Page 88 of A Mastery of Monsters

I shiver in the cold. I brought my jacket specifically for this waiting period, but I can’t manage to get warm.

I’m sure it doesn’t help to have a bunch of cold mental knives strapped to my body.

And there’s the phantom feeling of my phone vibrating in my pocket.

I put it on silent because Jules was sending so many texts asking how I felt and if I was okay, and saying it wasn’t too late to back out.

He should be concerned with his own bonding.

Virgil is staring at the door the professors disappeared into. Has been since they left.

“What are you most afraid of?” Margot asks me.

I shift in place, tugging on my jacket.

“Go on.”

I think about those tunnels and what I expect to meet down there. I’m scared of a lot of things. That I’ll die. That I won’t be fast enough cutting my flesh. Of the pain of that. But mostly… “That I’ll fail.”

Virgil looks away from the door to me.

“And you?” Margot asks him.

He swallows. “Of losing myself. Of not just becoming the monster, but what I’ll do then. Hurting August. And just… not knowing or caring.”

“Henry asked me that question on my initiation night. Asked it of me and Isaac. And he never gave us an answer to our fears. I remember in the moment that it pissed me off. I didn’t understand what the point of it was.

And I could do the same and say nothing to you now, but I’m not Henry.

” There’s something about the way she says that, like disappointment but also like resignation.

“You two will need to join together during a time of heightened fear, so use that fear to your advantage. All you need is one point of connection to forge the bond. Don’t forget what you said here. ”

The professors reemerge from the tunnels. Chen says, “We’ll take the candidates and their partners down now. Trainers will be led to an observation room shortly thereafter.”

I shrug off my coat and hand it to Margot. My fingers tremble, betraying me.

“Everyone is afraid when they go into this,” she says. “There’s no shame in it.”

I look at Margot standing there, holding my coat in her arms. I think about if this is the last time I’ll see her.

We’ve had so many ups and downs, but she’s a fixture in my life now.

She fought for me, just like Virgil, and Corey, and Riley.

I don’t want to say goodbye, but I also don’t want to lose my chance to say goodbye if I need to.

“I’ll see you after,” Margot says, deciding for us both.

“Okay.”

Virgil’s hand finds mine, and he squeezes. “Thanks, Margot. For everything.” He takes off his glasses with his free hand and gives them to her.

She tucks the pair into my jacket pocket. “You’re welcome.”

It’s the last thing we hear from her before we descend, the only ones who do so with our fingers laced together.

We walk down a long hallway and stop in front of five doors.

Perez says, “We will be bringing each of you through your own door to a different starting point. Once there, a volunteer will deliver the serum. We’ve been able to advance to a formula that will have a delayed effect to give our volunteers time to exit the area.”

“The trial will begin five minutes after injection,” Chen says.

“However, if your partner begins to turn before this time, consider it having begun then. You must exchange flesh in order to create the bond. Successful candidates will use this connection to bring monsters to the fourth and final stage of monstrosity, and the first evolution. Please note that this is a joint effort. The Master gives the monster their humanity, but the monster must use that clarity to return to their human form. Even if you’ve bonded and your partner is docile, if they cannot return to human form, you will both be disqualified. Do you understand?”

We all intone some version of an affirmative.

Perez picks up where she left off. “There is an hour time limit. This has been upsetting to some candidates in the past, but it is necessary. The apocalypse will not wait. We want our strongest soldiers to fight. If you cannot succeed within the hour, then you cannot wear the title. However, this time limit is simply for transformation. Monsters must be in human form once the hour is up, but you do not need to have reached the starting line. At the end of that hour, our Doctorate will keep all those who remain in monstrous form under control. Unsuccessful monsters will be transported directly to their cells. At this point, medics will also enter to provide emergency care, but only after the hour. If you require care or wish to forfeit during the initiation, no one will be coming. You will have to make your own way back to the starting line and come through these doors to get help.”

If I fail but can stick it out for the hour, at least I’ll be rescued. But glancing sidelong at Virgil, I know that’s not a viable option. We need to succeed.

“I speak for both of us when I say that this has been a difficult candidacy, but we’re proud of all of you who have made it here. And we wish you luck.” Chen smiles at all of us then. “There is a learning in this.”

“There is a learning in all,” the candidates and monsters mumble. I move my lips without saying the words. None of us smiles back at our professor.

We’re blindfolded and led through the doors by volunteers. I try to keep track of the twists and turns, making a mental map in my head. But we loop around a couple of times, and I wonder if that’s purposely to confuse us.

Something pierces my arm, and I wince. The next thing I know, my blindfold is yanked off, and I’m watching the back of the volunteer as he runs away. Virgil presses a hand to his bicep.

“That asshole just stuck us both with a needle and ran away,” I say.

“I guess he doesn’t want to waste time.”

I know I should stretch or something, but I can’t bring myself to move.

Virgil grasps his elbows, holding his arms close to his body.

“We can do this,” I say. “We just have to work together.”

“How am I supposed to work with you when I’m like that?”

I nudge him in the shoulder. “Just like the second test. We’ll each take some hits, and we’ll walk out together, okay?”

He can’t manage a smile, but he tries.

We lapse into silence, and I’m about to fill it just to do something when I notice Virgil’s breathing.

I thought it was getting heavier from anxiety, but now it’s built into panting.

Teeth start to crowd his mouth and sharpen.

He tries to say something but fails, instead crying out and clutching his stomach, bending onto his hands and knees.

I stumble back, cold sweat breaking out on the back of my neck.

Virgil screams, and as he bends over, his spine tears from his back, the white bone shredding through the fabric of his shirt and sticking in the air, growing flesh, lengthening and becoming thick. He spits as he tries again to say something.

His face cracks in two, the eyes bulging and seeping with something thick and pale yellow.

And finally, he manages to speak, in something that’s part word and part growl: “RUN!”