Page 19 of Misfit Monsters
My instructor clears her throat to get my attention. I open my eyes to the sprawling green of the city park, scattered with looming trees and dotted with mortal figures lounging on picnic blankets.
A trace of acid creeps up my throat. I resist the urge to curl my lip in disgust.
If I’m ever going to establish myself in this realm the way I want to, I have to be able to tolerate humanity. As little as they deserve it.
“Shall we keep walking?” Shanty says pointedly. This excursion isn’t much of a test if I don’t have to come near anyone.
We both know the main reason I’ve failed my trial outings again and again.
I shrug as if unconcerned and start forward along the paved pathway. When I lift a potato chip from the bag of BBQ flavor I bought, I keep a close eye on the sleeve of my thin linen shirt to ensure the tight cuff doesn’t ride down.
Who knows what the humans would make of the blue veins that wind across my milky forearms all the way to my elbows? They stand out as starkly as if they were painted on.
I pop the chip into my mouth and allow myself a small smile at the crackling flavor that spreads across my tongue. I’ll give humans credit for one thing—they know how to make good use of spicing.
Nothing in the shadow realm ever offered this delicious shock to my system.
I suppose we do need to keep them around, if only for that reason.
I catch a couple of glances from the human women strolling past me, one with a slight flush in her cheeks. It seems my smile has drawn a familiar sort of attention.
It’s become obvious even in my very short sojourns away from school that mortals find my human-esque form just as appealing as many of my fellow shadowkind do. Not an opening I’m inclined to pursue withthesesort of beings, but worthy of a wider smirk.
Shanty drifts back behind me, giving me plenty of room as if I'm out for a walk on my own. I know she's tracking my every move.
I tune out her presence, drawing fresh air into my lungs, snacking on another chip.
If you ignore the humans draping themselves all over it, the park is appealing enough. The warm breeze carries sweet scents of spring growth. Plenty of more genial mortal creatures abound, from the squirrel scampering across the path to the birds chirping on the tree branches.
This place is much closer to where I'm meant to be—where my shadowkind essence craves to be—than the nearly barren New Mexico desert that holds the academy, that's for sure.
A child leaps after the squirrel with a high-pitched giggle. Watching the poor animal dart away in a panic, I grit my teeth but keep walking.
I simply have to make it from one end of this large park to the other. It shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes.
A dog races past me with a tennis ball clutched in its jaws. It drops it at the foot of an elderly woman and bows down in a pose of appeasement it really should be ashamed of. She doesn't even look at it, too busy blathering on the phone pressed to her ear.
A little farther on, a group gets up from their meal in the midst of raucous chatter. They saunter away, leaving plastic wrappers and soda cans nestled in the grass around the picnic table.
Do they not even see?
No, the problem is that they don't care.
But that’s notmyproblem. My only problem is finishing this test and getting out of here. None of them need to matter.
I follow a bend in the path past a parking lot half full of noxious human vehicles. A row of shops comes into view beyond the last of the trees up ahead.
I’m almost at the end. My goal is no more than a minute away.
Even as I think that, a sharpbangreverberates through the air. I jerk to a halt as I register what it was: a car door slamming.
Raised voices burst out. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"You cutmeoff, you prick!"
My nerves scatter, and my pulse hitches to a frantic pace. Images flit through my head: red splashed on white, humans bellowing, a lance of pain?—
I stiffen my body to stop it from trembling. Terror and humiliation over my panicked reaction jolt through me. My jaw clenches.
