The House of Grey- Volume 4 (22 page)

“Yeah, yeah
,
playboy
.
G
et out of here,”
she
said with a very girlish smile.

Monson did as he was told.
After
his
mishap with
his teacher,
Monson
tried very hard to control himself while searching for Grayson. The hours between dinner and curfew were particular
ly
difficult
ones for
a manhunt because of the tendency of students to scatter all over the campus.
Like trying to find a needle in a haystack, as stupid as that expression was, so Monson decided to choose a spot and work from there, and the dorms seemed like the most logical place to start.

He
arrived at The Barracks panting
,
though more from nerves than exhaustion.
He
made his
way
through the student entrance to the boy’s dorm and grimaced when he realized that he
had no idea
where Grayson’s room
was.The
boy’s dormitory was separated in
to twelve
floors
, three
floors per grade
,
with the seniors
at the
top. That at least was
the
good news
.
H
e
was not
going to run into Derek or any of his goons while trying to find Grayson.

He’s probably on one of the first couple of floors.
Monson approached
a
large board labeled “Information” and scanned
it
in hopes it would yield
a more specific location
.
As he was looking, he
remember
ed
how Dawn had been able to tell him exactly where Taris was. He thought he would give it a try.

“Dawn
,
a
re you there?”
asked
Monson in a quiet voice
.

Nothing happened.

He repeated himself.

Again nothing.

He
swore. “Where are you when I need you?”

Monson heard voices behind him
.
Spinning on the spot
,
he saw a couple of boys he recognized from his year. He hurried over to them.

“Do you guys know what room Grayson
Garrett
is in?” asked Monson with no preamble.

The boys
all stared
with startled expressions
, like they could not figure out why he was there
. Then
,
with
a
slightly blank
look,
one answered
,

“Kid in the wheelchair
,
right?”
H
e scratched at the back of his
head.
“Isn’t he at the end of the hall on Prefecture Two?”

“Prefecture
Two
?”

“Oh yeah
, I guess
you wouldn’t know
,
” said the boy
,
smiling
.
“The floors are named by Prefecture. Number
Two
is the second floor. I’m pretty sure
he
’
s
at the end of the h
all.
”

“Thanks!” Monson shot off racing to the second floor. He found Grayson’s door, which was marked by a nameplate, and knocked.

“Who is it?” a slightly muffled voice
replied
.

“Monson Grey
.
” He was proud that he was able to
maintain a level voice
even
though his right leg was shaking violently.

The voice answer
ed,
sounding amused
.
“Oh
,
Grey! I wasn’t expecting you so soon. Come in
.
”

Monson opened the massive door only to
have his senses assaulted
with a
hodgepodge
of visual s
t
imulation. It was quit
e
obvious that Grayson
Garrett
lived alone.
Posters, tons of them, covered the apartment
depicting
everything from
1920s literary classics to the latest supermarket-checkout romance novel
.
It was bizarre.

The
door
opened into an expansive hallway that separated the
bed
room
and bathroom from
the
living area.
In addition to
the posters, fantasy and sci-fi books of littered the floor, bookshelves, tables and
every
other
surface,
taking up
residence
on the one television in the room and dominating much of the counter space.  Grayson
was
sitting at
a workstation in front of a
very expensive-
looking computer
,
smiling in a disturbingly calm way. Charts, graphs, maps and other empirical data filled the immediate space
to his left and right.
On the computer screen in
front of
him
,
a math calculation of some sort
scrolled
across the screen
. It
was apparently fairly important
;
Grayson
’
s
eye
s
darted back to
it
every few seconds.

Monson moved to the
center
of
the
room
, which
appeared to have been
modeled after the headquarters of
a
mad genius or intelligence agency
,
and found that he was
,
once more,
at a loss for
words.

“Welcome
,
Grey.
W
hat
can I do ya for
?”
inquired
Grayson.

“I’m not totally sure at this point,” replied Monson in awe
.
“
H
ave you read all these?”

He pointed at the stacks of books scattered around the room.

“Most of
‘
em
.
” Grayson pulled off a pair of headphones and
spun
his chair around. “There are a few that I haven’t read
,
but it’s
OK
. When I have more time I
’
ll get to
them
.”

“You’re really busy then?”
asked
Monson
,
examining all the graphs and papers around Grayson’s desk.” He answered his own question
.
“Yeah
,
I can imagine you are busy with all
…
this.
”
  He pointed around the room
.
“What exactly are you trying to do?” Monson knew that he was stalling
.
H
e was
actually
interested
in Grayson
’
s collection of stuff and
not exactly
keen
on discussing his
activities in the Atrium
.

Grayson
’
s
smile
widened.
“
W
ith what? The books
,
or
the
charts and other stuff?”

“Why don’t we start with the books
…
”

Grayson
nodded.
“Oh
,
that one is easy
—
I’m trying to find truth through one of the most telling means,
by applying a research method which is both in
sightful and intrusive.”

“Sounds complicated
,
”
said
Monson
hoping Grayson wouldn’t get too technical. He
quickly
glance
d
around at the various book
s
and pop culture
paraphernalia.
“
W
hat about the charts?”

“Now that
’
s
really
interesting. With those and most of the other
stuff
here
,
I
’
ve been trying to verify
the existence
of an individual
who
I
’
m
sure
is real
and
whom
our very lives may revolve around
.
”

Monson cocked the eyebrow
.
“
Y
eah, I heard about what happened to you last
May
. I was there too, though I don’t remember much of what happen
ed
. So I
guess I
kind of know where you
’
re coming from
.
”

“Oh
,
do you?  Why do you say that?”

“I
’
ve been looking
for answers since the day
I
woke up in a hospital with scars all over my body
and
a large part of my memory missing. I have skills I can’t explain and
I know things that I can’t explain
.
Not to mention all the
weird dreams
about
creepy individuals
.
”

What in the world? Why was he telling Grayson all this?

“Now I feel like I
’
ve slipped into some kind of alternate reality
w
here I’m looking for
something
that
doesn’t
exist.  If you
’
re searching for reasons and explanation
s
for
unbelievable events, then yeah, I know what you
’
re talking about
.
”

“I think you misunderstand, Monson
.
”
Grayson
’
s
smile was
gentle, almost
comforting
.
“I’m not looking for closure or anything of that nature. What happened
at Baroty Bridge was one of the best moments
of my life
. All
because I found
you
. The gods’ legacy confirmed.  Th
is
injury is just the price of my research.”

Monson’s jaw dropped. “What did you say?”

Grayson cocked his own eyebrow
,
copying Monson
.
“
W
hat
?
D
idn’t you hear me?”
“No
,
I heard you.  I just wanted to
make sure I heard what I think I heard
. Did you say the
gods’ legacy
?”

“Yes,
yes
I did.” 

“
You’re gonna have to explain that one
.” 

Grayson laughed
—hard—
though for the life of him
,
Monson could not see what was
so
funny about the situation.
He
wiped a tear from his eye and looked
at
Monson. 

“Mr. Grey, I am not who you think I am. I think it
’
s time for you and I to have a little heart
-
to
-
heart talk.”

It was then that Monson noticed
:
Grayson’s accent. It was gone.