12) Santa Monica

two thirds of the gang arrive in Santa Monica

12) Santa Monica

Dante and Ben step, more accurately, are pushed, through a door. The surge of monsters spills out into the street. Dante loses sight of Ben, and of Artemis. The crowd pours onto the sidewalk, and as quickly as it had pushed Dante and Ben out, it subsides. All the monsters donning disguises, and walking into normality. It’s a marvellous thing to watch. Watching a couple hundred monsters storm out through a single door, quickly putting on their disguises, and then vanishing into the crowds of Santa Monica.

The monster community is small. Not small, as in its only got a couple hundred members, it has nearly three billion, but small as in you could go through an entire city and not find a single monster, then go to the next city and go through that one and find several million. The monster community seems to group together. Only a couple hundred cities have a monster community, but those cities are filled with monsters. Santa Monica just happens to have one of the densest monster communities in the entire world. So for all the monsters who fled from the buffet, it was quite a relief to find themselves in Santa Monica. But for Dante and Ben, being in Santa Monica is beyond bad. Dante and Ben were removed from the buffet so quickly that they had both lost sight of Artemis and each other. And being in a city with over thirty-nine thousand monsters, a hell of a lot more humans, both increases the chances of a current fugitive being spotted, and for said fugitives who have no clue where anything is, to get lost.

Despite the early plans to go to Dante’s Aunts, neither Ben nor Dante knew where the f**k the Aunt lived. Dante had arranged to meet her on the beach, but he had neglected to tell Ben or Artemis this information over breakfast. So as Ben was hustled through the doors and away from Dante, he only had one thought on his mind, "Where the f**k do I go?" And as the crowd subsides, Ben realises he’s now the only remaining person on this pavement.

Dante stares in bewilderment, he looks all around, he doesn’t have a s**t where he is, and he’s a million miles out of his depth. The only city he'd ever been to was New York, and that was on holiday. Being thrown into a new city, by oneself, is usually not high on the list of great things. Dante knows he has a couple of choices. He can leave Artemis and Ben behind and join his Aunt, or he can join his Aunt and then find Artemis and Ben. The second choice is obviously the one he wants to do. But he doesn’t have a f**k where he is, or where he’s meant to meet his Aunt.
"F**k." He whispers into the night sky. The moon glares down at him.

Ben watches as the crowd from the buffet disperses, going this way and that. And before he knows it, all evidence suggesting a large crowd of monsters, has vanished. Ben leans against a wall, in his mind, all evidence is pointing towards the idea that in a couple of minutes Artemis would walk through the door. Unless... no. He couldn't even think it... unless Artemis Kaliaski, is dead. Despite this horrendous thought spiralling through his mind, he remains calm; he keeps his composure. He looks around at his surroundings, trying to identify anything that might help him find out where he is.

Dante knows he has to act quickly; he looks around, looking for a place to hide perhaps, a place with a vantage of the door, so he could see if Artemis comes through. Unless of course Artemis is dead.

Artemis Kaliaski, is not dead, in fact, they have never felt more alive. Artemis had made a promise to Chloe, and they do not intend to break said promise. They assume that Ben and Dante have been deposited by the door into another part of the world. And Artemis prays that it just happens to be Santa Monica. They also pray that the light they’re moving towards, is also Santa Monica. But without the knowledge of where the f**k they are, not that it would have helped, Artemis had always been useless at geography, it’s quite hard for Artemis to know if they were even moving in the right direction.

Ben watches as a horse-drawn carriage trundles along the road. He stares gobsmacked at what the 'driver' is wearing. He finally takes in his surroundings. The buildings are new, not modern new, but new, as in freshly built. He glances around; all the buildings seem new. He spies a couple coming out of a building. He runs to them.
"Where the f**k am I?" Ben shouts as he reaches the couple. They look at him, bewildered, and slightly disgusted. Ben quickly realises he’ll need to change his tactic, "Please. I lost my mum, and I don't know where I am."
"Santa Monica..." The women offered, before being shot down by a stare from the man.
"Don't talk to him; he is clearly a pick-pocket, or a hooligan." Ben hears the man whisper to the women. The man grabs the women by the arm and drags her away from Ben. Ben's assumption that he had arrived in Santa Monica is correct. But, this isn’t the Santa Monica he knows, it’s nothing like it was on TV. He sees a little alleyway that has a fire escape positioned so he’d be able to watch the door. In a hurry, Ben sprints towards the fire escape, and straight past a newspaper stand. Ben climbs the fire escape, and sits, and waits.

Dante looks around; he’s decided to stick around, at least for a bit, he sees an alleyway with a fire escape positioned so he would be able to watch the door. He climbs the fire escape and sits, and waits.

Ben, waits, and waits, and waits, and, waits. And before long, the sun is rising. He had known it was coincidence that he’d ended up in Santa Monica, he also knew that if Artemis had tried the door, there was almost a zero percent chance that they would also end up in Santa Monica. Ben drops down from the fire escape. He sees the newspaper stand, and a horrendous thought occurs to him. He grabs a newspaper and looks at it. He scans it, trying to find it. There, in the corner, a date. As he reads it, he felt his heart give way, the date reads, nineteen-thirty-two.

Dante watches the door for hours; soon the sun is rising. And he knows that Artemis is either dead, or had simply taken a longer route. Dante thinks about writing a note for Artemis, but quickly realises that if Artemis is dead, there was no way they'd ever find it. Instead, Dante decides to find his Aunt. They'd arranged to meet on the beach at eight-am, a hour after the time The Driver had predicted they'd arrive in Santa Monica. Dante knows his best hope rests in finding his Aunt and then finding Artemis and Ben.

