Chapter Fourteen
Mealworms are completely edible, but apparently taste horrible if not fried. Ants, on the other hand, are supposed to be delicious (I wouldn't know: I'm allergic to them). Merry belated Christmas, everyone!
At roughly half-seven, someone knocked on Rex's door. Since he hadn't heard any footsteps, he assumed it was one of the two monsters. He was correct; it was the red monster, the one he didn't know the name of. Her eyes were all narrowed, and her mouth pursed. In two of her arm-tentacles, she held a tray.
"Food." she snapped, holding the tray out in front of her. He took it off her and she whirled round and left, locking the door behind her once more.
Rex looked down at the tray. It held two pieces of toast, a small pot of deep-fried caramelised mealworms, a quarter of a mozzarella ball and a can of some sort of human soda called Sprite. Rex, having had nothing to eat all day, wolfed the food down hungrily, and sipped his Sprite. It didn't taste bad.
It was still light outside, but a thick barrier of grey clouds had covered the sun, making everything gloomy, and it was drizzling. Rex turned on the light and drew the curtains.
###
Mary was sprawled on her bed, Tessa's laptop in front of her, listening to music on her iPod, which was set to shuffle film music. At the moment, she was listening to Arrietty's Song. She was on Tumblr, but her mind wasn't really on it. She kept thinking about the Rex. She didn't know why, but he intrigued her. His life was so different to hers that Mary, without realizing it, had become obsessed, not with Rex, but with what it must be like to be him. To be bullied constantly, enough to want to escape from his world altogether. To be able to turn invisible at will, to walk on walls, the list was endless. His eyesight too, Mary realized. The evening before, Tessa had been going on about how geckos could see colour in the dark, when human eyes in the same conditions could only see in black and white.
###
Tessa lay back on her bed. Scarlett was right, and she couldn't deny it. They would have to send Rex back. As much as she hated to admit it, Scarlett had always been the most rational student in the class. It was one of the reasons they didn't get on much, Tessa was what the teachers called a 'gut agent' – someone who didn't always think things through thoroughly, but instinctively managed to just succeed in whatever the task was. Scarlett was the opposite, always studying her options to see which one would logically be the best choice. They were both fairly good students in their separate methods, and had held a fierce rivalry, which had quickly become hatred.
Tessa could still remember when Scarlett discovered how she'd got into the school. Everyone knew that both of Scarlett's parents worked for the MSSS. Her father was a high-up MSS strategist, and her mother a valuable HAS field agent. She wasn't the only one with family connections, either: Magnus Vadas' father was a mission planner, and his aunt was one of the recruiters, and even Rachele's parents worked for the CDD. Tessa had a bit of a name to her, as her father, 'Frightening' Frank McCay, was a fairly well-known scarer, but Scarlett just couldn't understand how she'd been recruited, and had made it her job to find out.
Tessa remembered waking up one morning to find Scarlett already sitting up in the bed opposite, a smirk on her face. Tessa's suspicions had instantly been aroused. Scarlett had been increasingly smug and annoying for the last week, as if she were getting closer to finding out, and now it looked like she had.
Tessa had pushed herself into a sitting position, and glared over at Scarlett. "What?" she had growled.
Scarlett's smug smile had widened. "I've found out." she had said in a sing-song voice. "I know all about you and your stalker history."
Tessa's blood had gone cold. "Shut up."
Rachele had stirred in her bed and mumbled something incoherent, making Tessa freeze, then glance pleadingly at Scarlett.
"Oh, what was that? You don't want me to tell the others?"
Tessa had clenched her jaw. "Don't you dare-"
Scarlett had laughed. "Oh don't worry," she said. "I won't tell anyone... yet."
"What do you want?"
"Oh, nothing right now. Don't worry though, I'll tell you as soon as I've thought of something."
###
Here he was, thought Randall, at the headquarters of an organisation so elusive that it had no name. This was no petty drug-smuggling gang; referred to in whispered tones – from one conspiracy theorist to another – as the Hidden Puppeteer or the Invisible Hand, this organisation held more power than the Monstropolis government. They had agents everywhere, determining the plans of governments all over both worlds and tweaking the arrangements, laws and political opinions to suit their purpose.
And now, thought Randall, he would be part of it.