chapter seven

"That was a weird lecture. I swear, it was like he was carving through my soul," said Finley as they winded around the hallway.

"I feel like there's more to him," Castor said, carefully trying to rationalize. "Like he's not even human. In fact, I got a hunch that he knew I was a firebreather. He was waiting for me to mention it to confirm his own thoughts."

"But how could he know? You just got here and you've barely told anyone!" said Finley.

"As you said, it was a weird lecture. Therefore MacMillan is a weird man. He must have some type of ancient hidden knowledge or something."

"Or you guys are just full of it. I actually happened to enjoy today's lesson," said Emily, who had just emerged behind them.

"You barely even knew what a creature was!" Finley cried.

"I was thrown out of left field. I think MacMillan is an interesting man," said Emily hotly.

"Don't waste your headspace on those two Emily. They wouldn't know knowledge if it hit them with a brick," said Autumn, who was now filing up behind Emily.

"Again, we don't remember inviting you two to this conversation." Finley snapped back.

At this point, the first tier student had gone past the Main Halls (with the occasional help from the leads). The wooden elevator began to shackle a little bit as an army of feet entered it, and it drove the kids to floor three. Castor, along with Finley and Emily was amazed by the fluorescent lights shedding on the hallways of this floor. This hallway whispered blue candle lights as well as the dimmed ones. There was also the addition of magenta lines that wisped around the floor, adding to the touch of vibrancy.

From what they remembered reading on the plaque, Castor, Finley, and Emily had to go to room 404. Monster Language. The room was flooded with the smell of coffee and embellished with shelves of books, posters of different colored tongues as well as an infestation of quotes glued to the wall. Just like the hallway, this room was dimly illuminated in blue but there was a slight haze of purple that hid as well.

"Why can't my room look like this? It's so pretty!" Gretchen wined. She had chosen to sit with Jill near the middle of the room.

The man sitting in front of the class, buried behind a novel was an astute looking man with trimmed white hair and glasses that rimmed his eyes. The first thing Castor noticed when the teacher stood up to introduce himself as Professor Haal was that he had a rather robotic uninterested voice. There wasn't a modicum of emotion as Haal faced the sea of students, but that didn't stop him as he shot straight away with the lecture.

"Jargon. It's as vital to monster hunters as it is to society. Surely there are languages out there that can be translated but Monster Language can't. It's a rather complex practice. Why do we use it? To protect ourselves. You see my fellow first tiers, monsters have evolved over the ages, encompassing the ability to not only comprehend human language but also speak it. We use Monster Language so they don't have to."

"Over these next three months, we will be going over your Poetics of Monster Phonetics textbooks and analyzing monster language, putting them to use, as well as study some important monster hunter authors that have blessed us with the insight of their experiences hunting monsters and what monsters say and think and the stories they tell. Now please open your books to page 10."

Professor Haal wasn't shy to give them work. After slogging through their Poetics of Monster Phonetics textbook, Haal made the students write two pages of definitions on terms they didn't understand, go up to the class and give a random definition of a monster language term by memory and then slog through the textbook again.

On a random draw, Castor was called up to the front of the class.

"Castor, define Rotiyem ce miscus"

"Uhhh.." Castor stalled, switching his eyes over to Finley. Finely shrugged and then shook his head.

"Please sit down. I honestly expect more out of my first tier students. It's a simple task, just demine words out of a textbook. Back to page ten, we go. We'll be reading for the remainder of this class."

And that's exactly what they did for nearly forty-five minutes. At 11:15 am there was a shriek that echoed through the class, and to the kids, there was nothing sweeter to hear. The class was dismissed and even as Haal announced that they would soon be practicing how to say their vocabulary terms, he seemed to be drowned out by the egressing shriek.

Power Management was next on Castor's schedule. Of all the classes he'd taken so far, this, by all means, had been the most anticipated one. And it could only be accredited to Finely's constant utterance of it.

The class was held underground, beneath the first floor and when Castor first sauntered in, the room looked like some high tech gym. The room was lit in a dim green and red haze and it introduced a stage molded into the center of the room. There were glass encasements of swords that hung on the wall, varied by first aid kits that hung beside it. Standing on the stage was a stout, grumpy looking man that introduced himself as Professor Kane. He had small wisps of brown hair that waved encouragingly on his head and wore a displeased frown that made it look like there was still some fluff on his nose.

"Take off your blazers, you won't be needing it here," Kane said rather abruptly.

