Page 108 of Monster. Me.

Mr. Davos brightens. He grabs a set of keys from the hook by the door and, smiling broadly, leads the way outside. Peaches follows us step for step, stopping every few feet to sniff another clump of grass.

As a wave of warm wind hits me, my head begins to spin slightly. My body feels strange, unsettled. I haven't taken my pheromone blockers since yesterday, and I think I'm dealing with some side effects from stopping them.

We walk around the house and start down into a gentle little valley, following a narrow winding path that snakes through currant and gooseberry bushes.

"Is it far?" I ask.

"No, no! Just beyond that grove over there, and you’ll see it. Oh, and there’s a cherry orchard around the house. I didn’t mention it before because people sometimes get nervous about things like that, as if buying the place means they’ll suddenly be obligated to start a business selling cherries or something."

I don’t answer, because, truthfully, his words bring back a memory of my conversation with Fenn.

Didn’t his family have a cherry orchard?

My heart speeds up. I lengthen my stride, eager to get past the grove as quickly as possible. I pull ahead of Mr. Davos, who smiles and says with a faint wheeze, "Easy there, son. Give an old man a chance to keep up."

But I’m already stepping past the dense edge of the grove, and what I see makes me stop cold.

The valley rises toward a gentle green hill, its base wrapped in a cherry orchard. A winding road leads upward, and at the very top sits a perfect white cottage. Even from this distance, I can see the colorful garden surrounding it.

I stand there, completely stunned.

For a moment, it feels as though I can feel Fate itself breathing against my back.

"A white house among flowers… Can it be real?" I whisper softly, as if lifted on a gentle gust of wind, as though the place magically breathes hope into me and fills my soul with a vision of a new, real path I might one day walk.

"Can everything change, even when we’re living through our darkest moment?"

And at that exact second, my phone rings in my pocket.

Mr. Davos looks like he’s just about to comment on my strange philosophical outburst, but I answer the call first.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Marlow," Blue says. "I have very good news for you."

I shut my eyes tightly, pressing the phone against my ear as I listen to Blue’s words, my heart racing so fast I can barely breathe.

Now I’m the one who needs to stop walking.

Mr. Davos notices immediately. He takes my hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze, a smile spreading across his face.

FENN DRAX

I open my eyes again. I don’t know what time it is, but at least I’m no longer intubated… Thank Fate for that.

I owe the healing of the bullet wounds they filled me with to my strong regenerative abilities. From what I know, my organs were pretty badly shredded by them, but somehow, I made it through.

And yet I’m still lying in this damn hospital laboratory… thick metal restraints still hold my arms and legs, at least eight of them altogether.

What woke me this time were loud voices and the sound of running feet in the hallway.

A group of people enters the room.

All of them have big clips on their noses. Three of them look like some kind of security personnel, while the other two are serious men in suits.

Dr. Lomax walks beside them as well. His face is as red as his nose clip, and he’s visibly pissed off.

"We’ll be seeing each other in court, I’m sure of it," Dr. Lomax says to a short omega man dressed in an immaculate suit.