Winter Break

by Ivy Hearne

  Inside the circle, the lights were beginning to melt the snow above them. Whatever was headed this way was hot and malignant and nothing good for any of us.

  I needed to know how to shut it down.

  Nothing I had studied in the few weeks I had been at the Academy had prepared me for this.

  I tried to remember the spells I had learned in magics class, the ones that I had to memorize. Even though the assumption was I’d never be able to use them myself, I needed to be able to recognize them with others employed them. But at this moment, everything was a jumble. The most I could do was send out pulsing wave after wave of a single word.

  STOP.

  I said it over and over, feeling the lights’ ascent slow incrementally.

  But they kept coming.

  Santa staggered to his feet, his face a mask of murderous rage. He turned to where the children huddled together on the library steps, many of them crying.

  He took one staggering, menacing step toward them.

  Something huge and black and snarling bounded out of the dark and pounced, crashing into the Santa demon and tumbling it to the ground.

  I had never been so glad to see my hunting partner as I was right then.

  Chapter 10

  With Santa occupied and the children safe for the moment, I turned my attention back to the imp, who had crept closer to me, snarling through its broken teeth where I had kicked it.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the knife Santa had been using to cut all of us. The imp saw it at the same moment. We both dove for it and sent it skittering across the snow.

  The imp turned its attention to me, scrabbling across the snow to try to sink its nails into me. It left a long scratch along one cheek as it made a grab and missed.

  I pulled my knees up to my chest and used both feet to kick out at it, hitting it in the stomach with my boots and sending it sliding across the snow and out of the circle.

  I scrambled up to my knees and lunged for the knife, grabbing it and whipping around to see the imp back up and staggering my direction.

  I didn’t have time for this. I needed to close this portal.

  It didn’t seem like what I needed mattered, however. The imp was determined to attack me. It leaped back into the circle, one arm dangling uselessly beside it.

  I never did figure out if it didn’t realize I had grabbed a knife, or if it was so hyped up by the fight that it simply didn’t care, but the imp jumped toward my face, its legs boosting it up much higher than it should have been able to jump, its single arm extended toward my face.

  I ducked down under its reach and shoved the knife upward into its belly, twisting as I went.

  The imp screamed and flailed for a moment. I followed it back down to the ground and then pulled the knife out.

  Hot, black blood gushed out of the wound and over my hand. I pulled back away from it as its life bled out into the snow.

  Then I leaned over and vomited.

  When I had done heaving, I glanced at the body again. Its lifeblood had spread out around it. I stared at the puddle for a few seconds before realizing something. Everywhere the imp’s blood touched, the red and green pulsing lights had grown smaller and dimmer.

  The answer became clear.

  “Souji!” I spun around to find my partner crouched over the Santa, one paw holding the demon down, his claws extended enough to cause pain where they sank into the Lusus Naturae monster’s skin. “Bring him back into the circle.”

  With one swipe of his massive paw, Souji rolled the demon toward the circle. I couldn’t tell if the Santa monster was alive or dead. I didn’t know if what I had planned would work if he was dead. Then again, I didn’t even know if it would work if he were alive.

  But as soon as Souji had him in the circle, I stepped toward him and took his arm.

  I swallowed hard against what I was about to do.

  I could rationalize killing monsters.

  But this man didn’t look like a monster.

  He looked like Santa Claus.

  Steeling myself against my own reaction, I jabbed the knife into his palm and reopened the wound that had clotted up. His blood dripped out onto the snow, and I used the knife to spread it out over the incoming light.

  The light faded.

  It had taken only a few drops. I scraped up a few more drops and moved to the next light. From up here, the lights looked like they were only a few inches underground.

  “Souji, help me. Use your claws. It doesn’t take much blood.”

  We moved as fast as we could.

  I realized I had tears running down my face as the lights continued to grow closer.

  I hadn’t even realized that the Hunters’ Academy residents had shown up until I heard Headmistress Gayle say, “You’ll never close the portal in time that way.”

