Where Monsters Lie (The Monster Within 2)

“We’re your bodyguards,” Owen says.

&n

bsp; I stare for a moment. “What?”

Bennett sighs as Owen continues, “I heard you talking to Bennett outside the tent, and I decided that I want to be your bodyguard, too.”

“I don’t—that’s just for when I sneak out at night,” I say angrily, lowering my voice. “And don’t call yourself my ‘bodyguard’. That was just a figure of speech or something.”

“He wouldn’t let me do it alone,” Bennett butts in, somewhat apologetically.

“This isn’t what I was expecting when we made our deal.” I shove my hands into my pockets. “You were just supposed to tag along when I went out at night.”

“Well, the deal changed,” Owen says. “Deal with it.”

I sigh and walk wordlessly off toward the dining hall. Owen and Bennett both follow.

People’s heads turn as I walk in and head toward the food, because the boys behind me are actually acting like bodyguards. They aren’t grabbing their own food, they’re just shadowing my every movement. When I walk, they walk behind me. When I pause, they stop.

“Guys,” I sigh as I put some food into a bag for Cleaver. “Can you just be normal? Just get some food or something.”

“Bodyguards,” Owen replies simply, with a nod. Bennett, on the other hand, starts grabbing himself some breakfast.

“We can eat together in my dorm,” I tell Owen. He finally relents and gets his own food.

Cleaver seems excited to see Owen. As soon as he spots him, he runs to him, wagging his tail.

“Where’s your roommate?” Bennett asks, hovering uncertainly near Erin’s bed.

“She went to class first thing.” I pour food into Cleaver’s bowl. “You can sit on her bed. She won’t mind.”

As we sit and eat together, I realize how nice this is. I’ve felt so isolated from them. My own behavior has pushed them away. Now, here they are, Bennett stoically eating, Owen happily playing with Cleaver, in my dorm room. I smile. This whole thing might not be so bad.

But it is so bad.

Owen and Bennett follow my every move. They walk with me to class and them they move their desks to sit nearer to me, flanking me. I have to yell at them when I emerge from the bathroom to find them waiting for me.

“We’re just trying to keep you safe!” Owen says.

“From what? My own shit?” I retort.

They calm down a little after that, and in the week following, I get sort of used to it.

For once, the boys are helping me and not distracting me.

It is nice to have them with me during my nighttime hunts, which I’ve started having regularly now. With them trailing close behind, it keeps the eerie feeling of the dead trees at bay.

When no one’s watching, they’ve taken to holding my hands. And Owen seems much happier overall. He’s now in the dining hall every day, and he even participates in class now. He’s becoming less pale and haggard-looking by the day.

And that’s worth being driven a little crazy.

Chapter Thirteen

I can’t sleep.

I keep having nightmares about the upcoming hunt. I sit up and rub my eyes. Maybe Bennett and Owen will be fine with me heading to the library on my own, just this once. If I can’t sleep, I might as well use my time wisely. Besides, after the way they’ve been following me around every waking moment, it’ll be nice to have some alone time.

I throw on some decent clothes and slip out of my dorm, careful not to wake Erin, and slip out into the hallway—where Bennett is standing guard.