Page 83 of A Mastery of Monsters

“He put me in that cage under his basement, I guess so I couldn’t hurt him.

He injected me with the serum and then himself.

I don’t remember anything after, just that when I came back to myself, I was in a monster body, and he coached me into transforming back into human form.

I had control again. By that time, I’d quit QBSS because I knew how they felt about the society and monsters.

I hadn’t said anything to Bernie because honestly, I didn’t think he would care.

It was irrelevant. But he was upset when he learned I was no longer a member and tried to get me to rejoin.

But they wouldn’t take me. He said that was fine, and I believed him.

Then he said he’d have to ‘figure some things out,’ and I was supposed to be on standby to help him. ”

“Did he say where he got the serum?” Chen asks.

Jules shakes his head.

Perez says, “On standby to help him… Help him how?”

“I don’t know. Before the bonding, he acted like it was a no strings attached thing. Then, in August, he told me and Davy that we’d be hunting the members to find some object.”

“Do you know what he was looking for?” James asks, leaning forward.

“Sometimes I felt like not even he knew what he was looking for.”

“And the young girl who died first?” Chen says. “Samantha.”

Jules casts his eyes down, and his hands roll into fists on the table.

“That was Davy’s doing. Bernie had originally suggested intimidation, not murdering people.

That was when I said I wanted out. He couldn’t control me in human form, so I thought I would be fine.

Obviously, he had a plan for that. Bernie said if I didn’t transform when he told me to, he would kill my whole family.

I think that’s why he sent Davy after August. To prove that he could easily get to them.

I wanted to tell them to run away, but I was worried that would also provoke him to violence.

I figured it would be easier on them if I disappeared.

Keep them as far away from my shit as possible.

I didn’t know any other way to protect them. ”

I guessed as much, but it’s still a lot to hear. I wish Jules had told me. We could have worked together to protect Dad and Bailey. He didn’t need to do this alone.

“How did you get around the city?” Perez asks.

“The tunnels. They connect to all sorts of places. I think the Pen, too.”

“Isn’t that your domain, James?” Adam asks, sliding his eyes to his brother. Everyone in the room concentrates on the man. “I remember you pitching a revitalization project to Dad.”

James rolls his neck. “Yes, when he was alive, I wanted them to be better maintained. But he passed, and I became preoccupied with my campaign.”

“Well, we’ll have to see who was supposed to be keeping an eye on them,” Adam says, adjusting his collar. “Thank you for all this information. We’re going to take a moment to deliberate.”

“Are we not going to discuss the matter of how Mr. Hawthorne got mixed up in this?” James asks, looking at Virgil.

Adam says, “We already have their accounts. Mr. Hawthorne trusted Bernie and was manipulated.”

“Has that been confirmed by Bernie? And his boy and the wife? By someone who is not personally invested in protecting Hawthorne?”

Virgil is stiff beside me but doesn’t say a word.

“You will need more evidence besides witness accounts to bring a case against Mr. Hawthorne to vote. If you can provide a sufficient amount, we can include it.” Adam looks his brother in the eye as James’s lip twitches, like he wants to frown or spit. He knows he has nothing. Adam does too.

“No, I don’t think that will be necessary,” James says finally.

I fight not to exhale and slouch back in my seat.

The five of them leave the room and note that they’ll be having some sort of wider meeting, and we’re supposed to be “on deck” in case they need us.

Virgil sighs and leans back in his chair.

I say, “What—”

Margot shakes her head at me. We sit awkwardly in silence for over ten minutes before I realize that they might be watching and listening to us in this room. Hence why we can’t discuss what happened.

Finally, after another half hour, we’re brought into a larger room filled with people talking and shouting.

“They called a Masterium?” Corey says, looking around the room.

“What is that?” I ask. They’d mentioned it once before without explaining.

“It’s a significant gathering of Masters.

At minimum, all the ones in the province, but sometimes it’s everyone in the country.

A bunch would have come to watch the candidacy, so that’s probably why it’s so crowded.

Usually, it’s mostly virtual attendees. These happen when the Doctorate doesn’t want to decide alone.

James, Adam, and Carrigan must not be able to come to an agreement.

The Masters will vote on what happens next. ”

“What are they voting on?”

Corey bites her lip.

Virgil swallows before he says, “They’ll vote on if Jules gets to live.”

“No!” I shake my head so hard that my braids whip me in the face. “He didn’t do anything. It wasn’t his fault.”

“I should have known better,” Jules says from beside me.

“How could you have known?!”

He shrugs and stares at the ground. He’s always too hard on himself. Like he’s responsible for everything, even when it’s impossible.

How fucking dare they play judge and jury with my brother when they didn’t even notice what was happening until we brought it to their attention?

This isn’t just Bernie. It can’t be. Someone was helping him get that serum, and someone was messing with the society internally to suppress reports.

They may not have been doing the dirty work, but they were involved.

“I have to go to the bathroom.” I speed walk out of the room and to the toilets. I splash water on my face and try to calm down. I can’t lose Jules. I can’t . But I don’t know what I can do to stop it.

I come out of the bathroom and head back down the hallway. Just as I’m about to go into the room, I catch Carrigan coming out a side door. He pulls out a vape, taking a hit off it.

Something about the way he’s leaning solidifies the thing that has been poking at my mind.

Before I can think better of it, I walk over to him. “I think you knew my mom.” I hold up my phone with the picture I sent to Dad.

Carrigan glances at it with the same disinterest he goes about his whole life with. Except when he was listening to Jules. He cared about what my brother had to say. Was invested. Almost… like he knew who Jules was. “Annie, correct?”

“That’s her.”

He shrugs. “We were friends when I attended Queen’s.

She started to date your father, who was jealous and insecure.

