Page 81 of A Mastery of Monsters

When Davy goes for him, I jump into action, whipping out a knife, which embeds itself in Davy’s snout.

He screams, and Margot jumps forward, smashing him in the face with her fists.

Corey isn’t far behind her, helping land kicks and focusing even though I know she’s probably terrified.

Not just of the monster, but for Virgil.

Riley is on her knees digging around in the grass.

The necklace! Bernie must have dropped it when Virgil hit him. The man in question is still struggling on the ground, coughing and spitting up blood. If we find the chain, we can restrain the monsters. I get down too, trying to help her look while Corey, Margot, and Virgil deal with Davy.

“Found it!” I grab the necklace. Again, a pulse shoots through my hand.

“August!” Virgil shouts.

I look up as Jules dives at me. He must have gotten away from Isaac.

Out of instinct, I jerk my hands up to protect myself, and the chain in my hand glows bright gold, thickening and lengthening.

The flash of light doesn’t throw Jules off this time.

He keeps coming. I’m still recovering from the shock of the chain transformation when my brother opens his jaw around my face.

I squeeze my eyes shut, but the bite doesn’t come.

I open them and Jules is hovering there, his teeth surrounding my head, frozen in place.

Bernie’s screaming at him to do it, crimson spit flying from his mouth, but Jules won’t. My brother refuses to kill me.

Carefully, I take the chain in my hands and loop it around his head, and slowly, he shrinks into himself. Fully human and back in control.

In the background, Isaac takes Davy to the ground, savagely ripping into his fur. Where his teeth don’t pierce, his drool lands, sizzling and burning. Davy’s screaming and screaming and screaming. White fur stripped away to expose pink bubbling muscle.

Riley calls the chain to her. It flies off Jules and binds Davy. Already bleeding profusely, he’s unable to fight the transformation. He’s human once more, the burns on his skin so severe that I find myself looking away. It’s like staring at charred meat, pink and black and raw.

Bernie crawls to his son, crying for us to leave him alone, clutching the boy’s naked body, whispering Davy’s name. Begging Davy to stay with him.

Jules mutters something in my ear.

“What?” I ask, turning to him.

“It wasn’t me.”

“What do you mean? What wasn’t you?”

“I didn’t stop myself. I… I was going to kill you. Just like he wanted.”

What? I look over at a sobbing Bernie. He wanted Jules to kill me, so if it wasn’t him and it wasn’t Jules, what stopped him?

What saved me?

“It’s okay, calm down,” Corey says. I turn toward her, and she’s attempting to approach Virgil. He looks up and snaps at her, and she jumps away, her eyes wide. She physically shakes herself, grinding her teeth, and keeps moving toward him.

His entire body is trembling. The claws are longer and a shiny metallic black. There’s something far away in his eyes.

“August, no,” Jules says. “He’s turning. Stay away from him.”

I don’t listen. I move beside Corey, and together, we crowd around him.

“Virgil,” I say. “It’s fine. You’re okay.

We’re here.” Bernie is a piece of shit, but he was able to do this for Virgil.

I have to try. After all, Virgil must have overexerted himself to get out of that cage, and that’s why he’s like this.

He sacrificed his last moments of humanity to help us.

“It’s not time yet. You need to calm down.

I mean, you haven’t even handed in your last essay yet.

” The laugh that comes from my body is choking and tear-filled.

“And you want to see Adam win, don’t you? ”

He snaps again, and Corey flinches but stays steady.

I take hold of his right hand, and she takes his left. Even when the tips of his claws scratch me, I don’t let go.

“I still have the serum,” Bernie says. I whip my head toward him.

He holds up the case with the syringe in trembling hands.

“Get him back to the cage, and you can bond with him before the society dogs get here. You can run away, the two of you. If you do nothing, they’ll take him to the Pen.

You’ve already lost the candidacy. Even if by some miracle you got nominated again next year, Virgil will have already transformed, and you’ll have lost your chance. Do it now!”

“No!” Virgil says, and it comes out like a growl.

Corey sobs into his clawed fingers.

“They don’t deserve you,” I say to Virgil. “You don’t have to keep following their rules.”

“You… trouble,” he manages between his oversized teeth.

We could do it, Virgil and me. Even if he doesn’t want this. We could force him back into the cell. I was never a real part of the Learners’ Society. We could run, like Bernie said. I could disappoint him right now by doing what he doesn’t want and hold on to him.

Corey turns to me with tear-filled eyes. “What do we do?”

I grip Virgil’s hands harder. “If you don’t want me to give you the serum, if you don’t want me to get myself in trouble and give us both a future where we’re on the run, turn back!

Turn back right fucking now! This is a threat, by the way.

Don’t think I won’t do it. I’m a fantastic rule breaker.

But I know you’re too good to let that happen.

Too good to let me suffer because the one time you decided to break the rules was the absolute worst moment.

” There’s a strange sound coming from the back of Virgil’s throat, and it takes me a second to realize it’s a laugh.

“I’ll do other terrible things too. Maybe I’ll go on a spree and murder some of those people we talked about.

The shitty dudes who came to McIntosh Castle and were mean to you.

Caden, definitely. He’s first on the list. I’ll fucking dance naked on his grave, you know I will—”

“Stop,” Virgil says, and his voice is normal again.

During my tirade, his nails shrank, and his teeth receded.

He’s Virgil again.

I pull him against me, and he sags in my hold, tired and spent.

Corey sobs and clings to him, the three of us locked into the group hug that I denied once upon a time.

“I’m okay,” he murmurs. “I’m okay.”

Bernie shakes his head. “It won’t last forever.”

I know.

But I don’t give a shit about disappointing Bernie.

I have my brother back.

And I’m still holding on to Virgil.

Right now, those are the only things I care about.