Page 91 of A Mastery of Monsters

If I never see Summerhill again, it’ll be too soon.

We’re brought to a room with the other successful candidates.

Corey came through with her late birthday present, a beautiful black gown for the Bachelor ceremony.

I have no idea how she found out my size and perhaps don’t want to know, but it fits perfectly.

It’s strapless but tight enough that I don’t feel like I’m going to fall out of it, with a double slit up the sides that exposes the fishnet tights I chose to pair with it, finishing with my shiny Docs.

Virgil is in a matching all-black suit that has been tailored impeccably.

I can begrudgingly admit to myself that he was right about good tailoring.

He’s like a dashing dark knight. It fits for someone like him, so willing to fight for everyone else.

I don’t know what that makes me. The sword, maybe.

Essential for his survival and liable to cut.

I touch the chain at my neck. It came in a package delivered to me at Vic Hall with a note from Riley that said, I figured you’d prefer it in black.

The necklace doesn’t warm every time I touch it, but it can. Maybe I shouldn’t have taken this. It’s a promise of sorts, I know. But I would make that promise without it. Because it’s for Riley. I trust that she has my back.

Everyone’s heads turn as me and Virgil enter the holding room.

Hudson immediately looks away from me. Between the two of them, I would have expected Caden to be the one standing here. Alive. About to be given the Bachelor title. Instead, it’s his underling. Thankfully, he doesn’t want anything to do with me. To be honest, I think he’s afraid of me now.

As Virgil greets the other Monsters, Violet comes over and folds me into a hug.

“Glad you didn’t die,” she says.

“Same to you.”

She has a bandage over her temple and is now less the ring finger on her left hand.

When Bryce joins her in congratulating me, he’s limping.

He might have lost a toe. I congratulate them in kind.

It’ll be nice to go into the next semester knowing there will be decent people besides Margot in Henry’s Mastery group.

“And not a scratch on you.” Violet looks me up and down. Then she pauses as she spots my shoulder. “Or almost.”

“Better than it could be.”

I have scars on my back and shoulder, but they look like they’ve been there for years. Not something that only happened yesterday.

Violet leans forward. “I heard the roar was you guys.”

“It was so loud, I thought you two must have been, like, right next to us,” Bryce says.

I nod. “Yeah, that was us.”

Violet says, “Holy shit. My trainer said because they were wearing headphones in the observation room, they got it way louder. I felt the shaking and knew I heard something, but I was also kind of preoccupied trying not to get eaten.”

“Understandable.”

I’m starting to feel a bit of Margot’s and Virgil’s anxiety. I didn’t think people would make such a big deal out of the roar thing. Then again, I don’t see how it could hurt us.

The door opens, and Chen sweeps in. She’s in an emerald gown that brushes the floor.

“We’re going to put you all in separate sections, so you enter from different points.

Symbolic of the tests, you know? Professor Perez will call your names, and you will present yourselves. Follow me. I’ll get you in place.”

Me and Virgil are shoved into a tiny room with thick velvet curtains in front. It’s dim. The only reason we can even see each other is because we’re standing close.

The knowing of everything has gone away. Virgil is back to having his thoughts private. And it’s the same for me to him.

“We did it,” I say, as if just realizing.

Virgil holds out his hand. I clasp onto it as if we’ve been doing this for years. Pull our forearms close.

It’s not enough.

I let go of his hand and tug him to me fully, winding my arms around his neck, and he brings his hands to the small of my back.

I meet his eyes.

There’s a danger in this. He knows it too. I don’t need our minds to be connected to sense that.

“Aren’t you a rule breaker now?” I ask. “Break a rule with me.”

“This isn’t the one to break,” he breathes.

I begin to pull away, but he keeps me close. He presses his forehead against mine. His glasses brush against my cheeks. “So we can only do it this one time. Once, and never again.”

“Once,” I repeat. “And never again.”

No sooner are the words out of my mouth than Virgil is pressing his lips to mine.

It’s not just a kiss. It’s him and me, and me and him.

It’s everything that we are to each other now.

Not just Monster and Master. But Virgil and August. This is the boy who fought with me and for me.

I’m the girl who fought with and for him.