"This is Power Management. It isn't English class. It isn't Chemistry. It isn't doll time. If you mess around in this class, you will get injured. And I don't want to be the one to drag you to Miss Helathe's office and have a whole talk with her. Do I make myself clear?"

The students were very ridged but they managed to nodd pretty swiftly. Kane had a bold and unrestricted voice that managed to awaken some spines and shake some legs.

"What do you do here? You hone and practice your powers. That's it. It's an easy class, and consequently, today's going to be an easy day."

"In the battlefield, monster hunters are required to use their powers as an essential part of their attack or defense. I'm going to call up your name and you're going to present your powers in front of the entire class and that will be your easy A for the day. Am I clear?"

The pool of kids bobbled their heads but this time there seemed to be a stream of murmurs moving around. Phineas and Newell were bantering inaudibly, Finley looked like he was about to spring up onto the stage unannounced, and Autumn's face froze with a scowl. There seemed to be more to this than just licking pages and memorizing notes.

Castor looked around at his classmates and then at the stage with a wobbling heart. The truth was he wasn't totally sure how to use his powers or if they even existed. It seemed Chord never really rehearsed that with him before sending him to a school where powers were required. Even if they did manage to work, people would finally know he was a firebreather.

Rackland Jones was the first kid called up to the stage. He was able to materialize boulders in midair. Then it was Kassidy Vole, who had turned into a snake. Naaman Blanchard had a sticky time explaining to Kane how he couldn't possibly perform his powers without maliciously using it on someone.

"Well, what do you do?" Kane asked impatiently.

"I control diseases," Naaman said in a diffident murmur.

"Well, use it on me then," Kane said, grinning.

"I-I-" Naaman paused.

"B plus kid. Now get out of here." Kane said. "Damian Shrowell, you're up."

A list of kids had hiked up on the stage and back, most of them receiving As on their powers while a pocketful of some Bs. Phineas Hopewell was called up next.

"I predict the future, sir. I'm a clairvoyant." Phineas answered rather blandly when Kane asked him what his powers were.

"A fortune-telling monster hunter, this'll be good. For the record kid, you're my twelfth future teller, and let me tell you, they've all had to be sent home. Impress me," said Kane sleepily.

"Someone here will get very hurt and they will need help," then Phineas's lips curled sneakily. "And it won't be me."

Kane didn't look too happy but he didn't send Phineas home. "C plus kid. Do better next time."

Newell went up next and he got an A-plus for being able to conjure clones but it was bumped down to a B when one of his clones kicked Kane in the butt.

"That honestly deserved an F," Newell muttered in Castor's ears as Phineas giggled.

During the whole power performance, Castor had noticed an annoying crowd of wolfish snickers. It didn't take long to realize Flannigan and his crew were in this class as well. Soon they were called up to the stage and they had transformed into dark hairy wolves.

"Interesting," said Kassidy, to Finley's disgust.

"Gretchen Gomez."

Gretchen was able to control her size and then afterward Jill tailed up behind her and she was able to project light from her hands.

Eventually, the litany of names moved up to Autumn who was able to lift Kane up three feet off the ground.

"You're telekinetic?" Finley barked as Autumn waltzed back down the stage from her A plus. Autumn frowned. "It's not something I'm proud of, and I only use it when I have to."

"Why?" Finley asked but Autumn ignored her.

"It's just the three of us now," Castor remarked. "I'm hoping I go tomorrow or Kane just forgets about it," Castor muttered to Finley.

"You'll be fine. I'm pretty sure being a you-know-what, is stuck in the books anyway, and people will barely seem to care," Finley whispered back. Finley had said the same thing Chord had told Castor back at the apartment. But each time, Castor found it harder and harder to believe. Could their words really be true?

"Emily Lancaster,"

Emily teetered up the stage and moved her hands around. Small droplets of water began to form in midair and then they plopped on stage.

"I control water but that's all I can do for now," Emily said which still got her a resounding A plus.

Finley was next and he was able to cause the stage to rumble and draw out a long blanket of sand from the ground. It was in mid-air for five seconds before it plopped on the ground like Emily's water.

"I control sand, and yeah I know I need more practice," said Finley

"From what I can see here, it seems you have already practiced beforehand. A plus Mr. Finley. Alright, our final student, Castor Williams."

All heads turned to Castor and by this point, Castor was getting jabbed with giddiness and a sense to just disappear like Gabriel Demenstro had done, ten kids back.

Castor walked up on stage and closed his eyes, trying to conjure the inner fire in him. Nothing. Maybe splaying his hands out would do the trick. Still, nothing but air surrounded his hands.

