Monster Academy

by Catherine Banks

  I wanted to ask them what had happened, to see if they had experienced similar things, harsh experiences that totally changed their outlook on life, but I didn’t dare ask.

  It was putting a strain on our friendships which had revolved around complete honesty before. We used to tell each other everything, down to weird bathroom talks, but now...now there was something each of us was hiding. I would have pressured them, but I didn’t want to tell them what had happened with me, either.

  “Are we just going to walk after her? She’ll hear us, if she doesn’t smell us first,” Frances whispered.

  “Shadow traveling,” I said.

  Frances groaned. “You know I hate traveling that way. It makes me dizzy.”

  “Stop whining. Let’s go.”

  She groaned again, but set her hand on my shoulder and stepped closer to me. I let out streams of shadow until it began to cover us.

  “What are you doing?” Bogden asked.

  I yelped and spun around, the shadows disappearing instantly.

  Frances arched a brow at me and then turned to smile at the witch behind us. “Hi, Bogden.”

  “Were you going to shadow walk back to the dorm rooms?” he asked. His eyes sparkled in the firelight, and I found myself lost as I stared into them.

  “Yes,” Frances answered and sidestepped towards me, purposefully stepping on my foot. “That is exactly what we were doing.”

  “I can walk you back to the dorms so you don’t have to expend your magic,” he offered.

  “We don’t want to trouble you,” I said quickly.

  He smiled, and it was like a fallen angel showering me in warm radiance. “It’s no trouble.”

  “Um, we need Tsukiko, and—” I rushed to try to find an excuse.

  “I’m here,” Tsukiko said as she jogged over to us. “What’s going on?”

  “Bogden has offered to escort us back to the dorms,” Frances explained.

  Tsukiko looked at me. “Oh, um, that’s awfully nice of you.”

  “Come on,” he said and turned towards the path that led back to the school.

  I looked at Tsukiko and Frances, but they both just shrugged and followed Bogden.

  With a pounding heart and dread filling me, I followed.

  Bogden slowed so that he was walking beside us and the traitorous Frances moved to the other side of Tsukiko so Bogden could walk right beside me.

  “So, were you girls able to get into the same classes?” He asked softly.

  “Luckily, yes,” I answered.

  “Which class are you dreading the most?” He put his hands in his pockets as we walked, and I noticed that the movement allowed the moonlight to highlight his arm muscles.

  “Um, I, uh, probably History. It’s really boring,” I answered, my cheeks warmed as I stumbled to answer.

  He nodded. “History is pretty boring. What period do you have it? Maybe we can entertain each other if we’re in the class together?”

  I stared at him. Entertain each other?

  “Third,” Frances answered. “She probably doesn’t have the schedule memorized like I do already. You know, I’m the nerdy one of the three of us.”

  “Nothing wrong with being nerdy,” Bogden said and smiled wide.

  Oh, hell puppies. Did he have to be so handsome and charming?

  “What period do you have History?” I asked. I both wanted and did not want him to be in my class. I hated having such conflicting emotions.

  We stopped at the entrance to the dorms. To the left was the girls, to the right the boys.

  He leaned close to me and whispered in my ear, “You’ll have to wait and find out tomorrow.” With no time for me to respond, he straightened, said goodnight, and left.

  “Oh, your face is super red,” Tsukiko teased.

  “Shut up,” I whispered and pressed my hands to my cheeks.

  “What did he say?” Frances asked.

  “He told her she had to wait until tomorrow to find out,” Tsukiko said.

  I glared at her.

  She shrugged. “Having good hearing isn’t my fault.” She tapped the tips of her wolf ears.

  “Anyway, let’s just get up to our room so we can sleep. I’m...” a yawn interrupted my words and since it got my point across, I didn’t finish speaking.

  We made the trek upstairs and after cleaning the makeup off our faces, we went to our separate rooms and crashed.

