Page 20 of Monster's Past
“That’s just when he does magic,” I respond. “The eye glowing thing. Whenever he does a spell, they glow purple.”
“Maybe it’s nothing.” She grabs another croissant. “But maybe it’s not. I mean, you’ve seen one aspect of my magic but you haven’t been turned into stone.” She gestures towards her hair.
“How are you avoiding that by the way?”
“Gorgon secrets.” She taps her nose.
I snort. “Really?”
“Yep. Can’t tell you how I avoid turning people into stone, you might decide that the best thing to do is to use me against your enemies.”
“That seems like a stretch.”
“You haven’t told me the secrets of your magic,” she points out.
“That’s because they’re so secret that even I don’t know them. The only thing I can guess is that something about it makes me sleepwalk.”
“Maybe you’re a Nightmare.”
“A what?”
“A Nightmare,” she repeats.
“Yes, I heard you, I just don’t know what that is.”
“Oh, they’re supposed to sit on people’s chests while they’re asleep and bring them bad dreams.” The way she says it makes it sound as if it’s no big deal.
“That’s horrific.” But why else would I have been out of bed after hours?
I dismiss the train of thought. I’m not giving other people nightmares, I’m having them myself, which is a whole different thing. I hope.
“There’ll be ways to control if you are one,” she assures me. “You’re not going to go around attacking people who don’t deserve it.”
“I doubt anyonewoulddeserve it,” I point out.
“Maybe your warlock’s friend,” she mutters, almost rolling her eyes in the process. “I wouldn’t mind you making his nights terrible.”
I snort. “You could do that yourself if you turned him into stone.”
“Don’t think I haven’t threatened to, he just makes crude jokes about how he’s already rock hard.”
A laugh bursts from me and I hastily cover my mouth with my hand. “Sorry, it’s just that oneiskind of funny.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, it’s funny the first time. But I’ve been hearing those kinds of comments since before I should even have known what they meant.”
“Sorry.”
She shrugs. “Not your fault that people are idiots. But if you’re going to make jokes about my abilities, just make sure they’re better than that.”
“I promise I’ll come up with a good one.”
“That’s all I ask. And if youdoend up dating Cethin, maybe get him to have a word with his friend about that. I’d be much more amenable to flirting if he was at least creative about it.”
“I’ll make sure to casually drop that into the conversation I’m definitely not going to have.”
Nati sighs. “Fair enough. Are you done? We should get going so we’re not late.” She nods towards my plate.
“Yeah.” I push my empty plate back, still feeling a little guilty about just leaving it, even if that’s what we’re supposed to do.