  I glanced up at her, tears still staining my face, from where I was on my hands and knees frantically rubbing blood into the dirt under the snow.

  She placed her hand on the top of my head, and something calm and soothing flowed through me like a benediction.

  “You’ve done good work here, child. Let me take over.”

  I sat back on my heels and watched numbly as Ms. Gail quickly delegated people to various tasks. About half the people who were still at the Academy had come down the mountain with her, including Colette and Tony.

  She sent Colette over to take care of the children. Tony she sent to see if the monsters had erected a magical barrier to keep us from being interrupted and if so, to make sure it stood until we were done. Then she turned back to Santa, staring down at his still form and shaking her head.

  She spared a glance for the dead imp, as well.

  Then she reached into the pocket of her slacks and pulled out a small stick that she began twirling through her fingers like a baton. As she twirled, it turned into a staff—one with a pointed end.

  With a few muttered words, she raised it high above the demon on the ground. Then she drove it with all her might through Santa’s chest.

  The monster gasped and tried to sit up against the pole impaling it.

  And as it fell backward into the snow, its blood soaking the ground and dimming the lights of the portal closing beneath us, Santa melted away, leaving behind a real monster—a horned demon that looked like the black-and-red devils in old drawings.

  That’s a monster I could kill.

  I swallowed hard and forced myself to my feet.

  I was suddenly absolutely exhausted.

  Souji limped toward me, and I realized that he, too, had a long scratch down his shoulder.

  Ms. Gayle gave the two of us a long, level look, then reached out to cup my cheek and Souji’s shoulder at the same moment.

  Healing flowed through us, and for the first time, I truly understood why Ms. Gayle had been chosen to take the position of headmistress.

  “You two go home,” she said. “Rest tonight. We will discuss all of this tomorrow.” She sounded kinder that I never heard.

  “But tomorrow is Christmas,” I objected, feeling silly as soon as the words came out of my mouth.

  Ms. Gayle smiled gently. “Then tomorrow we will celebrate Christmas. We can talk about this after that.”

  “And the children?” I glanced toward them. They seemed calm once again, some of them even smiling at Colette as she talked to them, her hands flickering in the motions of spells.

  “Their wounds will be healed, and the memories wiped of events of tonight.” Ms. Gail peered into my eyes. “They will be taken care of. You saved them all. I won’t let that go to waste.”

  Heaving a sigh of relief, I buried my hand in Souji’s fur, and we began making our way back up the mountain.

  And as we trudged along the road, I realize something—I hadn’t had to go home for Christmas.

  Because I already was home.

  And I would do anything to protect the Hunters’ Academy.

  Even if it meant killing Santa Claus.

  Epilogue


  Everyone gathered in the commons room late the next morning. I never had gotten my Christmas shopping done. But I’d called my parents that morning and made up a cheerful story for them about skiing in the Alps.

  I’d realized that protecting the Hunters’ Academy also meant protecting my birth family from knowledge of it or the monsters we fought.

  After an early lunch in the commons, we all gathered around the fireplace again, students draped over sofas and chairs, instructors lounging and chatting with us, some of them bringing straight-backed chairs from the long dining tables.

  Once again, I found myself sitting cross-legged on the floor. I leaned back against the arm of one of the sofas, content to watch everyone around me laughing and wishing each other happy holidays.

  “Would you like some cider?”

  I glanced up to find Tony holding two steaming mugs.

  “Sure,” I said, waving at the floor next to me. He handed me my mug and joined me.

  “Merry Christmas,” I said.

  “Merry Christmas to you, too. Impressive what you did out there last night,” he added.

  I shrugged. “I did what I had to. I couldn’t let those kids die. Or worse.”

  I hadn’t realized Ms. Gayle was passing by, but she paused to glance down at me. “I owe you an apology for not believing you when you reported the imp to me,” she said, and I nearly choked on my cider.

  She continued across the room without saying anything else.

  “Headmistress Gayle just apologized to me,” I hissed at Tony.

  “She did. Yes.”

  “Does that count as a Christmas miracle?”

  We were laughing quietly together as the door swung open and Souji stalked into the room.

