Where Monsters Hide (The Monster Within 1)

I nod.

“He does come down to the school often, but I think it’s just for meetings,” Erin pipes up. “He’s on the board of trustees though, so he doesn’t interact much with the students.”

“Yeah. And it’s not like he tells any of us when he’s coming and going.”

Sawyer snaps his fingers and points them at me. “You’re working with Piers, right? Maybe he knows. Mr. Dagher is his dad, after all.”

I push my face into my hands to hide. What an idiot I am. I should have thought of that.

“Then there’s this supposed cabin,” Sawyer says, resuming his pacing. It’s such a small room that he’s really only taking a few steps before he has to change directions. “Have you asked your aunt about it?”

“Not yet. I’m worried it would upset her if I told her what I’m doing.” I rub my hands on my knees. What I don’t tell him is that she doesn’t know any of it yet. I haven’t been able to ask her about the cabin Helsing mentioned since she doesn’t even know about Helsing to begin with. “Maybe I’ll wait u

ntil I’m actually there, or maybe I’ll just try to find it on my own. She has some of my parents’ stuff in her attic.”

“You could look through it when you’re home for Christmas break,” Erin says thoughtfully. She pulls her knees up to her chest and rests her chin on them. “You’d have time to find the cabin, then, too.”

To be honest, I hadn’t considered going home for break. I’d originally planned to stay here at the school, or if they won’t have me, in the local village. I made the tentative decision not to tell my Aunt about the school … but it looks like I’m going to have to face her after all.

“I just wish my aunt wasn’t so against all this,” I say, leaning my head back so it rests against the wall and I’m staring up at the ceiling. “Even if she knows about the cabin, it’s not like she’s going to help me find it. This sort of thing she usually leaves me to handle alone.”

“Well then, don’t do it alone,” Sawyer says to me, pausing. “I can come with you.”

I glance at him. “Aren’t you going home to your family?”

He shrugs and jams his hands in his pockets. “I’m not really cool with my parents, anyway.”

A silence follows this announcement. I realize suddenly that I’ve never asked Sawyer about his family.

“Oh,” I say quietly.

He nods. “They don’t know I’m at Saint M, and they don’t know I want to be a monster hunter.” He turns his head away, face impassive. I guess we have that in common.

Most of the students here have families with long histories of hunting. One day I’d like to know what Sawyer’s backstory is … but I’m the last person who’s going to try to pry it out of him.

Hoping to change the subject, I look over at Erin, who’s gazing at Sawyer with visible concern. “What about you, Erin?”

She starts and looks at me. “Oh. I’m going to my mom’s. She has a lot of stuff planned for us, so … I can’t … um …”

I smile at her. “Yeah, of course. You’re the only normal one of us.”

She smiles back weakly, and Sawyer laughs. My phone beeps in my pocket and I take it out.

“Ah, shit—it’s time for me to head down to meet Piers.” I stand up and grab my books.

“We’ll talk more about it later,” Sawyer says. He grabs me around the waist and squeezes me as I pass by him. He’s got this goofy smile on his face, but I can feel his own heartbeat quicken along with mine. This is dangerous territory we’ve waded into. He’s become so much more physical with me, and I don’t want it to stop—God, how much I’d hate if it stopped—but I also can’t afford something romantic distracting me.

But the momentary warmth of his body against mine …

I smile at him and Erin as I leave the room, glad of the distraction. “See you guys later.” I shut the door and head off to meet Piers, making a mental note to call Aunt Trish and tell her I’m bringing home a boy.

That news might help soften the blow sure to come with the rest of what I have to tell her.

Piers is already in the library when I arrive.

I haven’t spent much time in Saint M’s library. It’s gorgeous and expansive, with ornate columns and gleaming bookshelves filled with books both old and new. There are reading nooks with stately-looking settees, long tables with high-backed chairs, and even a computer lab tucked away in the back corner. Private study rooms line one side of the library. They each have a window with curtains that can be drawn for privacy when occupied.

Piers beckons me from inside one of the study rooms. I expected him to put up some kind of fight for having to work with me, but he just looks tired. From the look of things, he’s been here ever since class let out.