Page 18 of Monster Girl

Seriousness pushed aside for now, he gestures to my completed rune and waggles his brows. Mouthing,“I won.”

I tip my head back in exasperation, taking his word for it, I find myself procrastinating for a moment before pressing my fingers to his rune. My power activates it, tickling my fingertips as it flows from my hand.

I cringe back afterwards, nervous anticipation swirling in my chest. What the heck isthisrune for? Despite my extensive knowledge on runes I don’t recognise the one he did, so I’m going in blind. Swallowing hard, I flinch when the first bang sounds and a small cloud of rainbow glitter floats down from above our heads. My jaw drops open as multiple other mini glitter explosions go off throughout the room, causing a few students to scream in surprise and others to let out whoops of excitement at the display.

A laugh tumbles from my lips and I meet Corin's glittering eyes. I can’t believe this is the rune he chose. My lips twist into a smirk when as I realise that this is better anyway. Mine was basically a massive magical fart bomb, I suppose I’ll just keep it in my arsenal for now. An angry chuff from the professor has my lips pressing into a line even while I’m cackling on the inside.

Mr James raises his voice to be heard over the ruckus of now rowdy students as the glitter bombs stop. “That is enough!Nessa, I believe you’ll be enjoying the company of Mr Spencer tonight for detention.” Glowing eyes watch me with irritation. I have to admit, though, him using his magic to detect who activated the rune is pretty damn awesome.

The bell ringing overhead has me grabbing my bag and slipping from the room before Mr James can change his mind and give me a worse punishment. Corin trails after me at a slower clip, so I drop back to his side.

“So since you got me a detention, I think it’s only reasonable that you walk me to my whatever-the-length-of-it-is jailment. Also because I have no idea where it is? Please?” I make fake puppy dog eyes at the behemoth of a man next to me, and holding my gaze he heaves a sigh as though he’s doing me a huge favour. Though, I don’t miss a smile dancing at the corners of his lips.

“Fine. I suppose I can walk you.” The reply is gruff and a shiver rolls down my spine at the cadence of his voice.

I grin and squeeze his forearm in thanks. His body jerks at the contact, but he doesn’t pull his arm away. “Awesome, I’ll meet you…”

“At the front entrance of the school,” he fills in and I nod.

“At three.”

He flashes me a tiny smile before he turns away, presumably to go to his next class and I hurry away to go to mine as well.

Chapter Twenty-Two — Nessa

Irubatmytired eyes in frustration. Oscar went back to his room to sleep hours ago, but I knew I wasn’t ready for bed so I stayed at the library completely immersed in the second volume in theIschyrós Rune Chronicles. It’s intriguing to learn runes that are long forgotten and the history behind them. The books in the chronicles were written roughly over a hundred years ago and the thin well-worn pages have a smile tugging at my lips. Well, usually they do, but tonight I can’t seem to focus on much of anything.

My lips twist as this afternoon replays through my mind.

Corin’s scowling face greets me when I hurry out the front doors of the school. My last class ran late and I cringe at the Mountain Man's expression. I’m sort of expecting him to growl at me, but instead his moody expression softens after he checks me over. My body relaxes as his mood levels out. Was he… worried? Aww, that’s so damn sweet.

My lips curl into a smile as I greet him and wipe my palms on my dress. The school uniform is actually bugging the crap out of me, but I keep my grumbling internal for now. “So where is this detention at?” I mumble, focused on an odd looking butterfly that’s meandering across the lawn. Is that a skull on its wings? Refocusing on Corin, shaking my head to myself.

“It’s this way, come on.” He ushers me off to the side and curiosity buzzes in my chest. Is this going to be something boring or scary? If it were my choice I’d totally vote for scary. I’ve yet to find any of my fathers attempts at scaring me into never doing something again to actually work.

