chapter five

Castor woke up to a twisted stomach and an evanescent Chord the next morning. The only thing he left Castor was a hastily scribbled letter, the usual cereal, and an assembly of what appeared to be slugs. Castor picked up the letter as he attempted his cereal.

I had a quick meeting at MHA I had to attend. Sorry I couldn't see you go off on your first day but you can rest assured you'll be seeing me soon. Your transportation will arrive around eleven o'clock so pack up and be prepared at the usual bus station we usually go to and make sure you're on time. I've got a hunch this new driver doesn't tolerate tardiness. I hope your day goes well and I'll see you later.

Your favorite unofficial parental guardian,

Chord

After what felt like hours, Castor had given up on his breakfast and raced upstairs to pack his school equipment into his luggage bag and whatever else he might need including books (in case he runs into boredom during the ride) and a bottle of water. Then when he was done he began to pace around the room, clipping away his nails on the prospects of arriving at the new school. He honestly wished he had someone to pet him down and tell him not to worry. Even if the spidery fingered Gulam walked through the door, it would've done the trick. At least he wouldn't be alone.

Questions began to arise that only his nerves could conjure. What kind of people would he encounter at Aurelius? What kind of monsters would they be fighting? Was Zade going to be there? Was he going to be suspended just like he was at his last middle school? Would they expel him? Was he going to die?

In a flicker of an eye, the hands immediately punched 10:50 am. Castor raced to the elevator, pressed the down button, and then scurried outside to the long-legged canted bus stop sign. Castor stood there, grappled with anxiety and a stomach that seemed to know exactly when to kick in the somersaults, but eleven o'clock ticked around and nothing happened. 11:10 waltzed around and nothing happened. What was going on? Chord had said the bus would arrive at 11:00 o'clock, but 11:20 came as well, and still, nothing occurred.

By the time 11:30 stalled around, Castor was crestfallen and in his element of depression. He was about to stoop away from the bus station when he heard a hideous roar tear through the air. Castor swung his head to his left to find the biggest black bus he'd ever seen propelling towards him. The bus had a bunch of eyes and green hands graffitied on its side and on its front view it had one eye and shark-like teeth blaring out menacingly. The size and dreary color gave away an appeal that excited some kids at first sight or frightened them. Castor had fallen on his luggage, feeling as if his heart would jump out of his chest.

"I honestly shouldn't have taken this long but with so many of you guys boarding on this summer...anyway, welcome to the Black Bus, Aurelius Academy's transit for students and monster hunters alike. Are you going to get on or what?" the Black Bus sniped to Castor's horror.

"Y-You talk?" Castor asked.

"Don't whittle my time with theatrics boy. Get on," snarled the Black Bus

Castor mounted onto the bus and discovered a seat in the heart of the bus near a sandy-haired boy wearing black-rimmed glasses. The two boys spent an equitable amount of time sneaking awkward looks at each other before one of them piped something up. And by the time they did, they could hear the Black Bus terrorizing the next kid to board onto the bus.

"Is this your first day?" the sandy-haired boy asked.

"Yeah," said Castor timidly.

"Mine too. Do you know what your power is?"

"I think so," said Castor, occasionally taking sideways glances at the window.

"Good, because I heard we're gonna have to present it in class. In front of everyone."

"Really? How do you know that?"

"I have an older sister that goes to Aurelius. I believe she's in her fifth tier by now, and if I'm being honest, she kind of has a big mouth,"

Castor's mouth creased a little bit. "What kind of power do you have?"

"I control sand. I'm pretty sure there's a name for it in our world but I don't really care for it. What's yours?"

Castor hesitated for a moment. "I control fire."

The sandy-haired boy's mouth dropped and his glasses began to teeter a little bit. "You're a firebreather? But that means-I mean you're like the rarest form of a monster hunter. And the oldest."

"Please don't tell anyone. They're gonna hate me if they find out."

The sandy-haired kid was looking at Castor like he'd just uncovered a rare jewel on some long lost island. "My lips are sealed. I'm Finley by the way. Drew Finley but everyone just calls me Finley."

"I'm Castor. So do all monster hunters have powers?"

"I'm not sure. We come from a family of powers but I'd bet my slugs there are some monster hunters without powers hidden out there or they're just late bloomers. Who knows."

As the bus continued to rumble on, an infestation of kids began to pour through the back, passing Castor and Finley's seat. The sun was showing up high and mighty through the trees, cutting the Black Bus with its orange beams as it drove out of the metropolitan area of Columbus and had entered the highway.

Sitting behind Castor and Finley was a rat-faced kid named Phineas and a black kid named Newell, and they were chatting excitedly, conjuring up theories about what they were gonna do at Aurelius and how they were gonna present their powers. Castor and Finley couldn't help but be lured into the conversation.

"Just think about it," said Newell avidly. "They'll call my name, I'll show them my clones and everyone will be chanting my name, but they'll mostly be coming from me."

"What's your power, Phineas?" Finley asked.

"I'm a clairvoyant."

"Prove it," said Finley.

"In a few seconds from now, the bus is going to stop."

Twenty seconds later, the bus jolted to a halt, bonking some student's heads to their seats rather abruptly.

"My apologies, it's this ruddy traffic," said the Black Bus.

"Wanna know when you'll die?" Phineas asked keenly but Newell nudged him on the elbow. "I'm just kidding."

There were two girls sitting across from Castor and Finley on their left. One of them was blonde with weak green eyes and the other wore glasses and had nut-brown hair.