"Any day now," Flannigan said, mocking a yawn in the crowd. A few kids snickered.

"Maybe he's a mute!" One of the kids hollered.

"Yeah, he's definitely a mute!" Another kid remarked.

Castor's head tumbled with many questions (including what a mute was), and fears. Maybe today just wasn't his day. Maybe he really wasn't supposed to be at this school and Chord had cooked up the worst "gotcha" in history. It was time to just face the music.

"What's your power kid?" Kane asked.

"I don't have any powers," Castor said defeatedly. He had to do his best to block out the snouting laughter that came from Flannigan and his friends. There were also a few weird looks thrown at him. Mainly ones of remorse.

"Well, you're getting an F for the day then. Please go join the rest of your class."

Crestfallen, Castor placed himself next to Finley as Kane continued his speech.

"Don't let it get to you Castor, plenty of people get their powers late. My sister didn't get her powers until two summers in Aurelius. By that point, she was feeling like a goblin."

Castor patched up a weak smile. "Thanks, Finley."

Before they had concluded class, Kane had announced that they'll be heading out to the Moster Pit so he can demonstrate what they'll be doing next class. Pretty soon the first tiers filed out of the classroom and exited out of the elevator, trampling on the trimmed field of the school. They eventually came up to the monster pit, all heads huddled together looking down what appeared to be a bottomless pit. Then there was an interruption of growls that escaped the hole.

Castor noticed that the grate had been torn open and was shocked that no one had mentioned it.

"When is Professor Kane gonna be here?" Autumn asked.

"He's coming right now," another girl piped.

Flannigan smirked. "Kane thinks he knows it all, judging us by our powers. I wonder how much he'll like it if I shoved him down this hole. Maybe we can see his powers act up for a change."

"Do it!" said a rugged-looking kid he had been talking to named Pompeo.

"Shut up Flannigan," said Castor.

"Or what? Maybe I'll just shove your girlfriend down this hole,"

Suddenly Flannigan reenacted a swaying motion, pushing Emily further down the edge of the hole. Emily screamed as the hole swallowed her. Her echoes had meshed in with the monstrous growls.

"Oops," said Flannigan.

"You're a piece of scum Flannigan!" Finley yelled.

"That's not very nice," Flannigan purred.

"Somebody has to get her or she'll die!" Jill remarked, horror masked on her face.

A selection of kids were shaking.

"Who's to say she isn't," Phineas remarked darkly.

"Finley, I need you to stay here and tell Kane what happened. I'm going after her."

"No, you won't! Don't you guys follow the rules? You can't use your powers without an adult or be out on your own!" Autumn seethed.

By now Kane was running. Castor didn't have much time. He quickly slid into the hole until a terrifying breeze had begun to devour him. Pretty soon Castor had landed on the slimy ground. His legs hurt but not as much as he had predicted it to in his mind.

"Emily? Emily! Are you in here?"

"C-Castor?" came a wailing response. "I can't feel my arms. I-I-" the sobbing voice paused.

"What is it, Emily?"

"There's something coming. I-I don't feel so good."

Castor ambled blindly, wondering where Emily's body was. It wasn't long before he stepped on something tender.

"Ow! That's my ankle!"

The venomous, red jeweled eyes began to tinker and slowly grow. Castor knew exactly what would emerge out of it and if they didn't leave soon, it wouldn't hesitate.

"Come on, let's go, Emily! These things don't play."

"W-What are they?"

Castor opened his mouth but it was drowned by the growling pounce that attacked Emily as she struggled to get up. The furry monster hugged its prey.

"No!"

A new type of rage kindled inside of Castor. The type of rage that resembled the one he had when his mom died. Soon the heat was getting stronger and stronger in his chest and before he knew it, a tumbleweed of flames burst out of his hands and grew on his wrists. Castor threw his hands forward at the Nightwalker and the fireball splattered on the monster's fur, causing it to flee in panic. To Castor's fortune, Emily was still gasping for breath; she wasn't dead.

"Emily, grab on to me quick!" Castor shouted.

Emily put her working arm around Castor's shoulder and did her best to stand up. Suddenly there were footsteps approaching.

Kane, tailed by a few students, had arrived at the ghastly scene. One of them was Finley, the other was Phineas, and then the last, to Castor's horror, was Flannigan.

"So you do have powers kid; you're a firebreather aren't you?"

There was a silence that could only be replaced by the growls of the Nightwalkers. Then the final voice spoke out before all of them were dragged out of the grimy monster pit.

"So how about that A plus Professor Kane?" said Phineas as they walked back.