TEA WITH THE MIDNIGHT MONSTERS

A GOOD IDEA

"I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds," Pim said when he woke up. He'd been sleeping in the infirmary. "My heart feels funny, and I have a headache."

Millie was there, sitting on the cot. "They want you back in the aviary. They want to lock us up for the night."

"Red will be gone? They're all leaving? Cake said it's a Hunt Night?"

"Yes," she said, wondering when she would tell her brother about the éclair. That she had joined, to escape the void, to go to Caroline.

"And Max's plan? Did they find the keys? The drawer with spare keys? And make a fake ring?"

"Yes," Millie said. "Ryan and KK made a fake set."

"Then we go tonight?" Pim murmured, and Millie helped him stand from the cot. He was very wobbly and very weary.

"It's a two-hour walk to the sandhog site, to dig up Max's dynamite," Millie reminded him. "Are you sure you can make it?"

"Of course I can," insisted Pim.

Minutes later, they entered the Mess and the children were finishing dinnertime soup. Red appeared from the kitchen, grinning.

Across the room, Pim stopped and stared.

Red carried the silver tray, piled now with cookies and fudge. "There she is!" he called to Millie. "Come, soldier! Dinner is served!" He placed the tray down on a table. "Eat all you want! It's all for you!"

Pim stopped dead and looked at Millie. "What does he mean?"

Millie looked down at her tights, then her shoes. "Well... it's, well... and please don't get mad... I've been... meaning to mention... meaning to tell you..." She could hardly speak.

"Yes?" Pim urged, growing alarmed. What, oh what, had his sister done?

"Tonight, I'm going to turn. All right? So I can escape and go to Mum."

Pim's eyes grew round with anger, betrayal, and panick. "You ate? A turnip? Tell me you didn't."

"You're sick," Millie said. "What choice did I have? I have to get out. Someone has to go and get help."

"Bollocks!" said Pim. "Nice one, Millicent. That won't work. Don't you remember? They're going to lock us up, like last night! Don't you remember? All of us? All locked in? For the whole night?"

"Not me," Millie said. "I'll be free." She looked away. She couldn't face him. "And once I get out, I'll go to Mum. I'll got to Mum and she'll know it's me. I know she will."

Pim swooned. He looked for a moment as if he might faint. As if he might vomit the candy corn cookies. "No," he said. "Tell me -- tell me -- you didn't join."

Millie looked over at the dining tables. She bit her lip and looked at Red.

"We'll never join!" Red yelled at Pim, mocking him. "We'll never join your stupid army! Never! Ever! Not me, and not my sister! No matter what!" He started to cackle and slapped his knees.

The children all stared. What did Red mean, and why were Pim and Millie fighting? Little Red knew. And why would Millie eat from the tray? She couldn't have joined. She wouldn't have joined.

"First of all," Millie whispered to her brother. "You should be thanking me."

Pim fumed. Thanking her? "Good God." He wiped his brow. He was starting to sweat and grow light-headed.

"Second," she continued, lowering her voice. "I have a theory. Look at Red's hand, but don't be obvious about it... Please..."

Pim turned and looked.

Red's arm and hand were now wrapped in gauze. With layers and layers, he'd wrapped and wrapped bandages, until the gauze formed a stub.

"Did I break his arm yesterday? I hope I did."

"He burned it in the light. Before the fight. In the shaft of light. His claw turned into a boy's hand. His scales turned to human skin." She kept her voice down, and Pim looked confused. "He's a boy," Millie whispered. "He's a boy. I don't think you remain a monster -- in the sunlight. Not electricity or man-made light. Only sunlight. I know it sounds nutty."

"It doesn't," said Pim, gazing at Red across the ballroom. He thought and thought, and his fury melted. "Maybe it's why... They hide, monsters... Monsters hide in closets and basements and under the bed..."

Millie agreed. "Maybe it's why they went underground, and why they'll only rise up at night."

Pim breathed deeply and blew his nose into one of the linen napkins. "The light," he said to himself out loud. "Monsters will die in the light."

"So you believe me?" Millie said. "Because you never believe me, Pim. You never give me credit. You always think I'm playing some game. I'm not a child anymore."

"Yes, you are," Pim said, and smiled a little. "And yes, I believe you. I think you're right." Millie had been right about so much. "The little bitch has a hand then, huh?"

"Yes," she said.

"So you'll turn back? That's your theory? In the sunlight? Then maybe we should all join. Right now."

"No. Let me be the test. If I get wings, I'll fly out to Mum. If I don't, then you can try."

"It's Halloween," Pim remembered, thinking it through. "That should help. It will help Red, too, when he goes after you. Mills, which he will. He will go after you in Tag in the city. Army or not, he'll chase you -- once you escape."

"I've beaten him once. I'll beat him again."

They both considered this for a moment, and then Pim brightened. "I've got an idea."

"What?" said Millie.

"I've got a pencil, back in my pack... In case Mum freaks... I have -- I have a good idea." He whispered it into Millie's ear, and after a moment, Millie smiled.

It was, she thought, a great idea.