Page 2 of Monster's Reward

Were shadow monsters so terrible we actuallyneededexterminating, and if so, what on earth had I just become?

Unfortunately, these were questions my professors weren’t prepared to answer, so I was left in the dark, even as I followed all their rules.

Which meant I attended classes like all the other students, but wasn’t allowed to use any of my shadow skills in front of them. In other words, I appeared utterly incompetent.

I honestly wouldn’t care except it also made me a potential target for bullies, something I absolutely could not allow to happen given my monster’s propensity for violent revenge.

So, I spent the majority of my first year gritting my teeth and ignoring the whispers and snide comments, while developing my ability to blend into the shadows so that no one noticed me.

By the end of that year, most students had completely forgotten I even existed, which as far as I was concerned, was a good thing, especially since I was constantly hiding fromhim.

The beast who hunted me.

And eventually, the beast I used the shadows to stalk.

Let’s be clear. I’m notproudthat I’ve become a stalker, but once I discovered how easy it was to follow him around, I just couldn’t resist.

I blame Professor Pulmeyer, who had me contemplating new ways to use the shadows in her Magical Transportation class.

I’m sure she didn’t intend for me to learn what I did in that class.

It’s just that I found theconceptof magical transportation way more interesting than therealityof using mirrors to do so.

After all, what if there were no mirrors nearby?

It seemed so limiting. It definitely wouldn’t allow me to follow my obsession around.

At that point, all I’d learned to do was blend into the shadows around me, the benefits of which could not be overstated, but how would I ever learn about my obsession if all I could do was hide and then watch him walk away?

When I enrolled in Professor Pulmeyer’s Magical Transportation class my second year, though, all that changed.

Watching students slip from one side of a mirror to a location far from us, literally disappearing before our eyes, had me wondering whether I could do the same from the shadows.

After all, I’d become so adept at hiding in them, I’d become virtually invisible to my classmates, even when they were looking right at me. All I had to do now was maintain that invisibility while moving.

With this in mind, I began to experiment with movement while standing in the shadows. What I discovered was that I couldn’t necessarily travel from the castle grounds (yes, the Academy was actually housed inside a real-live castle) to the nearby town of Wellspring, at least not all at once, but Icouldslip from one shadow to the next without being seen.

Theoretically, if there were enough shadows available, I might eventually be able to make it all the way to Wellspring if I tried. Not that I ever did. I was more interested in exploring the castle itself and discovering whatever secrets it housed, particularly any that pertained to my own history and the demise of my people.

I had always had an affinity for the shadows, even before my monster made her appearance, but now it was as if they were growing in my presence, constantly reaching out to me, sliding over me whenever I stood near them, enveloping me in their shroud of darkness.

And I liked it.

No, Ilovedit.

I spent more and more time in the shadows, sliding from one to the next, catching whispered conversations between students and teachers alike.

I had unwittingly become the keeper of theirsecrets—some of them rather boring, but others quite shocking—and I had no one to share them with.

Until the day I dragged Jahrdran into the shadows with me.

CHAPTER2

Jahrdran Vilnik was my obsession,hence the stalking.

I’ve never actually met him in person, but trust me, he makes an impression.

I’d seen him for the first time at the end of my third day at the Academy, and in a way, he became the reason I discovered how sheltering the shadows could actually be for me.