Monster Academy

by Catherine Banks

  I would escape and find my sisters.

  One way or another.

  Chapter 31

  TSUKIKO

  There were so many smells down here that I couldn’t say for certain how many humans there were guarding us.

  We knew there was at least two, but there could be more outside of the room, just waiting to attack.

  I didn’t want to endanger Ainsley or any of the other students by recklessly attacking the humans.

  With no knowledge of the outside situation, no weapons, not even my own claws to use, we were pretty much stuck here.

  None of us could guess the humans’ motives either, since they had captured us, but they weren’t killing us or even torturing us.

  “What if they’re going to use us to prove to the humans that we do exist?” Rathik whispered.

  “We just won’t change if that’s the case,” Antoine said.

  I shook my head. “There are some, like the gorgons, who don’t shift and won’t be able to hide their serpent bodies. Not to mention the trolls and ogres.”

  “Oh, right,” Antoine mumbled.

  “What about the teachers?” Ainsley asked. “They can’t have taken out the teachers and the guards all so quickly, right?”

  “Their armor is incredibly strong,” I whispered and then swallowed hard as the memories of Takumi surfaced. “My claws can’t tear through it. And they have some strange ability to suppress their scents.”

  “That part has to be magic,” Rathik said. “I can’t see any scientific way for them to accomplish that.”

  I shrugged. “I’m not much of a scientist. Frances might know, but that’s not my strong suit.”

  “The door to this dungeon is solid metal, infused with iron, silver, and sea prism stones,” Ainsley whispered.

  The door was basically impenetrable for a creature. The silver would burn Antoine and me, the sea prism stones would weaken Ainsley and Rathik, and the iron would burn any fae creatures.

  This must have been where they kept students or teachers who got out of control.

  “So, we just wait?” Ainsley asked.

  The human guarding us approached. He had been making a slow circuit around the room and we rushed to speak while he was on the opposite side.

  As he grew closer, we grew silent and still.

  I tracked him with my eyes as well as I could in the dark.

  He carried a weapon of some kind.

  Was it a normal gun? Or did they have special bullets? How much did they know about us and our weaknesses?

  There were too many unknowns!

  Once he was on the other side of the room, Rathik moved closer to me, resting his chin on my shoulder to whisper in my ear. “We can’t attack them without knowing what type of weapons they have. The only way to find out is to get attacked, but how can we do that without dying?”

  “That is a stupid plan,” I growled at him. “No one is getting attacked just so we can figure out what type of gun they have. We just need to bide our time and see what happens. If they try to take one of us, then we attack as one.”

  “Fine,” Antoine said.

  “Yeah,” Ainsley said. “I don’t want to get shot, but I won’t let anyone die because I was too cowardly to fight back.”

  “Spread the word,” I whispered. “Let’s get all of the other students on the same page.”

  “On it,” Ainsley and Antoine said at the same time.

  I started to move, too, but Rathik stopped me. “Tsukiko, I don’t know what I did to upset you, but I’m sorry. I don’t want you to be mad at me. I know you’ve had a lot going on and your life isn’t easy in general.”

  “I’m not mad at you,” I whispered immediately. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just...we aren’t meant to be together. My fear of you won’t decrease, no matter what we try. We tried for weeks and nothing helped. I wish there was another way, but there isn’t. You and I just have to accept that we—”

  Rathik interrupted me with a kiss that had my blood boiling with energy. He pulled back and whispered, “We will figure something out. I’m not giving up on us.”

  “There is no us,” I said and sighed. “Why are you so stubborn? We’ve never even been on a date or anything. There are lots of other females out there who would love to date you. Give them a chance. You shouldn’t need to change for someone to be happy. Even if I did like you that much, which I have never said, there’s nothing for us to pursue.”

  Before he could respond, I scurried away from him and towards the nearby other students to fill them in on the plan.

  I liked Rathik a lot, more than I should, but I wasn’t going to let him know that. He deserved to be happy and trying to date me would not make him happy. It would just end with us both being miserable.

  I would do whatever I could to keep him from being miserable.

  Including making myself miserable.

  Chapter 32

  FRANCES

  From what we could tell based on our group, they had split the students up by power type. Or something along those lines.

  We still had no idea what their motive was or what they were doing to any of the other students.

  I just knew that Loralie and Tsukiko were alive and that was really all that mattered at the moment.

  Dante moved closer and closer to me as time passed and he held my hand fully now.

  I wanted the stupid gag out of my mouth or the blindfold off, but I didn’t dare try to do either of those things. I couldn’t risk Dante getting injured protecting me for doing something so simple and stupid to piss off the humans.

  The humans weren’t talking, which bothered me immensely.

  What were they planning to do with us?

  They were keeping us in small groups, which meant there were likely many humans here. That thought alone was incredibly unreassuring.

  I wanted to speak to Dante, to say something, but the damn gag wouldn’t loosen.

