CHAPTER

Twelve

JULIE

Julie goes over to Lawrence’s house as soon as she gets off work the next day. It’s the middle of the afternoon, the sun blazing in the sky, heat radiating off the street in waves. She knocks on the door and waits. She called the sheriff’s office before she left the exterminator’s, and a gruff old man told her Lawrence isn’t working today. She hopes he’s home and not out on a date.

The door swings open. Lawrence stands on the other side. He looks pale and drawn, like he hasn’t been sleeping. His hair is mussed too, which isn’t like him.

“You okay?” Julie says.

“What? Yeah, I’m fine.” Lawrence smooths his hair back. “What’s up? I don’t have time to really hang out—Audrey’s coming over in a little bit.”

Julie makes a face at the mention of Audrey’s name.

“Don’t be like that.”

“Whatever. Look, I need to talk to you. It shouldn’t take that long.” Julie slides through Lawrence’s door without waiting for an invitation. “How’s Aunt Rosa?”

“She’s doing well. Reading in her room.”

Julie nods and moves into the living room. Lawrence switches on the standing lamp, and it floods the room with dim, golden light. “Is everything okay with you?”

“Everything’s okay with me.” Julie turns to look at him. “A monster attacked Claire two days ago.”

Lawrence stares at her from his place next to the lamp. He crosses his arms over his chest. “Is she hurt?”

“No.” Julie collapses down on the couch and scowls.

“Did you—want her to get hurt?”

“No! God. It’s just—since no one got hurt, Mr. Vickery won’t do anything about it. But the monster flung itself at her window! It broke the glass! That’s got to be outside the treaties.” She looks over at Lawrence. He’s still staring at her, still has his arms crossed over his chest. “That’s why I’m here.”

Lawrence sighs.

“Come on, man! Serve and protect, right?”

Lawrence drops his hands to his sides and walks over to the couch. Sits down beside her. “Yes,” he says. “But the monsters are outside our jurisdiction. You know that.”

Frustration wells up inside Julie. Of course she knows it. Everyone in Indianola knows you don’t call the cops when you see a monster. You call the exterminator.

“Please.” Julie looks up at him, pleading. “This isn’t normal monster stuff. They’re targeting her. They know her name. Well, her grandma’s name. But they’re coming for her.”

Lawrence frowns, a line forming down the middle of his brow. “How do you know that?”

“Because I’ve seen it!” Julie throws her hands up in frustration. “And I keep trying to tell Mr. Vickery, but he doesn’t listen, and Dad’s been out of town for the last two days, and you’re my last hope.” She shakes her head. “I even went to Aldraa back when they first started—”

“Who? Aldraa?”

“The head monster. I went to him and—”

“You talked to the head monster?”

“I was dropping off another monster that I’d picked up. I’ve talked to him before. It’s really not that big a deal.” Julie glares at Lawrence. “But he didn’t make any sense—big surprise there. I’m sure something terrible’s going to happen to Claire and no one cares and I can’t get any answers.”

“Calm down,” Lawrence says, holding up his hands. “Back up. How do you know something terrible is going to happen to Claire?”

“I told you, a monster attacked her house yesterday morning. It broke her window. Forrest went out there to check it out but the monster was gone by then, but he still told me about the damage. And apparently the monster said something about astronauts, and that the astronaut was coming for her.” Julie fixes Lawrence with a firm gaze. “It was a threat.”

“It might have been a threat,” says Lawrence thoughtfully. “Or it might have just been monster nonsense. Why would she be in danger from an astronaut?” He gestures out with his hands. “You see any astronauts around here?”

“You’re not listening,” Julie says. “I want you to do what cops do and investigate. Find out what the monsters want. The exterminator’s not set up to deal with that kind of crap because we’re just exterminators. No one thinks the monsters are anything more than a nuisance. But what if there’s something else going on?”

“So that’s why you want the sheriff’s office involved,” Lawrence says. “Because you think something else is going on?”

“Yes!” Julie pulls at her hair. “I mean, I don’t know. Claire is scared, and I promised I’d help her. And the committee won’t do crap, and I’m not going to Aldraa because he could be the one sending them, and that just leaves you.” She juts her thumb at him. “You, or the sheriff’s office, or whatever.”

For a moment Lawrence looks at her. Then he says, “I think you’re overreacting here. No one was hurt. If the monster could break the glass, then it could easily have hurt Claire or her grandmother. But it didn’t.”

“But—”

Lawrence holds up one hand. “You’re only upset about this because you’ve got a thing for this Claire girl.”

Julie’s cheeks flush hot with anger and embarrassment. “That is not the only reas—”

The doorbell chimes, rippling through the house. Julie starts at the sound of it.

“That’ll be Audrey,” Lawrence says. “You’re going to need to skedaddle.”

“Who the hell says skedaddle?” Julie snaps.

