Page 10 of Monster's Reward

Once again, even though Iknewshe was nothing more than smoke and mist, I swear I could feel the weight of her pressing into me, reminding me that I was no longer alone.

As I lay there, listening to Shadow’s rumbling purr, I thought about everything I’d just learned.

First, there were rumors about me.

Second, my roommate actually knew when I was around.

And third, she and Mikaela had been nice.

An unexpected development.

Not that they’d ever been mean to me before. I mean, we had met on several occasions before, especially the previous year, before I’d learned how to travel from shadow to shadow.

Jasmine had seen me sliding out from under the bed in the mornings plenty of times and we’d developed a routine where we’d greet each other, then go our separate ways.

This year, though, I’d been working hard at keeping everyone from catching even a single glimpse of me.

Except the professors, of course.

I’d become quite adept at letting them know I was in the room, even if they couldn’t see me.

Usually that involved sending them a text with my location pinned upon it.

If they pissed me off, that location would be me lurking directly behind them in the shadows.

The result was always funny, though I also always paid for it in our private lessons. More homework. Harder tasks. Greater expectations. Longer drills.

Still it was worth it, especially since I enjoyed toying with people.

Which made me wonder.

Was Jahrdran toying with me the way I toyed with our professors? The way predators toyed with their prey?

That’s when it happened.

I fell asleep thinking about Jahrdran and woke in his arms.

CHAPTER4

During those lessonswith Professor Dewar, I never did get around to yanking Shadow into the shadows with me.

Instead, I continued doing what I always did—I reached out to her and asked politely.

Of course, she always joined me immediately.

Every single time.

Still, Professor Dewar wasn’t impressed.

She wanted proof that I could fetch on demand or in crisis mode and she wasn’t at all appeased by the fact that I could drag any number of non-living things into the shadows with me.

She wanted proof that I could pull a living creature into the shadows without killing it.

Well, I wasn’t about to practice on Shadow.

Apparently, though, my sleeping brain had no issues with practicing on Jahrdran Vilnik.

I woke in a fever.

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