Monster Academy

by Catherine Banks

  “He’s a family friend,” Ainsley said from behind the boys. “Apparently, he’s just pestering them because they don’t want a bodyguard.”

  “Is that what you told her?” Takumi asked and looked back at us, pain flashing across his face for a brief moment.

  “Stop this,” Tsukiko growled and took a step closer to Takumi. “Why are you purposefully making people think we’re more than friends?”

  “We’re not?” he asked, moving a step closer to her.

  “Takumi,” she groaned and let her head fall back.

  “Did our time together over the summer mean so little?” he whispered.

  “Apparently less than our time together,” I whispered to Loralie who nodded.

  We both already knew that he had a crush on Tsukiko. And all three of us had spent time with Takumi separately and together. He was commonly used by our parents to protect us, since we all actually liked him and could tolerate being protected by him.

  “I swore my life to you three,” he whispered.

  “At different times,” I said and put my hands on my hips. “You can’t offer your life to multiple people.”

  “You three are one,” he said nonchalantly.

  Did he know about our secret ability? He couldn’t possibly know. Yet, he was the only one who had made such a comment.

  “You and I are not dating,” Tsukiko said sternly. “Stop trying to make people believe that.”

  “Tsukiko,” he whispered and stepped closer to her. “Were you just playing with my heart this summer? Do you not remember...this...”

  His face shifted and within a second, he had his human mouth pressed to hers.

  Rathik hissed, but instead of trying to pull them apart, he spun and walked away.

  Tsukiko pushed Takumi away and roared. “Stop this!”

  Takumi shifted his head back, bowed, and ran off to the side of the dormitory building.

  Dante stood and looked at me with a scowl, shook his head, and walked after Rathik.

  Bogden looked at Loralie, their eyes meeting, and after a moment, he exhaled and went after his friends.

  Tsukiko wiped her mouth with her sleeve and growled. “He’s gone too far this time.”

  “Let’s go,” I whispered, noticing that we had gathered a crowd of onlookers.

  Despite knowing that it was probably for the best and this would keep them away from us, my heart hurt.

  I had never wanted to hurt Dante. And Takumi was only a friend, but…

  It might prove to have been the best action.

  Twenty-Two

  TSUKIKO

  He was ruining everything! Stupid Takumi!

  No doubt the school was running wild with their versions of what they had witnessed.

  Why? Why was he doing this?

  Why had he kissed me?

  My lips still tingled from his kiss, even hours later.

  I growled and paced across my room.

  How could I fix this?

  I couldn’t be with Rathik, but that didn’t mean I wanted him to hate me. Or for him to think I was messing around with Takumi.

  It was true that Takumi had pledged his life to us, but not romantically.

  Keeping away from Takumi was my best bet, but he kept sneaking up on me.

  Had Grandfather put him up to this? Or was this all Takumi’s idea?

  Loralie had tried to tell me that Takumi had feelings for me.

  I hadn’t believed her then, but now...she might have been right.

  “Pacing and growling won’t accomplish anything aside from making you even angrier,” Frances said from where she lay on the ground, her arm over her eyes.

  “I’m going for a run,” I said and stomped towards the door.

  “We’ll be here,” Loralie said from her spot on the bed, her face pressed into the pillows.

  I shut the door behind me before shifting and running out to the forest.

  A few other wolves yipped at me, but I wasn’t in the mood to play. I wasn’t in the mood to socialize.

  I just wanted to run and hunt.

  To tear something apart with my teeth.

  I ran deeper and deeper into the forest, not caring how far from the school I was, or whether I ran outside of the boundaries or not.

  A strange scent caught my nose and I turned, following it.

  It was sweet and yet smelled of decay at the same time.

  Slowing, I continued to follow the scent, but quieter and more stealthily.

  As I turned for a third time, I finally found the source of the scent.

  Two humans in strange suits and wearing weird helmets battled with Takumi.