Ben wakes up in a cold sweat. His thoughts are; 'Thank God, it was all a dream.', then 'Where am I?', then a more forceful thought, 'if it was all a dream, then my dad’s alive'. This thought alone is enough to scare him into moving. He leaps out of bed, and crashes into a table, knocking off a pot of broth.
"Hey!" A young voice shouts, "Mammon, il est réveillé." The voice shouts. Ben looks around, dazed in confusion, he sees a young girl, about his age, sat on a chair. Another person enters the room, a much older and larger woman.
"Bonjour? Tu parles français ou American?" She asks.
"American." Ben repeats, this being the only word he understands.
"Okay. I'm Stephanie" she says, "That's Camille." She says pointing at the girl in the chair.
"Where am I?" Ben asks, "I don't mean to sound rude, but I don't where I am, or who you are."
"It's okay. You're in Santa Monica. Lucky for you we found you; you were passed out on the street."
"Mammon, qui est-il?" Camille asks. Ben knew he should understand what they are saying; he had spent the past 10 years of his life learning French. Still, that accounts for nothing when you wake up in a strange house, with a stranger who suddenly starts speaking the language fluently.
"Camille wants to know who you are." Stephanie translates.
"Benjamin Cevolt." He says automatically.
"Strange name. Where you from?"
"Missouri." Again, he speaks on autopilot. It only just occurs to Ben that if the year really is nineteen-thirty-two, then these people may not have heard of Missouri, if it even exists in this point in time.
"Sounds European." Stephanie muses, "Olivia will love to meet you." She pauses, "Do you have family here?"
"No." Ben says. He doesn't, if the year really is nineteen-thirty-two, which it is starting to seem like, then he is fucked, he has no family, no money and no clue of how this world works. For all he knows, he could be sold off at an auction.
"Well, you're welcome to stay with us for as long as you like." Stephanie says.
"Quoi?" Camille asks,
"C'est bon pour lui pour rester ici."
"AH, Mammon, mais pourquoi?"
"Parce que, il est ton âge, et il n'a pas une famille, et on est une famille."
"Mammon!" Camille protests.
"Arrête." Stephanie says firmly, and Camille obeys. "Désole, for that, Camille is very shy around strangers, but you are welcome to stay."
"Merci beaucoup." Ben says politely.
"Merde, tu parles Français?" Stephanie asks wide-eyed. Ben just stares at her, he speaks French, a tiny bit, just enough to say 'Thank you' and 'I would like.' He would never have survived in France. "Non. Where did you learn to say that?"
"Sch-" Ben starts, before realising he was in nineteen-thirty-two, and he wasn't sure if this time had schools, especially schools that taught foreign languages. He had to think quickly. "My families from Europe and their family stretches back to France, Germany, and Spain, and I learnt a couple of phrases from my grand-parents." He hoped this lie would hold out.
"They must be rich if they have ties to France, Germany, and Spain." Stephanie says, as if trying to catch him out on his lie.
"No, just workers." He says. Camille sits up at this.
"Worker?" She repeats, "Workers." She says sounding out the letters. "Travail!" She says triumphantly.
"Très bonne mon petit poisson." Stephanie says rubbing the little girl’s hair. Ben takes a good look at Camille, she’s clearly all there, just didn't understand English, she’s also quite pretty. "Olivia will be home soon, come help me and Camille clean, and then fresh clothes for you" She looks at what Ben's wearing, "What are you wearing? European clothes." She says in disgust. "Quick, quick."

The food’s made, the house is clean, Ben’s in 'fresh' clothes, and Camille’s excited. "She hasn't had veal before, and the chance to try something new is spectacular to her." That was the only explanation Ben receives. He isn’t sure what veal was, but he thinks if he asks, he wouldn't sound European.

Ben quickly realises there’s no way to tell the time. He has no clue if it’s mid-afternoon or six in the evening. The only way he could tell is by the light shining in through the window, there are no clocks in the house, and definitely no mobile phones. Stephanie and Camille are good fun. Camille likes to laugh, and Ben can make her laugh by doing almost anything.

Ben guesses it’s around six when Olivia arrives. A slender man, comb over, and overalls.
"Bonjour mon chéri et mon petit poisson." He looks at Ben, "Et qui?" He asks. Ben’s unsure if he’s asking him or Stephanie, or even Camille. He looks at Olivia uncertain, but luckily Camille comes to the rescue.
"Il est, Benjamin Cevolt." It sounds weird the way she says his name, but she also seems extremely happy with herself for being able to say it.
"Ah? Et?" He looks at Stephanie, obviously understanding Ben didn't speak French.
"Il est un garçon, qui, Camille et moi découvre dans Santa Monica, et il était très malade, donc, ont pris lui ici." She says, then she leans in a whispers something into his ear.
"Ah oui. Oui, c'est bon." Olivia kneels down in front of Ben. "Stephanie tells me they found you ill in Santa Monica and brought you here. Then she told me you don't speak French, and are European and have no family ici. That true?" He asks.
"Yes sir." Ben says, he was unsure about the sir, but it made Olivia smile.
"If you stay here there's no need to call me sir." Olivia says, "Olivia, or dad, will do just fine."
"Okay, dad." Ben said, it felt weird saying that word, dad, especially to a man he had just met. But, hey, there’s nowhere else to go