Page 1 of Dryad, Try Again
1
KOVI
Opening the door,I’m met with the one person I didn’t expect to see at the beginning of the school year?the dean, smiling at me in the hallway.
“Dean Yaga?” I gulp and the nerves kick in. I’ve known who she was since I enrolled in Creelin University two years ago, but I’ve spoken maybe four words to her directly.
“Mr. Sampath!” she says, cheerfully. She knows my name?I know I’m the only dryad and one of the few dark-skinned dudes on campus, but I try to lay low.Did my suitemates mess up already?Classes don’t even start for days! “May I?”
I nod my head and let her in. “Yes, of course.”
Dean Yaga floats, literally, into my living space, on her black mortar. Her transportation acts like a little black stone boat, hovering a foot into the air, and I have no idea how it works. Her silver hair is tied back in a braid, and her crimson leather trench coat makes her appear as regal as ever.
“How was move-in?”
“Move-in was…good?” I shove my hands in my jean pockets and try not to shrug. “My third time doing it.”
“Yes, that’s great. It’s always good that our upperclassmen dorms here at Creelin are appropriate for monsters of all kinds.” She waves her hand at our common room. It’s cozy, sleek, and modern, with two maroon, fabric couches facing a small flatscreen TV.
“Yes, I’d say so,” I reply. “No complaints from us.” My two best-friends-slash-suitemates are different monsters, and we each have our own private rooms.
“Anyway...” She puts her hands together and smiles again. “I came to ask a favor of you, Mr. Sampath.”
“Please, call me, Kovi.”
“Yes, well Kovi, I came here to personally ask you?”
She’s interrupted by the door swinging open and my roommate’s voice nearly cheering. “What’s up, party monsters?! Let’s get this year fuc?oh.”
Seth’s face nearly blanches at the sight of the dean, and I slap my palm into my face. “Dean Yaga…” He gulps and shifts the milkcrate in his hands. We can clearly see the contents: ancient scrolls and canopic jars, the essentials for a mummy. Behind those are bottles of lube and chains of condoms?of course, safety first for a party monster like him.
I grimace, but Dean Yaga doesn’t drop her smile. “You must be Sethem, the former pharaoh.”
He nods and jostles the box, trying to hide the contents from the administrator of our school.He better not have any booze in there. “Yes. I’m Seth. Pharaoh brought back to life, post-mummification. Your resident mummy shifter, that’s me.” He chuckles, and I match his nervous smile. “So, listen…um, I’m sure you have a lot of questions, but I had nothing to do with that incident. In fact, I had never seen a scarab before in my life. And you can ask anyone?”
“Seth!” I bark through gritted teeth. “Dean Yaga came here only to speak to me.”
After a tense moment, he slowly nods. “Right.”
“Yes, I’m here to ask Kovi for a favor on a private matter.”
“Oh, of course.” His eyes dart between us and I’m two seconds away from shifting out of nervousness.Keep your cool, Kovi, stay human.“I’ll just, um…” He scratches his eyebrow while the box continues to shift on his hip.
“Maybe we can talk elsewhere?” I suggest.
“Splendid idea. Can we take a walk to the west lawn, Kovi?”
I nod at the dean, and we head out the door past Seth, but not before I throw my best friend a “don’t do anything stupid, Seth” look.
Five minutes later,we’re walking?she’s hovering?out the entrance to Karloff Hall. This dorm, my home-away-from-trees, is a gray-stone structure with gothic castle vibes. The outside screams spooky, but the inside is fully modern American architecture. I wanted the full human experience dorming, and I definitely got it, complete with roommate hijinks.
“Now, I hate to ask you this favor,” the dean says. We pass the quad where other students are moving their belongings into their respective buildings. “You know the origins of our school, correct?”
“Yes, of course. You told us during orientation; during the Halloween Wave that turned one third of the population into shifters, the school was rebuilt by supernatural forces.”
She nods, pleased at my answer. We make it to the west gate, and some of the gargoyles perched atop the concrete walls greet us. “And you know who runs the facilities, the grounds, etc.?” she asks.
I nod again and break out into a small jog. She’s a tiny woman, where I’m over six feet, but my long legs can barely keepup with her basically flying away on her mortar. “It’s the zombie and ghosts, right? Their only directive is to work on the school.”
