Page 66 of A Mastery of Monsters

“I’ll be okay,” she says. “I have August and Margot.”

Virgil hesitates for a moment again before he takes off with Isaac. Leaving the three of us alone.

Corey shakes out her left leg. Instead of her usual prosthesis, she’s wearing one with a curved blade on the end, like the kind I’ve seen athletes use in the Olympics.

“Why not use the leg you do taekwondo in?” I ask.

She bounces a bit, the leg flexing and bending beneath her.

It’s taller than her usual prosthetic leg too, making her gait uneven as we follow Margot into the trees “This one is best for running. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, it’s awkward to walk in, but I’ll be glad to have it if we’re being chased. ”

I glance at where Virgil and Isaac disappeared before following. “Hopefully we won’t be.”

“Hopefully.”

After a few minutes of walking, I start to recognize the foliage. “I think this is it,” I say, and Margot stops. She motions for me and Corey to crouch behind a cluster of trees, her eyes on the clearing. We stay in position, waiting to see if anyone shows up.

I’m almost dozing off when finally, someone appears. But it’s not some random QBSS member; it’s Riley. Her hair is tied up, and she’s shivering and rubbing her arms, hunching in on herself. As if she hadn’t confidently attacked Jules a few weeks ago.

Corey says, “It’s August’s hot friend.” She pauses. “Hot and single, or…?”

“She has a boyfriend.”

She groans. “They always do.”

“Focus,” Margot says.

A massive form pushes through the trees.

My breath catches in my throat, where I hold it.

It’s that same bearlike form from before with the bone accents.

My brother is somewhere inside there. The brother who was always willing to put himself out if it meant helping me, who pushed me to chase after what I wanted instead of what our parents did, who was the only one to still believe in me when no one else did.

I lean toward him. “I need to do something. Try to talk to him or—”

“Absolutely not,” Margot says. “He’s under the active control of a Master. It’s too risky. Wait and see what QBSS do. If he’s in danger, we’ll act. Until then, we stay hidden.”

Beside me, Corey’s shaking. She was joking a few moments ago, but now there’s a monster. She couldn’t even watch Isaac transform. I don’t know that she’s ready for this. Even if we need her. She catches me staring. “I’m fine,” she says.

“What do you want from us?” Riley asks Jules. “Are you looking for our artifacts?”

Monsters, to my knowledge, can’t talk in that form, and Riley should know that. Jules kind of stomps around in place and throws his head. Is it annoyance or frustration? But he’s keeping his distance. He must remember what she did with the chain.

“I know where they are,” Riley says. “Maybe even the artifact you want.”

That’s when he stops moving.

“I could take you to one if you transform back and explain some of what’s happening.”

He tilts his head almost as if he’s considering it.

“Here, I’ll even do this.” Riley removes the chain from her neck and tosses it into the grass. Jules’s head jerks to follow the motion.

He starts moving closer and closer. Too close . He’s charging her!

I jump out from my spot and throw two knives in quick succession toward his head. He reels back to avoid them.

“August?!” Riley shouts as she ducks and rolls out of the way.

We don’t have time to talk because Jules charges again, snarling with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Margot leaps over us and slams her fist down on his snout. Red sparks flash, and Jules roars as he falls on his back.

I scream, “Don’t hurt him!”

She glares over her shoulder. “He’s an eight-foot-tall monster.

He’s fine.” She slams her brass knuckles together, and more red sparks dance across the metal at the contact.

Even the metal itself is tinged crimson like heated steel.

I think of the sizzling of Isaac’s drool.

Heat-based. Right, bonded Masters and monsters can share abilities. I’ve never seen it in action before.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Riley says, then points at Margot. “Why did you bring her? How much have you told them?” She spins around and spots Corey. She’s still in the trees, crouched on her knees, shaking and staring at the ground. “Her, too?! How many of you are here?!”

I say, “Wow, okay, how about a thank you for saving your life?”

“It’s a setup! Which you ruined. Fuck! I knew I shouldn’t have told you about this.

I just wanted you to have a chance to watch out for your brother if things got out of hand, and this is what you do?

” Riley’s eyes are darting around the bushes as if she expects someone to jump out… and maybe she does.

“Where are the others? Aren’t they supposed to be here?” I ask, but she just scowls at me. “Why wouldn’t you tell me everything that was going to happen?!” This girl really wanted me to read her mind.

“Because you’re not a member! You are, in fact, basically the opposite, and they ”—she points at Margot and then Corey—“are definitely the opposite.” She scrambles around in the grass. “Help me find my chain.”

I use my phone light to help search.

In the background, Jules is getting back up. He sets his sights on Margot and runs toward her. She dodges out of the way and lands another punch on his face, but this time, he’s more prepared and doesn’t go down.

“Fuck,” I mutter, searching for the necklace. If we make him transform back, we can end the fight. “Here!” I pick up the chain and immediately drop it. It pulsed in my hands.

“Where is it?!” Riley asks.

