The House of Grey- Volume 4 (35 page)

W
hen Indigo and Art
o
rius
were no longer
paying attention
,
Grayson
mouthed
,
“It
’
s here!”

Monson
nodded
his head
,
indicating his understanding. He quickly turned his attention back to Indigo
,
who was dictating her plans for the Spring
Solstice
. Monson
thought he might as well leave, too.
A
fter all, Grayson was going to give him a copy of
the
journal, which could be
his
only tool in figuring out what in the world was happening to him.
Despite the weight of that,
Monson had an epiphany of epic proportions
as he looked at Indigo.
I
f there was anyone
who
would know why Cyann was acting like a nutbar
,
it
was
her sister
.

“Hey Indigo
,
”
h
e said
,
cutting
into
her
monologue.
A
r
t
o
rius actually look
ed
at him with grateful eyes. “I was wondering how your sister
’
s doing
.
”

“What’s it to you
?
” Indigo
’
s
expression was
part scowl
,
part amusement.

“I just haven’t
talked
to her in a while
,
” said Monson
,
attempting
to sound nonplus
ed
.

“And whose fault is that?”

“I’m not sure anyone
’
s really at fault. We’ve
both
just been busy
.
”

“Really
—
I thought that you guys stopped hanging out after you started
hanging out
with the cow.
”

“Taris is not a cow
,
” said Monson angrily
.

Indigo
widened her
eyes
in an
attempt
to appear innocent.
“O
o
h
,
touchy
!
I
’
ve
heard things aren’t exactly going well with her
,
either.”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I wasn’t aware that I had.”

“
You know what
,
forget it,
” said Monson
,
standing up.

“
OK,
OK.
” Indigo pulled
at
his arm
.
“To be honest with you
,
she hasn’t told me much
.
S
he
’
s spending a
lot
of time with the Diamond
,
but
I’m not sure she’s having
much
fun with him.”

Monson
grinned inwardly
.

“Yeah
,
I heard they
were
together. Actually
,
the last time I talked to
Cyann
she was getting ready to go out with
him.
And because I was talking to her, I ended up being late
for my date with Taris
.
S
he’s still pissed about it.”

“Really
,
” commented Indigo
with
some surprise
.
“What happened?”

Monson quickly retold the story.

“
Umm…now isn’t that interesting
,” Indigo
tilted her head,
thinking.

“What’s interesting about that?”
asked
Monson
.
“Isn’t that common? A guy does something dumb and a girl gets pissed?”

“Yeah
,
i
t
’
s
not
that
out of the ordinary, but wouldn’t you think that you would have made up by now?”

“Of course, but I guess I didn’t get how important small things like that are
.
”

“True
,
” conceded Indigo
.
“The small things are very important
.
”

“So how do I fix it?”
wondered
Monson
,
feeling like he was finally beginning to understand a little of what
wa
s going on.
“
Just tell
me
what to do
.
” 

“Fix it?” Indigo flashed him a pitying smile
.
“I’m not sure that you can.”

“Why not?”

Indigo
didn
’
t
answer
at first
, but her expression became quite indulgent.
S
he placed her hand on Monson’s and spoke in a very deliberate tone
.

“You know, ultimately I can’t really tell you what her problem is
,
but I can tell you this. Girls don’t get that mad
at
a guy
for
being a half
-
hour late
. Sure, we rant on a bit just for show, but that
’
s normal.
Y
ou won’t be able to fix the problem until you know what’s really bothering her
.
”

Artorius
interrupted
.
“Are you say
ing
that Taris isn’t really mad at Monson for being late?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying
,
” said Indigo with a little
sigh.
T
hey both looked directly at Monson.

Monson took a deep breath, staring off.
It was funny, as much as he wanted to make up with
Taris
,
Cyann was the one
who
popped into his head in that instant.
How could he be so dense? H
e
had never
stopped to think about
what was
really
bothering her! How was he going to fix the problem when he did not even know what
it
was?

“Indigo, can you do me a big favor?” he said
,
almost yelling at her.

Indigo looked startled but nodded her
agreement
. Monson smiled
gratefully
at her
,
then
went for his
bag
where he
search
ed
for pen and paper
. He
made his way back to where Indigo was sitting
and plopped down next to her.

“Can ask what you
’
re doing?”
Indigo sounded amused.

“I’m writing your sister a note.”

