Page 19 of Monster's Mystery

“It’s for sports, too,” Aiden reassured me.

“There’s an entire second string of substitutes, both dragons and riders,” Una said. “We can look into them.”

“Great. Who else knows him?” I asked. “Was he seeing anyone? What about roommates?”

“I don’t think he was seeing anyone,” Una said, fingering a strand of her hair. “He liked to keep his options open, or so he said last spring.”

Rhiannon shook her head. “Hopefully, he was telling you the truth before you let him—”

“Ifhe had been seeing someone, I’m sure they would have told me. It’s not as if I keep my conquests secret,” Una said primly.

I nodded. “I do vaguely remember you telling us something about Dick’s dick,” I said thoughtfully. “I remember the pun.”

“We should probably get to class,” Lilia said, checking her watch.

I glanced around the mostly empty cafeteria. “Yikes! Yes, we should!”

“Hey,” Aiden said as we were gathering our trays. “Everyone watch out for each other, okay? I’ve heard rumors of more missing people this morning.”

I stared at him. “And you only think to tell usnow?”

He blushed. “Sorry. I got distracted. And it’s nothing concrete. I just overheard a couple people in the hallway asking if other people had seen their roommates.”

“How many people?” I asked.

“At least three,” he replied somberly.

“Maybe it’s nothing,” I said, trying to sound confident. “Maybe they were in the gym, or the pool, or the cafeteria. Do you remember the names?”

Aiden shook his head. “Not really. Sorry. I hope you’re right.”

“But if I’m not, we’ve got a big problem,” I muttered under my breath.

The halls were empty as we ran up the stairs to the second floor and split up for our various classes. Aiden and Bruce followed me down the hall to Qualitative Spellcraft.

Professor Reynolds welcomed us in and closed the door behind us. “Now that we’ve all arrived, I would like to discuss what we’ll be covering this semester.”

The three of us took seats in the last row, behind a row of be-perfumed girls dressed to the nines.

“I’m not sure they are here for the content so much as the deliverer,” I whispered to the boys.

Bruce smirked. “Is it just me, or did he get even more attractive over the summer?” he asked in a low voice that the row in front of us could hear.

A sigh of longing went up from several of the girls, and I had to bite back my laughter. I nudged Bruce in the ribs. “Leave them alone or I’m going to bust a rib!”

He grinned at Aiden over my head and nodded approvingly. “She’ll do.”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Not that it matters, but yes, she’s got a great sense of humor. I’m keeping her no matter what.”

“Can Ipleasepay attention?” I begged.

It was gratifying how quickly they quieted.

“—focusing on spell dissection this year, now that you can see any variation of spell. We will continue to work on describing and analyzing spells accurately. Those of you who are more advanced will learn how to build new spells from components of others. This is complex and delicate work, and also very dangerous, so you will only attempt a newly built spell in the presence of a teacher.” He paused to let his words sink in. “I am extremely serious about this. Even the most skilled witch in the world would not dare attempt a new spell without peer review and safety guidelines.”

I nodded eagerly. I couldn’t wait to start building my own spells.

There wasn’t much time for anything else; the first day of classes always had shortened periods so that we could meet all our teachers.

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