Page 71 of A Mastery of Monsters

I sprint between the trees, following the path forward. Trying to remember everything that Margot and Corey drilled into me and avoiding thinking about the time and who’s ahead of or behind me. The cold is welcome to me now, the frigid air cooling my skin and sharpening my focus.

I stop for a moment, ducking behind a tree and slinging my water pouch to my front, chugging down a bunch and splashing some on my face. Margot said this test has two phases: the initial rush of monsters and then more buried on the way to the finish.

This is a race, and I need to go.

I run forward again. My heart pounds in my ears, and I force myself to regulate my breathing.

I’m in the middle of an inhale when I’m struck in the stomach.

I double over and fall to the ground, rolling to the side to get out of the way and jerking myself back up, Margot’s voice in my head screaming that I can’t fall.

When I look around, there’s nothing and no one.

“Awesome. Just fucking awesome.”

I slip two knives into my hands from the holsters on my back. I’m out on my left thigh and side. I move, this time paying more attention to my surroundings. But the hit comes again, so fast that I can barely track it. I cry out and slice wildly but don’t manage to catch anything.

This time I glimpse the slick appendage slinking away.

Calm. Down.

I run again, jumping at random intervals and weaving back and forth. The thing shoots out again, but it misses my stomach and hits the edge of my foot instead. I keep up with the strategy, and eventually I reach a forked path.

When I whip my head back, the thing is retreating. I shudder. I never got a good look at it. But apparently it’s not following me beyond here.

I get it now. They all have their own boundaries. That ferret monster followed Peter but likely only would to a certain point. Just like that second thing I encountered. I don’t know how many monsters you have to pass to make it to the end, but I have to keep moving. I don’t have time to slow down.

The horn blares.

How the fuck is that possible?! There’s no way it’s already been thirty minutes. Shit, shit, shit.

I take the right fork, hoping that’ll direct me back toward the center so I don’t get too off course.

Eventually I find myself in a clearing where a single man waits in a formal pair of black slacks with a tucked-in blue-patterned dress shirt and a navy suit jacket, all of them topped with a peacoat.

It’s more like he’s expecting to perform than fight.

Corris.

Margot told me to run if I saw him, but I can’t. I don’t have time to go around. We’re already at the halfway point, and if I want a firm chance of being in the final five, I need to rank high. I can’t count on panel votes.

I plant my feet.

“I hoped it wouldn’t be you,” he says with an air of genuine regret. “I wanted you to make it.”

“I am going to make it,” I say with a grin, gripping my knives.

He shakes his head. “Not against us.” He sits cross-legged on the ground. “Your challenge is to cut me. If you can do that, we’ll let you pass—”

Before he’s even finished his sentence, I’ve thrown a knife.

A massive leg comes out in front of him, and the blade sinks in deep.

From behind the trees a monster emerges, covered in fur with a trunk.

It’s only maybe six feet tall. It’s the smallest monster I’ve seen, with patches of what look like green moss on its fur.

On either side of its trunk are sharp protruding tusks that I have no doubt could run me through despite its size.

If not them, then the two horns on its crown would do the job.

Corris laughs. “I knew I liked you. You’re eager.”

I immediately see all the issues that Margot presented.

Unlike Isaac or the other monsters, I can’t get through its legs.

I would have to get on the ground and crawl, and at that point I’m more likely to be crushed.

And those tusks. They come out at least three feet from its body.

Close combat is impossible. Plus, it should have evaded the knife, but instead it took the hit.

The other monsters I’ve encountered are physically stronger, but this one is a logistical nightmare.

I can’t use the same strategy that I have been.

It’s fast, too. I try to run around the perimeter, but it races ahead and blocks me. I thought Isaac was fast, but I did successfully get past him. And Virgil in his human form is even faster than Isaac is because he’s not moving a giant body. That’s where this monster has the advantage.

I throw a couple of blades, hoping maybe I can throw quicker, but they’re both knocked aside by its tusks. The knife I threw earlier is still sunk in. That means my weapons can still be effective. But does that even matter if I can’t get to Corris? That’s what complicates this even more.

An impenetrable wall. I get it now.

Margot said I can’t hope to beat any of the monsters in this race, but I don’t know what other choice I have. It has to be taken down so I can reach Corris. It’s too fast for me to hope to sneak past. I’ll have to be direct.

I charge, raising the knife with the intent to stab it in the eyes. But when I look at them, I pause.

The hesitation is enough, and the monster turns and kicks me with both its back legs, sending me flying into a tree.

I lie against the trunk, gasping. My head and back throbbing.

It takes me a minute to regain my bearings enough to stumble to my feet and get grounded. I’m fighting a monster woolly mammoth thing, and it has human eyes.

Of course it does. Like Isaac. Like Jules.