“If it says
‘
D
o you like me? Check
Yes or No,
’
I’m leaving
.
”

Monson had to laugh at that one
.
“
N
o
,
this has gone on long enough.  I’m asking her to meet me later
. I want to find
out
what
’
s bothering her
, and
a
sk her forgiveness
,
and hopefully that will be the end of it.”

“What about Taris? You did want to know
what to do with
Taris
,
right?”

Monson paused
,
eyeing Indigo
.
“
Y
es, I did—
do
want to know about Taris and
all
that. Indigo, why do I get the feeling that you
aren’t
telling me everything?”

Indigo shrugged
.
“I don’t know
,
maybe it
’
s because your girlfriend isn’t all that trustworthy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Indigo sneered
.
“
Y
ou should ask her
,
Grey.”

“I
’
ll do that
—
and she
is
not my girlfriend.”

Monson finished his note and folded it neatly. He liked to think that he was more mature than this, but something about the prospect of trying to get Cyann’s attention in the main hall shot ripples of fear down his back. No, this was the better way to do it, even if it was a bit childish. Monson handed Indigo the note
and
was thankful that she took it without comment.

They changed the subject
, chatting
about random and unimportant things
.
Indigo was fussing about their dance group while Art
o
rius
and Monson
pretended to listen. Monson
was
attempt
ing
to keep Cyann and Taris far from his analytical side. There would be time for that
later, away from everyone
.

Casey reappeared looking
pleased
,
followed by a flushed Christy.
He
meandered towards Art
o
rius and Monson as Christy continued to follow closely behind him.

“Hey Grey
,
” Casey adjusted to find a comfortable spot on the grass
.
“Have you and Christy met?”

“Yeah
,
I think so
,
though it was like the first week of school
,
wasn’t
it
? You haven’t been around much since.”

Christy giggled
,
though the joke was lost on Monson.

“You remembered
.
”
S
he sighed with relief
.
“That is so great because I
totally
thought
that you wouldn’t and
..
.
”

And she was off
.
Christy started telling
all of them
about her family, friends, her dad’s business, her mother’s social calendar
,
and sister’s husband. She talked about anything and everything under the sun for a solid
twenty
minutes
.
She talked so much that it did not even seem like she was breathing.
After a while,
Monson
began
to wonder what it would take to
freeze
her
;
then
he scowled
at
himself
,
thinking that something like that would probably kill her and of course he
did not
want to do that. After another
fifteen
minutes
, though
, he actually started to look withi
n himself,
praying that the magic would come.

The
ring
of his phone saved him.
The flying envelope was back
. Monson
stood
up
,
excusing himself from Christy’s endless chatter. Not very many people
had
his number so Monson had a pretty good idea who
it
was. Sure enough
,
he unlocked his
phone
and
the name
Grayson
flashed across the screen.

***

It took a bit of time for Monson to convince
his two friends
that they did not
want
to come with him. Especially since Grayson
had
just introduced them to
his
particularly
attractive assistant. After
some time,
Monson was off by himself
,
leaving a distracted Casey still listening to Christy’s rambling
and
a giggling Arto
rius and Indigo.

Monson
knock
ed
on the door
as soon as he arrived
. Marie immediately opened
it
.

“Master Grey
,
” she said
,
again with the curtsy
.
“
C
ome in, Master Grayson has been expecting you.
”

Monson gave Marie a
brief
smile and
walked
into the living area.
He gaped in surprise.
Everything was
totally
normal.
Grayson
’s books, posters and even his computer
appeared to be undamaged,
like
Hurricane Grey
had never occurred
.
Grayson
smiled as he noticed Monson’s stunned disbelie
f
. He simply point
ed
at Marie in answer. 

“She got here earlier than I expected
,
”
s
aid Grayson
,
speaking without the accent.

“No way
,
”
Monson
said
,
looking for the girl over his shoulder
.
“
S
he did all this?”

“Amazing
,
h
uh
?
” Grayson’s lips curled
into
a devious grin. “It
’
s
almost like magic
.
”

Monson hesitated
,
glancing in Marie’s direction
.
Grayson
correctly
interpreted
the look on
his
face.

“It
’
s
OK,
she knows all about it.”

Monson dipped his head once. “Good, and don’t say that stuff like that
.
It makes me want to vomit just thinking about
that
Being of
Seven
Bloods business.  Though between you and me, I wish I
’
d
had access to my Kei
a little while
ago. Would have saved me a great deal of pain.”