chapter eight

Castor's mind gnarled with worry as he stood in the dark. Now he had done it. He had completely disobeyed orders and jumped in the monster pit completely unsupervised. He knew the consequences but he had done it anyway. Now they were definitely going to expel him. But as Castor looked at Emily and saw that she was still alive, he couldn't help but consider that being expelled this way was for the best. Emily was panting, yet stifling in her moans. She was injured, but she wasn't dead.

Kane had released a dropdown ladder connecting the dark hole and the verdant surface. There were several silhouetted heads that popped above the hole like misshapen raisins.

"Look, they're still alive!' one of the heads muttered excitedly.

"But what happened to the monster?" another one asked.

"Is the blonde girl alive too? Did the monster eat her?" a separate voice tagged.

Kane was the first to go up, lifting the frail Emily on his shoulders. Then it was Phineas and Flannigan, and finally Finley and Castor.

The first thing Castor noticed when they arrived back at the field was an army of diffident students, looking at them with awe. A few masked with ambivalence. The next thing that stood out was a gray-haired, hawked faced woman wearing a sweater vest underneath a pearly white lab coat. She was blotched with age and she carried herself in a strict, pristine way. Castor assumed this must've been Miss Helathe, the school nurse. She was looking at Kane disapprovingly, in a way a hawk looks at a mouse.

"Another accident Kane?" asked Helathe.

"I'm afraid so. Please take this one to your office and have a look at her arm. Hopefully, she's ok before her mentor arrives."

"If I'm being suggestive Kane, I'd allow for a more circumspect activity. We don't want more deaths tolling in on our school's reputation," said Miss Helathe stringently.

"We were only supposed to be looking at the monster pit today. I wasn't expecting any students in there this soon," said Kane, giving a ravenous glare at Flannigan.

"Very well then. Please follow me, young lady."

Helathe nodded at the students and Kane and then strolled off into the school with Emily.

Kane turned to Castor and Flannigan with bared teeth. He looked as if he would transform into the Nightwalker that was in the monster pit.

"You two, come with me. And I don't want to hear a single word come out of your lips. If I do, I'll be happy to maul your limbs one by one!"

Kane marched Castor and Flannigan through the doubled backdoor of the school until they arrived at the portrayed Main Hall. They flew a series of stairs until they entered an elevator that wisted them to the fourth floor. This floor was embellished with a bunch of trophies and colorful paintings sitting delicately near the walls in glass encasements. The place lounged a smell of hardware; particularly wood mixed in with rubber.

They arrived at a door with two imposing marble statues that carved out a woman in a cloak holding a dead boy in her hands. Castor stared musingly at this marble design while Flannigan rapped on it to see if it would crack.

"Don't touch the statues!" Kane barked as he began to knock on the door.

Ominously the door opened by itself on just the second knock, almost as if it detected someone was coming. Behind the door was a grand room stacked with books, mini statues of babies, painted portraits of babies, portraits of trees and lightning, and the occasional paintings of birds.

There was an elegant desk in the center of the room with a plush maroon couch. Sitting on it was none other than the red-haired Headmistress Rain. Besides her was another character Castor hadn't seen before. She was on the plumper side than Rain and a had deceitful glossy look with sharp blue eyes.

"Please have a seat you three. I'm sure we have quite a bit to chat about," said Rain.

Kane, Castor, and Flannigan filled the places in the maroon chairs that were in front of the mahogany desk.

"I'm not sure you boys are acquainted with our deputy headmistress, Dupree. She usually oversees the fourth tiers and above, as well as the leads. But now she'll be keeping an eye on you two as well." said Rain in a sort of a dazed voice.

Dupree was smiling, but Castor sensed an aura of duplicity about her.

"So Kane, I hear there was a little mishap in the monster pit. Might you elaborate on the event for us?"

Kane launched into the brief story of having taken the students out to the monster pit and then arriving to see a student had been pushed in as some sort of joke.

"Why were they unsupervised Kane? You know as better than anyone the disciplinary actions we take to secure these kids. Why let it slip out of your hands?" Dupree asked.

"I came in a bit late at the monster pit. If it wasn't for Finley and Hopewell, I wouldn't have known Deputy."

Then Kane told them how it was Flannigan that pushed Emily into the pit and Castor had jumped in to rescue Emily.

Castor, as uncomfortable and frightened as he was in this situation, still felt a tug of irritation. How was he the one being blamed for this? No one would've done anything to save Emily.

"I didn't do anything! It was Flannigan and his stupid friends!" Castor finally belted out.

"You still broke the rules, Mr. Williams. You took it upon yourself to do a dangerous act without permission or adult supervision," said Dupree blatantly. "I say that deserves firm disciplinary action. You two will receive detention next week."

"Still in denial Castor?" Flannigan asked, doing his best not to smirk.

"You Mr. Flannigan will receive two detentions for instigating this event. If I see something like this again, you will surely be expelled," said Dupree.

