Page 30 of A Mastery of Monsters

The first group training session happens after classes at the Kingston Penitentiary.

The building stretches out in an array of gray brick down the block.

It has tall columns and a watchtower in the front with a Canadian flag perched on top.

It isn’t as grim as I imagined but is still historically maudlin.

It feels like a place meant to trap people inside.

And monsters, too, apparently. The air is cooler here, closer to the water. I’m glad I wore longer sleeves.

I was emailed instructions about where to go that were adequate at the time but now that I’m here are unhelpful.

Instead of going around front, they direct me to walk through the parking lot and head to a not-well-described door.

I assume Margot and Corey figured this would be straightforward, which is why they didn’t mention it.

I ignore him and stare at my phone, pretending I’m texting someone. Which is when I get an actual text from Bailey asking about how my first week of school went. Caden scoffs, and from the fading sounds of their voices, I assume they’re walking away.

Making sure to wait a bit, I follow them, leaving Bailey’s message on read.

They enter a side gate, where a man checks our student IDs before letting us go past. And of course, when he gets to me, it takes him forever to find me on the list. Inside, there are no lights, so it’s impossible to tell which way Caden went.

I try listening, but their footsteps echo too much to figure out a direction.

When I finally get through, I look between the two sets of staircases. The instructions only mentioned a staircase, not which one.

“On the right!” Caden calls out, and the boys laugh. The little shit knows I have no idea where I’m supposed to go.

The man who checked our IDs has left, so I can’t ask him. I should use the flashlight on my phone to see where Caden and his friends went, or leave and call Margot to make sure, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.

And I’m sure as shit not going the way he told me to.

I take the left staircase.

The stairs go down seemingly forever. Several times I consider going back up, but I’ve already committed.

They end at another damp, murky hallway.

It’s got the stench of a sewer, like a mix of feces and rotting food.

I cover my nose with my sleeve and keep walking.

The only lights are dim, spread apart, and high in the towering ceiling.

Just enough to see that there’s a path in front of me, and nothing else.

I must be underground, but the space is bigger than I would expect for it. And the more I walk down the hallway, the farther apart the lights get and the dimmer the space becomes until I’m swallowed by complete darkness.

“Hello?”

I hope for another candidate or Chen, but no sound comes.

I pull my phone out of my pocket, and the screen lights up, illuminating something in one of the cells out of the corner of my field of vision.

Something moving. I whip to the side where a giant eye, bloodshot and swiveling, appears, attached to a body with enough fur that I drop my phone. It thumps on the concrete.

“August?”

I scream.

Professor Chen spins me around by my shoulders, and the second cry dies in my throat. She sighs and picks up my phone, hitting the lock button so we’re plunged into darkness again. “Come on,” she says as she hands it back to me.

I follow her like a lost duckling, clutching my miraculously unbroken phone. She walks up the stairs and stops with a frown. “I did put a sign up to say which way to go. I don’t know what happened to it.”

That fucker.

Chen shakes her head and takes the staircase on the right. At the bottom, the rest of the candidates are gathered in a better lit and less smelly area, including a smirking Caden.

I could kill him. I’m already picturing it in my head. The way I would slide my knife across the skin of his neck. It would be slow. I would take my time.

I force my face to be still and neutral, but his smirk doesn’t fade.

“All right,” Chen says, standing at the front of the group.

She’s elected for a pair of shiny leather pants and a fitted black long-sleeved shirt tucked into them.

She dresses like she expects to be photographed, and I’m kind of here for it.

“Now that we’re all accounted for, we’re going to enter some of the holding cells.

As you may know, this is where mature monsters without partners are kept for the safety of both the society and the larger population.

” There’s something off about her voice as she says it.

Annoyance? Or maybe that’s because she had to rescue me?

Though she wasn’t irked earlier. Honestly, it felt a lot more like pity.

