The House of Grey- Volume 4 (40 page)

The conversation
turned
from there to lesser subjects. They were tired and their nerves strained. Marie was actually falling asleep in one of the large leather chairs.

“We should probably go,”
said
Grayson, point
ing
a
t
Marie. “
W
e’ve had quite the ordeal
.
Let
’
s regroup tomorrow
.
”

Grayson moved
towards
Marie
,
giving her a little shake
to wake her
. “Monson
,
have you discussed things with Art
o
rius and Casey yet?”

Monson shook his head
,
shame
faced
.

“Why? Why would you—
”
Grayson
stopped and
smiled
, putting it together.
“
Y
ou
’
r
e
scared of what they’ll say.”

Monson nodded.  “I
’
ll find the
right
time. It
’
s just
,
I don’t wan
t
them—
”

“Involved?” Grayson glanced at Marie
.
“I know what that’s like.”

Monson smiled
.
“I
’
ll tell them.”

“Make sure you do.”

Monson
nodded again,
and
without
any
additional word
s,
Grayson started to move towards the door with
a
yawning
Marie close behind. Monson
’
s
mind was starting to wander
when
,
the moment
Marie’s hand touched the door
,
a
knock came from the other side. Assuming it
was
Casey
and
Ar
to
rius and
he had forgotten to leave the door unlocked,
Monson
indicated for
Marie to
open the door,
awaiting
the shocked faces
of his friends when they saw her
.
The shock was all Monson
’
s, however, when
his visitor
entered the room.

“Taris?”

Chapter
4
6
- Colors

“Hi Monson
,
” said Taris in a slightly sheepish voice. “I didn’t come at a bad time
,
did I?”
she asked, gesturing
to Marie and Grayson.

Taris was dressed casually in a tracksuit in her signature green. H
er
hair was
tied in a ponytail
and she wore
very
little
makeup
, quite the
change from
her usual
covergirl
look.
Although
her appearance was
more relaxed, more natural
, the
forced
smile creas
ing
her face ma
de
her appear
more upset than anything.

Monson stared at her
,
un
sure as
to
what to say.
Oh brother
,
he thought
. 
As if I don
’
t have enough to deal with
. What was she doing
here
,
now of all times? Not that he was unhappy to see her, but he had not even
changed, and he needed to meet Cyann
.

Oh
c
rap
,
thought Monson
.
Cyann
.
He had no idea what time it was
. What was he going to do now?

“Of course not
,
my dear
.
” Grayson
said in his southern drawl as he
pulled back and to one side.  “We were just leaving
.
”

Monson plunged into panic mode
as
Marie and Grayson exit
ed
towards the elevator. Was it his imagination or
had
Marie just wink
ed
at him? A small
clearing of the
throat brought
him
sharply back to the present.

“Would you like to come in
?
”
H
e tried his best to look Taris in the eye, but found that
it was not easy.
“I’m sorry things are such a mess.”

“No
,
it
’
s
fine.
” Taris entered
the
room
.
“It
’
s really not
that
bad
.
”

He
already knew this. He did
,
after all
,
have a butler
.
T
hough
in Monson
’
s mind
Brian could hardly be called a servant
,
h
e
was expert at
cook
ing
and clean
ing.

“Why don’t you sit down
?
”
He
gestured to the leather chairs in the center of the room. “Would you like something to drink?”

“That would be great
.
” Taris looked idly around the room
,
a mild look of curiosity creeping its way across her delicate features. Incredibly curious behavior
.
I
f
she
had come here for a reason
,
it did not seem to be weighing heavily on her mind. Maybe she was going to officially drop him.
He was not sure and it was not like
communication
, silent or otherwise,
was exactly their forte. Well
,
he was
not
going to make it eas
y
on her. If she wanted to drop him, she was going to have to do it properly.

“I’m sorry
.
” Monson placed a couple of sodas on the coffee table and sat next to Taris. “Brian is pretty good at keeping us stocked, but he
’
s been a bit preoccupied lately.”

“What
,
no diet?”
She
turned her lip up
in disgust
.

He
groaned inwardly
.
“I’m sorry
.
I just—
”

She
caught his hand. “Monson
,
I was kidding.”

She cracked open the can and
took a
sip. “So
,
Brian is your servant
,
right?”

“Ye
s
and no
,
”
he said,
relishing the small talk
.
“I really think that he’s just here to keep an eye on me.
At least, t
hat’s the way it feels.”

