The Monster Who Wasn't

by T C Shelley

  ‘Well, he would, wouldn’t he?’

  ‘So, do you think you could give me some chocolates? Please. They don’t have to be your best ones.’

  She laughed a tinkling bell of a laugh. ‘You aren’t going to scoff them yourself, are you?’

  ‘Oh no, I won’t get any.’

  She paused and looked at him. ‘You’re serious? Won’t they leave you any? That’s awful. No wonder you call them gargoyles. If I give you some, will it make your day a bit easier?’

  The woman didn’t wait for an answer; she disappeared out the back door and returned with a box of chocolates.

  ‘It’s full but got left out in the sun, and they’ve melted a bit. We can’t sell them, so my manager won’t mind. Now you put a couple in your pockets first.’

  The imp boy tucked the box under his arm and turned to the door. He still didn’t know what pockets were and wondered why she had told him to put chocolates in something she’d noticed he didn’t have.

  ‘Thank you. I do really think well of your effort.’

  ‘Oh, you are an absolute darling. You finish your drink. The afternoon crowd’s not in for ages.’ She patted a stool at the counter, and the imp boy sat down. ‘My name’s May. What’s yours?’

  ‘I don’t have one.’

  May laughed. ‘You don’t have one or I need to guess it? Is it Rumpelstiltskin?’

  The door tinkled again. May looked up, and the imp boy turned around. A woman shuffled in. She wore a beige dress and carried a leather bag. She was distracted by the wall furthest from the counter, peering at boxes prewrapped in red foil.

  May slid her cup under the counter and winked at the imp boy. ‘Sit nice and quiet.’

  The woman hurried over to May, digging in her bag. She handed the imp boy a set of keys without looking up.

  ‘Hold these, Nick,’ she said.

  The imp boy took the keys as she pulled papers and half-wrapped food out of her bag. She put a dummy and a packet of wipes on the counter.

  She didn’t have much success with her search.

  ‘Nick, sweetheart,’ she said to the imp boy, ‘I need you to run back to the car and get my purse. I promised Dad I would –’

  The door to the shop tinkled again. ‘Sorry, Mum, I got caught up at the skate shop,’ a voice called from the door.

  The imp boy turned to see the person coming in. He was taller than the imp boy by a head, his hair brushed smooth, but the pale face and the large dark eyes were like the imp boy’s own. He could have been another reflection.

  ‘Oh ho, gargoyles indeed. To think I almost believed you,’ May said to the imp boy. She turned to the woman. ‘Your son doesn’t half tell a good story.’

  The imp boy turned to see the woman staring at him. Hunger again, though not quite like Thunderguts or the crone’s. Her eyes glowed like May’s, and yet the rest of her hung in grey, as if she had enough colour in her to fill only her starving brown eyes. ‘My son? Oh, no, no, he’s not … I’m so sorry, I took you for …’ She looked to the boy at the door and back to the imp boy, studying his face with greed.

  The imp boy was afraid she would grab at him and he edged back. He returned her keys and she took them, her hand hanging mid-air. He felt the moment around him stop and go silent, regardless of the thundering starting inside him. Then his legs and hands, instinctive and quick, moved again. He grabbed the box of chocolates May had given him, swung off the stool and raced past the boy at the door.

  ‘Hey!’ Nick called. The imp boy glanced at the boy’s face, his dark eyes, his black hair. The doorbell rang frantically as he lunged through.

  And he ran.

  He heard them in the shop, his ears keen to hear their voices no matter how far he fled.

  ‘He’s really not yours?’ May said. ‘I’m sorry, I just assumed you were related … he’s the spit of you.’

  The imp boy worked hard to keep the conversation clear, as his body thumped inside and out trying to drown outside sounds.

  He clambered up the side of the cathedral.

  ‘Maybe he’s …’ Nick’s voice began, but then his voice cut out.

  ‘He got a boxful! He got a boxful!’ Wheedle cheered. ‘I told you he was gonna be brilliant.’

  The imp boy jumped up next to him. His breathing came hard, hurting his lungs.

  ‘Bring it here,’ Bladder said.

