Page 19 of A Mastery of Monsters

“Unless the Master is scared of the monster coming at them or something. I imagine the bond dissolves if the Master dies, but they could still be hurt and threatened, right?”

“It’s not possible. The bond is passive but it can be active.

Masters can exert conscious control over their partner when they’re in monster form.

They can only do it in that state, not when their partner is in human form, but still.

That’s why it’s important to pick your partner carefully.

So you don’t end up with someone who would do that to you.

In a normal partnership, the bonding would passively allow me to maintain control, and we would work together as a team. ”

“That’s kind of fucked up. There’s no recourse for the monster.” It adds a potential new spin on the Easter Bunny from hell. Maybe it was forced. Then again, I’m not warm to giving it the benefit of the doubt. It did try to kill me, after all.

“They can report the Master while in human form,” Virgil says.

“Though punishment for that isn’t well enforced,” Corey says, pulling a blade of grass from the ground. “And the punishment would be that the tie between the monster and the Master is severed by the Doctorate, leaving them partnerless. They’d be sent underground. So how likely are they to report?”

“It’s not supposed to happen,” Virgil says.

“Also, most monster forms are huge. To keep them in that state to exert control, you’d need to have a good place to hide them.

It’s not feasible. Eventually, the Master would need to sleep.

Controlling a monster like that is something they have to actively do.

It couldn’t happen while they’re sleeping, so the monster could transform back into a human and be free. ”

“Free to lose their partner and become a mindless monster again like Corey said?” I add. “Or otherwise keep quiet and never transform again? How would that fly if they got sent on missions?”

Virgil stands. “It’s not relevant to us. And you should get up. I know Margot can be…”

“A bitch?” I supply.

He sighs. “That’s ruder than I would have put it.”

“Intense?” Corey suggests.

“Yes, that, but she means well. It’s just a lot of pressure for all of us. Adam is a Doctorate candidate in a voting situation now. Your performance reflects on him and on Henry. Henry will blame Margot if you’re not properly trained, and his status helps her take care of her brother.”

Everyone in this society is so obsessed with their reputation. Minus Margot, I guess, who cares more about her brother. Something that’s at least relatable.

“Besides,” Virgil says. “We want to get in as much training as possible before the school year starts.”

“Yeah, I guess she’ll be busy with classes,” I say.

“You will too.”

I laugh. “No, I won’t. I finished high school. I’m done.”

Virgil and Corey exchange a look.

My eyes dart between them. “What the fuck was that?”

Virgil says, “To confirm… would you… for some reason, be opposed to going to one of Canada’s most prestigious universities? Queen’s, for example? Also, why?”

I jerk to my feet. “I’m not going.”

“You have to go,” Margot says from behind us, returning from between the trees.

“It’s compulsory. You cannot even participate in the candidacy unless you’re enrolled in a university.

Corey only could at fifteen because her grades were ridiculous, and she was already being educated by the society, and even then, strings had to be pulled.

And you have an acceptance to Queen’s on file with a nonresponse, so Henry facilitated things.

You start in the fall. Do not be late enrolling in your courses, and do not fall into academic probation. Both will result in disqualification.”

The ground seems to shift beneath me. Rippling and roiling, doing its best to toss me off my feet. “Is there anything else I should know before we get started, since there’s apparently a bunch you guys decided not to share?”

Virgil keeps giving me this wide-eyed, open-mouthed stare. This boy truly cannot comprehend why I wouldn’t want to go to this school.

Going to Queen’s was the plan from before .

Now not only do I have to attend, but I also have to do well enough not to flunk out.

All while participating in this physically demanding competition that will require me to learn about this cult, and somehow in there, I’m supposed to find time to figure out what happened to Jules in order to avoid actually having to compete in anything that might unalive me.

“Let’s just run the drills,” I say, tossing the water bottle onto the grass and standing.

Margot picks up a discarded holster and pulls out a knife, running her thumb along the edge of one, then another, and another. “These are dull.”

“Wow, it’s like you’re Sherlock Holmes or something.” The look she throws me actually makes me step back. “I know they’re dull. Do you have a sharpening person?”

She speaks slowly. “You don’t know… how to sharpen your own knives?”

“I do,” I say quickly, although I can feel my cheeks get hot. “Just wondered if you had a designated person. But I can do it.”

“Good. Sharpen them for the next session. You should be practicing regularly. We need to build up a strong base, and then Corey and I can help with more specialized combat training. I do still get paid a TA fee for your training if you do nothing, but I would appreciate if you did well. For Henry’s—”

“Yes, I get it. Everyone’s reputation or whatever.”

“No,” she says, pointing a finger at me.

“You don’t get it. You have no idea what you’ve stumbled into, and neither did we, because none of us predicted Cyrus dying and an election both happening this year.

Now these cute factions everyone has been sitting in have become relevant.

The Progressives are the only ones who want to give my brother even the tiniest scrap of rights within this society, and for that to happen, Adam needs to win.

And believe it or not, if you fuck up, it’s going to make him look like his judgment is flawed.

Or maybe it won’t, but we can’t gamble here.

You will go to classes, you will do well, and you will finish this candidacy with some kind of respectable standard.

Ideally, you will win so Virgil can live as something other than a rabid beast.”

The box is closing around me. All I want to do is rip and tear and scream until I’m out, and then run as far away as possible. I don’t need this shit. More rules and expectations. I’m done with that. I’ve been done for nine fucking months.

It was one thing to do what my parents wanted because I didn’t know any better. But at least this time, there’s a goal. I’m not just doing this for the sake of it. I’m doing it for Jules . It has to be worth it.