  Without thinking, I ran forward and tackled the one closest to me.

  “Kiko!” Takumi yelled. “What are you doing here?”

  I didn’t answer, not that I could have in wolf form anyway, focused on trying to bite through the stupid suit the human wore.

  The human grunted, my over three hundred pounds in wolf form crushing the wind from his lungs. His hand moved and then an electric shock went through me.

  I yelped and jumped back.

  The shock had been strong enough to blur my vision, and I shook my head to try to clear it.

  Takumi tore the human he was fighting apart, his claws finally getting through the suit, and then raced towards me.

  The human who had shocked me advanced, a strange metal strap in his hands. “Don’t worry, we won’t kill you,” he crooned.

  I shifted into wolfman form and said, “You won’t do anything except die.”

  The human pulled something from his hip.

  Takumi yelled my name, running between me and the human.

  A loud explosion sounded, and then Takumi fell against me, the scent of his blood filling my nostrils.

  “Takumi!” I yelled. I rolled him off me, pounced on the human, and tore at his suit with my claws. One of my claws caught and tore the material away, giving me a perfect spot to kill the human.

  He cried out as he died, but I had no sympathy for him. I tossed his body away and rushed back to Takumi.

  “Takumi, talk to me,” I whispered as I knelt by him.

  His breathing was ragged and shallow. “Princess, what were you doing out here?”

  “I needed to go for a run and a strange scent drew me this way,” I whispered.

  There was so much blood everywhere. It soaked the ground below us.

  “You came after me,” he whispered and chuckled. His chuckle ended in a cough and blood dripped from his mouth.

  “Don’t you dare die on me,” I growled. “You promised me your life, remember?”

  He set his hand on my cheek, keeping his claws away from my skin. “I used my life to protect yours. That was what I wanted.”

  Tears blinded me. “I need to get you back to a doctor.”

  I picked him up, glad for my strength but still awkward at holding him since he was so much larger than me, and ran back towards the school.

  “It’s too late and you know it,” he whispered.

  “Shut up,” I growled. “You’ll be fine.”

  He kissed my cheek. “I love you, Kiko.”

  Wolfmen and chupacabras came into view, running towards us.

  I was so close. So close.

  “Takumi,” I whispered, looking down at his face.

  He gave me one last smile and then released a shuddering breath and stilled.

  I set his body on the ground and screamed.

  Loralie appeared out of the shadows beside me with Frances.

  Loralie gasped and reached out, grabbing onto something above Takumi’s body. “No! No! Takumi, no!” She sobbed, tears flowing down her face like they were mine.

  Frances dropped to her knees beside me, looped an arm around my waist, and joined me in crying.

  “It’s too soon!” Loralie screamed, her hands clenching something so tight that her knuckles were white.

  “It is his time,” Death, Loralie’s father said as he appeared behin
d her. He set a hand on her shoulder. “You must reap his soul.”

  Loralie shook her head. “Not him! Not Takumi!”

  “Either I will do it, or you will,” Death said.

  Loralie sobbed and then disappeared in a flash of black light.

  “She will return tomorrow,” Death said to us. “She will accompany Takumi’s soul through processing so he will not have to go alone. I will go tend to the humans’ souls.”

  “It should have been me,” I sobbed.

  Death knelt by me, placing his bony hand on my head. “Your time is not yet here, Daughter. He sacrificed himself for you. It was as fate predicted.”

  “Fate is a bitch!” Frances shouted and then dropped her head against my arm.

  “She can be,” Death agreed with a nod. “Do you wish to see your parents?”

  “Her grandfather is on his way,” one of the chupacabras said.

  “I shall leave you then. I am sorry, my daughters,” Death whispered and then he disappeared, too.

  Grandfather ran to us, Father and Mother right behind him.

  “Tsukiko!” Father yelled.

  Mother ran to Frances, gathered her up in her arms and hugged her tightly. “I am so sorry.”