  The imp boy shoved the box at the gargoyles and barrelled past Bladder to lean over the street side of the roof. He wanted to see if he’d been hunted, to see if the two from the sweet shop were near. He scoured the humans passing alongside the church and saw the two of them coming up the footpath.

  ‘Unwrap the green one for me?’ Wheedle begged, passing a chocolate to the imp boy. The imp boy didn’t take his gaze off the street as he unwrapped the first sweet for the bull-faced gargoyle.

  ‘Wheedle,’ the imp boy asked, the hammer in his chest pounding at his ribs, ‘do humans often look alike?’

  He saw the woman on the footpath frown, the boy scanning the street, searching for something. Neither of them looked up.

  ‘All of ’em look the same to me,’ Bladder said.

  He shrank back as the woman and the boy called Nick walked beside the church.

  ‘Is there anyone else from the family visiting?’ the imp boy heard Nick ask.

  The gargoyles moved to the edge of the building to see what the imp boy was watching so intently. He pointed at Nick.

  The gargoyles peered down. ‘I see what you mean,’ Bladder said.

  ‘… Not supposed to arrive until tomorrow,’ the woman was saying. ‘Maybe … but have you seen anyone in the family that much …’ She trailed off. The hungry look on her face had gone. The imp boy wondered why she’d frightened him. She was nothing like Thunderguts.

  ‘Do humans eat humans?’

  ‘Not often that they tell you about,’ Bladder said, ‘although they really are nasty brutes.’

  ‘You think one of them wants to eat you?’ Wheedle chortled. This grew to huge guffaws. ‘You have so much to learn, kid.’

  ‘Nope, he’s got them to rights,’ Bladder said. ‘Can’t trust a human.’

  Nick and the woman walked by. ‘That boy does look a bit like you,’ Wheedle said. ‘But it’s just a coincidence; I wouldn’t let it bother you.’

  ‘What’s a coincidence?’ the imp boy asked.

  ‘You know,’ said Wheedle, putting his hoofish toes together and apart as he spoke. ‘When a series of happenings happen and you don’t expect them to. But they do and they’re odd.’

  The imp boy had no idea what that meant.

  ‘He really does look like you,’ Bladder said. ‘Not that I’m a good judge of human appearance. It’s all skin and hair and eyelashes as far as I’m concerned.’

  A wash of wind announced the arrival of an angel, and Daniel alighted next to the pack. The imp boy didn’t turn to greet him. He continued watching the woman and Nick as they turned the corner.

  ‘Daniel, can you tell him what a coincidence is?’ Wheedle asked.

  ‘An uncredited miracle,’ the angel replied.

  Bladder grunted. ‘Oh, yes, very helpful.’

  ‘What coincidence do you mean?’ Daniel asked him, but the imp boy’s head was already over the side of the building and he climbed head first down the wall, hoping to see where the woman and the boy called Nick had gone. A small girl with a yellow cap stared at him as he descended, her blue eyes as wide as her mouth. No one else noticed.

  He found their scent riding on the warm breeze. He wanted to see Nick again. Their smell came to him, the woman’s scent floral on the surface but creamy underneath. Nick smelt stronger, earthier, like he’d been running.

  ‘Your heart is racing,’ Daniel said. He’d fluttered down to the footpath.

  ‘Heart?’

  The angel pointed at the top of his body.

  ‘Oh?’ The imp boy put his hand on his chest. The beating thing within him. That was his heart? It was important, h
e knew, but he had no time to think about it. First he had to understand why Nick looked like him.

  He turned from the angel and followed the human smells down the street. He couldn’t hear their voices any more; they had stopped talking. He wished they would speak again.

  ‘There was a boy, he looked like me.’ The imp boy gestured at his face and stalked to the corner.

  ‘Humans often look alike. Dark hair and dark eyes aren’t uncommon.’

  The imp boy wondered why they’d been shocked to see him, then. And May, she had said so too. He hadn’t been the only one to see the similarity.

  He scuttled on towards where a gap opened between two parked cars. The air felt warm. Even in the few minutes he’d been in the street, he’d learned that cars gave off heat. This one had just left, travelling south, its chemical smell hanging in the air, dragging with it the woman’s flowers and the odour of the boy called Nick. But cars moved fast, too fast for him to run after them.

