by Ivy Hearne
My cheeks flamed as I remembered the events of the night before.
Okay, fine. So I felt silly.
But if I had learned anything in my few short weeks at the Hunters’ Academy so far, it was that hunters’ feelings were only important inasmuch as they helped hunters take down monsters. Over and over again, instructors had told us that we would face frightening things as hunters. And that when that happened, we would have to overcome our fear, take a stand, and do whatever we needed to do to win.
If we could manage to subdue our fear, we could kill the monsters that were working to destroy humanity and all the hunters along with them. “You win in your mind first,” Coach Packwood told us in our hand-to-hand fighting class. “And then you win with your body.”
Last night, a monster had followed me to what was now my home, my refuge, my sanctuary.
We all thought we were safe here. Students, instructors, everyone.
And I was the only one who truly believed that we weren’t.
I was scared. But I could overcome that.
Fine, then.
Last night I had been the hunted.
Starting right now, I was the hunter.
Lucky for me, I had a partner I knew I could count on—even if he didn’t fully believe that there was something out there, he had come running to my side the night before and had stayed there as I circled the dorm building with Colette, checking the wards. And when I’d asked, he had not hesitated to let me stay with him.
They say there is safety in numbers. Sometimes, I had figured out, there was safety even in the number two.
And as soon as I figured out what this thing was, I would get Souji and we would go take it out together.
To be able to do that, I needed to get some idea of what I was facing. Headmistress Gayle might not believe me, but that didn’t bother me as much as maybe it would have under other circumstances.
After all, Headmistress Gayle was from the same group of adults who had assigned Shane Weber to be my tutor when I first got to the Hunters’ Academy—and he’d turned out to be aligned with the Lusus Naturae.
Anyway, I couldn’t risk even the possibility that a Lusus Naturae monster was in town sucking out children’s—what? Life-force? Insides? Whatever it was taking from them, they were worse off for it, and I couldn’t let that happen.
I knew what I needed to spend my time doing today: researching supernaturals and monsters that drained energy from people.
I had books here in my room—I could start with those. I opened my laptop, pulled my books off my bed, and spread them on the bed around me in a semicircle. Opening a document, I titled it Imp-Style Monsters.
The first book I checked was the textbook where I remembered seeing a picture of him.
Actually, there were two drawings. The first was a woodcut from the 1700s. The picture showed a woman in an old-fashioned dress and a mobcap. She stood in front of what looked like a wood-burning stove, three toad-like creatures lined up in front of her like animals begging for scraps.
The imps in the picture looked a little like what I had seen. These creatures were smaller and were actually slightly less ugly than the thing I’d been dealing with.
Below the woodcut was a second, hand-drawn image. It looked a lot more like the imp that I had seen. Pointy ears, long spindly limbs, and all.
Because this book was an introductory text, it really didn’t give many details. I couldn’t count the number of times the instructor had said things like, “we’ll get into that more next semester,” or, “because these are rare, we won’t be talking about that creature much.” I couldn’t remember Mr. Donovan saying anything about imps at all.
The only reason I knew anything about imps was that I had been reading ahead. And the only reason I did any reading ahead was that I had been so painfully bored since school let out.
Well, I sure as hell wasn’t bored anymore. Though I wasn’t sure this was any better.
Anyway, all this book said was that imps were servant creatures who tended to take on the abilities of their masters. It really wasn’t helpful at all.
As far as I knew, this creature been acting totally alone. Unless, of course, there had been someone else involved that I hadn’t seen. Some wizard or witch or other supernatural pulling the imp’s strings from behind a metaphorical curtain.
Moreover, the book didn’t really say anything about ways to kill imps. I wondered if that was because it was extremely easy to kill them.
Probably not.
It was more likely that it was because the creature had to be killed in the same ways as its master. Which meant that every imp was different.
That made me want to start cursing all over again. There were plenty of creatures that fed on human energy. But none of them seemed to do so in the same way as the imp I saw in the village. At the same time, there were lots of things that could be done with human energy by various magic-using people and creatures. In fact, I was beginning to think the possibilities were virtually endless.
I skimmed the index of each book, scanning for monsters, elves, mind-suckers, life-force eaters, energy users—anything that might lead me to not just a description of the creature I was hunting, but information on how to kill it.
By the time I finished with the books I had in my room—just my school books from my first year at the Academy—I had a list of more than twenty possible types of suspects. They ranged from a human magician who could store energy to power spells, to a demonic creature belonging to a class of monsters from other dimensions who could use human energy to travel between those dimensions. And if one escaped through a portal, it was apparently a very bad idea to follow it.
I rubbed my eyes and dropped the last book onto the stack I’d started on the floor as I finished each book.
Being a hunter was mentally exhausting.
I realized, though, that the whole time I’d been researching, I’d quit being anxious about being in my room again. That was a good thing. It would have been all too easy to let myself get so worried that I’d never want to come back in here again.