“Oh
.
What about the other two?”

She gestured
towards
the door
,
plainly indicating Marie and Grayson. 

“The guy in the chair is Grayson
.
H
e’s in my year
,
” replied Monson
.
“Actually
,
I’m surprised you don’t know him. He’s in our
fif
th period
.
”

She looked slightly embarrassed at that.

“What about the girl
?
”
asked
Taris
,
again not meeting his
eye
s.
Her tone was ca
s
ual, but she was interested and
Monson
had to wonder why.

“Marie? She’s
apparently
a childhood friend of Grayson’s.
I guess s
he’s actually kind of
a
servant.”

“A servant?” Taris
sounded
a little surprised. “Not a very nice way to treat a childhood friend
.
”

Monson chuckled.
“
I suppose you
’
re right
.
B
ut it seems to work for them
.
”

“She’s really pretty
.
”

He
paused
.
H
ow
w
as he supposed to answer that?

“Taris
,
if you
’
re fishing for compliments
,
you don’t have to
.
E
veryone knows how
hot
you are.”

Taris flushed and then giggled
,
smiling broadly at him
—
something he had not seen in a while. Though he would never admit it to her, it really did make him go a bit weak in the knees.  The mood lightened considerably after that, though for some reason she still seemed slightly uncomfortable
.
Whether it
was because of him and their troubles or some other reason
,
he did not know
.
H
e did know that Taris was laughing now. The tension that
had
filled the room
at
her entr
ance
was gone. She seemed relaxed, cheerful
and glad to be in his company
. 

“I like what they
’
ve
done with the place
.
” Taris gazed around at the
décor
.

“You like what they
’
ve
done with the place...
?
”
Monson
repeated
in a confused voice
.

Taris flushed again. It was actually
very
cute.

“What
–what
I mean is,” she stammered
,
“
t
his is an amazing
place
.”

Monson
had an odd
feeling in
his
chest like a huge vice was squeezing the breath out of him. There was something wrong. Was Taris hiding something?
The d
ots finally connected in Monson’s head. Taris ha
d
been here before, but why would she try and hid
e
that
?

“Let
’
s go somewhere
,
get out of here
.
”

Monson raised his eyebrow. Just like that
? T
hey were making up just like that? What about the crying,
the
fight
,
and ignoring of his phone calls?  Was it all an act?  Monson scowled
,
considering the situation carefully. Maybe he should just let it go. They were speaking again
, and
that
was
what matter
ed, right?
No
—
he did not like that option either.
He needed to know what she was still hiding from him and why
. He quickly settled on a plan of action
to
let it go for now
and see where this would take him
.  “Where do you want to go?
”

“I have somewhere in mind
.
” Taris jumped to her feet
.
“
J
ust follow me.”

“We’re really close to curfew,” Monson objected. “What if we get caught?”
He let out a silent sigh
,
conscious
of hiding it from
Taris. 
He
was
emotionally
and physically
drain
ed
from his earlier experience and revelations
—and
also needed food in the world’s worst way
—b
ut Taris was giving him this look, a combination that spoke of disappointment and understanding
,
almost
as
if she was thinking
,
“
O
f course, why would he want to leave with me?”

Monson was taken aback.
He
wanted to grab Taris
,
shake her
, and yell,
“
You’re Taris
f
reakin
’
Green
,
woman! Man up and act like it.
”

But he
threw
on
the brakes.
T
ell
ing
Taris to man up was like tell
ing
Tiger Woods
he was
good at golf
. So very, very
unnecessary
. Monson glanced at her again. Of course he could not deny her.

“Al
l
right,” he
agreed as he
stood up
.
“
B
ut you are totally taking the blame if we get caught. I’m going to say that
you
held me a
t
gunpoint.” 

“Deal, but I should tell you
,
that
’
s
not very gentleman
ly.
”

He laughed
.
“
H
ey
,
can you wait for
a
moment while I run to my room
?
”

“Yeah
,
but hurry
.
”

Monson ran back to his room
and
grabbed a sweatshirt
,
hesitating as he caught a glimpse of the clock. He should be getting ready for his meeting with Cyann right about now
,
assuming that Indigo
had
actually followed through and
given
her the
note
. He grabbed his phone
;
nothing from Cyann or Indigo. Should he text her and tell her to just forget it? He did not want them to
grow
further apart
,
but what choice did he have? 

“Monson
,
are you coming?” Taris
called out
from the other room
.
“
W
e’d better hurry.”

