Page 61 of A Mastery of Monsters

Meadowbrook Park is sectioned off with roadblocks, and people in bright orange vests warn away civilians as we file into the competition area.

What excuse are they giving for what this is?

I guess if the society’s been running this for over a century, they have a strong system in place.

This test isn’t that far from campus, but Margot still had to pick us up.

It’s only her, me, and Virgil, since Corey has a meeting with a new bookseller, and this was the only time they could do it.

The spectator area is in a clearing of trees, far enough into the park to keep it from prying eyes.

It occurs to me that I’ve never considered how much it costs to run this every year.

Not just operations but also the effort to conceal what’s happening.

But then again, most people ignore what they’re not involved in.

They probably brush this off as some sort of private event.

“Carrigan’s here again,” Virgil says, spotting the man in the stands. “I thought him coming to the first test was a fluke.”

“Is there a chance he does want to win the election?” I ask. “Maybe he’s trying to show face for the voters?”

Margot says, “Honestly, it’s not a bad strategy to pretend he never wanted the title.

After all, Adam and James targeted each other right away.

They assumed he would pull out. And maybe he would have, but if the spontaneously born monster birth rates are increasing…

Curing monstrosity is the only thing his faction cares about.

Maybe he’s feeling the pressure now. Leading the entire society would get him a lot more access to what he needs than working in labs and begging his brothers for funding. ”

It’s not dissimilar to what Adam brought up that time in Henry’s office. “Why don’t more people support the scientists? I mean, a cure would be the best thing, wouldn’t it?”

Virgil swallows and looks away.

“It would be,” Margot says. “For us. But for the Masters who are making money on contracts to protect wealthy people in case of monster threats, or the ones whose power lies in the fact that people know they could command a beast to tear them apart, or even the ones who go on missions for the society to round up bitten monsters and are cared for by the coffers of the Learners? Not so much.”

“Why have a cure when you could have control?” Virgil says, pulling forward to walk a couple of feet in front of us.

I know I’m supposed to be team Adam, and I do like him, but I’d rather see Carrigan win. And at the same time, I understand exactly why few will vote for him, for the exact reasons that Margot and Virgil said.

Monsters give Masters power. And there’s no way they’ll want to give that up. I’m sure there are even monsters who are partnered and benefitting who might not want the cure either. Like what Corey said during our sleepover. It’s naive to assume all monsters want the same thing.

Farther in, the trees are tall, their naked trunks making them look skeletal, when really the leaves are just higher up, turned a burnt orange by the season, and also lying in piles on the ground, turning brown.

There’s a bite to the chilled air that teases the coming of colder weather.

It’ll start to drop significantly from here.

I pulled out my insulated leggings for this test and am cuddled up in my sweatshirt.

I’ll probably have to ditch it before the test starts, since I assume there will be running. There’s always running.

Margot and Corey’s only inside information was that the second test allows combat between candidates.

The format varies otherwise. In the last week, Margot focused our sessions on boxing.

I’m not terrible at it. All the basic combat and acrobat flow things Mom taught me help with movement and evading attacks, but at some point, I’m forced to be offensive and strategic, and that’s when things fall apart.

My strongest offensive skill is knife throwing, and that requires distance.

Close combat is not my thing. And most of what I have to show from training are bruises.

Corey continued to try to help with kicks, too, and while I managed to get more power in, my form was, as she put it, “not great.”

We reach a small clearing, where the remaining candidates are gathered.

Now that the group is smaller, it’s easier for me to identify the faces.

The party helped with that too. There’s Violet and Bryce, and Caden and his two lackies.

I also recognize a Black girl whose hair is shaved on one side and braided on the other, a red-haired white guy, and two East Asian–looking girls who seem to be close friends, one who has a bob cut and the other a buzz cut.

Most importantly, there are thirteen of us.

Only two people were eliminated in the first test.

Today, everyone is accompanied by their monster partner. Just like Violet said, people paired up fast after the first cut. The dynamics between them are interesting. Some people, like Caden, have opted to ignore their partners, while others, like Violet, are more friendly.