  “The next time the human moves across the room, I’ll take out your gag, okay?” Dante whispered in my ear. The heat from his hair grew stronger and I swallowed my fear down.

  He wouldn’t hurt me.

  I gave him a brief nod.

  After a few minutes, he pulled the gag out of my mouth.

  I rolled my jaw around and licked my dry lips. “Thank you,” I whispered.

  He pressed his forehead to mine and I instinctively jerked away. He whispered, “I promise, my flames will not hurt you. Ever.”

  “How do you know?” I asked.

  “Because I control who it burns,” he whispered. “It is the very first thing that Phoenix children are taught.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t be less scared. I try to be fearless, but I’m not like Loralie or Tsukiko. Fire is instinctively terrifying for me. No matter how much I try to get over it, I just can’t. When I feel the heat from the flames I want to run away as far as I can. I try so hard to be close to you, but—”

  He rested his head atop mine and said, “It’s okay. The fact that you try at all is enough for me. I swear, by every dark god in existence, that my flames will never ever burn you.”

  “I’ll try,” I whispered.

  His lips pressed to my cheek. “That’s enough for me.”

  Heat bloomed upon my cheeks, and I turned away from him.

  What was I doing? I couldn’t be with him!

  This was hopeless. This was insane.

  I was insane.

  He removed my blindfold and I smiled up at him.

  “What are we going to do?” he asked softly.

  “We’re going to wait for Loralie to contact us and tell us what the situation is. Then, we will figure out a plan,” I whispered back.

  “No whispering!” one of the humans yelled.

  Stupid humans. It was definitely time to take this world back. To cull the human race and let monsters take back over. Once and for all.

  Chapter 33

  LORALIE

  The trees’ shadows moved cl
oser to us, slowly, as the hours passed.

  In just another two hours’ time, I could roll over and use the shadows to travel.

  The potion was slowly wearing off, which made me excited.

  Up until they started coming around, making the students drink more of the potion.

  “I can’t drink it,” I whispered to Bogden. “If I do, I won’t be able to shadow travel.”

  His eyes widened. “You’re going to leave?”

  I shook my head. “I’m just going to scout things out.”

  “If they realize you’re missing, they’ll probably start hurting us to find out where you went,” he whispered.

  “That’s why I’m just going to scout,” I explained. “I’ll scout a bit and come back, so they won’t realize I’m gone.”

  “We’ll need to create a distraction,” he said, his eyes dropping to the ground as he thought up a plan. “Or, we need to just get our side under control while you find out what we can do.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “If we can get control of our side here, then if we know where our enemies are from your scouting, we can formulate a plan of attack,” he explained.

  The human drew nearer, a silver bottle that looked familiar in his hand.

  “I’ll create a distraction and you go, okay?” Bogden whispered.

  “Don’t get hurt,” I ordered him.

  He smirked. “Don’t worry about me, Lor. Just worry about yourself.”

  Before I could add more, he jumped to his feet and stalked towards the human.

  “Sit down,” the human warned.

  The other human guarding us stood on the outside of the circle, but he drew closer as Bogden continued to advance on the one giving us the potion.

  A few of the other students looked from me to Bogden and seemed to understand what was happening, and they stood as well.

  Slowly, I backed up, trying not to draw the attention of the humans as they focused on Bogden and the others.

  “Sit back down or you’ll regret it,” the human with the potion ordered Bogden.

  Bogden snapped his fingers and a black hole opened up right beside the human with the bottle.

  “Now!” Bogden yelled.

  I hopped closer to the trees’ shadows and leapt in without looking back.

  Please stay safe, I silently begged him.

  Once in the shadows, I traveled around the school, mentally noting where the humans were, and then returned to Bogden.

  I sighed in relief when I saw everyone was untied and had moved to the shade of the trees. The humans were gone, but I didn’t care to know what had happened. Likely, someone had eaten them.

  He rushed to me and started untying my binds. “What did you find?”

  “They have us separated into over a dozen different groups. There are also five sets of three on perimeter patrol. By my count, there are at least forty humans. I wasn’t able to find Frances or Tsukiko, which means they must have more groups in odd places, which increases the number of humans, too.”

  “Anyone hurt?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “From what I can tell, they’re just keeping us hostage.”

  “Why?” he whispered and began to pace. “What do they think they’ll accomplish?”

  “The only thing that I can think of is to expose us to the humans,” I whispered. “But wouldn’t they have done that by now? What are they waiting for?”

  “Could be ransom,” a Lamia witch I didn’t know said from the trees. “They might want our families to pay them.”

  That was a definite possibility. Our families were old and had invested heavily in the human world to keep us, well, rich. Not every creature was rich, but most of the ones who went to this academy were.

  “We do have several very wealthy families here,” Bogden said.

  “This definitely feels like an inside job,” I whispered.

  “Or at least done with insider knowledge,” Bogden agreed.

  “Who? Who would benefit from this?” I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to voice them.