We would have died for each other. Not even out of anything sentimental.

Not because we’re in love but because we didn’t want to imagine a world without the other.

When we separate, it’s only because we need air.

Our foreheads stay connected, panting loud, our breath mingling with one another.

Once is never going to be enough.

“August Black and Virgil Hawthorne!” Perez calls from the other side of the curtain.

I swallow and turn toward them as the fabric is swept aside. I step forward. Virgil steps behind me. I turn to him. “What are you doing?”

“Monsters walk in the back.”

“Fuck that.” Virgil gives me an exasperated look, but there’s a smile on his lips too. Now I know how they taste. The fullness of them. “You worked just as hard for this.”

I can never again think of the marker “Monster” in lowercase. I didn’t do that test alone. If I get a title, he should have one too.

I hold out my arm and he takes it, and we walk into the ballroom side by side.

The curl of James’s lip when he sees us is worth it.

He’s not the only one irked at our departure from tradition.

More than a few Masters toss us sneers or turn up their noses.

This isn’t like when I was reinstated as a candidate to cheers and applause.

Most of those people were students. At the lowest rungs of the society.

These are the elite. And it seems that they are not so easily impressed.

Adam, however, beams at us from the table at the head of the room between his two brothers. I can’t help but seek out Carrigan’s face, looking for some sort of reaction, but his expression is placid and bored.

The room is filled with faces both new and familiar. These are senior Masters and Monsters, people with power and sway in this world, and now we’re only a few steps removed from being just like them.

An usher leads us to our table, which includes Margot, Isaac, Corey, Henry, Laira, and Jules. I stiffen, watching my brother, but all he does is hold his fist out for me to bump.

“I wish you hadn’t done it,” he says as we tap knuckles. “But you did it wonderfully.”

“Thanks.” I sit between him and Virgil. “You and Natalie are bonded?” I eye him like I’ll be able to physically see a difference now that he has a new partner.

“Yup. A much easier process than what you went through.” He straightens his tie. “The Doctorate broke the bond to Bernie right before. They were only keeping him alive until I was bonded to someone new. I guess he won’t be for long.”

I exhale. I can’t make myself feel bad for Bernie, even knowing he was manipulated. But I do feel for Davy. For his son who’s already dead because he dared to try to live free.

Virgil nudges me and points to Adam, who is standing from his seat.

He opens with the usual call and response before launching into his speech.

“Congratulations to the candidates who are to be seen and acknowledged henceforth as Bachelors. These brave pupils put their lives on the line to become strong enough to protect our society, both Bachelors and Monsters.” There are some titters from the crowd.

I assume they don’t like the Monster acknowledgment.

But now Adam is the Doctorate. He promised real equality.

Things are going to change. At least, I have to believe that.

“Tonight, I hope you’ll enjoy this meal with your friends and families, and the honored Master and Monster pairs who were invited to join us.

These people are now your peers and potentially your future mentors.

I wish you all luck next semester in the Monster’s Ball. ”

Adam sits down to a chorus of applause, and food is brought out. Once he’s seated, his smile drops and settles into a flat line, only reappearing when someone turns to speak to him. I frown. He won. You’d think he would be happier.

“What exactly does the Monster’s Ball entail?” I ask Virgil. I know of it, but we never got into the details.

“People say that if the candidacy is the test for Masters, then the Monster’s Ball is the test for Monsters.

You’re put into direct competition with every new Bachelor in the province.

We’ll be in a bracket and forced into one-on-one showdowns.

The expectation being that Monsters evolve significantly between competing in their first Monster’s Ball and defending the next year.

And lucky for us, Ontario always has the highest-level candidates.

” He doesn’t bother to hide his grimace.

“Fantastic.” That is something I will be avoiding thinking about until after winter holidays.

As servers move around the room, Henry clears his throat and looks at me.

“I know that you and I didn’t get off to a great start, but you’ve done something very impressive.

You too, Virgil. It’s not simple to participate in these tests, and even more challenging to pass them.

” He nods to Margot. “Margot has done a wonderful job training you, but next semester she’ll be preoccupied with her own preparations to defend her title at the Monster’s Ball. ”