Where Monsters Hide (The Monster Within 1)

Cleaver wags his tail at Luiza and she spares him only a glance before taking Erin’s hand and squeezing it.

“We’ve trained for this,” Luiza says in the softest voice I’ve ever heard her use. “Do you trust me, mi cantante?”

I look from Erin to Luiza. Erin nods. She hasn’t spoken since we left the dorm. I’m pretty sure if she opens her mouth, she’s going to spew vomit.

Luiza finally turns to me. “I’ve got her, Black,” she says, and I watch as they sprint away.

“Avery!” Sawyer’s voice calls from behind me. He and Bennett have

returned. Bennett is strapped down with almost an entire arsenal; axes, spears, swords, maces.

“I want to find Piers and Owen,” Bennett says as they approach.

“I’ll go with you. Lead the way.”

He does. Sawyer and I follow, side-by-side, occasionally slashing harpies out of the air or ghouls and draugrs out of our path. I even run my knife through a chupacabra. I had no idea there were this many monsters in the menagerie. We carve a path through the chaos until we stop short, seeing a crowd of actual humans.

Piers and Owen have done their jobs, They rush toward us, grabbing weapons off Bennett’s body, from a crowd of professors. The headmaster wields a giant scythe, which he slashes down to behead a gorgon. Professor Helsing whips his crossbow around to shoot three quick bolts into some ghouls before whipping out a knife and stabbing an approaching weasel with wicked-looking blades for limbs.

“We must protect the students!” Headmaster Novac bellows. “The manticore is loose!”

“The lycanthrope may be loose, too,” Helsing shouts back. I shiver. I didn’t know the school had a lycanthrope held in captivity. They’re dangerous creatures; basically werewolves in their wolf form full-time. One bite from a lycanthrope could turn anyone into an actual, full-moon shapeshifting werewolf.

“To the Menagerie!” yells Novac, and charges off.

With a yell, the professors follow him with Piers, Owen, Bennett, and Sawyer in their wake. I’m about to follow when a flicker of movement catches my eye. I try to ignore it, but then I see it again.

I swear I just saw someone dart out of the fray and down the trophy corridor.

Suspicious, I let the others go on ahead while I follow the figure. I pause at the entrance to hide from a troll as it lumbers past. It’s much smaller than the one we faced during the entry exams, but I still don’t want to face one alone.

I don’t breathe until it’s gone. When I turn back to the hall, it’s empty—even though I swear I saw someone come down here.

And that’s when it hits me.

This hallway … it isn’t supposed to be empty. Ever.

This is a hallway I’ve only visited once; the one that has one room, one very particular room that’s supposed to be guarded at all times, and now is forgotten among the chaos.

The devil djinn’s phylactery.

It all clicks. The attempted break-in the other night. The power outage, meaning all alarms and cameras are disabled. The monsters released into the school, drawing away the guards and professors.

It was all to get to the djinn. The school’s most prized possession. Our responsibility to guard and protect.

I look around. The professors have disappeared, carrying the boys with them. The hall is littered with monster corpses, but aside from those, I’m all alone. It’s up to me.

I head down the hallway. The door to the room with the phylactery stands open, and there’s a flickering light coming from inside. I hold my knife at the ready and approach slowly, blowing my candle out. As I get closer, I hear rustling coming from inside, and move even slower, making sure I make no noise.

I peek around the doorframe and stop, shocked.

The woman inside has brown hair graying at the roots and a heart-shaped face with features contorted by the dancing flame of the candle she holds. She looks up when I call her name.

“Professor Waldman?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Professor Eve Waldman stares back at me. She’s got one hand stretched out toward the phylactery and is frozen in place.