  The imp boy looked at his feet. Round, hot water bubbled in his eyes. He couldn’t hear their voices any longer, even when he strained. They could be anywhere.

  Daniel put his hand on the imp boy’s shoulder. He felt a bit better.

  ‘I don’t know where they went. I want to see them again.’

  Daniel frowned. ‘Some strangers?’

  ‘Please.’

  CHAPTER 6

  The imp boy stood under Daniel’s chin. The angel put his hands around the imp boy’s waist, then spread his wings and took to the sky.

  ‘Hold on steady now.’ Daniel soared faster.

  The world became enormous as the sunny town and the countryside spread out around them. Grey and red buildings glowed in the sunlight and the fields tessellated in yellow, green and brown. In the near distance, the mystical blue sparkled.

  ‘The sea,’ Daniel explained. ‘Now, which way did they go?’

  The imp boy sniffed the air, gestured to the road west, and Daniel turned towards the water.

  The imp boy extended his hand into freezing air. The iciness on his fingertips invigorated him.

  He shuffled in Daniel’s arms and watched the world unfurl. The edge of the Earth bent in a wide curve.

  ‘Magnificent?’ the imp boy asked.

  ‘Exactly.’

  A small red car bustled under them; the imp boy could smell the aromas of Nick and the woman breezing up from inside.

  ‘That’s them!’ he called out over the wind.

  ‘Remind me to take note of the strength of your olfactory system,’ Daniel said.

  ‘Do humans have good … olfactory systems?’ the imp boy asked.

  ‘Your ability to smell far surpasses any human’s. Although monster hunters can be trained to heighten their senses, none are as good as yours.’

  Then Daniel flicked out his wings, followed the little car and glided westwards towards a band of white separating the town from the water. As they got closer, the imp boy saw the creamy edge of the sea frothing on to a beach. Pale houses stood over it on a raised road.

  Daniel descended to a street, landing on the footpath in front of a house with blank, staring windows.

  ‘Not here, Daniel. They’re around the corner, up that way, I can smell them.’

  ‘Yes, you’re right,’ Daniel said. ‘But the houses here are empty. Humans can’t see me, angels are invisible to their eyes, but they’ll see you, and no one should spot a boy dropping out of the sky.’

  They walked to the top of the street; the footpath sloped up, past a few cars parked along the edge of the pavement. Weeds poked out around the lamp posts, eager to greet the warm day and sway as the imp boy and his angel trotted past. The sea breeze pushed by, racing them to the top.

  At the crossroads, the sea to their left caught the sunlight, and another gust greeted them. The salty wind lifted the hair on the imp boy’s neck and ran its cool hand across his skin.

  On the opposite corner, a little cottage sat away from the homes on the crammed terrace. Older, more lived-in, its windows and doors hunchbacked under heavy, dirty brick and brown tiles.

  They stared at the house.

  ‘Come on, let’s go and have a look.’ Daniel pushed him forward.

  They crossed the overgrown front garden, and Daniel shoved through bushes, pulling the imp boy behind him. A blind blocked out the dark window. Daniel touched a long finger to the glass, and the blind opened, the slats tilting so they could see inside.

  ‘It’s a sitting room,’ Daniel said. ‘This room feels important.’

  The woman was there with Nick. She’d pulled her hair into a dark, practical ponytail. Through the window, the imp boy could hear her sniffles and the creaking sounds of the floorboards under her feet.

  Nick breathed in. ‘It smells of his tobacco and leather polish. What do we do with the furniture?’

  ‘I’m not sure; we should get rid of the chair, but the rest just needs steaming. Maybe we can ask Aunt Colleen what she wants. We’ll show the photos at the wake.’

  ‘I can make a slideshow.’

  ‘That’s an idea. When you’re done, we’ll put the real pics along this wall.’ The woman held up a photo and closed her eyes.

  ‘Hey, that’s one of all of us when I was little.’

  ‘Look at my hair.’

  ‘I know, Mum, what were you thinking?’

  ‘Nicholas Seamus Kavanagh!’

  Nick laughed.

