فصل 39

chapter-39 The Monster’s liar

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“Hey, Michael,” Ostin said. He was in his underwear, looking at me from out our door. “You awake?” “I am now,” I said, taking a second to remember where I was.

“I thought you had left me. We just got a call from Gervaso. We’ve got forty minutes to eat and go.” “I’ll be right there.”

Ostin nodded and disappeared back into our room.

I kissed Taylor on the forehead. “It’s time to wake up.” “Do we have to?”

“This time we do.”

She groaned, then slowly pushed herself up. I sat up, stood, and then helped her up.

“What time is it?” Taylor asked.

“I don’t know. Ostin says we’ve got forty minutes. Or we did a couple of minutes ago.” “Okay.” She leaned in and we kissed; then she stepped back. She looked like she might fall over. “I’ll see you in a little bit.” She walked to her room and knocked on the door. McKenna opened it. “Good morning,” she said. “I was about to come looking for you.” She waved to me. “Hi, Michael.” “Morning.”

I turned and pushed open my door and went inside to shower.

Almost a half hour later Taylor and I walked into the dining room. Gervaso was sitting at a table near the door with Jack, Abi, and Cassy. He waved us over.

“Hey, Tay,” Jack said. “Mike.”

“Hey,” Taylor said.

Cassy was smiling at me. “Good morning, Michael. Do you go by Michael or Mike?” “Michael. I’m only Mike to Jack.” “My man,” Jack said, sounding like Denzel Washington. “I got privileges.” “Michael it is,” Cassy said. “I think it’s cuter, anyway.” She laughed sweetly.

Taylor shot me a look.

“I’d like to talk with you sometime. I have a lot of questions,” Cassy said.

“I’m sure there’ll be a lot of time to talk on the flight,” I said.

“Almost nine hours,” Gervaso said.

Jack groaned. “It’s really that far?” “I’m afraid so.”

“Well, we’ll definitely have time to talk,” I said.

“Speaking of time,” Gervaso said, “we need to leave in eight minutes, so eat fast.” “Sorry,” Taylor said, glancing at Cassy. “We slept in. Together.” Cassy bit her lower lip but said nothing. The tension between them was palpable.

“We’ll just grab a sweet roll or something,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

“There will be food on the plane too,” Gervaso said.

“Great,” I said. “Has Ostin come up yet?” “He’s back in the corner with McKenna,” Jack said, pointing.

“Thanks. Come on, Taylor.”

We walked over and grabbed plates.

“Didn’t I tell you she liked you?” Taylor said.

“She’s just being friendly,” I said.

“Very.” She turned and walked away.

I grabbed a cherry Danish, a hard-boiled egg, some toast, and a glass of orange juice, and carried it over to where Taylor had gone, next to Ostin and McKenna. Taylor looked embarrassed.

“Ostin said he found you guys sleeping in the hall,” McKenna said.

“It was quieter than sleeping next to Ostin,” I replied.

“I talk in my sleep?” Ostin said.

“No, you snore. Like a chain saw.” He turned to McKenna. “I don’t snore.” “Uh, yeah, you do,” I said.

“Why are you making these cruel accusations?” “Because I had to sleep in the hall,” I said. “And I got run over by some Chinese dude in a psychedelic green jacket. You definitely snore. If you don’t believe me, we can prove it scientifically.” “How would you do that?”

“Easy. We could record you.”

“What, with a phone recorder?”

“No, I was thinking more of a Richter scale.” McKenna and Taylor both laughed.

“It’s okay,” McKenna said. “Real men snore.” Ostin smiled. Then he said to me, “Hey, you should try your Danish baked with butter. The way your mother used to make them.” “I would if I had an oven.”

McKenna’s eyebrows rose. “Excuse me, but what am I?” “Sorry, but I don’t usually think of you as an oven.” “Give it to me.”

I put a pat of butter on top of my pastry and then pushed the plate to McKenna. She put her hand on it. Within seconds the butter was bubbling and the Danish was slightly toasted. She stopped and pushed the plate back to me. “There you go. Be careful, it’s hot.” “Thank you.”

I had only taken a few bites of my Danish when Jack walked up to our table. “Gervaso says it’s time to head down.” I downed my orange juice in one gulp, then grabbed a napkin and my sweet roll, and we all walked out to the elevator. Taylor and I stopped on our floor and grabbed our bags, then went down to the lobby. Ian and Gervaso were standing near the hotel’s front doors.

“That’s everyone but Welch,” Gervaso said.

“He’s waiting for us outside,” Ian said. “He’s reading a newspaper.” “All right, let’s go.”

After we were in our vans, Welch casually put down his newspaper and walked over to our vehicle and got in. I didn’t think that he was being overly cautious. If I had Hatch and his whole army after me, I’d be careful too.

The drive from the hotel to the airport took about a half hour. We set what little luggage we had near the back of the plane, then boarded.

Scott closed the cockpit door, and within fifteen minutes we were in the air. I think that’s the best part of a private jet. There’s not a lot of sitting around. And you don’t have to bring your seat up for takeoff.

Once the plane had settled on a cruising altitude, Gervaso stood up in the aisle at the front of the plane. He steadied himself by holding on to the seats on each side.

“Listen up, all. The flight to Sydney is almost nine hours, so you’ve got some time to relax. You all look pretty tired, so I suggest that you rest now and we’ll talk a few hours before we land. There are some important things we need to go over.” “Sounds good to me,” Taylor said softly. “At least the resting part.” We reclined our seats, and she laid her head against me to sleep. We were headed to the monster’s lair.