Page 12 of Monster's Delight

He took a deep breath and returned to the lectern at the front of the room, picking up one of the little books and flipping through it. “How can we discuss the ley line’s relationship to the magical nexus at Giza, for example, if you don’t know where to find it on a map? How can you learn to draw the ley lines over a map and make a significant nexus if you don’t know what is there?”

That was an excellent point. We wouldn’t be able to fully understand his lectures if we didn’t have a decent world map in our minds.

“Why can’t we just use a map?” the same girl asked, without raising her hand this time.

Professor Akhtar flicked his fingers at one wall and a world map unrolled across it. “Tell me, where is Dodoma?”

The girl tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and sat back, looking bored. “The country Dodoma is in Africa.”

Akhtar snapped his fingers and the map rolled up. “I rest my case. The Katavi National Park just west of Tanzania’s capital Dodoma is one of the many sites we will be discussing this term. If you do not take this class seriously, you will not pass.”

That sounded like a fact rather than a threat. I didn’t understand the girl’s antagonism. She should be here to learn, like I was.

I resolved to stay away from her and her negativity and focused on the lesson.

Mind spinning like the globe on Professor Akhtar’s desk, I made my way to the mess hall along with everyone else, and stood in line with my tray floating in front of me. Half my attention on the tray, I turned the rest of it to memorizing the capitals and country locations of Africa. I was fortunately already familiar with Europe, thanks to my plans for after graduation, but the countries in Africa were mostly a mystery to me.

I was staring at the western coast, nose practically an inch from the page, when someone bumped into my shoulder.

Hard.

And then I felt something cold and slimy on top of my head. In the time it took me to meet the horrified eyes of the person who had bumped into me, the gooey mess had slithered down my hair at the back, and over my forehead. I quickly closed my eyes to keep the mess out of them.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going!” a male voice shouted at me.

“Back at you!” I replied in kind.

Another man’s voice, much calmer than the first, said, “It wasn’t any one person’s fault. I wasn’t paying attention either. Cool it, buddy. Hey, are you all right?” It felt like that last question was directed at me.

I considered how to answer him, but the squishy cold had reached both my shirt and my mouth. I was fairly certain it was food, but what if it wasn’t? I couldn’t see it to banish it, and even if I could, stuff of this consistency, a kind of thick fluid, didn’t bond the same way normal liquids or solids did. Banishing something like pudding never worked as well as banishing water or ice—there was always residue left behind no matter how thorough your spellwork.

“She can’t answer you because it’s all over her face!” That was Hazel’s voice, and I could have cried with relief. Small but strong hands took hold of my shoulders and steered me somewhere. “No, you’ve done enough. Leave us alone!” she snapped.

I heard the shuffling of paper napkins and then the scratchy material was wiping at my face, trying to clear off enough of the viscousthingfrom my eyes so I could see.

“It’s just pudding,” Hazel reassured me.

I licked my lips. “Chocolate,” I said, humming in satisfaction. My eyelashes felt heavy as I blinked them, trying to spot the two guys that had dumped pudding on my head.

The one guy I had locked eyes with, had he been the angry one?

Or was he the one with the kind voice?

I’d felt something, like an instant connection, when I’d looked at him, even though I hadn’t seen him before. Probably. Other than a brief glimpse of brown eyes, I wasn’t even sure I knew what he looked like.

“Okay, you need to have a shower to get this out of your hair. Come on, I’ll soak your shirt for you while you wash,” Hazel offered.

Giving up on finding the owner of the dreamy eyes, I followed Hazel up the stairs to the bathroom closest to our room. After carefully putting my books into my purse and laying it aside on a counter, I stripped out of my blouse, wrinkling my nose at the brown mess on the collar. It was a good thing that the pudding hadn’t dripped further down my body onto my skirt.

“I think it’ll be easier if you have a full shower, rather than washing in the sink,” Hazel said, stopping me with a hand before I flipped my hair over my head into the basin.

“But...” I started to protest.

“You’re wasting time,” Hazel said, already rinsing out my blouse. “The pudding is on top of your hair. Better to use the shower head rather than trying to scrub upside down.”

“I hate it when you’re right,” I said with a sigh, stepping into a shower stall and stripping off the rest of my clothing.

“What happened?” Hazel asked. “I saw you come in and line up from my table, and then the next time I looked up, those two giants were standing over you and you were covered in chocolate pudding!”

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