  Tsukiko, Frances, and I trudged into homeroom, eyes barely open, and took the seats we had claimed the previous day in the back of the classroom.

  Our homeroom teacher, a centaur who asked to be called Mr. C, was really only there to give us important updates and make sure we came to class.

  When we’d stepped out of our dorm rooms, there had been a pile of our books waiting for us. They also provided a backpack, pencils, and a notebook.

  Surprisingly, the books were lighter than I had expected.

  “Did you guys hear someone got caught sneaking off the academy grounds?” A female naga three rows in front of us whispered to her neighbor.

  Frances and I looked at Tsukiko.

  She scowled at us. “It wasn’t me.”

  “They said they were trying to sneak off to see the nearby humans,” the girl continued.

  The male werewolf beside her, Benjamin, said, “There aren’t any humans nearby. The nearest human is at least a hundred miles away.”

  The naga shrugged. “That’s what I heard.”

  “Why would anyone want to go see the humans?” Tsukiko whispered. “Gross.”

  “Maybe it was a vampire,” I whispered, and Frances nodded.

  Tsukiko shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Where did you sneak off to?” I asked.

  Her cheeks reddened, and my curiosity grew even more.

  “I just used the bathroom,” she muttered.

  “Liar,” I said in a sing-song voice.

  She huffed. “I’ll tell you later.”

  Frances and I locked eyes over her head. Knowing Tsukiko, she would try to make us forget. This time, we wouldn’t let her. This time, I would pressure my cute, furry friend until she spilled her guts and told us everything.

  “Here’s your news for the day,” Mr. C said. “You should all have received your bags, supplies, and books. If you didn’t, go see the office staff. I am told to remind you that you are not allowed to leave campus unless you obtain prior approval. That should be obvious, though. Oh, and anyone caught with alcohol will be punished. So, best to stay clear of it. That is all for today.”

  So, they’d found out about our party? Not too surprising. I assumed we were under a lot closer surveillance than the other students realized. Or, that could be my paranoia from having an overprotective father.

  “Oh,” Mr. C said, regaining our attention. “One more thing. If you didn’t choose a club yesterday you must do so today.” He looked at me and my friends. “Especially, you three.”

  I bristled. What was that supposed to mean?

  “Yes, sir,” the three of us replied automatically.

  Frances sighed. “Can we pick something easy?”

  “Like what?” I asked, turning in my seat to face her.

  “We could join the prom planning committee,” Tsukiko offered.

  My nose scrunched. “Prom planning?”

  “It’s easy and you know those prissier females will do most of the work because they’re such control freaks. We’ll just have to paint signs or something,” she said.

  “She isn’t wrong,” Frances finally whispered. "Plus, we won't have to do much work until the solstice. So, that's like two or so months of free time."

  “As long as I don’t have to dress up in pastel pinks, I’ll go along with it,” I muttered.

  Tsukiko smiled. “Great!”

  Frances chuckled. “You were planning to force us to join anyway, weren’t you?”

  Tsukiko nodded. “I’ve wanted to join for a while. I want to be part of it since it’s something c
reatures remember the rest of their lives. My mom talks about it all the time.”

  I sighed, resigned to my fate. “Alright, Kiko, I’ll join you.”

  Her tail wagged behind her. “You’re the best friends a wolf could have.”

  I patted her on the head between her ears. “Yes, yes we are.”

  “Don’t you forget it!” Frances said and lightly punched her shoulder.

  “Dismissed,” Mr. C called.

  Seven

  TSUKIKO

  “Fine, I snuck off to talk to Rathik,” I admitted, my ears drooped and my tail in my hands.

  “You...talked to him?” Loralie asked.

  I pet my tail. “I talked to him a bit over the break, by letter, and I can, on occasion, talk to him in person. He has to have legs, though, and preferably his scales covered by clothing or something. Nighttime is best because then I can’t even see them.”

