Page 29 of Monster's Reward

“Wait!” Mikaela exclaimed. “Is that the history book? The one you’ve been trying to read forever?”

I nodded impatiently. “Something happened. I don’t know how or why, but the copyright is now this year and there are hundreds of new pages at the end of the book.”

“That must be the enchantment I could feel every time I touched it,” Jasmine exclaimed. “We figured it was to keep non-shadow-monsters from reading it, but it must also have some sort of generation spell to it. I’m guessing when you touched it, Kasi, the spell was triggered to update the history within its pages.”

“Which hopefully means it’s anobjectivehistory that we can trust,” I said.

“Right,” Mikaela said. “It may also be why it’s been so hard for you to read. Objectivity probably translates to a bunch of boring facts.”

“Well, they’re not so boring anymore,” I said. “Listen to this. ‘An execution order was handed down in 1810, condemning all shadow-beasts to death. The Varulvka were called in to carry out that order.

‘“The prevailing theory among the shadow-beasts was that the extermination effort was either being led or manipulated by the rogue monsters themselves. At the time, the only viable threat to their reign of terror was the shadow-beasts, who now had to flee for their lives, leaving the hunt for the Shadow Killer unfinished. It was this development that had the shadow-beasts concerned the other supernaturals were being manipulated into acting against their own interests. Deaths reached an all-time high as the hunters became the hunted.

“‘The shadow-beasts knew if the execution order was successfully carried out and they were eliminated, there would be no one left able to search the Shadows for the Killer.”

I looked up. “First of all, I’d just like to point out the use of the term shadow-beast when every professor I’ve met has referred to me as a Monster. Maybe they’re one and the same, but somehow Monster feels worse than Beast.

“Anyway, that’s not the point. Imagine if Professor Sommerland is right and itwasa mate. The shadow-beasts believed whoever the killer was, he or she had somehow influenced the decision to hunt them all.”

“But it that were true, if the killerwasa mate, then he or she would be condemning their own mate to death,” Mikaela protested.

“Where’s the book about shadow-mates?”

Jasmine leaned over the foot of her bed and grabbed it off her bookshelf.

“Does it say anything about what happens when one of the mated pair dies?”

Jasmine flipped to a page she’d marked with a post-it and read out loud, “‘Of all the mated bonds in the supernatural world, shadow-mates are the most likely to die within seconds of one another. Even shadow-mates who failed to complete their bond before their deaths have still passed together.’” She looked up. “I marked it because it’s important for you to understand how tied you and Jahrdran are, even though he rejected you.”

I wasn’t ready to even think about that, so I ignored the comment and focused on finding the next passage I wanted to read them.

“‘Okay, here it is. ‘The shadow-beasts spent two years hunting the criminal known as the Shadow Killer. During those years, the number of deaths and disappearances grew by the millions.

“‘While the shadow-beasts hunted, their chosen representative, Lydrel Zowen, the ambassador for the Council of Shadows, attempted to convince the other rulers that all shadow-beasts should not be condemned for the actions of one or even a few.’

“There’s a footnote at the bottom of the page. It says, ‘Lydrel Zowen was not a shadow-beast, but instead, was the dragon mate of Celia Warren, a shadow-beast who died of a rare, genetic disease. Zowen is the only known shadow-mate in history who did not succumb to death upon his mate’s demise.

“Though watched carefully, there were no signs of mental deterioration or loss of control in Zowen following his mate’s death, and in the years that followed, he focused his energy on his political career and climbed the ranks to become ambassador for the Council of Shadows.’”

I looked up. “What if they were wrong?”

“Wrong about what?” Mikaela asked.

“What if Zowen did go insane after his mate’s death andhe’sthe killer? Think about it. He would have had access to the shadow realmandhe was in a position of power. He could have been the one behind the scenes, manipulating the supernatural community into issuing the Order of Execution in the first place.”

Silence fell as the three of us contemplated that theory.

“Okay, it’s a solid theory,” Mikaela said, “but how do we go about proving something that happened hundreds of years ago?”

“It’s like trying to solve the coldest cold case in supernatural history,” Jasmine said.

“Especially if our only suspect is dead,” Mikaela said.

“Of course, he’s dead,” I said. “It’s been hundreds of years!”

“Eh, well, you know,” Jasmine said. “Some supernaturals are really long-lived.”

“But surely not forhundreds of years?” I glanced from Jasmine to Mikaela, who simply shrugged and nodded. “So, how long do you guys live?” Before they could answer, I shook my head and waved a hand in the air. “Never mind. Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all going to live forever.”

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