Chapter 7

As Elliot and Owen walked back from school together, Elliot forced to walk his bike next to him as Owen hadn’t brought his own. They talked about everything that Mr Reed had told Elliot that morning, and whether or not they’d be able to convince anyone that it was the truth, or at least, what they thought was the truth.

Elliot was conscious of the warning he’d received that morning. How Mr Reed was adamant that he didn’t walk anywhere for the time being. But he reassured himself that if something did happen, he could easily get onto his bike and scarper, even with Owen clinging onto the back.

“So, this man thinks that it really is a monster?” Owen said for what seemed like the hundredth time as they rounded the corner that would lead back to the hotel. His friend had already said that he’d stay over, that he needed a break from his Mum. Elliot hadn’t told him yet that they had no empty rooms anymore.

“Yeah.” Elliot said, his breathing coming in short sharp bursts as he wheeled the bike up the road, his feet and palms were killing him, and he wanted nothing more than to lie down in his bed, and not think about what was happening.

“But.” Owen said he was also breathing heavily now. “How is it getting around. A dirty, ugly beast. Someone would have seen it.”

“No idea.” Elliot said, his voice was dry now from the constant questions.

As they reached the full carpark, along with the cars lined up along the road. Elliot was at least pleased to see that the queue of people had finally gone.

“Where have you been?” Was the first words that greeted him by his Mum as Elliot walked into the reception.

“Walking home from school.” Elliot replied hoping that his mum would not ask why he’d done that when he’d been supposed to catch the bus. “Mum, who are they?”

“These people. They’re new employees.” Amanda replied.

Elliot paused, they had never been able to afford to hire people to work at the hotel before. It was one of the reasons why his Mum had always been so stressed out. She’d had to do basically everything.

“Yes. Like our guests. They just showed up this morning, looking for work.” Amanda continued, not sensing that anything was up with that. “Anything that takes the workload off me is a win-win.”

“Oh yeah. Owen’s staying over tonight.” Elliot said, thinking that there was no better time to tell his Mum that news than right now, whilst she was still happy about the one-eighty the business seemed to have taken.

“Oh.” Amanda said, noticing Owen for what seemed like the first time. “Hi Owen. As you can see we’re a little crammed right now. So, if you want hot food you’ll have to order in. That’s what your sister and her friend are doing anyway Elliot. Anything else, just raid the vending machines.”

Elliot paused at this.

“Isla’s got someone over. Who?” Elliot asked. Normally he wouldn’t be that interested other than for knowledge of how long he’d have to make himself invisible.

“Oh. You know. What’s her face. That Hunter girl. The one who’s got that website.” Amanda said, distracted by another guest entering through the doors. “You know, the amateur reporter one.”

Elliot’s mouth dropped open. Leaving it up to Owen to half drag him back towards his room, as Amanda turned to the attention of the newcomers. These guests like the ones that had arrived that morning, had the same gormless looks on them.

“What do I do?” Elliot asked as he paced his bedroom. He hadn’t expected to encounter Skyla so soon after he’d blown it with her. “What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?”

Owen, getting on the page that he hadn’t been asking a rhetorical question tried to give him an answer.

“I dunno mate.” Owen said as he continued to shovel crisps down his throat. “She seemed pretty pissed off with you.”

Elliot groaned as he slumped back down against the wall. “I tell her what she wants to know about what’s going on. And this is the thanks I get.”

“That’s women for you.” Owen said. “They’re like, err, a different species. You didn’t exactly help yourself though by telling her about all this.”

Elliot threw his hands against his head.

“Why do they have to be so fucking difficult?” Elliot said.

“Because that’s what they do.” Owen replied. “Women make things more difficult than they need to be, so that they can appear smarter than us when they work shit out. But you really did make a balls up of it.”

“Do you have any good news for me?” Elliot asked, getting annoyed at being told what a fucking idiot he’d been.

“Course you can.” Owen said thumping him on the back. “I’ve been dumped seven times this year. But do you see me sulking in my bedroom. No, I go back into battle and either win them back, or get a new girl in revenge.”

“Great. What do I do?” Elliot asked.