The professors stand together. Bernie’s eyes scan the group, and I smile when he reaches me, but instead of smiling back, he just passes me over. Okaaaaaay, kind of rude. Maybe he doesn’t want to look like he’s showing favoritism? Especially after he had to intervene during the first test.

Chen steps forward in a pair of boots that go all the way up and underneath her sweater dress.

“Welcome to the second test. This one will be performed alongside your monster partner, who you should have brought with you, as instructed.” She looks around at the group, nodding as she notices the pairs.

“Shortly, you will be led to your separate starting points. From there, your objective is to find ten plastic eggs that have been hidden within the area. Anyone who doesn’t have this minimum number at the end of one hour will be disqualified.

And only candidates can touch the eggs and/or egg-holding sling bags.

The winner of this challenge will be the one with the most eggs at the end.

They will be awarded twenty points. Second place will get ten, and third, nine, and so on. ”

That’s ten up from the first challenge for coming in first. Getting that many points could turn things around for me.

“Your monster partners will be blindfolded for the duration of the challenge. Removing the blindfold will result in disqualification. We do have surveillance set up, and we will see if you cheat.” I scoff.

Yeah, they can see cheating but won’t do anything about it—at least not if it’s done by the right people.

“Candidates may engage in hand-to-hand combat with monsters or other candidates. However, monsters may only engage in hand-to-hand combat with other monsters. Monsters engaging with candidates will result in disqualification.”

After the first challenge, I’ve learned to read between the lines. We need to collect a minimum of ten eggs, but to win, we’ll need to steal eggs from the others. Or otherwise find a ton in the beginning and then spend the hour defending.

At the very least, Virgil has one of the larger builds out of the monsters, so I’m not worried about him engaging with them. I’m more concerned about the fact that he can’t do anything against candidates.

Chen says, “The current rankings are as follows: in first place, Violet with ten points; in second, Charity with five points; third, Caden with four points; fourth, Bryce with three points; fifth, Peter with two points; sixth, Rae with one point; and the rest of you have zero points and are tied for seventh place.”

Fuck. I knew things hadn’t gone well, but I didn’t think I did that badly in the first test.

Virgil says, “It’s okay. Ranking better in later tests can help. We’ll be fine.”

Or Caden could win and get an even higher rank.

“Horns will sound at the halfway point, five minutes, and one minute,” Chen says. “As a final note, there are one hundred and thirty eggs in play.”

Exactly enough for each of us to pass. Meaning that if none of us engages with each other and none of us tries for more than ten, we can all pass equally. They’d be forced to give us each twenty points, and the rankings wouldn’t change.

Something tells me that’s not going to happen.

A volunteer in a red vest approaches me and Virgil to bring us to the starting point.

I shrug off my sweatshirt and give it to Margot.

I’m cold now, but that’ll change soon. “Remember,” she says, “protect your face and core. Try to put space between you. Keep your kicks strong. And you,” she says to Virgil.

“Don’t let them bait you, because they’ll try. ”

“I’ve been baited every day of my life,” he says while giving her his glasses. “I can handle it.”

Margot gives us both a quick once-over before nodding, and we follow the volunteer, who has us weaving through the trees on a path that’s obvious to them and not us, before stopping in front of a tree with a red mark.

They give me a blue sling bag, which I attach to myself, and then bring out a pair of goggles with black lenses, which they put on Virgil with trembling hands before leaving. I assume it’s more secure than a cloth blindfold, which might fall off during combat.

“We need a strategy for this,” Virgil says. “We should team up with Violet and Bryce. They like you, right? If we run in a pack, we have a better chance.”

“We’re friendly, but I don’t know if we’re team-up friendly.”

“They’ll know that’s the better strategy too.”

“Fine. We’ll have to find them.”

Virgil nods. “But first, I think we should get our ten eggs as soon as possible. Then seek them out. This way, at least we’ll have the minimum.”