Page 79 of A Mastery of Monsters

Isaac snorts from up front, and Margot pulls away from the curb. “We have the location from Henry. They’re in the underground tunnels. They have a few entry and exit points they use: the one in their house, another in Murney Tower, and a final one in the Marshlands.”

The eyes. Way back in the second group training at Murney Tower, I swore that I saw eyes down there, and then I talked myself out of believing what I saw.

But it turns out a monster was down there all along…

. Davy? No, Davy had a comfy chill pad in his parents’ basement.

I press my hand to my mouth. Jules . It was Jules.

It must have been. Bernie wouldn’t have been able to control Jules all the time.

He would need to sleep. And that’s where the threat to me and the family came in.

That could keep Jules in line even without active control.

But still, Bernie likely wanted to maintain authority over Jules as much as possible.

Making the tunnels connected to the tower a convenient place to keep him.

I found my brother months ago and just didn’t know it.

Not to mention City Park is near both the tower and Bernie’s house.

That must have been why they were initially meeting there.

I think back to that guy who winked at me…

. Could that have been Davy? Maybe he meant to attack me back then, but those guys showed up and interrupted him.

They must have been desperate to proceed with their plans for Davy to risk following me to Wolfe Island to get Jules in line.

Then later they switched to the Marshlands, where there would be fewer people and less chance of having their operation interrupted.

I clench my hands into fists. I’m going to have some words with Bernie when we get to him. “That’s why Jules and Davy kept showing up in the Marshlands. They were using the tunnels.”

Margot nods. “Apparently we’ll have the best chance if we go in from that entrance and try to grab them. Bernie had to go and get more serum, which is what his wife went to stop him doing. She came back home because he wouldn’t be persuaded against it, and she was risking getting him caught.”

“How could he get the serum in the first place?” Corey asks. “The security is ridiculous. There’s no way he’s casually managing that, even if he’s a professor.”

“I thought professors had special access or something,” I say.

Margot shakes her head. “No. They have a separate security team who delivers the serum for the initiation. Professors don’t have any clearance. Someone is helping him. Henry is pushing Eleanor for a name now.”

“Aren’t there, like, laws and stuff against confessions given under duress or whatever?” Isaac asks.

“Technically, yes. Even in the society. But we can worry about that later. What matters is that Bernie going to get the serum has bought us some time. He has to do that and then travel back through the tunnels to where Eleanor said he’s keeping Virgil, and he’s not well, so he’s not moving fast.”

“I need my running leg,” Corey says.

“It’s in the trunk. August’s holsters and knives, too. Henry made us stop at Victoria Hall and McIntosh Castle to grab them. He’s nothing if not prepared.”

And we’re better off for it. We’re also lucky that it’s so late, because Margot speeds through the streets and runs more than a couple of red lights getting us to where we need to be.

We’re forced to stop the car eventually and get out on foot.

At which point Corey switches legs and I get my gear on.

We haven’t been to this part of the park before, but it looks like the others—lots of tall trees and bushes.

Ten minutes later, Margot says, “Here!” and points at the stone tunnel entrance.

It’s huge, big enough to tower over our heads, and has caution tape and construction signs out front prohibiting entrance.

There’s a shallow pool of water and muck on the ground that only gets worse as we enter.

“Gross,” Corey whines. But that doesn’t stop her from sprinting through the wetness.

The tunnel encloses us in darkness, the light from the entrance getting dimmer with every step. The dampness is like a wet towel on the back of my neck, but I ignore it and push forward.

Margot says to Isaac, “You’re fastest. Run ahead!”

Her brother nods and races into the dark. The rest of us pant as we keep going, the light of Margot’s phone leading us forward.

We have to get to him in time. We have to. I know that losing Virgil is inevitable. From the moment they disqualified me, it was the only possible ending. But that doesn’t mean I’m prepared for it now .

“He’s here!” Isaac shouts from ahead of us.

Suddenly we’re all moving faster. Me and Corey are at the front of the pack, running with everything we have until we reach Isaac. He’s in front of a cell like the one I found in the tunnel in Bernie’s house.

Inside, Virgil gapes at us. He’s sitting on the floor, still in his human form.

“You asshole!” I scream through the bars, and he flinches. “You should have told us. We would have helped you!”

He averts his eyes from mine. “I didn’t want you to be implicated. I wanted you to be able to say you didn’t have anything to do with this. Bernie said for that to happen, you couldn’t know anything. Any of you.”

“Bernie is not trying to help you. He’s trying to use you.”

Virgil’s brow furrows, and he finally looks at me.

“How do you know I’m not trying to help him?”

We all whip toward the other side of the tunnel, where Bernie appears in the darkness, cradled in the arms of the same rabbitlike monster that attacked me at Big Sandy Bay. The one I now know is Davy. And from behind him, Jules emerges in his monster form.

We’re officially out of time.