Chapters (52)
- Copyright
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Acknowledgments
- Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
- More Books from HMH Teen
- About the Author
- Connect with HMH on Social Media
He gave her a small self-deprecating grin. “I have no idea. I guess it’s something I’ll have to figure out.”
Nita linked her fingers with his. “Whatever you decide, I’ll be there for you.”
His smile was soft and genuine, and he shifted slightly to press their foreheads together for a moment and whisper, “Thank you.”
Nita wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. “Always.”
They curled up like that, arms wrapped around each other, as they slowly drifted to sleep.
Twenty-Three
NITA WOKE UP in the late afternoon when her alarm went off. Kovit moaned beside her, and she sighed softly, unwilling to move from her position curled against his warm body.
He gave her a sleepy look. “Is it time to get up now?”
“You can rest a little longer. I’m going shower and get ready before we go back to the hotel.”
He nodded drowsily and nestled back into the pillow.
She rolled off the bed and stretched, her muscles stiff. She scooped up her phone and checked for messages.
There was one, from her mother.
Nita swallowed, then clicked it open.
You should come home now. Your little monster will be dead soon, it read, followed by a link to Kovit’s DUL listing.
Nita deleted the email, her hands shaking. She’d wondered before if her mother was responsible for Kovit’s name going up faster, if she’d pulled strings and manipulated connections. The more she thought about it, the more sure she was. But whether it was her mother or not, her mother now knew exactly what Kovit looked like.
And she had the whole world on her side, wanting to kill him.
Nita logged out of email and forced herself to move on to more productive lines of thought. There was nothing she could do about her mother right now.
The Washington Post reporter Nita had contacted had posted the article, clearly not wanting to miss the scoop on INHUP’s misconduct. It included the photos of Kovit and his sister that Nita had sent, but it also included multiple short video clips. Some were from local Toronto news channels, some from Instagram feeds, which had obviously been found by scrolling the promotion hashtag. Kovit and Patchaya were caught on camera chatting happily in the background of dozens of videos.
Nita smiled slightly, pleased it had worked out so well.
She scrolled through the comments, some of them wondering if the clips were fake, others wondering if INHUP was trying to trap the zannie, others wondering if he even was a zannie.
Other articles had sprung up, all asking how an INHUP agent could be going on what looked like a date with a zannie. Some speculated that this was a romance gone wrong, and an INHUP agent had abused her power to put her ex-boyfriend on the list.