She continues, “Your partners are or will be what we call juvenile monsters. As is the trend, most are born monsters; however, some may be bite victims. All juvenile monsters are unable to assume a monstrous form and will experience several signs of impending maturation, such as intermittent elongated canines and nails, alongside increased strength and speed, and sometimes aggression. They will also, inevitably, reach a peak in which they will transform involuntarily. We call this maturation and it is colloquially referred to as ‘turning.’ Maturation is often incorrectly linked to age, as many turn between eighteen and twenty-one. But know that monsters can mature at any time. The cause of the activation of the monster mutation has not yet been confirmed. Our only signal is those signs I mentioned. We attempt to partner juvenile monsters before maturation can occur.”

It’s a more detailed repeat of what Corey told me. Corey also noted that symptoms increase exponentially as monsters come closer to turning. It’s why the second his symptoms started to appear, Virgil had to find a partner.

Chen says, “We also separate monsters via stages of monstrosity. Your juveniles are at stage one or two. The first stage is simply knowledge of their existence as monsters. The second is when they show symptoms. Stage three is considered mature and uncontrolled, which are the monsters you will encounter today. The final stage, stage four, is where you want to be, and you will not become a Bachelor unless you reach it. At stage four, monsters can shift at will and maintain control, something that is not possible without a Master partner.”

“Except for Wilds,” Violet adds.

I say, “Or if they’re being controlled by a Doctorate.” Look at me, participating. Henry would be proud.

Chen nods. “Yes, and yes. I will also note that at stage four, Bachelors should be passive. The bond allows the monster access to a human level of control in monster form. It is inappropriate for any Bachelor or Master to actively assert their will on their partner outside of emergencies. This is important to keep in mind even now because the point of this process is to strengthen a partnership. No one should go into the candidacy with the mindset that you will be in control of your partner.” She waves to the door in front of us.

“Your task today will be to retrieve a bell. There is one for each of you. I implore you to remember that your task is to form a strong connection with your partners. You cannot do this if you are distracted by your fear. Remember the words of Dr. Weiss: ‘We are one and the same, Master and monster.’?”

Someone coughs something that sounds suspiciously like, “monster lover,” and there are some accompanying giggles.

I notice, not for the first time, that one of Caden’s buddies is Black.

It’s wild that he doesn’t see any issue with joining in on monster discrimination when there are still people who think we aren’t any better than animals either. The mental gymnastics are astounding.

Our professor is unfazed by the comment.

“When you bond, there is a chance that the aggression and wildness of the monster may leak through to you. You shouldn’t be controlling your partner, but you do need to control yourself.

This exercise is a great place to start.

” She opens the door. “You have five minutes. Your time starts now.”

Candidates rush through the opening, followed almost immediately by screaming.

At the back of the group, I freeze, and the candidates stop pouring through the door.

“Tick tock,” Chen says.

Swallowing, I push through the crowd, and on the other side of the door is another large hallway.

Well-lit enough to see the monsters in cells on either side.

They have red ribbons around their legs with tiny red bells attached.

There’s only enough room for the monsters to either sit or hunch and not much else.

They’re all so close to the bars because there isn’t anywhere else to go.

The monsters range in size, but each one has either massive teeth, claws, or both.

One looks like a crab with too many eyes growing out of multiple parts of its shell, scuttling backward and forward, the bell jingling with its movements.

The bars of its cell are thick and spaced far enough apart to stick a human arm through.

“Four minutes,” Chen says, coming into the room behind us.

Some of the other candidates still haven’t made it inside.

I stare at the crablike monster. It’s still scuttling, refusing to stop or stand still.

I’m thrown back to that experience with Isaac.

I stare into its eyes. And I see it. Just like I could see Isaac.

Someone is in there. I mean, of course there is, but these monsters are supposed to be uncontrolled. Stage three.

Except… why would the society unleash dangerous monsters on a bunch of fresh candidates? Especially without giving us weapons or armor. They can’t expect us to just put our hands inside.

I tilt my head at Crabby. Besides shuffling around, it’s not doing anything. It’s not even remotely hostile.