  Grandfather knelt beside me and bowed his head. “What happened?”

  “Humans with strange suits and helmets,” I whispered. “I came across them fighting Takumi. One of them tried to shoot me, and Takumi jumped between us. He died because of me.” Tears blinded me again and sobs wracked my body so hard that I clutched at my stomach and bent over.

  “Scour the area!” Grandfather yelled. “See if there are more!”

  “Why?” I asked. “It should have been me.”

  “He died protecting you because he cared for you,” Father whispered.

  “Because I’m supposed to be special?” I snarled. “Because I’m an elite?”

  “Because you were his friend,” Mother said, still holding Frances like a child despite her being larger than my mother.

  “Come, let’s take you home,” Father said.

  “What about—”

  “His body will be dealt with appropriately,” Grandfather said.

  “Go rest at home and return to school tomorrow with tear-free eyes,” Father whispered.

  How could I just continue on like nothing had happened?

  Takumi had sacrificed himself for me. How could I repay that?

  “Takumi would want you to live your life to the fullest,” Mother whispered. “So, grieve for your friend and then live your life as you want.”

  I nodded, giving in and letting them carry me home.

  Twenty-Three

  LORALIE

  Thanatos, my older brother, processed souls by entering their names into the Book of Death. He wasn't normally the one doing it, but he'd had a fight with Dad who had decided one hundred years of this was an appropriate punishment. I had no idea what their fight had been about, but it had upset my mom enough that she'd isolated herself for a full week.

  Thanatos had a dark goatee, black feathered wings, and despite this being his punishment, he smiled as he greeted the souls coming in. He was kind and tried to help everyone die peacefully, if possible.

  Normally, a soul would have to wait in line to be entered, but since I was the one bringing in Takumi, he would be processed faster.

  "We're almost there," I whispered to the blue light bobbing beside me. I wiped at my face to try to rid the tears that were there, but new ones continued to replace them.

  Souls were processed in an adjacent dimension to the realm we lived in. The ground was dirt with the occasional rock, huge mountains surrounded us, their peaks not visible to the normal eye. There were several entrances around the mountains where the souls entered this dimension. The entrances were carved stone arches that said, "Welcome to your afterlife. No pushing or cutting in line. These are entrances only and you may not try to leave through them." From the entrances, the souls bobbed along rock stairways that snaked down the mountainside. Once at the bottom of the mountain, the souls converged into a large area that then funneled them into single file line. The line started at the base of the mountain and wound all the way along the dirt ground to the gazebo where Thanatos and the Book sat in shade.

  We flew up in the air, over the line of souls, and only dropped down once we were right outside the gazebo.

  A hell hound stood guard at the entrance, ensuring the souls entered only when it was their turn.

  This hell hound was Thanatos's favorite. He'd named it Spot because, "It has a spot of white on the tip of each of his ears."

  "Hey, Spot," I whispered and held out my hand.

  He licked my hand and then growled at Takumi's soul.

  "No, I'm processing this one. Dad's orders," I told Spot.

  Spot stopped growling and let out a huff.

  "Hey, baby sister. What are…" Thanatos stopped when I turned and he saw my face. He looked at the soul beside me and his mouth opened. "Oh, no. No. Lorie." Thanatos stood. His wings spread behind him a moment before they refolded behind him. Even so, the tips of his wings dragged along the ground due to their enormous size. He wrapped me up in a hug and I wrapped my arms around him, beneath the base of his wings. "Let it out," he whispered.

  Thanatos, on top of being kind, had the ability to make you feel safe and unleash emotions you didn’t even realize you were feeling.

  He rubbed my back and within seconds, the floodgates opened and I sobbed into his chest. He held me tightly as I broke apart.