Lawrence rolls his eyes and then gets up to answer the door. Julie sits on the couch, marinating in her anger. She knew this would happen. Lawrence is an adult now. He’s content to sweep the monsters under the rug like the rest of the adults in town. Keep his distance. Let the treaties do all the work. He doesn’t care that Claire’s life could be in danger.

It’s not just because I like her, Julie thinks. It’s not.

Lawrence steps back into the living room, his arm wrapped around Audrey’s waist. Julie glares at them, but Audrey just smiles back.

“Hi Julie,” she says. “I hope you’re doing well.”

“She was having a minor emergency,” Lawrence says. “But we’ve got it sorted now, don’t we?”

“I had a wonderful time with Claire yesterday,” Audrey says. “Absolutely wonderful. We played a game.”

“Good for you,” Julie says. And even though she knows Claire was only at Audrey’s house because her grandmother made her go, part of her still stings with jealousy. “And no, Lawrence, we don’t have my minor emergency sorted. No one’s doing a damn thing to help—”

But Lawrence isn’t listening. Audrey has wound her arms around his shoulders and is standing up on her tiptoes so she can nibble at his ear. Lawrence laughs softly, his face turning toward her.

“Dammit,” Julie mutters. Audrey kisses Lawrence on the neck, and his cheeks turn pink as he glances over at Julie and then glances just as quickly away.

“I can see you’re busy,” Julie says, with as much ice as she can muster.

“I told you, Julie, I’d help you if I could, but it’s outside my jurisdiction. Talk to your dad.”

“Dad won’t help.” Julie stands up. Audrey’s still kissing Lawrence, but Julie can see her glancing Julie’s way too, her eyes bright and mischievous. Julie hates this. She hates that she’s going to have go call up Claire and say there’ s not a single force in town that will help her.

Not a single damn one.

Claire says she’ll be able to get away from her grandmother’s house for a few hours. She tells Julie to wait for her at the beach, and Julie does, sitting up on the gazebo that was built and dedicated to the bird watchers of Indianola. The only birds she can see are seagulls.

“Hey! Julie!”

Julie jumps at the sound of Claire’s voice, then twists around to find her wheeling her bike across the sand. The wind whips her hair away from her eyes, and her legs and shoulders are bare, her skin gleaming in the blazing sunlight. She squints up at Julie and then props her bike against the side of the gazebo.

“You haven’t been waiting long, have you?”

Julie shakes her head.

“I told Grammy I wanted to go out and get some exercise. She didn’t question it.” Claire hops up onto the gazebo. She looks so hopeful that Julie doesn’t want to tell her the bad news. “So, did you find out anything? About that—that monster?”

Julie turns back out to the sea. The waves roll into the shore. “No,” she says. “No one’ll help us.”

“What?” Claire sits down beside her, close enough that Julie can feel the warmth of her body. “Why not? Isn’t that their jobs?”

“That’s what I said.” Julie slumps forward on her knees. “The committee won’t do anything because no one was hurt—”

“My window broke!”

“Yeah, apparently they don’t get bent out of shape about property damage. I went to Lawrence too.”

“The sheriff’s office,” says Claire with a sigh of relief. “They have to do something.”

Julie glances over at her. Claire’s eyes are big and trusting and Julie hates every adult in Indianola for letting her down.

“They don’t, actually.” Julie sighs. “Not within their jurisdiction.” She says it in a high-pitched, mocking voice, and she thinks about Lawrence letting Audrey climb all over him. Figures that he’d turn out to be a typical guy after all.

“Not within their—” Claire is gaping at her. “But the monster attacked me. It came straight at me. I just—I can’t believe this! What sort of cop doesn’t care about that?”

All of them, Julie thinks. She looks out at the ocean again. “It’s the adults in this town,” she says. “They get used to the monsters. They don’t imagine anything could change.”

Claire makes a frustrated noise in her throat. “We should call the FBI or something.”

“I told you, that won’t work.” Julie shakes her head. “I think the monsters do something to us. Like, not just to our memory.” She frowns, turns back to Claire. “You can feel it, can’t you, the way you just want to accept everything?”

Claire hesitates. Then she nods. Her cheeks are pink—from the sun or from exertion, Julie can’t tell. They make her look like a girl in a magazine. “My thoughts go fuzzy, if I think about the monsters too much…”

“Exactly.” Julie hesitates. Claire is still watching her, still looking hopeful. “We can’t depend on the adults.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?”

Julie thinks about this. The wind blows in off the sea, salty and cool. Claire is still looking up at her, like she expects Julie to have all the answers. Julie takes a deep breath.

Then she throws her arm around Claire’s shoulders. Her heart hammers, and she can’t believe she’s doing this. But Claire only leans against her, and Julie can feel her bare skin against hers and it makes her brave.

“We’ll just have to figure things out for ourselves,” she says. “That’s all.”

The waves crash up against the shore. Claire doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t pull away either.