Page 34 of A Mastery of Monsters

On Friday, I stumble out of my last class and pause to roll my neck.

I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t need to excel at school.

I’m only trying to avoid academic probation.

Still, I find myself falling back into old habits.

Today, a girl next to me in psych complimented my notes. I was tempted to burn them.

I start the trudge from Humphrey Hall north to Princess Street, where I told Corey I would meet her, and try to shake the droning voice of my professor out of my head.

The guy’s lectures are just the textbook readings.

There’s no point in going. In fact, attending is worse because then I have to listen to people who haven’t done the readings ask questions that they would know the answers to if they did the readings.

But the instant I skipped a class last week, I got a text from Margot asking if she needed to personally accompany me.

I spot Corey from down the street, typing on her phone with a frown on her face, a gym bag slung over her shoulder.

“What’s up?” I ask as I come up next to her.

She glances at me, then back down at the screen. “Nothing. I was trying to find this book. Henry’s asked me to look for it. I’ve been working on it for weeks. I feel like I’m so close.” She rubs at her face. “Fuck,” she mutters, then flushes. “Sorry, it’s fine.”

“What’s so important about this book?”

“It’s Dr. Weiss’s journal. Or one of his journals, I should say. He would lend them out to people, and so they got scattered all over the place.”

“He would lend out his journals ?”

Corey tilts her head from side to side. “They’re more like his theories and thoughts. The Shaws have the largest collection, but they’re missing some. If I could get even one of the lost volumes, it would be huge.”

“And it’s important that you do it because…?”

“Because then I would—I don’t know, I would have done something, you know?” She looks away from her phone at the sidewalk. “I’d be useful.”

“And you’re not useful now?”

Corey clenches her fingers around her phone.

“You don’t get it. I failed the Bachelor candidacy.

I was lucky that Dr. Liu took me in. I want to be able to help the Progressives.

But I’m obviously not going to be a Master.

And I’m not a monster. This is the only way I can make a difference.

Through Henry. If I can’t even do that, then what’s the point of me? ”

“Um, living your life? Doing whatever you want?”

She shakes her head. “Forget it.” She points across the street.

“We’re gonna head over here.” She leads me north of Princess and then turns onto a side street and steps up to the door of a taekwondo place.

Using a key from her bag, she opens the door and lets me in.

“The dojang is closed on Fridays, so we should be good.”

Inside is a large open space whose floor is covered in giant mats in blue and red.

We take off our shoes at the entrance. Corey has to sit on the floor to work her loafer off her prosthetic foot.

I guess it’s not as easy as just slipping it off.

I follow her lead and take my socks off too.

The far wall is mostly made up of mirrors, and the left wall has a bunch of equipment.

She brings me to a small room next to the entrance.

“Changing rooms are over here.” I open my backpack and get my gym clothes out.

Meanwhile, she pulls a different prosthesis from her bag.

She catches me looking. “This one’s for doing athletic stuff that isn’t running.

It’s a little more responsive. A gift from Dr. Liu.

I told him I wasn’t going to do taekwondo anymore, but he got it for me ‘just in case.’?” She shakes her head.

“And of course, as soon as I could, I started using it.”

“Did you think it would be too hard to do taekwondo with your leg, or…?”

“Yes. And it is hard. But that’s not why I wanted to stop training.” She leaves it at that and works on swapping her prosthesis out. I turn away and get changed. She says, “Go ahead and do some warm-ups. I’ll come out when I’m done.”

I return to the gym area and do some stretches while examining the space.

The walls are decorated with framed photos and two giant flags, a Canadian one and a Korean one.

And here Riley was talking about the Learners not being able to celebrate their individual cultures.

“Is this a society place, or what?” I shout to Corey.

She comes out from the changing room in a T-shirt and shorts, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “It’s my family’s place. My dad opened this dojang when I was little. He teaches a lot of society students.” She holds out a scrunchie to me. I forgot to bring anything to tie my braids up.

“My hair will stretch that thing all the way out.”