  “I’m not sure, but whoever they are, they are going to pay for this,” Bogden promised.

  “I should do some more scouting,” I said.

  “Don’t reveal yourself or get caught,” he urged. “Just find out the situation, try to locate all the groups, and come back. We can map out the locations and that will help us make our plan of action.”

  I nodded. “Understood.”

  He opened his mouth, but then closed it again without saying anything.

  I took a breath and went back into the shadows.

  Chapter 34

  FRANCES

  I was beginning to lose hope, to worry that Loralie was in more danger than I was.

  Then, her head popped up between Dante and me. “They’ve separated us into dozens of groups. There are over a hundred humans holding us hostage. We don’t know the purpose yet. Stay docile until we find out anything else. Don’t try to play the hero.”

  “Did they not give you the potion?” Dante asked.

  “We defeated our humans before they gave us the second dose,” she explained. She looked up at me and said, “Frankie, please don’t endanger yourself. I’m going to get us free, okay? Just trust me to take care of things.”

  I nodded. “Okay. I promise.”

  “Love you,” she whispered.

  “Love you, too.”

  She disappeared and I dropped my head forward.

  Dante scooted over so my head rested against his shoulder. “See? Things are in motion. We just need to wait for our assignments.”

  “Dante, the only logical explanation for this is that they are holding us for ransom and that someone on the inside is, or has, helped them. It could be someone in this room. We need to keep quiet about Loralie and our plan, so they don’t help them further.”

  “You really think another creature would help the humans?” He asked.

  I nodded.

  “Wow, that’s awful to think about,” he whispered.

  Not really. I knew many who defected to the humans. Look at the werewolves for just one example.

  For some reason, though, I didn’t think this was the werewolves doing. There was nothing that gave heed to that, but that was my gut feeling and I always trusted my gut.

  “Did you like your gift?” Dante asked. “You never told me.”

  I grimaced. “I didn’t open it.”

  He jerked away from me. “Did you throw it away?”

  I shook my head vigorously. “No, no, of course not. I just didn’t open it.”

  “Why not?”

  How could I explain this without being rude?

  “We aren’t compatible,” I whispered. “You are better off with someone else. Someone who isn’t terrified of your fire. I’m fine with being friends with you, but doubt it could ever go beyond that. How could it when I can’t stay near you for very long?”

  “You’re near me now,” he whispered.

  “Only because you’re holding back your flames. You can’t do that all the time. You are a phoenix. You are a being of fire. The instant you go all flame bird, I’m going to freak out and run away. That is no way to live. That is not the image I envision when I picture my ideal relationship. Plus, we’re so young. I’m sure you’ll lose interest in me soon.” I said the last sentence in a tiny voice.

  “What do you envision as your ideal relationship?” he asked softly.

  “Cuddling while watching shows. Walking along the beach together. Attending family events hand in hand,” I whispered. Sadly, I could picture all of those things with him, but I could also see myself running in terror, too.

  He was not the problem.

  I was.

  He didn’t respond, which I hoped meant he was going to drop it and accept that we didn’t have a future together.

  I could never be around his family. Plus, I couldn’t have kids with him. I would drop the baby the first time it went all flamebird. That wou
ld mortify me for life.

  That would destroy me.

  Chapter 35

  LORALIE

  After visiting at least eight of the different groups of students, one thing became clear. I had no idea what the humans were planning.

  None of the students were being hurt. They weren’t taking our DNA. They weren’t even taking pictures.

  Everyone was split into groups with their hands tied, some were blindfolded, some also gagged, and there were at least two guards with them.

  The barrier felt strange and I didn’t want to even try passing through it. Dad always told me to trust my instincts and I was going to avoid getting near the barrier as much as possible.

  What the heck were they planning?

  Their weapons looked like rifles, but I knew very little about weapons, so I wasn’t too sure. I really should have paid more attention when Dad was teaching me about weapons.

  I hadn’t found Tsukiko yet, but she was still alive, so I had to be content with that for the moment. Hopefully, she had some students with her that could provide backup if she needed it.

  Dark gods, I hoped she didn’t need it. She was rash and impulsive, but she rarely attacked without a plan. Knowing her, the alpha instinct to protect everyone had kicked in, which meant she wouldn’t recklessly attack the humans because she wouldn’t want the others to get hurt for something she did.

  My biggest question was, where were all of our teachers? That was bothering me most of all. I had seen a few of the guards’ bodies around the campus, but none of the teachers.

  Hiding in the shadows of a tree at the entrance of the grounds, I looked at the buildings before me.

  If I were a bunch of stinky, conniving humans, where would I take the teachers?

  They definitely weren’t in the first two sub-levels because I had checked those thoroughly. Even the catacombs and graveyard.

  Lifting my eyes, I looked at the window of the headmistress’s office. Her office was large enough to fit all of the teachers, plus ten or so humans. That had to be where they were. Or the cafeteria. Or the auditorium.