“Yeah, I’m coming
,
” called Monson over his shoulder. He had to do something
;
he could not just leave it as
it was
. He
tapped out
a quick note to Cyann
,
attempting to sound apologetic and contrite.

Hey I know this is going to sound weird (especially considering I don’t even really know if you were going to
go
in the first place) but I can’t meet with you tonight
,
something came up. I
want
to meet
with
you though. We need to talk.
Message
me back when you
get a chance
.

Hope to hear from you,

MG

Not exactly what
one
would call poetic, but decent enough
.
A
t least
he would get his
point across.  He pushed send.

“What are you doing?”

Monson spun on the spot
,
instinctively hiding the phone behind his back
,
but not before catching
it on
the silver chain that hung around his neck. There was a small
snap
as part of the clasp that held his grandfather’s gem broke
,
causing the whole
thing
to fall to the floor. He swore internally.

“I’m sorry I startled yo
u.
” Taris reached down to gather the gem and remnants of the broken jewelry.

“It
’
s
OK,
”
sighed
Monson with traces of exasperation in his voice
.
“
Y
ou didn’t mean to.”

“What were you doing?” she repeated
.
S
he appeared tranquil but something told him that she was very aware of what he
had been
doing.

“Nothing of consequence
.
”
He
tried to
appear nonchalant, but
could tell she was not buying it. 

She gave him a suspicious look
,
then playfully grabbed his arm and pulled him
towards
the door.

“Come on
!
T
he night isn’t getting any younger
.
”

Monson decided not to tell her she sounded like an old
man
right then. They
left
his apartment
and moved
to his elevator
,
doing their best to remain as quiet as possible
.
They
made their way through
the Atrium
and out into the night,
Taris leading them down an unexpected path
,
probably the last place Monson
would have considered going; she
was leading
them
towards the old dorms and the clearing that Grayson, Marie and Monson were in mere hours
ago
. Monson’s nerves really were at
their
end
.
T
hey were out late, he
guessed he had
just made up with Taris, he was supposed to be meeting Cyann, and now after all that
,
they were
heading
towards a place where not long ago
,
Dawn was telling
him
to avoid at all cost
s
. Dawn
—
he had to speak to Dawn.

A
re you there
?”
he
asked
in the hollow of his mind
,
praying that
Dawn
would answer
. Dawn answered immediately
but something was different about his voice.  It was quieter, for one thing.
 

“Yes
,
I
a
m well aware
of where you are.
I
cannot
feel anything.”

“
You knew what I was going to ask
?”
Monson suspected as much but he still did not like the idea.

“
Of course, I do live in your head
,
after all
.
I know most of what
i
s going on.
”

“
Good
,”
said Monson
.
“
Then why don’t you take a
break.
I don’t think I need you for this part
.
”

“And miss the upcoming show?”
Dawn let out a
burst
of laugh
t
er. It was very weird to hear laugh
t
er
in his head
that was not his own
.
“
Not on your life.
”

“
Have I told you lately that you bug me
?”

“I love you too.”

Then
Dawn was off
again,
somewhere in the reaches of
Monson
’
s
mind
,
probably doing something that
would
serve to irritate
him
later
.
 

“I can hear that
,
you know
.
”

Monson laughed, aloud this time, and by the time he finished, Dawn
was
completely gone. The laugh was not without consequences
however, as t
he previously quiet Taris was now looking at him with concern in her eyes.

“Thought of something funny
,
” said Monson
,
trying to play it cool. It was
a
lame
attempt
, but
it
was better th
a
n trying to explain
that
he was laughing at the person inside his head.
J
ust imagine
that
conversation. Surprisingly
,
however, Taris
replied
in a light
,
teasing tone.

“Having a little conversation with the person inside of your head
,
h
uh?’

Monson laughed again
,
harder this time.

“Yeah
,
something like that
.
”

The two of them lapsed into a distinctly more comfortable silence.  Monson allowed Taris to guide
him along
the lighted path
, and e
ventually the two of them came
across
the old dorm. They
easily
avoid
ed
the scatter
ed
debris, vegetation and construction equipment
from
Baroty’s
rejuvenation
project and
deviated from the
path
taken by Monson earlier.  They veered to the left of the structure
,
being careful not to disturb the unkempt grounds.  A
n unkempt
passage materialized
among
head-
high bush
es, and
Taris took
it without hesitation.
A
n air of potent and intense impatience grew around her. Monson figured some explanation was in order.