“Err. I dunno.” Owen replied, sitting back down on the bed. “I mean. You really did balls it up.”

Elliot threw himself back down. “You’re really no help at all.”

Owen only shrugged and reached over and opened his third bag of crisps.

“You do believe me, don’t you?” Elliot asked nervously. What with everything going on right now, he’d started to stop believing it himself. And right now, he just needed one person to tell him what he’d been told was not batshit insane.

“Yeah.” Owen said, though he didn’t look at Elliot when he answered.

“Owen, come on.” Elliot said.

“What else do you want me to say, mate.” Owen said. “It’s all fucking crazy. The reason why I believe you though is that your crazy shit, is just a little bit less crazy than everything else we’re being told.” It was this that caused Owen to put down the food. “And Skyla. She’ll come around. It’s just, I dunno, a crazy shit load to take all onboard at once.”

“But?” Elliot started.

“For god’s sake idiot.” Owen said getting up and getting annoyed. “If you’re just going to sit there and mope, then I may as well go.”

“Alright, alright.” Elliot said, relenting the point about Skyla, at least for now. “I get your point.”

A silence filled his room at this that Elliot didn’t like. The last time there had been a silence this long, it had resulted in a major fight between them.

Eventually, Owen broke the silence with a thought that had been at the back of Elliot’s mind since this had all started.

“Do you think that this Mr Reed is more involved than he makes out?” Owen asked.

“No.” Elliot said with a confidence that he didn’t feel.

“I dunno man. He rocks up a few days after Danny goes missing.” Owen said, and Elliot couldn’t argue with that point as he’d also thought about it. But it didn’t make any sense. If Mr Reed was involved, then why was he helping him.

A sudden thought came to him. Maybe he was being prepped. He had no idea what had happened to either Danny or Declan. But he knew one thing. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to vanish with a complete stranger. Mr Reed could be getting to know him so that it would make taking him a lot easier.

He pushed that thought to the back of his mind. Mr Reed’s timing of arrival was suspicious. But that didn’t make him responsible. Maybe it was because he’d talked to the man that made him confident about the side he was on.

“It’s best that you heard it from him.” Elliot said, walking towards his bedroom door, and opening it. As he opened his door though, he almost ran face to face with Skyla. Behind her, was Isla.

This could not be good, the last thing he needed right now was his twin making shit up about him.

“Hi Skyla.” Elliot said, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

“I’m going to leave you guys to it.” Owen said as he sidled off in the direction of the hotel lounge.

“Give us a minute, Isla.” Elliot said.

“Yeah I’m not going to do that.” Isla retorted, planting herself against the wall.

“Just go, please.” Elliot said, sounding a lot like their Mum.

“It’s okay Isla.” Skyla said. It was this that finally made his twin leave, heading off in the same direction as Owen. “Alright, Elliot. What do you want to tell me. And please, don’t give me any of this garbage about it being aliens, or whatever shit you tried before.”

“I never said it was aliens.” Elliot started but stopped quickly at the look he got. “I know how it sounds, I didn’t believe it the first time I was told.”

“Wait. Someone told you this. You didn’t make it up.” Skyla said, cutting across him the moment Elliot had mentioned a second person. “It wasn’t that little creepy friend of yours was it?”

“What. No.” Elliot said slightly annoyed at the way that she’d just described Owen. But more annoyed that he couldn’t entirely refute it either.

“Who was it then?” Skyla asked, pacing up and down the corridor now.

“Come with me.” Elliot said, and he half dragged Skyla down the corridor. All the way down to Mr Reed’s room, he thought, and then double thought about whether or not he should even tell her about the strange man living with him. The decision had ultimately been decided when he’d thought about the organisation that was blocking websites from showing the news of what was going on here. If this man worked for them, then he was going to help bring it all down.

“Elliot, what the?” Skyla started, but it was Elliot’s turn to interrupt her.

“Shut up a minute.” Elliot said and ignoring the look she gave him, he knocked on the door.

He’d expected Mr Reed to take a long time to respond to the knock, if he even did at all. But was shocked when the door flung open almost instantaneously, revealing the man himself standing in his usual suit, only with a set of coloured goggled strapped over his eyes.