Turns out detention is serially boring. We were forced to clean for two hours before being released. Waste of an afternoon if you ask me. Though it might have been worth it to witness Corin’s half smile as he left me with Mr E—AKA, a grumpy old goblin who takes pleasure in forcing unruly college students to clean, apparently. Plus Mr James’ face was pretty priceless at the chaos we’d caused in his lesson.

I jump when something bangs to my left. A small sound falls from my lips as I scan my surroundings for the source of the noise. A lone book lays on the ground between two bookshelves and my brows furrow. I push away from the booth I’m in and check down each aisle near me, only to find them empty and my ears assure me that we’re alone when I don’t hear any footsteps or voices.

I shake my head to myself.Must be imagining shit, Goddess, I need to go to bed, obviously. Running a hand through my mussed hair, I begin to shove everything into my magic book bag. As I’m throwing it over my shoulder another bang sounds and I grunt, hissing under my breath as I once again scan the library. This time, not only is there another book lying in the aisle, but a flickering figure stands beside it. Ghost Girl.

My forehead crinkles as I stare at her, waiting for her to speak, but she doesn’t. She just turns around and starts walking at a fast clip deeper into the library. My chest clenches with unease as indecision holds me still. Should I, or should I not follow the strange Ghost Girl—who only I can see—into an unfamiliar part of a huge supernatural library? Letting my head hang forwards for a moment, I let out a groan and shake out my shoulders. Oh what the hell. I straighten back up, only to yelp and reel back when I find Ghost Girl millimetres from my face.

The moment she has regained my attention she slips away again, in the same direction as before. This time though, I follow her, having to move at a slow jog to keep up with her. “So where are we going?” I whisper. Without making eye contact her eyes turn flinty and she presses a pale finger to her lips in the unanimous, “shut the fuck up” gesture.

I raise my hands up in a “I come in peace” motion and she throws me some serious side eye before refocusing on leading me through what I’m pretty sure is a maze. Glancing around me, I can safely say that I have no idea how I’m going to get back out of here, but I’m too curious to bow out now. We come to a door and she literally passes through it. Since I can’t do that, I test the handle and find it locked. With a low growl, I attach the strongest unlocking rune I know to the lock and smile in satisfaction when I try the door again and I’m able to push it open.

I’m momentarily disoriented by the bright overhead lighting when I step over the threshold only to freeze, my eyes widening at the scene in front of me. A cloaked figure hovers over a prone woman’s form, knife parting flesh with practised ease. A shocked sound falls from my parted lips as flashes of reality and memories collide, leaving me slow to react when the person turns on me.

Instead of going for a weapon, like I usually would, or attacking them with a spell, I’m frozen in place. Heart pounding. Ears ringing.

A banshee scream erupts from their lips that has me curling over at the waist with my hands pressed firmly over my ears. The scream reverberates through the room and has a sharp pain exploding sharply behind my eyes and I groan. Before I can gather myself, the scream cuts off abruptly as a pop sounds in both ears and all sound turns muted. A dull ache remains in my ears still, but thankfully the knee weakening shriek is mostly blotted out due to my loss of hearing. I raise my hands towards the cloaked figure, muttering a spell, stumbling as the world spins and warm liquid rolls down the sides of my throat. I cock my head to the side, trying to right the world as befuddlement swarms my already cloudy mind. I grunt as I’m thrown back against the wall and am held there by an invisible hold.

I open my mouth to suck in a breath as I stare at the person holding me captive against the wall. I’m unable to see their face due to their hood hanging so low, but they’re shorter than I expected. My words are cut off when a wave of warm liquid splashes over me and I sputter, coughing as it floods my mouth, and up my nose, saturating my clothing and clotting in my hair. A metallic tang sharpens the air around me until it’s almost unbearable and a scream lodges in my throat as memories tug me under their grasp.

A gentle breeze. Sunshine. Fun. Laughter.

The swish of trees and leaves. Pitter pattered feet of forest animals and a sweet giggle fell from my lips as I raced into my favourite clearing. The tree in the centre held our treehouse.

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