I forgot so quickly. The instant I was thrown into that melee, I went at the monsters like beasts. But they’re also human. I ran around slicing and stabbing like it wasn’t a big deal. I know monsters are tough, Margot said as much, but still.

“You okay over there?” Corris asks.

“Fine,” I manage to spit out.

I need to figure out what to do. The mammoth looks over at me, stomping its feet like it’s impatient to get back to fighting. “Can you cut me some slack?!”

It makes a soft sound and ducks its head.

I freeze.

What the…?

It looks… sheepish? Like it feels bad about it. Not unlike how Isaac looked guilty when he pushed me over.

I raise my knife and its eyes sharpen. It lifts its trunk menacingly.

I’m considering another ridiculous idea. It may be a complete waste of time, but now that the thought has entered my mind, I can’t unthink it.

I lower the knife and stick it back into my belt. “Hey,” I say, making sure the monster knows I’m talking to it. “Could you let me get close to your partner if I promised just to give him a very tiny cut?”

The mammoth tilts its head.

I swallow and take a couple of steps forward.

My head throbs, and I wince. It’s worse when I bend.

Something on my left side is not okay. “Just a little cut on his finger. I need to win.” I look at Corris, who is studying me but isn’t doing anything to stop me.

“My friend is a monster too. And if I don’t win, they’ll lock him up. ”

The mammoth makes a deep crooning sound, and its eyes dip down.

“He doesn’t have anyone else who can help him. It has to be me. I have to get past you two. Could you let me, please, and I’ll give him the world’s smallest cut, okay?” I keep creeping closer. “I promise.”

This time, the mammoth doesn’t move, just observes me as I come forward. I slip around it, and it lets me but follows me carefully with its eyes. I have to edge past its tusks and do so with my breath held, letting it out only once I’m past. “I’m taking out the knife now, okay?”

The glint of the blade makes the mammoth stiffen, but it doesn’t stop me. I slowly bring it to Corris’s finger and poke him with the point of the blade, enough to draw a pinprick of blood.

I wait, looking from him to the monster.

He winks at me. “I’ve done this same test for the past four years, and not once has anyone ever gotten past me. Certainly no one has ever tried to talk to my partner.”

“It listened to me,” I say.

“She did,” he says. “She’s only eleven. She’s used to listening to adults, but only if they’re nice and reasonable.” An amused smile crosses his face. “Unless they’re her guardians trying to get her to eat more vegetables.”

The mammoth lets out a huffing breath.

Back when I first met Corris at the nomination ceremony, he said he’d left the kids at home. She must have been one of them.

Eleven years old. Fuck. And she’s been doing this for four years?! “That’s too young.” I stabbed an eleven-year-old. “Why would you volunteer her for this?” My lips twist as I look at him.

“It’s not so much volunteer as it is volun told .

Some Masters and monsters go on missions or have private security gigs, and some of us have to do this to keep our place in society.

But it sounds nicer to pretend it’s a choice.

Besides, she transformed early and didn’t have anyone to look after her.

I was one of the few Masters without a partner available to take her in.

She’s not exempt. Monsters must compete, and they have to perform their duties. ”

I stare at my knife, still stuck in this little girl’s flesh. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have—”

“I know,” he says. “You’re probably the only candidate who doesn’t know. I assume Margot didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t hesitate.”

No. Margot told me to avoid him. She made it out like it was because I couldn’t beat him, and maybe she did think I couldn’t, but part of me wonders if she also wanted to save me the moral dilemma of realizing I’d fought a child.

I reach out to the girl, and she blinks at me with those huge eyes. “I’m sorry,” I say to her, and pry out the knife as gently as I can. She doesn’t even squeak. I use the knife to tear the bottom of my shirt into a strip that I tie around her leg. It barely fits.

“Usually, the medical team helps with that,” Corris says, and I jump because I didn’t realize he was so close to me.

“But we appreciate it nonetheless.” He tucks his hands into his pockets.

“But you’re supposed to be racing. And I would hate to see you do anything other than finish in the top five.

Lucky for you, I was your last obstacle. ”

My brain catches up to what he’s saying. The race. I need to finish.

I sprint past him but make time to shout over my shoulder, “Thank you! Both of you!”

I’m rewarded with joyous trunk honking.

Never again. I can’t let myself forget there are people inside those monster bodies.

I’m going to do it. I’m going to finish. Hopefully I’m fast enough to place well.

It’s only Margot’s warning to be vigilant that makes me check the trees as I run, just in time to duck as a sledgehammer speeds toward my face. I roll on the ground and spring to my feet, my thighs screaming as I do so, my side aching, and my head spinning.

I spot Caden coming out from the trees. His lip is split, and he licks away the blood as he grins at me. “Found you.”