  “You’ve been hiding this from us. Why?” Frances asked. “We’re happy for you!” She smiled wide and hugged me.

  I growled softly. “It’s not anything great. We’re just friends. He doesn’t like me like that.”

  “Are you sure?” Loralie asked. “Most guys won’t go out of their way to make a girl comfortable like that if they didn’t intend to spend a lot of time with her. And guys don’t seem to want to spend time with girls unless they like them.”

  “That’s not true. Antoine spends time with me,” I argued.

  “You’re his alpha. That’s different,” Loralie said and rolled her eyes.

  Okay, she had a point there.

  “Well, anyway, that was my secret. Now, it’s all out in the open. Okay? Are we good?” I asked.

  Loralie and Frances hugged me from each side and I relaxed, dropping my hold on my tail.

  “Of course we are good,” Frances whispered.

  “Forever,” Loralie said.

  “I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I was embarrassed and I didn’t want you to try to force us together. If it’s going to happen, I want it to be natural,” I whispered.

  They both nodded.

  “Got it,” they said in unison.

  For some reason, I didn’t believe them.

  Classes breezed by until dinner, and I skipped towards the cafeteria with a smile, excited to see what we were going to get to eat.

  Loralie stomped behind me, still frustrated because Bogden had been in our History class and had passed her three notes. She read them and then had to cover her mouth to suppress a laugh.

  The teacher yelled at her and Loralie had had to sit outside for the second half of class.

  “He didn’t mean to get you in trouble,” Frances said to her.

  “Well, I did get in trouble, and he snickered when I had to leave,” she growled.

  “Snickered?” I asked.

  “Yeah, it’s a word,” she snapped.

  “You’ve been reading human romance books again, haven’t you? Those teen ones?” Frances accused.

  Loralie’s cheeks reddened. “Maybe.”

  “What was it this time?” I asked. “Vampire? Werewolf?”

  “Reapers, actually,” she mumbled.

  I stopped and turned to face her. “Someone is writing love stories about reapers?”

  She put her hands on her hips, narrowed her eyes, and gave me her best death glare. “What is so surprising about that? Are reapers not allowed to be loved?”

  My tail wagged behind me despite my attempt to stop it. “I just didn’t think the humans would romanticize your kind.”

  “They romanticize yours, and even zombies, so why not mine?” She asked defensively.

  I resumed skipping towards the cafeteria.

  “Zombies?” Frances asked. “Seriously?”

  “What’s wrong with loving zombies?” Doug, a zombie who had been a huge flirt towards Frances a year ago, asked.

  “Again, humans, though? Are they romanticizing humans being with all these creatures?” Frances asked Loralie.

  “Sometimes. Other times it’s two of the creatures getting together. Or, some halfbreed getting with a purebred,” Loralie explained.

  “Maybe it isn’t humans writing it,” I said. “Maybe it’s a creature who has access to humans.”

  Everyone gaped at me.

  “That’s a really good possibility,” Loralie whispered.

  “I didn’t realize that was an option,” Frances said. “Now, I kind of want to try my hand at it.”

  “Writing romance stories?” Doug asked.

  Frances blushed. “Yeah.”

  “Can I read them if you do write them?” Doug asked.

  We all stopped and looked at him.

  “What?” He asked. “Boys aren’t allowed to like romances? Everyone likes a good romance.”

  “Loralie has some she could recommend that have a lot of action and battles,” I said.

  “Really? Awesome!” Doug cheered. “I’ll have to see if I can find someone to get me the books, too. Unless you have a dealer?” He leaned closer. “Just tell me the cost and where to meet.”

  I threw a hand up to cover my mouth to stop the laugh because he was being completely serious.

  “You think I could make some money selling them?” Loralie asked.

  “I think you definitely could,” I said with a nod.

  “You two going to help me smuggle in the goods?” she asked, smiling wickedly.

  Smuggle in human books? It sounded ridiculous, but it could end up being really lucrative.