Still, I jumped when a knock came at the door while I was stretching my arms above my head. I answered the door to find Tony Eckles, another upperclassman who specialized in magic, standing outside, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. “Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I replied, not quite knowing why he might be there. We stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before he finally said, “I was just stopping by to see if you’re going to the decorating party today.”
I had forgotten all about it—apparently, it was a tradition for all the students who stayed behind during winter break to get together on Christmas Eve and decorate the commons room where we had been eating for the last week.
I frowned at Tony, confused about why he’d come to ask about that. “Um. Sure. I guess.”
“And I wanted to make sure that you were okay after last night.” His words came out in a rush, and I realized he was nervous.
Oh. My. God.
Had Tony stopped by to ask me on a date to decorate our commons room?
I stifled a nervous giggle at the thought. I mean, on the one hand, it was ridiculous. I barely knew him.
But on the other hand, he seemed like a nice guy. And he was cute, with light brown, wavy hair, bright blue eyes, and a sweet smile that brought out dimples in his cheeks. There certainly wasn’t any reason to shoot him down—not over decorating the commons.
“Should we walk over there together?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
“That would be great,” he said, perking up considerably.
Somehow, pausing in my research to hunt a terrifying creature that sucked out the brains of children in order to go do a little Christmas decorating didn’t feel quite right.
Not that it was actually Christmas. Students at the Hunters’ Academy came from all different traditions. So when we decorated the commons room, we decorated for Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter
Solstice, and just the general gift-giving seasons.
In the commons, there was a tree, a yule log, a menorah, and all sorts of other things I didn’t recognize. All the different versions of Santa Claus too—Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, the usual fat red guy, and others.
Tony was super sweet, and I was glad that he really had been asking me on a date, even if it was kind of a weird choice. But it was fun, and once the room was brightened up with all the decorations, someone lit a fire in the fireplace at one end of the room, and one of the instructors brought in apple cider.
But I couldn’t quit thinking about the kids the imp had attacked. I didn’t know if what happened to them was permanent, but the thought of their families’ Christmas being destroyed by a visit to Santa made my chest ache in sympathy.
I couldn’t just sit here anymore.
I had to do something.
Chapter 6
Tony and I were sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the fire when I leaned over and bumped my shoulder against his.
“I’m so sorry, but I need to go do something. If I don’t make it back over here before everybody leaves, maybe we could do something later?” My voice was tentative, like I was afraid he would turn me down. More than that, though, I was afraid it would hurt his feelings.
“Yeah, sure. I guess.” He was obviously confused about why I was leaving so suddenly, but I didn’t even try to explain. No one had seen this imp besides me. I didn’t even know if Souji believed me—but at least he had my back no matter what.
I wanted to get over to the library before it closed down for the day. I would search on the internet, but I’d discovered that a lot of what was available online in terms of monster information was, perhaps unsurprisingly, full of misinformation, holes, and hoaxes.
Besides, I was almost certain the school monitored our Internet usage. Screw that.
I’d do old-school research first.
Outside, the sun was already dipping down behind the trees. Inside the library, though, it was warm. This was probably my second favorite space on campus. With its warm golden lights and shining wooden tables, it just felt comfortable.
The librarian gave me a wave. “I’ll be leaving in about an hour and a half,” she said. “Let me know if you need any help.”
I nodded my thanks and headed over to the section on monsters. I swear, I was learning more in one day of monster-researching than I had in almost a whole semester of classes. And suddenly, I was kind of looking forward to the next session’s para-biology course.
I had gathered a stack of books on the desk in front of me and was beginning to look through them when I heard a scratching noise from the window beside my table.
Somehow, I knew it was going to see before I even looked up.
There the imp was, its ugly little scrunched face peering in the window at me as its long fingernails scratched the glass.
I am not going to be hunted by this thing.
Slamming a book closed, I stood up, grabbed my coat, and raced for the door.
The librarian looked up in surprise but didn’t make any comments as I tore past her.
Outside, snow had begun to fall again. I tore around the building just in time to see the imp loping into the woods.
“Oh, not this time, you little sucker.” I took off after it, my feet pounding in the snow.
It was fast, but this time there weren’t any sheer cliffs to go up to escape me—I knew that for sure because I had hiked in those woods several times. This time, I was going to catch this thing and take it back to Ms. Gayle, both to prove that it existed and so she could show me how to kill it.
Under the trees in the forest, though, it was even darker than on campus. And I swear I felt it when I passed the boundary of the school’s wards.
Everything was quiet, and all sounds were muffled by the snow.
I lost sight of the imp almost immediately. I slowed to a walk as I carefully peered into the branches and behind trees as I passed them.
I couldn’t believe I’d lost the nasty little thing again.
Well, at least if it’s in the woods chasing me, it isn’t in town sucking kids’ brains out.
