Page 15 of Misfit Monsters
“You should watch where you’re going,” Gloss says with a benevolent air, as if she’s doing me a favor by not dropkicking me for my transgression.
The glow of my embarrassment is already fading away, but her gaze flicks to my companion. Her crimson lips curl condescendingly. “You poor things—it’s the hopeless leading the hopeless. Impressive that you’ve found each other so quickly.”
I glance at Fen, who appears to have shrunk in on her already slight frame. Her voice shrinks too. “We were just getting some juice.”
“Oh? I thought you had more than enough liquid in you already, Drip.”
One of Gloss’s friends snorts. “The way she piddles, she should be in puppy school, not here.”
Gloss tsks her tongue. “Look, there she goes again.”
The patter of falling water reaches my ears. It’s coming from the hand that’s dropped to Fen’s side as she hugs her other arm across her waist.
Droplets of murky water dribble off her fingers and plop onto the white-tiled floor. The nearest students wince and move away.
Their reaction only makes the dripping thicken into a steady trickle. Fen squeezes her hand into a fist, but she can’t contain the water leaking off her.
It must be something to do with her powers. This is what she was saying she can’t control.
Gloss provoked her on purpose.
The shame radiating off Fen now chokes me with its vinegar sourness. She was perfectly happy a moment ago.
She shouldn’t have to feel like this.
With a smile that feels fierce, I stare into Gloss’s gleaming amber eyes. “It’s just a little water. Water’s good for everyone. I’m proud to be her friend.”
Gloss rolls her eyes. “We’ll see how far that pride gets you, I suppose.”
She motions to her cluster of followers, and they all sashay off.
“Here.” I take Fen’s cup and hustle to the table where I fill it and mine with juice. When I return, she’s left behind the puddle of marshy water and retreated to her seat.
I sit next to her. “I don’t understand why people say things like that. You didn’t do anything wrong. No one would be here if we didn’t have more to learn.”
Apparently a lot of the other students have amnesia about that fact. Let’s hope it’s temporary.
Fen takes a sip of her juice and lifts her shoulders in a weak shrug. “It’s okay. Humans aren’t always going to be nice either. The staff encourage us to hassle each other as long as there’s no real harm done. It tests our tolerance, gives us practice at holding in our powers even when we’re annoyed or upset.” She grimaces. “Like you saw, I usually fail that test.”
I let out a dismissive huff. “We’ll figure it out. I’m here because I have trouble keeping my powers in too. We can work on our control together.”
Finally, a glimmer of pleased relief seeps through Fen’s gloom, sweet as a dab of strawberry jam. “You think so?”
“Absolutely. Everyone knows it’s easier to tackle problems when you’re not alone.”
A streak of red at the corner of my vision catches my attention. Mirage is just loping to the cafeteria door, pausing to swipe a sausage off another student’s plate and provoking an indignant yelp.
A burst of resolve raises my spirits. I can find out what’s going on inside him too.
6
Periwinkle
As she leads me to the room for our Geography and Culture class, Fen perks up. “I wonder what place we’ll be hearing about today. I think if I can ever really integrate, I’d want to visit a whole bunch of them.”
I think of the many different landscapes and styles of humans I’ve glimpsed images of. “I want to see all of them!”
I have a brief daydream of gliding around the mortal world, sampling all its flavors… Brief because when we walk into the classroom with its rows of tables, I find myself staring at the sorcerer who compelled me into my latest cage.