Rain avoided saying anything on the matter, but for some strange reason, Castor thought he heard thunder rumbling outside.

"Just keep an eye out on your students Kane. Now that we have that matter settled, do you guys have any questions for me?"

"No professor," said Kane.

"Very well then, you are dismissed."

After class with Professor Kane was finished, Castor had trouble focusing in his Monster Science class (which was led by a chubby peppered hair woman named DeLaine). The first telltale sign of Castor's misery was that the students had caught on that he was a firebreather and there were a string of students that insulted him.

"You've got some balls coming here, firebreather. My father would smoke you in a second," said a student.

"I bet you make out with monsters when you're alone. You betrayer!"

"I hope you die, Castor."

And to add insult to injury, there were a group of girls that snickered silently in the background.

Only Professor DeLaine and Finley did their best to alleviate Castor's fury. DeLaine had assigned them to think about the type of technologies monster hunters used, write them down on paper, and then read in their textbooks (hoping to silence the flurry of hate that was flying around the room). Finley on the other hand simply told Castor to ignore them.

"Don't mind those bastards, Castor. Quira had a rough time with people calling her names when people found out she didn't have any powers. You'll get through this I swear."

Castor found he could breathe a little bit better. "Thanks, Finley."

But that still didn't stop him from worrying about the detention he was gonna have next week with Flannigan and whether or not Emily would be alright. It seemed nothing could distract Castor from his internal distress, not even the cool gadgets Professor DeLaine was hungrily explaining they would be using next week.

After Monster Science was over, all the first tier students gathered up in the Main Hall to meet their mentors for Mentorship.

Mason, along with Haas was standing haughtily among the students, carefully making sure no one was sneaking back into their dorms.

"What is Mentorship anyway?" Castor asked. "If it's not a class."

"I don't know. Quira tells me it's like the worst kind of tutoring. But something tells me I shouldn't listen to her."

The golden evening light was beginning to spill into the hallways of the Main Hall and first tier students were being plucked out by older men and women dressed in black cloaks and leaving the school. Yet, Castor and Finley's mentor hadn't arrived yet.

After what felt like an hour, Castor heard footsteps slowly clambering toward them. At first, Castor expected it to be their mentor but then he recognized those weak green eyes.

"Emily! You're ok!" Castor said.

"What took so long?" Finley asked.

"Nothing. Helathe just made me wait to allow my bones to resettle."

"Is that like her power? Healing?" Castor asked.

"Yeah, pretty fitting isn't it?" Emily said.

Finley slumped down against the walls and raked his hands in his hair. "Where the heck is this lousy mentor? All the other ones arrived like an hour ago!"

"It's not very nice to call someone lousy," said Emily.

After a minute flaked by, the doors began to rattle and a blonde-haired man in a black cloak walked through the door. He had a cigarette in his mouth and looked pretty abstracted.

"Chord?" Castor asked, completely taken aback. He hadn't heard from him since the note and the cornflakes breakfast. Castor figured he must've vanished off into MHA and would never return. He still had the same restless face but now it was carved with a grin.

"I see you're getting along pretty well, and-well well you've made some friends."

"You guys know each other?" Finley asked, glasses slightly slanted.

"Yeah. He was the first person I met after my mom died," said Castor.

"We should probably get going. We're already late on our first mission and I need to register you to MHA," said Chord.

"What's MHA?" Castor asked. It's been something he's been meaning to ask since he was at the apartment.

"It stands for Monster Hunter Agency. It's where we recruit and hold all the records of every monster hunter."

"I never realized there was an agency for monster hunters?" Emily said, slowly nourishing the fact.

"Oh yeah, it's one of the things that bugs me about monster hunters. We have an agency for everything. You'll eventually find to hate it or love it."

They exited out of the four doors of the Main Hall until they arrived at the front parking space of the school, across from it which stood the library.

"Black Bus show yourself!" Chord shouted.

The group was greeted by a strained air of silence, but then monstrous Black Bus arrived in the bat of an eye, looking particularly peeved.

"Well you picked the right time Chord." snarled the Black Bus.

"It's just what I do. I need you to take us to MHA."

"Due north or due south."

"It doesn't really matter this time."

The kids and Chord got on the bus and then the Black Bus roared away. It rumbled down the highway at high speed until it arrived at the bustling metropolis. They came across a tall block of a building with silvery window panes and a sleek black design of marble. At first sight, Castor was strongly reminded of Monster's Emporium. When they entered, Castor saw a woman behind a computer typing furiously. She introduced herself as Nadia when they came to the desk.

"How may I help you this evening Chord?" Nadia asked.

"I'm here to register the students to the monster hunter records."

Lydia typed away madly as Castor, Emily, and Finley told her their names.

"All done. Would that be all?"

Chord nodded. "I'll see you later Nadia."

Once they were outside MHA, Chord formed a strange smile. "How do you guys feel about burgers?"