I had to admit that I had lost its trail. I wasn’t even seeing footprints in the snow.
So much for me being a hunter.
I turned around, prepared to make my way back to campus.
And that’s when it struck. It dropped down on me from above, its prehensile toes digging into my shoulders to hang on, its hands on my head, its long, spidery fingers tangling in my hair.
I fought against it, spinning around as I grabbed the imp and tried to pull it off me. I pulled up, I bent over and pushed against it to try to shove it off into the snow.
This was not the kind of fighting I’d been practicing at the Hunters’ Academy. I was going to have to take this up with Coach Packwood.
Assuming I survived this fight.
But the imp got its claws into me—literally. I felt its fingernails pierce the skin of my scalp, and I screamed out loud.
“Get off me!” I shoved and spun and tried to slam the imp against the nearest tree.
It just laughed in my ear as its nails slid so deep under the skin that its fingertips pressed against my head.
It felt just like the migraines I used to have before I joined the Hunters’ Academy. My vision even started to change, a red miasma flowing down like a sheer curtain being dropped over my eyes.
And then the imp’s power hit me, like bricks slamming into my head.
I dropped to my knees, crying out in pain, all my attempts to remove the monster from my head now purely instinctive. A throbbing, pulsing, red-hot agony stabbed into me, sliding under my skin, boiling away all conscious thought.
With the children, the imp had pulled something of them. Now, though, it was putting something into me.
Something I couldn’t fight against, no matter how hard I pushed at it with my hands and my mind.
The red turned to black, and my vision hazed out completely. At the same moment, I felt my entire body go slack. With a whimper, I relaxed into the snow, the freezing cold of the snow like a balm beneath my cheek as I landed on the forest floor.
Chapter 7
I wanted to roll over and moan, but I was already moving when I returned to consciousness.
For a long moment, I tried to stop walking—but then I realized that I wasn’t in control of my movements. I couldn’t even turn my head to look around. The trees streaming by me as I moved past them left me dizzy, but I couldn’t stop. After a few moments, the imp moved up beside me, and I realized we were headed back toward the school grounds.
The sun was setting as I stepped out from under the tree line and across the Academy’s wards. I felt them buzz against my skin, but I passed through without any problem.
The imp, on the other hand, stayed behind. Entirely out of my volition, my head spun around to take one last look at it as it crouched down in the snow, a black smudge against the snow on the far side of the wards.
My mind raced even as my body slowed to a walk.
Was the imp the one controlling me? Or was there another Lusus Naturae somewhere behind the scenes arranging all of this? And why had the imp—or its master—focused on me?
As I moved past the dorms, all clustered on one side of campus, Tony stepped out the door of his building, waving at me and calling my name. “Hey, Kacie! Wait up.”
I waved back at him, turning to face him and walking backward.
Internally, I screamed. Help! Something else has me—there’s an imp in the woods!
But something entirely different came out of my mouth. “Hey! Let’s catch up later. I have something else I have to do right now.”
Tony’s face fell, and I continued to push against whatever had me in its grip, trying to work my own mouth and shove my voice out. I need your help! Don’t listen to that me! Listen to this me!
But Tony didn’t hear me screaming. He only heard what my
voice said aloud.
His expression crestfallen, he shoved his fists into his pockets as he turned back toward the dorm.
I heard myself snicker as I spun back around to keep jogging past the dorms, and something about the sound reminded me of the imp as it dug into my head.
Inside my mind, I imagined beating my fist against a door, screaming to be let out. I didn’t see anyone else as the thing controlling me took me to the Administration building. I could hear people in the commons room, laughing and talking. Someone had put on Christmas music, and the party was still going. Apparently, Tony had left early. Really, I hadn’t been gone all that long. The part of me that still belonged to me felt bad that he had looked so sad when I had waved him off.
But I didn’t go to the commons room. Instead, I slowed until I was practically tiptoeing, and my body slid down on the side hallway that led to Headmistress Gayle’s office. I wasn’t surprised to find the room locked.
But then, the thing controlling my body rattled the doorknob once, waved my fingers in a complicated pattern that I’d never seen before, and with a flick of two of its fingers, the door clicked open.
I watched all this as if from somewhere outside myself—though of course, it was really from somewhere deep inside myself. I was absolutely stunned. Everything I had been taught since I had gotten to the Hunters’ Academy was that in order to use magic, the magician, whether it was a witch, a warlock, a mage, or some other supernatural, had to have a source of magic within his or her own body.
Magic was an inborn trait. It could not be transferred or shared.
So did that mean that I had magic with myself? Or was the thing controlling me actually able to use its own magic because it was somehow inhabiting me with its own corporeal self?
At that moment, either possibility seemed equally terrifying. The answer to one could change everything everyone here knew about magic. The other would change everything I knew about myself.
All of my instructors agreed on one thing, though. While I might be a powerful psychic, I had zero magical ability as far as they could tell.