Where Monsters Lie (The Monster Within 2)

“Shh,” I say as soon as I can manage to force a sound between my lips. I reach for him, but he shrinks away. “Owen, it’s okay.”

“Okay?” he shrieks. “There was a little man on your chest!”

I touch my chest. “What?” I snap. I look down. There’s no little man there, nor any sign that there had been one. “Owen, you were dreaming.”

“No, I wasn’t,” he says, more adamantly this time. “It was a little man in a red cap!”

On the other side of Owen, I see realization dawning on Piers’ face, but it’s Bennett who says sleepily, “Sounds like it was an alp.”

I know a little about alps. They’re tiny imps who sit on the chests of their victims while they sleep and … give them nightmares. I look down at my bare chest again. My nightmares. Of course. Haven’t I been waking up feeling short of breath? Haven’t I been having horrible nightmares that keep me from sleeping?

I should have figured it out sooner.

“Yeah,” Piers says, and I look over at him. He’s smiling sheepishly as he scoots closer, but Owen scrambles out of the way. “I, uh … at Oktoberfest, I may or may not have found an alp. And I may or may not have gotten that alp to haunt you. I’d completely forgotten until now, honestly. Sorry.” Still smiling like this is some sort of joke, he reaches over to tuck some hair behind my ear.

I jerk away from his hand and roll over Bennett, out of the bed completely. “You motherfucker,” I snap at him. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since Oktoberfest!”

Piers’ face falls. “It was just a joke,” he says, but Bennett and Owen are glaring at him, too.

I can’t believe this. I had changed my mind about revenge. I gave up the chance to break him in front of his father. I haven’t told anyone that it was me who killed the agropelter, that Piers didn’t catch up until it was already dead. And this whole time, he was the cause of my sleepless nights, my daily fatigue.

After everything, Piers still found a way to bully me.

I have to talk to Helsing. I don’t care that he’s sick.

I start kicking the boys’ clothes around, searching for my own. I snap up the disparate pieces where I find them.

“Avery,” Piers says pleadingly as Owen and Bennett slide off the bed, and he follows.

“Shut up, Piers,” I growl, tugging my underwear on. I find my bra slung over one of the chairs at the dining table.

“It’s still snowing,” Owen says quietly, pulling on his own boxers. “It’s not safe for you to leave.”

“I’ll be fine.” I push my arms through my sleeves. “I can’t stay here with him.”

Bennett casts Piers a dark look. He’s still intimidating, even when he’s naked. Maybe even more so naked.

“Avery, please—I’m sorry,” Piers says. “It was a joke. A tasteless joke, but just a joke.”

“I told you to shut up.” I sit down in a chair and tug on my heavy cold-weather boots.

“Let me call you a cab, at least,” Owen says, scrambling to find his pants. But I don’t wait. I need to get out now, before I do something rash. I don’t even know how I feel about this right now, but that’s never stopped me from acting rashly before. I throw my scarf around my neck and snatch my coat off the chair, already heading for the door.

“I don’t fucking need a cab,” I throw over my shoulder.

As I do, I catch a glimpse of the scene I’m leaving: Bennett, completely naked, his abs on full display as he stands with his fists on his hips, glaring at Piers while Owen hovers uncertainly in the middle of the room, his pants in one hand and a cell phone in the other. Piers, his pants unbuttoned, watches me worriedly, his eyes pleading.

I slam the door behind me.

Owen was right. It’s still snowing, but it’s not enough to deter me from my mission. I have to see Helsing, quarantine be damned.

In the fall when I arrived, I knew what I wanted to do, and now I’m nowhere near sure.

I’ve forgiven Owen and Bennett. I gave up my revenge against Piers, only to find out that he’s betrayed me yet again. And Sawyer is looking more and more depressed every day. I want to forgive them. I want to mend things with Sawyer. I even still want to forgive Piers, despite it biting me in the ass since the rational part of my brain reminds me that I was being horrible to Piers when he attached me to a monster that smothered my sleep.

I have to see Helsing. He’s the only one I trust to talk to about al

l this.