  "He was my friend. More than a friend. He had pledged his life to me, Than-ny. He loved Kiko and they'll never know if they were a good couple or not. She'll never know what could have been. We spent so much time with him this summer and then he was assigned to us at the school. Now, we'll never hear him laugh, or practice fighting with him, or do any of the fun things he did with us when we were forced to isolate and he guarded us. I just want to hear his voice. One more time. To tell him how much he meant to me. I never told him. I never told him because I know everyone dies and expressing my feelings means opening up to them and accepting them. Dammit, stop using your powers." I pulled back and Thanatos wiped my cheeks with his thumbs. "I hate when you use your powers to make me psychoanalyze myself."

  He smiled and stared down at me. "Father is busy. So, I am going to break one of his rules. This one time, okay?"

  "What rule?" I asked, sniffling and wiping my nose with the bottom of my shirt.

  "One last chance," he whispered.

  Beside me, Takumi's soul flashed bright green. Green smoke seeped down from the orb and formed into Takumi's humanoid shape. He took a breath and became fully physical and just as he had looked this morning.

  There was no telling how long Thanatos would allow him to be in this form. If Dad or Grandpa showed up, he would have to turn him back into just a soul.

  Not wasting the opportunity, I threw my arms around his waist and hugged him. "I'm so sorry. You meant so much to me and I never told you. I'm going to miss you so much."

  Takumi hugged me tightly and lightly kissed the top of my head. "I've always known, my little raven. I spent my time with you preparing you to be strong. You three will go far. Never take each other for granted and always watch each other's back. And, always call each other out when your actions aren't in line with your morals."

  I pulled back and smiled up at him. "Lecturing me even with your last words. I'd expect nothing less. I love you."

  He smiled. "I love you, too."

  With a poof of green smoke, he turned back into a bobbing blue soul.

  "Come, you can write his name in the Book," Thanatos said.

  I hugged him tightly. "Thank you. And never, ever, tell anyone I have emotions."

  He patted my back. "Your secret is safe with me."

  I stepped up to the desk, grabbed the feather quill, dipped it in the black ink, and with even strokes, wrote Takumi's name in the Book of Death. "Enjoy your afterlife," I whispered
. Takumi's soul spun around me once before flying out the exit and towards the entrance to the afterlife. I hadn't seen it yet, so I wasn’t sure what it looked like. I hoped it was nice for Takumi.

  "Good job, Loralie," Dad said from behind me.

  "Dad!" Thanatos and I yelled at the same time.

  He looked down at me and said, "Having emotions isn't a bad thing, Loralie. Takumi deserves to be mourned."

  I nodded, unsure what to say in response.

  "I'll take you back to school. I know you can't shadow travel that far and exiting here is still hard for you," Dad said.

  I winced. He'd made me try to exit over one hundred times in one day. I'd ended up sleeping for a week afterwards and Mom had yelled at him. "Thanks."

  Thanatos hugged me one more time and I patted Spot on the head before Dad rested his hand on my shoulder. "It gets easier. I am here if you need me."

  I hugged him and sighed. "Thanks, Dad."

  Twenty-Four

  FRANCES

  We returned to school after a funeral for Takumi was held at the Wolf mansion. Loralie didn’t cry during the funeral, but that was normal for her. Plus, it allowed her to console Tsukiko and I as we balled and drenched Loralie's shirt in tears. All of the elites had attended, having used Takumi for guard detail for all of us at some point. The hardest part had been seeing Takumi's mother kneeling at his grave silently screaming. I couldn’t imagine how much it hurt her to lose her only son. I hoped I never had to find out.

  Three weeks later, Baba Yaga was called for an emergency on the other side of the world. Since there were no recent human attacks, she felt it was safe enough and left in her house, the massive chicken legs carrying her far away.

  Things started to return to normal.

  "Pop quiz!" Mr. Sampson called out from the front of the classroom. He handed a stack of papers to the student at the front of each row and smiled at us. "Hopefully, you kept up on you’re assigned reading and paid attention in class. If you did, this will be a piece of stardust cake for you. If you didn’t, well, we will discuss that when I hand back your tests tomorrow."