“It’s fine.” I take the scrunchie and peer at the photos as I tie my hair. I spot a young Corey, leaping through the air in a kicking stance. I point at it. “You’re going to teach me to do that?”

She laughs. “I think that’s a bit advanced.

You already have a great combat skill base from what you learned from your mom.

Margot’s going to teach you some boxing.

But kicks are kind of my specialty, so she wants you to do those with me.

We’ll do a taekwondo style more similar to kickboxing so it’s easier for you to incorporate what we both teach.

Like I said, my dad instructs a lot of society kids.

If you don’t have a similar capacity, you’re going to struggle. Can you do any kicks?”

I nod. Corey collects a foam pad from against the wall and holds it up. I kick out with a roundhouse.

“Good,” she says. “Low one. Then higher. Front leg first, and then the back one.”

I do as she says. I try not to get thrown back into memories of Mom.

She bought a punching bag for us to practice on when I was seven.

Me and Jules would take turns kicking and punching it, sometimes having competitions about who could punch or kick the longest, or hardest. Mom would guide us through the motions, commenting.

Critiquing, really. Earning a compliment from her was better than getting the first slice of cake at a party.

Better than a new bike or shoes. Better than anything.

“Can you do any high kicks?” Corey asks. I kick out with the highest roundhouse I can manage, and she makes a face.

“Wow, that bad?”

“A for effort?”

“Just show me how it’s done.”

“This is what you want.” She sets down the foam pad and then drops into a stance.

She shoots her right foot up with a shout, so high that there’s a straight line from her left leg to the right.

At least, for a moment. Then she wobbles and careens to the side, just managing to hop and keep from falling.

“Except, you will keep your balance.” She shakes out her left leg.

“I’m still working on relearning. Like I said, it’s hard. ”

“I can imagine. You’re still a million times better than me.”

She grins. “You just need practice. Also, more power.” She gestures to the foam pad.

“Pick it up.” I lift the pad and hold it in front of me.

“This is how you’re kicking.” She kicks out at the mat with a thud.

“This is how you need to kick.” She kicks the mat so hard that I almost topple over. And she actually falls back.

“Oh, shit! Are you okay?!”

She waves me away. “Like I said, the balance thing is…” She sighs. “A lot. I should practice more, honestly. Part of the process. A lot of relearning how to do things.” I hold out my hand, she takes it, and I tug her back to her feet. “You get the idea, right?”

I do. That kick felt like it was ten times harder than what I’ve been doing. I know Corey got all the way to initiation, so she had to be good. I just didn’t realize how far apart our skill levels are. She’s what I need to get to.

Or no. No. She isn’t. I’m not planning to stick around that long. Cutting off my fingers and fighting a monster Virgil? No fucking way. I need to focus on making progress with finding Jules and managing this competition day by day. That’s all.

Corey runs me through drills that are supposed to help me with my high kicks, which I get to add to my already packed training schedule. She instructs me from the mat with crossed arms and a furrowed brow.

“Strong legs will be important not just for your kicks but for running, too,” Corey says. “And you’ll need to run in every test there is. But especially during initiation once Virgil transforms. The serum metabolizes faster in a monster’s body, so you won’t have long to do the flesh exchange.”

I don’t plan on doing the flesh exchange, period.

“Is it possible for someone to get a hold of the serum outside of the competition or a senior Master bonding with a monster? Because, the way I see it, anyone with the serum can bond, right? Could that be why the monster that attacked me isn’t registered? Because someone stole serum?”

“Keep your hips aligned.” I shift as I’m told.

Corey says, “It’s not impossible, but it is improbable.

I know the competition seems like a lot, but it’s necessary.

That whole leveling up thing from the pressure of competing is real.

If you take the serum without any of that training, it can be difficult for both the monster and Master to adjust. That’s why only senior Masters get to bond outside of the competition, because they’ve already gone through that process.

It’s one of the reasons why the serum is heavily guarded and protected—you need, like, several security clearances to get access to it. ”

“But someone could have done it, right? What other explanation is there?”