I point at the spot on the ground where I dropped it, and she snatches it up.

I stare at my hand. Did that really happen? Or am I just freaking out?

Margot flies past us and lands with a thud on the ground.

“Margot!” She’s not getting up. Fuck, she’s not getting up.

Golden light beams as Riley’s chain expands, but Jules isn’t giving her a chance to use it. He’s already running toward us, head down, sharp bone mane pointed out.

I’m frozen. Even if I reach for a knife now, it’ll be too late, and it won’t do anything.

A flash of clothing appears, and all I see is a blur of metal.

Jules screams and rolls to the side.

It’s only when I see Corey skidding on the grass that I realize it was her. She kicked him in the face. Really hard.

Gold pieces fly and gather around Jules. Riley’s chain. The links bind together and tighten, wrapping Jules up, forcing him into human form. Except, it isn’t quite working. His head is human, but the rest of his body is stuck between forms.

Riley winces. “Stop… fighting…”

I rush to my feet and go to Jules. He’s twisting in the grasp of the chains. Snapping and growling. “Who’s doing this to you? What’s going on?”

“August,” he gasps.

I grab his arm. It’s a mix of skin and fur and bone, pinned to his sides by the chain. “Yes, it’s me. Who’s controlling you?”

“Can’t…” Veins bulge from his neck as he struggles. “You know… you know… you know…”

A screech so shrill that I flinch sounds in the trees.

Riley’s head snaps toward it, and her shoulders tighten.

“What was that?” I ask.

She swallows. “Team two. They were looking for the second monster.”

The sound’s done something to Jules. His eyes are rolling, and he keeps muttering, “Have to go, have to help, have to go.” He bucks and roils against the chains.

“Get them off,” Margot says, coming up behind us with blood on her temple.

Riley snaps, “You don’t get to order me around!”

“You’re forcing him to disobey the person controlling him. You’re going to either kill him or make him lose his mind.”

I say, “But he’s partially in human form, right? He can’t be controlled like this.”

Margot shakes her head. “It’s not enough. He’s still partially monster. The control is holding.”

I look at Riley. This is exactly what QBSS wants, for Jules to die. My bottom lip trembles. “Please, Riley.”

She grits her teeth and glances into the trees again. “Ugh! Fine!” The links fly apart, and Jules explodes into a mass of teeth and fur, returning fully to his monster form and running away into the night.

Margot slumps to the ground, and I go to her. She waves me away. “I’m fine, just a little dizzy.”

“I’m sorry,” Corey says, coming over, tears streaming down her face. “I—I—I couldn’t move, I—”

“You saved us.” My voice is firm. “You saved us, okay?”

She nods, wiping her face with her hand.

“You good?”

“Yeah, yeah… landed weird because of my balance issues, but otherwise, fine.” She looks at Riley with a furrowed brow. “Shouldn’t someone else have been here to make sure you were okay?”

Riley crosses her arms over her chest. “They trusted me to handle myself.” She narrows her eyes at me. “And I’m glad they weren’t here to see that you brought the Learners into this.”

“One of them is,” says a boy as he emerges from the trees.

He looks like he’s around our age. Riley stiffens beside me.

He’s tall and dressed in black sportswear.

His dark skin shines in the moonlight, and he wears a thin chain around his neck with a pendant in the shape of a scythe.

I get flashes of gold as he speaks. A capped right canine.

“I’d love to hear your explanation for this, Riley.

Poor Jackson was so distraught to leave his girl and tend to team two, so I said I would come back and check on you. ”

Riley casts her eyes down. “I—This is… I didn’t bring them, I—”

“That’s enough, I think,” he says, and she falls silent.

He stops in front of me, Margot, and Corey, looking us up and down. He dismisses me and Corey immediately. “The famous Margot Bouchard.”

“The infamous Malachi Jones,” she says.

He chuckles and then casts his eyes to me. “Riley has kept some questionable company over the years, but I must say that you, Ms. Black, are the worst.”

“Thanks,” I reply with a grin. “It’s nice to have fans.”

“The next time we encounter your brother, we will kill him.”

“The fuck you will.”

He smiles, slow and languid. “You keep thinking you have a say in that.” He nods to Riley. “We’re leaving.”

There’s nothing further to the conversation. Riley turns on her heel and follows him into the trees.

I wait until they’re gone to ask Margot, “Who was that?”

“Malachi Jones. He’s the president of QBSS, and his threat was very real.” Margot sighs. “Let’s meet back up with Virgil and Isaac. Maybe they’ll have some good news.”

When we get back to the car and see the expressions on the boys’ faces, it’s clear that they don’t have anything helpful to report.

They heard the scream of the second monster but avoided QBSS as instructed.

They couldn’t find any Masters hiding nearby.

Though they admitted that there are a lot of scents layered over each other in this area, which makes it especially hard to pick out people.

No wonder Jules and the rabid Easter Bunny keep having their meetings here.

Basically, it’s a bust.

All that, and the only clue I got from Jules was, “You know…”