  The imp boy spied the picture over the woman’s shoulder. It was her, but younger, standing with a small boy he guessed was Nick. He watched as the woman ran her finger over the outline of her younger self’s full belly, tiny Nick leaned into her knees. She picked up another. The Nick in it was only slightly younger than the real one inside, his forehead wide and nose already strengthening. The imp boy touched his face, tracing the line of his own forehead and nose. The picture could have been of him.

  ‘Very similar,’ Daniel said. ‘Not identical. Nick is heavier set than you, his face squarer, but the confusion is understandable.’

  The woman gazed dreamily towards the window, as if she were looking for something. She realised Nick was watching her. She said, ‘Get me a box, we’ll collect them up.’

  ‘He really threw you, didn’t he? That boy?’

  ‘I forgot Aunt Colleen’s chocolates.’ The woman’s eyes glittered and she touched the heels of her hands to each one.

  The young man glanced at her over his shoulder as he left the room. The woman came to the window and pushed it open, letting in a warm breeze. The imp boy pulled back, but the woman’s gaze rested on the window sill and the blinds.

  ‘Nick,’ she called.

  ‘Yes, Mum.’

  ‘Can you find a duster too?’ She rubbed her palm over her eye. ‘Poor old Da, he let everything get so filthy.’

  ‘Is she crying?’ whispered the imp boy.

  ‘Hmmm.’ Daniel put his hand on the window. ‘So much love here. Loss too. Maybe this is not a good time to visit.’

  He pulled the imp boy close and took to the sky. ‘Let’s go back.’

  ‘He’s called Nick? Nicholas Seamus Kavanagh?’ the imp boy asked as they flew. ‘And she’s Mum?’

  ‘No, Mum is short for Mother, she’s his female parent.’ Daniel smiled at his confusion. ‘He’s her child so he can call her that. It means they belong to each other.’

  The imp boy focused less on the green tiling of the meadows and more on the houses they flew over. Inside, people interacted with each other, belonged to each other, called each other by their names or affectionate versions of them.

  ‘Are there lots of mothers and children?’

  ‘And fathers, and grandparents, and aunts and uncles. They’re called families.’

  Sam remembered May using the word. ‘Do they like being in families?’

  ‘Mostly they take it for granted,’ Daniel said, and cradled the imp boy’s head.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Bladder demanded as soon as Daniel set down.

 
‘Worried, were you?’ the angel asked.

  ‘Course not! It’s just rude to fly off without telling anyone. You’ve never flown off with one of us before.’

  ‘You weigh half a tonne.’

  Wheedle shoved his head into the conversation. ‘There was a bit of a kerfuffle while you were away. It got overcast and a pixie showed up an’ asked if we’d seen a human lookalike. I wanted to sit on it till the sun came back. That woulda been fun.’

  ‘It would turn to ash if you did that,’ the imp boy said.

  ‘Exactly!’ agreed Bladder. ‘One grey moment in an otherwise beautiful day and those nasties are up annoying us. I’d like to teach ’em a lesson.’

  Wheedle exhaled. ‘It said the ogres would make it worth our while if we see him. Said he’s valuable. When he didn’t come back we thought the pixie’d already nicked him.’

  ‘So you were worried?’ Daniel chuckled. ‘What did you tell the pixie?’

  ‘Ain’t a snitch, didn’t say nothin’. Besides he didn’t ask many questions or stay long. It couldn’t’ve been that interested.’

  ‘The ogre king tried to grab me on Hatching Day,’ the imp boy said.

  Daniel raised his brow. ‘Really?’

  ‘So you’re what all the fuss was about at the Hatching? You coulda tol’ us this earlier.’ Bladder glared at Wheedle. ‘Thass troublin’, that is.’

  ‘Doesn’t have to be,’ Wheedle said. ‘Thunderguts is probably just curious about what you are. It’s an inconvenience him bothering us to look for you, that’s all.’ Wheedle studied the street below. ‘I’m sure we got nothing to worry about. Just got to wait it out.’

  Bladder snarled, then said, ‘Dint even know he was on Thunderguts’s radar.’

  Wheedle coughed. ‘Which reminds me. Snack time! Peel us some more chocs.’

  Daniel sat silently. They all did. The imp boy tried to meet the eyes of each one, but they pondered hands, hoofs or claws and no one looked at him.