The House of Grey- Volume 4 (15 page)

S
tupid
echo, mirror, clone thing
, he thought. 

Monson and his
twin
now stood in the heart of a beautiful
,
almost mystical forest. Huge trees towered over them as beams of broken light bre
a
ched the canopy
,
reflecting off the dew-covered vegetation. A cool
,
almost chilly breeze
blew
through the branches of the forest
,
sounding a heavenly song
as if
instruments
were being played
in the upper reaches of the tree
s
. The two Monsons walked
, the original
in
absolute
wonderment
as he
absorb
ed
the
beautiful
sight
s
and sound
s
, never straying from
the
neatly clipped
grass path they
followed
.

They traveled
to the bank of a very wide river
, which
wrapped neatly around
the
base of a massive mountain.
The
river was huge
,
with
deep
water so clear it was as if not even dirt had a place within it
s
depths. The roar of
rapids sounded in the
distance.

Hmm
…
he thought
.
Why don
’
t I have more dreams like this
?

“Monson
.
”
T
he other Monson stopp
ed
at the bank
of the huge, sparkling river. “Before we go any further, I want to
apologize
to you.
”

“Apologize?
” Monson
said
calmly
.
“Why?”

“I know that the last few months have been tough on you
.
”
T
he other Monson
knelt
down and
trailed his fingers
through the crystal clear
water.
“
You have been through a horrific or
deal and I
am responsible for great deal of
it.”

Monson
easily
recalled some of the more “exciting” events of the last few months
,
having been
unable to block out
his near-death experiences, his potentially imagined encounter
in the weight room
,
his attack on the man in the black cloak
,
and
his
nighttime a
dventure with Casey and Artori
us
.
“Yeah
, I know we aren’t on the subject,
but
you never answered my question. Are you the good one?”

The other Monson laughed
.
“Yes indeed
,
I am.”
“Good
.
S
o for future reference
, the next time you try to get ahold of me can we figure out something better? I
’
ve seen way to
o
many horror movies for the whole
‘
different self
’
-thing to not freak me out. Then again
,
at least I know you
’
re real and not a figment of my imagination.” 

“Again
,
I
a
m
truly
sorry
. You must understand—
if they somehow gain access to your mind
…
this
is
the only way that I might be able to avoid detection.”

Monson grinned playfully
.
“So this isn’t your real form? You wouldn’t be by chance a really hot girl
,
would you?”

“Grey
,
” said the other Monson
with
a stern note in his voice
,
though Monson could tell that he was trying not to smile
,
“
t
his is serious.”

“
I was just asking
.
”

“It
i
s
all right.
” He gazed out over the huge river. “And no
,
I
a
m not a girl.”

Monson snapped his fingers
in
disappoint
ment
.

“I have three things that I
must
tell you before you wake up.”

“ Three
?
Well I don’t know about that -- I should have brought my day planner.
”
Monson replied sardonically
.

T
he
scar-less
Monson
turned
his gaze on
the
other
with
a very serious look.
“
Y
ou need to tell your guardian that the initial gate has been breached
,
and suppressing it is
growing
close to impossible as the
K
eeper
becomes more and more
impatient.”

Monson
cocked the eyebrow.
Homie say what?

“I’m afraid that I don’t understand
,
”
Monson said aloud.

“I know you
do not
have reason to
,
but I need you to trust me. Establishing this link and bringing you to this world is very difficult. I cannot do it very often
and it could harm your current divided state. I assure you it was necessary, but that does not make it any less dangerous
.  You
are not
going to understand
most
of what I am going to tell you or why it
i
s so important,
but I promise you that it is.
P
lease memorize it
,
and at the right time you will know what I am talking about.”

“If you say so.”

“Good
. 
Monson
,
I need you
to
control your emotions. Take a deep breath. Count to ten. I do not care
how,
but it is very important that you do so. They are going to be on watch for any signs and
currently
I
a
m just not
strong
enough to control you without some
…collateral damage occurring
.”

Monson
really did not know what h
is twin
was talking about. An “I don’t know what to say,” was all he could muster.

“Just say you
wi
ll do what I
ha
ve told you. I want to keep you safe. I have a bad feeling something is coming
, s
omething big
.
I need you stay in control until I figure out what that is. With that being said, do you remember the
silver
stone that Molly gave you?”

“Yeah of course, it’s right
...
” Monson reached for ever-present silver stone around his neck
.
T
o his horror
,
it
was not
there. “Oh no, what did I do with it?”

The other Monson start
ed
to laugh
.
“
Y
ou
a
re dreaming
,
remember? The stone is in the real world.”

“Oh yeah
.
” Monson chuckled in relief
.
“I knew that
.
I was just seeing if you were paying attention
.
”

“I
a
m sure you were
.
”

Monson attempted to look solid in his convictions. The
clone
started to laugh again.

“Oh dear
,
”
h
e said
,
wiping tear
s
from his eyes. “You know Monson
,
you really make me laugh
.
T
hank you. It
ha
s been way too long.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“Anyway
,
” said the other Monson
,
continuing
to
wipe his face
,
“
t
he silver gem that Molly gave you
,
do
n
o
t forget to
wear it always
. You promised Molly
,
did
you
not
?”

“Yeah
, I did.
” Monson paused
.
“Hey
,
Monson number
two—
”

“Monson number
two
?”
t
he other Monson interrupted.

“Well yeah
,
you haven’t given me a name so I went with what worked.
Question for you:
Y
ou and Brian have an awful lot in common. You don’t know each other
,
do you?”

“Brian? As in your butler
,
Brian
?
I know of him
,
why
do you ask
?”

Monson eyed his counterpart
,
looking for any signs of recognition
.
“Because Brian is observant to the point of psychic. You seem to know
an
awful lot about me as well. Are you sure you don’t know each other?”
 

The other Monson sat in quiet reflection
while
the real Monson search
ed
for any sign that
he
knew
Brian
. The silence seemed to drag on. Monson finally spoke
.
“There’s a whole lot that you not telling me
,
isn’t there
?
”

The other Monson
’
s
gaze again turned out
towards
the huge river
as he
breath
ed
deeply
,
holding
each
breath for
several
seconds. The real Monson sat quietly
, waiting
.

“You know
,
when I was young
….
”
T
he
twin
’
s
eyes glazed over
.
“I use
d
to play by a river just like this. It
i
s funny that this world would take on this appearance. It makes me smile. This state of life, I
suppose
you can call it
that
,
is something new for me and I
do not
quite know how to react to it. All I can say to you is
,
thank you.”

“This state of life?” 
A furrow appeared between
Monson
’
s
eye
brow
s
.
“
Y
ou make it sound like you
’
r
e
dead.”

Before the other Monson could answer
,
there was a huge explosion of sound
that
sen
t
the peaceful world in
to
turmoil. Birds took off as an unidentified object came t
h
rashing through
the
forest. Startled
,
Monson motioned to his counterpart
and
read
ied
himself to fight.