  A whisper went around the room. He had never joined the rest of us for meals or parties or anything. Not the whole time I’d been here.

  With one glance around the room, my hunting partner homed in on me, and I waved cheerily. “Souji! Come join us over here.”

  He had already started in my direction.

  When he reached us, he dropped to his haunches on the floor next to me. Then, deliberately, he met Tony’s gaze, lifted up one heavy paw, and dropped it onto my knee.

  Then he drew back his lips to show his teeth, and he hissed.

  Tony’s shoulders drew back, and he sat up straight. A crackling kind of energy surrounded him, and a tiny blue flame flickered in between his fingers. As he met Souji’s stare head-on, I sat frozen between the two of them, staring back and forth.

  Oh, dear. Next semester is going to be really interesting.

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  Hunters’ Academy 1: Entrance Exam

  Survive or Die.

  It's not much of a school motto—not as inspiring as, say, "Let us give light to the world," or "Knowledge is liberty," or even just "Light and Truth." Those are all real school mottos. So is this one. It belongs to the Hunters' Academy. And now, so do I.

  Since she was twelve years old, Kacela Deluca has suffered debilitating migraines. On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, she learns her headaches are the result of untapped psychic abilities. She's given a choice: continue to suffer or leave behind everything she knows and join the Hunters’ Academy. The only catch? If she doesn’t pass the entrance exam, she’ll die.

  A teen with blocked psychic powers, a panther shifter who can't—or won't—shift, a secret academy, and the power to defend the entire world...if only Kacie can unleash her potential before it's too late.

  Fans of Vampire Academy, Mortal Instruments, Harry Potter, and Dragon School will love Hunters’ Academy!

  Entrance Exam is episode one of Hunters’ Academy - expect a new episode every month beginning Fall 2018!

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  Hunters’ Academy 3: Crash Course

  IF THE COURSE LOAD doesn’t kill her, one of her teachers might.

  Having passed the Entrance Exam, sixteen-year-old Kacie DeLuca is ready to buckle down and learn to be a true Hunter. But the Academy’s headmistress has hired a new instructor—a former member of the Lusus Naturae, the self-described “freaks of nature” with dark plans to subjugate humanity.

  When a student’s mutilated body is discovered on campus, all signs point to the new teacher’s guilt, and Kacie might be the only one who believes in her innocence. Worse, Kacie’s magics instructor has been assigned to investigate the murder and seems determined to ignore crucial evidence.

  With no clear sense of where everyone’s loyalties lie, Kacela is about to get a crash course in what it really means to be a monster hunter.

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  Hunters’ Academy 4: Independent Study

  SHE’S ON THE DEAN’S list. And not in a good way.

  When Kacie DeLuca broke through the psychic blocks the evil Lusus Naturae placed on her, she thought she was free to complete her studies at the Hunters’ Academy.

  She was wrong.

  Now that she’s able to use her powers, the monsters are more determined than ever to keep her from becoming a full-fledged hunter, sending agents to attack her at every turn.

  But Kacie still doesn’t know why they’re targeting her in particular, and the Academy’s new headmistress isn’t sharing what she knows.

  So Kacie and her hunting partner set out to track down the truth on their own—and run headlong into danger of the worst kind.

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  Hunters’ Academy 5: Valentine’s Dance

  IT’LL BE A HELL OF a dance.

  When a fire threatens to engulf the school the night of the annual Valentine’s Day Dance, Kacie and her friends at the Hunters’ Academy must determine if it’s an accident or the work of the Lusus Naturae, even as they fight to save the Academy itself.

  Valentine’s Dance is episode 5, a special for readers of Hunters’ Academy—expect a new episode every month (and some special stories in between, too!).

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  About the Author

  IVY HEARNE SPENDS HER days dreaming of heroes and monsters and the heroines who tame them. She writes young adult paranormal romance and urban fantasy, and fully expects to find herself someday transported to a world of fantasy and magic, where her snarky tendencies will win her the respect of the realm—and probably a crown, too.

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