“If you’re wanting to prove that your theory isn’t mad, Elliot. You’ve brought me to the right place. Not.” Skyla whispered as Mr Reed glowered down at them both. Elliot could have killed the man. The one time that he wanted, no, needed him to act normally, or as close to normal as possible. The goggles weren’t helping his case.

“Mister Woods. Ms Hunter. What can I do for you?” Mr Reed said.

“How do you know my-” Skyla started as Elliot launched in.

“Tell her what you told me.” Elliot said taking Skyla by surprise. “About the creature.”

Mr Reed looked confusedly between them both.

“Creature. I don’t know what you’re talking about young man.” Mr Reed said.

“Oh, drop it.” Elliot said, he was not going to get his one chance to regain Skyla’s trust broken by this man. “You know what I’m talking about. And you owe me.”

Mr Reed did nothing, he just glowered down at Elliot, then he fixed his gaze on Skyla, who matched the stare back at him.

“Fine.” Mr Reed said, stepping aside, and shoving them both into his room.

“Well.” Mr Reed said as he slammed the door closed, clicking his fingers and Elliot heard the familiar sound of the lock closing. “Why are you here.”

“You can start by telling us why the Baldwin Institute sent you?” Elliot said, watching the man who he was still ninety percent sure was here to save them.

“You know about that do you?” Mr Reed said with a sad smile. Then he cursed. “Damn them. I told them years ago that you lot get suspicious when websites are blocked. I take it that that has happened already?”

“Yes.” Skyla said. Her nerve seemed to still be holding, but there was a quiver that hadn’t been there before. Either out in the corridor, or at school.

“Damn them. They do their utmost to make my work here as difficult as possible sometimes, I swear.” Mr Reed exclaimed. “Yes girl. I’m here to try and stop the creature that is taking your peers.”

“And what is the Baldwin Institute? I’ve tried looking them up, and I’ve got nothing.” Skyla demanded.

“Well, that means our job is going well. An organisation that publishes its business has no power to do anything.” Mr Reed said as he prowled the disorganised room. “But given the fact that you seem to be on the trail, I will tell you what I know.”

Both Elliot and Skyla waited. Both for their own reasons. But Elliot was distracted by the sight of Skyla, who was fumbling around with something in her pocket. He didn’t say anything though. The last thing he wanted was for Mr Reed to think he’d put her up to this.

“The Baldwin Institute was founded after World War Two by those that witnessed the Nazi’s trying to get hold of the monsters of this world. The organisation helps track and kill these creatures.” Mr Reed stated. “I believe the original doctrine was to prevent monsters of this world from falling into mortal, and therefore corruptible hands. The Nazi’s had designs on excavating a Mummy during their North African campaign. Later on, after we formed, we stopped the Russians from setting an immortal residing in the mountains of Romania loose on the world. More recently, we’ve halted the efforts of the British and Americans who have recently been attempting to capture a skin changer. We attempt to bring in these creatures if we can, and when we can’t, then we destroy them.”

“And you think that a monster is here?” Skyla asked.

“I don’t think. I know.” Mr Reed said. “There are people out there who have, for want of a better phrase, a sixth sense, in finding these monsters.”

“And you’re one of them?” Skyla said excitedly.

“Yes indeed. Your boyfriend there is too.” Mr Reed said, checking his watch.

“What?” Both Elliot and Skyla exclaimed in unison. Skyla’s was in disgust, whilst Elliot’s had been out of embarrassment at being outed.

“Well. I don’t have a sixth sense for that.” Mr Reed said, and headed to the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me. The work of a monster hunter never stops.”

“Wait. I’ve got more questions.” Skyla said, trying and failing to block Mr Reed from accessing his door.

“Really. You wanna know more?” Mr Reed said smiling to himself. “Very well. I will allow you one more question.”

Skyla blinked at this. Taken aback.

“Do you know whose doing this?” Skyla asked nervously.

“I have eliminated no suspects.” Mr Reed said calmly. “I just, follow the patterns.”

And with that, Mr Reed but on his fedora, grabbed his trench coat, and exited the room. Leaving both Elliot and Skyla alone in his cluttered room.