Page 65 of Monsters Within (The Creatures We Crave 1)
“You guys look like yin and yang,” Elwin observed from behind us, causing me to look down at myself and over at Alora. I suppose with our height, opposite hair colors and shirts, and the same boots, we really did.
Breaking the toast into pieces and munching on it, I stuck my tongue out as I turned around to face Kylo. We were passing the library, and Alora let us know it was just a few more minutes’ walk to the school building, so I felt I had to prove I’d eaten it all so he’d stop staring so intently at me. I swear his eyes were piercing holes into my back as he walked with Elwin.
“Hey, where are the other students?” I asked as I finally realized we hadn’t passed a single one on the way.
As we took the winding path away from the forest and the massive black stone building similar to the library came into view, Alora chuckled nervously and removed her arm from my shoulder, backing away like I was going to hurt her.
“So,” she started, kicking some rocks up on the path as she went. “I might have decided we needed to be the first to arrive to make sure we all get seats together. My parents have drilled it into my head that it’s important to be early to every occasion because it gives you the advantage to set the playing field.”
“You little…” I muttered, realizing I could have actually had more time to get ready…but I quickly realized I would have kept sleeping and ended up in the same situation anyway. Plus, I had to admit, her parents weren’t entirely wrong.
If this was anything like my old school, the first day pretty much set in stone the different cliques and how everyone would be situated in the classroom for the rest of the year.
Her laughter floated through the air as she let her wings out and took a few running steps before leaping into the open air now that we were out of the forest. “Plus, I wanted to stretch my wings without anyone else around.”
That seemed like a weird notion, as I was assuming plenty of other demons had wings too.
The sun was just beginning to rise, and it reflected off of her sparkling feathers as she did a few loops in the air, her hair streaming behind her in the wind. She looked so serene, like she didn’t have a care in the world while she was in the sky. Landing softly and tucking her wings away, she waited for us to catch up to her at the steps leading to the entrance of the classroom building.
Elwin pushed forward, opening the door and holding it for us all to walk through like the gentleman he was. Wanting to have a little fun, I purposefully sent him a wink as I walked by and dragged my bottom lip into my mouth, biting in the way he’d warned me not to.
What was he going to do in front of everyone?
He quickly caught up to me and whispered in that gruff, short tone I was learning to love from him, “I’ll remember that, love.”
Glancing at him out of my peripheral, I teased, “I sure hope you do.”
“Okay,” Alora stated, clapping her hands together before gesturing up the large marble staircase to our right. “Up there are all of the general studies classes. Our first class is up there, along with all the specialty classes once you’ve established your strengths and choose some electives. There are healing classes, rune creation classes, forging weapons with hellfire, yada yada,” she ended before gesturing down the hall directly in front of us. “This has the physical combat and magic training room areas for the next two classes on our schedule. They all have fortified walls to make sure we don’t blow up the building.”
I was relieved when we’d compared schedules to see that she had all three of the same first classes with us, before going into some speciality classes she’d elected to take. I’d take all the friendly faces I could get in this new school.
“Straight forward enough,” Kylo commented, voicing my own thoughts as she explained.
We headed up the stairs and made our way to the door marked for Introduction to Dark Imaginarium Academy and the Territories of Praeditus. I was happy to see Professor Saggia in the room and writing on a chalkboard, old school style.
“Good morning,” she greeted, eyes still focused on the board. “Have a seat wherever you’d like. All the materials you need for the class will be on your desk and will remain in the room, as this is the only class the room will be used for.”
Alora led our little group to the far side of the room but chose a seat in the first row, asking me to sit behind her, which left Lucien sitting behind me, Kylo to my right, and Elwin in the front row to Alora’s right. It was the perfect little unit, and when the rest of the students made their way in, they all seemed to take note of Alora before sitting as far away as possible until there were no seats left but the ones closest to us.
Interesting.
The class itself was straightforward. We reviewed the syllabus, the topics we’d cover seeming to be a more detailed explanation of what I had read about this realm. We would be tackling the different territories one by one throughout the year, going through their governments, economies, and general inner-workings. Professor Saggia said it was imperative for us to understand all of that in case we were selected to hold a position in territory that we didn’t grow up in.
I was interested to learn more about the positions offered to students who managed to graduate from the academy. Apparently it was normal for only half of the class to make it to the end of the four-year term here, if the other sectors were any indicator. If you weren’t showing advancement by the end of each year, they’d send you packing.
Seemed a bit cutthroat, but I couldn’t lie—a part of me thrived on the idea. Maybe I really was in the right sector since Alora said demons are competitive by nature.
There was a lot of pep in my step after we were released from class and students began to split up to go to the next. I was practically bouncing from the excitement of finally learning about this power inside of me, and I couldn’t deny that I was secretly dying to see everything Alora could do.
She chattered on, happy as a clam, it seemed, to talk about anything and everything, despite everyone around us shooting her dirty looks and in general keeping a distance.
Either she didn’t see it or she had learned to ignore it. I hated it, though—it reminded me of how people treated me back home. But the best thing I could do was continue to be her friend and support her, no matter how these assholes treated her.
It was probably a sore subject, so I’d wait until she brought up how they acted around her.
My disappointment for my performance in Finding and Channeling Your Power was not one I could hide well, seeing as I’d been the only one to fail to bring my power out on command. No matter how hard I tried to coax the coiled up energy out to play, it refused to move. Stubborn little asshole.
What a wonderful start to proving I deserved to be here.