  “You have to give us a cut, too,” I said seriously.

  Loralie rolled her eyes. “Duh.”

  We finally made it to the cafeteria, and I hurried to get into line. Antoine waved at me from near the front and gestured me forward. I didn’t want to cut everyone, but I was starving, so I ran up to him.

  “You look like you’re ready to eat a herd of Minotaurs,” he said.

  I rubbed my elongated fangs. “I’m so hungry. I forgot my snacks this morning.”

  “Really! Cutting?” Malaria, a gorgon whose snakes were hissing at me asked.

  “Sorry, I’m really hungry,” I apologized.

  “Like we aren’t hungry?” she snapped.

  “Malaria, just let her be,” Antoine said.

  She put a hand on her hip. “Oh, you’ve got a thing for her.”

  “No,” Antoine said. “We’re friends.”

  “Friends… right…” she rolled her eyes.

  I set my hand on Antoine’s arm, sensing his anger and movement before I even saw it. “Just ignore her,” I whispered.

  He growled once and then turned around and moved forward in the line. I followed him, ignoring her taunting whispers behind us. Food came first.

  I piled my tray high with everything that looked or smelled delicious and then found an empty table and started eating. Frances and Loralie sat with me five minutes later, having had to stand in line at the back.

  “You forgot snacks earlier, didn’t you?” Frances asked.

  I nodded, my mouth full so I didn’t want to talk.

  “You could have asked us,” Loralie said.

  I could have, but I didn’t want to. I needed to be better prepared and stop relying on other people.

  “You have some trouble with Malaria?” Loralie asked.

  “Not much,” I said after swallowing my bite.

  Loralie looked over at the table Malaria sat at. “Really? Because she is glaring daggers at you.”

  Shrugging, I ignored them all and continued eating. So much good food.

  When I was finally done, my stomach was full and happy.

  “You should grab some snacks, too,” Frances suggested.

  I nodded and got back into line to snag some snacks. There weren’t very many snack choices, so I just grabbed the items I could keep in my backpack that wouldn’t make it gross or get coated in anything.

  We walked out of the cafeteria and I ran right into Rathik, his arms wrapped around me and I looked down at his se
rpent tail and within two leaps was halfway across the quad. He smiled, but I could see the pinched corners of his eyes, betraying the pain I had caused by running away.

  “Sorry,” he said softly and went into the cafeteria.

  “You okay?” Frances asked.

  I swallowed past the huge lump in my throat and nodded.

  I was fine, except I had hurt his feelings again. I hated hurting his feelings.

  Was it possible to get over my fear of snakes?

  Would being forced to be near them help or make it worse?

  I wanted to get over it. I wanted to be able to be around him even when he was in his naga form.

  I would find some way to cure myself.

  Some way.

  Eight

  FRANCES

  Tsukiko was quiet through our last two classes, but it wasn’t sadness. There was a determined glint in her eyes that had me super curious.

  She had jumped twice in quick succession to get away from Rathik. It was actually pretty dang impressive.

  “What are we doing tonight?” I asked her.

  Loralie tapped her pen against her cheek. “I need to make a list of books and see if I can find someone to buy them and deliver them discreetly to me.”

  “You’re all-in on this plan, aren’t you?” Tsukiko asked.

  Loralie nodded. “This could fund our trip.”

  Our trip. The trip we had started planning when we were six where we would run away from our families and travel to another continent to meet some sexy single creatures overseas. We would make them fall madly in love with us and then we would return home, taking our rightful places as leaders, and the guys would show up to sweep us off our feet, proclaiming their undying love.

  Yeah, okay, it was super farfetched and unlikely to happen, but we liked to dream. And if we were going to dream, we were going to dream big.

  Most humans thought monsters were evil and had no love, but it was quite the opposite. While we did enjoy the darker side of magic on occasion, we also enjoyed flowers, chocolates, and guys telling us we were pretty.