Where Monsters Hide (The Monster Within 1)

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I tell him, begging him with my eyes not to leave me alone with Erin and her wrath. He doesn’t get the message, however. He turns to me and hugs me again, this time brushing his lips gently against my forehead, and then he leaves.

I brace myself. It’s always the quiet ones you have to look out for.

“That was incredibly stupid of you,” Erin snaps at me. “I was so worried! Beyond worried! If Luiza hadn’t come—”

Ah yes. My shoulders relax. I should’ve known.

“She came by to comfort you, huh?” I ask, pulling off my hoodie and throwing it on the floor. I set the al’s finger on top of my dresser.

“Well, I was beside myself!”

“Interesting that she’d be the one to calm you down.” I smirk at her as I pull my pajamas out of my dresser. “Didn’t you say that she … gets under your skin?”

Erin’s face flushes.

“Funny that there are no boys around here you like,” I add.

“Avery Black, you are the biggest bitch I’ve ever met.”

I laugh as I start to change. “And don’t you forget it.”

Despite my lack of sleep, I have a ski

p in my step the next morning. When I exit my dorm, Sawyer is waiting; and he’s got Piers, Owen, and Bennett in tow.

“I told Mr. Quiet over here that you had something to show his boys,” Sawyer says, gesturing to them.

I grin. “One moment.”

I prop open the door to the dorm and go to my dresser and pluck the cloth bundle off it. Erin waits just outside, arms folded and glaring daggers at them. They all lean in as I start unwrapping the cloth.

Their reactions are priceless.

Bennett, as usual, gives no visible expression, but Owen reels back, mouth agape. “I can’t fucking believe it!” he cries. “That’s a whole finger! How did you get a whole finger?” He then stares at me, awe etched onto his face. “Black, you’re a badass.”

I smirk and blush just a little at the compliment. He’s got lovely gray eyes, and they’re scanning me now, new appreciation in them.

Piers is quiet. He reaches out and plucks the finger out of its wrapping, turning it over.

“It’s real, man,” Owen says, tearing his eyes away from me. “Look—als have copper claws. Like, real, actual copper, like the metal. And those are copper.”

Piers nods and puts the finger gingerly back into my hands. “A deal’s a deal, Black. We’ll leave you alone until after Christmas break.”

I grin even wider as the three of them turn and walk away. Owen glances at me over his shoulder, still wearing his amazed expression.

For the first time all year, PW goes amazingly well. We’re using real weapons from the armory against training dummies, and without anyone to trip me or push me or accost me in any way, I perform the best out of the class. Hands down. Creature handling goes great, too. Survival class is my only roadblock.

I’d be lying if I said the boys were entirely to fault for all my mishaps there. I’m good at big picture stuff—but survival, it’s all about the details.

“Big project,” Helsing announces, as soon as we’re all seated. He writes it on the board, showing no sign of his most recent injury. “You’ll pair up. Pick a country. Identify a monster indigenous to it. Plan an expedition to the country to kill a monster in one of the towns. And you won’t be picking your own partners,” he adds, before we can even think of pairing ourselves up. The class groans, but he just grabs a hat that’s been sitting upside-down on his desk and pushes it to the front.

“All your names are in this hat. Half of you will come up and draw a name. You get your own name, you put it back and draw another.” He scans the class, then points to a row. “You all first.”

One by one, people approach the hat, draw a name, read it aloud, and then go sit with their new partners. Sawyer gets paired with Bennett. Erin gets paired with someone neither of us have spoken to that much.

Piers pulls a name out of the hat and then stands for a minute, frowning.

“Read the name, boy,” Helsing snaps.