Page 39 of Misfit Monsters
A voice crackles from a speaker mounted somewhere I can’t see. The intoned syllables carry a current of sorcery that winds through my essence.
Follow me to the meeting room. Don’t move except to walk where I lead.
As the commands take hold, a door opens in front of me. Squinting against the stinging light, I hurry toward the gentler glow outside.
It’s only after I step into the hall that I recognize Jonah as my escort. He motions me down the narrow, pale gray corridor, his expression tight.
I keep pace, my stomach knotting at the thought that he’s angry with me. But just before he pushes open the door at the end of the hall, he glances over. “I’m sorry about this. It’s a mandatory safety precaution. I know you wouldn’t try to hurt anyone.”
I swallow thickly. At leastsomeonebelieves that no matter how badly I’ve bungled things. “I understand.”
We step into the dwindling daylight of the late afternoon. The building where I was held is a squat beige cube set apart from the two much larger stucco buildings that hold the two divisions of the academy side by side.
As the dry desert air prickles in my nose, we go through the back entrance of the sprawling reform building. It’s only a short trek down that hallway to a meeting room I’m too familiar with.
The other five administrators are already poised behind the kidney-shaped table, their faces as grim as Jonah’s or worse. Even Pearl’s blond curls look deflated.
A vibe of disappointment and uneasiness wafts through the air from all around me, sour as curdled milk.
Jonah leaves me in the center of the room to take his spot at the end of the table. All six pairs of eyes study me.
Gnash speaks first, his voice a low growl. “You were already on thin ice, and now this. You’ve barely been at the academy for a week, and you’ve hurt several students.”
I can’t give up. Pushing through my doubts, I lift my chin. “I’m learning a lot. There’ve just been… incidents I didn’t avoid fast enough. I’ll get better at it.”
Jonah raps his hand against the tabletop. “We have to take into account the behavior of the other students toward Peri. You all saw what they did to her room. We’ve heard what happened at lunch.”
Toni shakes her head with a swish of her dark bob. “Embarrassment and vandalism aren’t the same as an outright physical attack. And the students Periwinkle hurt weren’t even the ones who harassed her.”
Shanty’s mouth twists into a slanted line. “And when you’re out among humans, you need to be prepared to face situations that upset you. Mortals can be cruel and selfish. If even more of them start hunting us… Lashing out puts all our survival in danger.”
My head droops. “I tried so hard to stop it, I promise.”
“That’s part of the problem,” Pearl says softly. “Your powers are out of control—our control and yours. If you’re not getting a better grip on them even when you’d really like to… I’m not sure what we can teach you.”
I suspect the outcome of this meeting is already decided, but I make a last-ditch attempt, putting on my best winning smile. “I’ll keep practicing—more one-on-one sessions. I’ll stay in the confinement building as long as you want so Ican’thurt anyone.”
Al speaks up in his flat tone. “You can hardly practice if there’s no one around to provoke you. How would we know that we wouldn’t see the exact same result as soon as you returned to regular classes?”
A very good question I wish I had the answer to.
Gnash stands up and glowers at me. “In light of all recent events and your inability to control your powers, the only choice we can make for the security of the academy and the shadowkind community at large is?—”
The whoosh of the door opening cuts him off. A casually commanding voice rings out. “You started without me.”
I stare at the shadowkind man who strolls inside, but that must be okay, because all the administrators are staring at him too.
He isn’t especially impressive to look at, with polished features that are handsome enough but a body that’s not quite as tall or bulky as Gnash’s. All the same, my skin quivers with the aura of power he emanates.
Whatever kind of being he is, he’s one I’d give a wide berth. If I had the choice.
The new arrival has just reached the chair at the middle of the table when Shanty finds her voice. “Rollick. I didn’t realize you’d decided to join us.”
So this is the mysterious founder of the school, the one who wanted to give all shadowkind a chance to adapt to the mortal world. I peer at him more closely, as if his tawny hair and gleaming teeth will give me a clue about how he’s going to handle my case.
I can’t catch any emotions trickling off him. Either he’s very good at moderating his internal reactions or he’s very calm about what’s going on.
That makes one of us.