” If he notices my scowl, he ignores it.

“And didn’t like her having male friends, so I distanced myself.

She graduated and I guess went on to have children.

And I took my place in the Learners’ Society.

We don’t tend to keep nonstudent friends for long, so it was bound to happen. ”

“You’re saying she wasn’t part of the society?”

“No, she wasn’t.”

“Strange… Doctorate’s son, wouldn’t it make more sense to have society friends?”

“Clearly you have no concept of what it means to be the Doctorate’s son.

” He jerks his head toward the door. “Look at Adam. Henry is his only real friend. Can you imagine that? A man with that much ambition leeched onto you. Invading your family. Becoming your father’s favorite.

Everyone in the society is ready to use you.

I was fortunate to only have to deal with an emotion as petty as jealousy. ”

“And yet you still kept tabs on her. You knew who me and Jules were before we walked into that room, didn’t you? You always did.”

Carrigan laughs. “Yes, I did. Because dear Henry prepared a neat little dossier on you. Couldn’t have his precious Virgil pairing up with just anyone, could he?

And this was passed to Adam, and then passed to me and James before today’s meeting.

” He leans toward me. “So perhaps consider who exactly you should be interrogating.”

With that, he turns and enters the room via the door he came out of, and I’m left to stand alone in the hall.

Classic. Of course Henry did research on me.

On Jules, without either of our consent.

But still, I don’t fully believe Carrigan.

I remember how he stared at me at the nomination.

I think he knew me even before Henry’s helpful dossier.

But why pretend otherwise? Because he’s embarrassed about being hung up on Mom? Or some other reason?

I slip back into the room and join the others at the table as Adam and James are getting onstage. Carrigan takes his time, walking on several minutes after.

“Order!” James booms at the front of the room. Everyone falls silent and sits down. Henry comes over and settles beside Margot at our table.

Adam says, “We’re here to vote on four items based on the evidence you have seen thus far.

Item number one, in regard to Bernard Mathers, raise your hand to vote him guilty of illegally bonding with two monsters and the misconduct of using said monsters for two counts of homicide, in person if you are here or online for virtual attendees. ”

I want to turn around to see the hands raising, but Margot gives me a look that keeps my head straight.

“Guilty. Sentencing to follow at a later date. Item number two, monsters bonded to Bernard Mathers, David Mathers and July Black, shall be unbonded via Doctorate. Raise your hand to vote yes on David Mathers.”

Virgil stiffens in his seat.

“Wouldn’t he obviously be unbonded via the Doctorate?” I whisper.

“No,” he says. “You can also be unbonded via death, remember?”

Jules swallows beside me.

Adam says, “The vote passes for David Mathers to be unbonded via death.”

What the actual fuck? They literally just voted to kill a nineteen-year-old boy?!

I start to rise, but Virgil grips my hand. “Anything you do could sway their vote.”

“Raise your hands to vote yes on July Black being unbonded via Doctorate.” Adam squints into the crowd. “I need a second confirmation of the in-person count.”

Someone starts pointing at the hands, physically counting them.

All I can see from my vantage point is that Henry’s hand is up.

It was up for Davy, too, though, and that didn’t exactly go well.

What will I do if not enough people vote yes?

There’s no way that I’m going to let that happen.

I’ll fight whoever it takes to save him.

“August,” Jules says. “If they vote death, let it go.”

“No.”

“You have your whole life ahead of you. Don’t ruin it for me.

My choices led me here. It’s not your job to fight for me.

I never wanted you to be involved in this.

That’s why I left. That’s why I told you not to look for me.

I wanted you to live your life the way you want.

Not to live it for someone else. You’ve done enough of that.

I should have protected you then, and I didn’t.

So I’ll do it now.” He reaches for my hand, holding it in his grasp. It’s trembling.

I gnash my teeth in my mouth. “No.”

I appreciate that he wants to protect me, but I get to protect him too. That’s my right.

Adam says, “July Black shall be unbonded via Doctorate. If he cannot secure a partner before the unbonding two weeks from today, he will be held in the Kingston Penitentiary until it is time to perform his duty in the apocalypse, a Bachelor or Master obtains special permission to partner with him, or his natural death, whichever comes first.”

I exhale so hard I’m almost gasping.

Jules looks at me with tears in his eyes, a shaky smile on his lips. I squeeze his hand.

“Item number three, we have heard the concerns about corruption within factions and allegations of coconspirators in regard to Bernard Mathers. We are voting as to whether a further investigation will be made. Note that this investigation may delay both the Doctorate election and the Bachelor candidacy. Raise hands to vote yes on the investigation.” Adam pauses for the count.

Neither of Adam’s brothers have been participating in the voting.

I suppose that Doctorates can’t, but I wonder what they would choose.

“Yes passes—an investigation shall be conducted, and any delays will be handled as necessary. Finally, the last item is in regard to the Bachelor candidacy. Due to allegations of possible coconspirators of Bernard Mathers being on the panel of Masters, we are voting to decide if the panel should be scrubbed and a new one assigned. This new panel will recast their votes, which may affect the outcome of the Bachelor candidacy. Raise your hands to vote yes on scrubbing the panel.” Another pause, and then, “Yes passes. The panel will be scrubbed. We will assign replacement Masters within the next twenty-four hours. They will likely be chosen from those who have joined us as spectators in the candidacy, as there are no filmed recordings to review.”

Corey lets out a small squeal and beams at me.

“I… I was disqualified,” I say. “They won’t count me.”

“They can do whatever they choose,” Henry says, adjusting his tie. “Including reinstating any candidates who they feel were wrongly disqualified.”

Me and Virgil look at each other.

I could be reinstated as a candidate.

I could still become a Bachelor.