Phineas astutely looked in their direction. "One of those girls is gonna yell at us about something."

"You're not allowed to use your powers outside of class. You'll probably get expelled if you get caught." said the brown-haired girl crabbily.

"By who? And since when was this any of your business?" Finley asked testily.

"You haven't been trained how to use your powers, so it would be idiotic to show off and then end up in an accident. Besides, I'm just looking out."

"We're good," Finley said flatly.

The nut haired girl rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath.

"Honestly, she sounds like my sister," Finely groused to Castor.

The Black Bus continued to straddle down the highway until it maneuvered onto a street. Stores and houses blinked past them and the sky was beginning to melt into a pink and orange haze. After about an hour had washed away, the bus was beginning to approach a sign that read Greenville Village.

"Look!" shouted Jill Lune, a half Asian and half caucasian girl with inky black hair.

The bus had just arrived at an archaic library with medieval architecture and across from it was a monumental gothic building carved out by turnip shaped windows (gleaming out on every section of the building), an array of doors bearing out on the front, imposing pointed roofs, circular windows constructed on the face of the roof (which resembled a clock but revealed a floral design), and a series of small black poles that somewhat barricaded the entrance to the school. In front of the poles was a magnificent black marble sign that read Aurelius Academy in gold letters.

Standing in front of the school was a knobby faced teenage boy with hedgy blonde hair. He wore a plaid sweater vest, a white collared shirt, with brown corduroy pants. He stood rigidly, garmenting on a stern expression as he watched the bus arrive.

The Black Bus finally stopped in front of the school and gushed its doors open.

"So long you exasperating humans. If you need a ride, please hesitate to call. Us Black Buses don't get a fair wage for this," said the Black Bus as the students flooded to school pavement. The Black Bus belted out a final roar and then drove away.

"Hello everyone, my name is Mason," said the stern-faced boy. "And may I be the first to welcome you to Aurelius Academy. For a handful of you, I'll be one of your leads this summer. Now, if you may follow me to the Assembly Room."

The swarm of kids followed Mason to one of the four doors in front of the school until they reached a brightly lit main hall with chandeliers swinging threateningly above them. The room harbored portraits, just like Castor had seen at Chord's place. However, the main hall fostered portraits of old professors and curiously painted creatures by the multitude. In between the portraits were doors that led to classes and looming entrances that led to stairways. Castor felt as if he was standing in a weird hybrid of a museum and a school. The school gave him a jolt of excitement coursing through his veins and all the other students goggled at the place in awe.

"This is the Main Hall. You'll be walking in and out of this place most of the time and you'll pretty much get used to seeing it. If you'll follow me upstairs."

There was a giant gaping stairway encased in an arced entranceway right in front of them. It was the next noticeable thing right after the portraits. As they clambered up the dark stairs, voices began to penetrate through the walls.

"The stairways are designed right next to the classrooms so it's typical to hear voices as you climb some of these stairs," said Mason, registering some of the startled murmurs.

After passing through an arched double door, they eventually arrived in a colossal chamber room enumerated with seats, an elevated view of more organized seats encased in a glass barrier, and an aisle that introduced a strict black podium.

Standing behind that podium was a middle-aged red-haired woman with gentle green eyes that flickered discerningly at the new students. Castor assumed this must've been Headmistress Rain. Standing on both sides of her were students about the same age as Mason, dressed in the same plaid attire, only they seemed more reposed and carefree than Mason.

"If you may take your seats, the presentation will begin shortly," said Mason as beckoned the students to their seats.

A swath of kids gravitated to the glass seats while others picked out a seat near the podium. Castor and Finley chose seats in the second section nearer to the front.

"Welcome first-tier students to your first summer at Aurelius Academy. My name is Diana Rain and I must say how pleased I am to see your faces and to see you made it here safely. Before we begin our tour, there are a few ground rules I aspire for you to ascertain," said Rain. "Firstly, no students are to be spotted outside the school without a lead or adult supervision. If you do sneak out, be prepared for a costly death. We've found it's in the very nature of the night to get heinous, allowing for certain visitors to come out and play."

There was an exchange of sideways glances and a collection of murmurs soaring around the room.

"Secondly, you must wear your blazers and ties when you are in your classes. Any other time, you are expected to be in your sweater vests. Thirdly, you are prohibited to fight on school grounds. If we catch you fighting, you will surely be expelled. Fourthly, you may not exercise your powers outside of class or anywhere near the school grounds unless you're specifically instructed to. Lastly, stay safe, the life of a monster hunter is extremely dangerous and it's best to always be alert."

"Now, rather briefly I'm going to go over our mission. We are here to train the best monster hunters of our kind, we take that very seriously and we best advise you stay focused and stay committed to that goal as well. Each summer you're going to be in a different tier level regarding the type of monsters you'll hunt, and their difficulty. We have nine levels. Tier one students hunt tier-one monsters and Tier nine students are encouraged to hunt tier nine monsters."

"Your schedules will be listed out on the discussion board in the Main Hall, and you will also receive one from your lead. Every student in Aurelius thirteen and under must be accompanied by a lead at all times. Now, let's get on with the tour,"

Groups of kids were parted with one of the leads that stood at the podium. Some were partnered with a lead named Marietta, some with Haas, a handful of them with a girl named Cessa, and the rest with Mason. Castor and Finley ended up being sorted with Mason.

"Great, we might as well have stuck powerless. What's the point of having them if we can't use them?" whinged Finley as they trudged out of the double doors. "I wish Phineas was here to predict our death."