’d paid her back twice over.

It took Joan a moment to remember what she’d wanted to say to him. ‘Do you know anything about the Liu family power?’

‘Perfect memory,’ Aaron said. ‘Everyone knows that.’

‘Yes, but Ruth says that there are rumours of more. Rumours that some of them remember events that never happened.’

Aaron got to his feet slowly, and then Joan was looking up at him. ‘I’ve heard the rumours,’ he said evenly.

‘Maybe they’re remembering events that have changed.’

‘I understand the implication.’

‘If events have been changed before, maybe they can be changed again.’

Aaron sighed. ‘I understand the implication.’

‘Ruth and I are going to see them,’ Joan said.

Ruth shifted beside her, clearing her throat. Joan looked at her questioningly.

‘I’m, uh, not exactly welcome in the Liu houses,’ Ruth said. ‘I’ve . . . Well, I’ve kind of stolen a few things here and there, and I guess I have a bit of a reputation. They wouldn’t let me through the front door.’ At Joan’s look, she said defensively, ‘They have some nice stuff.’

‘Justification enough,’ Aaron said, dry.

Ruth gave him the finger, but it was halfhearted.

‘Well, just tell me where they are,’ Joan said.

‘No,’ Aaron said heavily. ‘I’ll take you.’

Joan looked at him, surprised. He’d been so scathing about the idea. And he didn’t look any happier about it now. He was scowling down at his new blue sneakers.

‘Be careful,’ Ruth said. She sounded as though she didn’t like the idea of being separated from Joan so soon after they’d found each other. Joan didn’t like it either.

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