Young Writers Society

Anton Wolfe
I slammed the door behind me, threw my hoodie on the floor and paced around the room. A hellhound eating from her hand. I slammed my fist into the wall and cursed loudly as I felt the pain travel through my injured arm.

Deep breath.

I picked up my hoodie from the floor and hanged it over a chair instead. The door to the room next to mine opened. I listened as the steps went from that door to the other side of mine. A loud knock, that only served to remind me of my beginning headache.

I opened the door with a sigh. "Yeah?" To my surprise Miranda was on the other side, in pajamas. She looked surprised to see me too, but even more surprised at my pitch black room and heavy door.

"Angry?" she muttered.

"I talked to Darcy." I didn't need to say more, she seemed to get it.

"Oh." I refused to apologize three times the same day, so if she expected me to apologize then she was sorely mistaken. "Don't you have a window?" she glanced over my shoulder, into what she perceived as darkness. I opened my mouth to answer, but she cut me of. "Right, hellhound eyes."

I frowned. "You look tired."

"Yes, I was sleeping thirty seconds ago." There it was again, that annoyed expression that demanded that I apologize. "You look pretty tired yourself."

"A conversation with Darcy tends to have that effect."

We stared at each other for a while, then she suddenly burst into laughter, and I couldn't help but do the same. I was too tired and it had happened way too much today. We quickly sobered up. "See you tomorrow, Miranda. I'll try to be quiet."

She gave me a slight wave and walked back to her room. As soon as I had locked the door I hurried to change into pajamas and flopped down on the bed. My head was seriously starting to hurt, and the footsteps from the floor above only made it worse. I leaned over the side of my bed and pulled out the box I had underneath. I opened it and took out a glass vial. I pulled out the cork and swallowed the content in one gulp. The headache disappeared in seconds and I could finally relax. The poison had funny effects on my body.

Half an hour later I finally fell asleep, but it wasn't very peaceful though. Nightmares had haunted me every night since that night when the pack of hellhounds had attacked, and tonight was no exception.

Korina

Eyes. Golden eyes glaring at me. A cold, dead feeling creeps up my legs, and I find I am unable to move. It rises to my chest, and I am unable to breath, my chest tight. I can still move my eyes, and I look down in horror to see my body has become stone. And it is spreading. I open my mouth to scream, but am frozen halfway. I can still see the world around me, but nobody spares me a glance. Isa stares at me accusingly, with all the other monstrumologists as immobile statues behind her.

I wake, gasping for breath, sweat streaming down my face. Every night, the same dream. Every single night. I hope I didn't scream this time. My hand feels extra warm for some reason. Dark blood drips down my wrist. With a sigh, I get up and clean it in the bathroom. Again, I fell asleep while clutching it. The green scale I found next to Isa.

I'm not sure if it's a warning, this dream. If it is, what does it foretell? Is it confirming me I shouldn't tell Darcy about the basilisk or she'll end up like Isa? That I'm playing with forces beyond my control and I should tell her? That I should kill the basilisk before I end up like Isa? Maybe it's just nothing.

It's as much nothing as the scale I have here. I sigh again and drop it on my dresser. There is no way I'll get more sleep tonight. Maybe I should head down to the training gym. I have a feeling I'll need weapons skill soon.

Adam

“Royal flush.” I laid my cards down on the table triumphantly. Moore frowned at me.

“We’re playing snap.”

I swept my cards off of the table with an overly exaggerated backhand. I'd wanted to make a good first impression, one of confidence and assuredness. Now I had cacked it up.

“Son of a bitch!”

Moore raised an eyebrow, inquisitive. I placated him with a sheepish, mollifyingly sweet grin.

“Sorry.”

I picked up the cards where they lay scattered and handed them back to him. He deftly re-shuffled.

“So, why did you start hunting?” Moore asked as he threw down another card.

“Family issues. Brother.” I answered nonchalantly, trying to make it seem like it didn't faze me.

“Dad, uncles, aunties, granddad myself.” Moore drawled, as if reciting a memorised phrase in a foreign language. “Hunting monsters as a family tradition has a habit of leaving a lot of early graves-”

“SNAP!” I cried, hammering a card onto the table. I lifted my head grinning like a madman. Moore leveled a cool gaze at me, causing the emergence of a second sheepish look. He collected in the cards and I think I caught the edge of a grin of his own as he did so.

“How many hunts you been on?” Moore asked as he reshuffled.

“Eh… today was my first.” I admitted, staring woodenly at the tabletop. I heard him cease shuffling.

“Training?”

I glanced around the room for something to start a new conversation with. No luck.

“I used to fight with my brother.” I state, hopefully.

He sighed. “No more cards – meet me in the training room in ten minutes.”

"Okay. Uh... How do I get there?"

He sighed again, longer this time. The cards were a non-stop pattern of shifting colour and shape in his hands.

"Downstairs, left, left again, right, down the next set of stairs, three lefts and then up and right."

I consider what I've just taken in.

"Thanks?"

He grunts, and I step outside rather than seem a fool by asking again. I follow Moore's instructions as best I can, but quickly get lost. Somewhere between the rooms and what I think was a library, I happen upon the quiet, really short girl who nearly got her arm ripped off.

"Hey, uh, Korina right?" I call, realising only now how awkward it will be if I have completely the wrong person.
She looks up and smiles at me.

"Yes? What is it?"

I scratch the back of my head and cough, trying to cover my embarrassment.

"Where, uh, where's the training room do you know?"

She giggles and gestures down the hall.

"Straight down there, left and then down the stairs. You literally can't miss it."

A relieved smile bursts onto my face. I thank her profusely and jog to the training room, only a minute late.

Mr Anonymous

He sighed, putting down the files. He knew each word written in there, and could recite them without a single mistake. Six boys, three girls, and that something that made each of them at the same time a savior and a threat. The leader, the protector, the fighter, the peacemaker... Those kids were chosen carefully. They could help each other, change each other or kill each other, and, lucky for the Organisation, they were currently leaning mostly towards the third option.
He looked up at the factory video again, squinting at the big screen. The cameras they had recorded in night vision, giving them better look at the situation than even the young Monstrumologists had at the time. He fasted it forward to the moment where the girl tamed the monster, and shook his head slowly. They were on the line all the time, and checked the receiver a hundred times. It worked properly, set to ignore the talking and act to kill, yet it seemed to have failed. Technology, ignored by the monster itself because some girl happened to know the right tone of voice to calm it down. Mr Anonymous knew of the talents young Monstrumologists had, but didn't expect them to manage to catch it and bring it home without even getting seriously injured. He almost admired them.
But the hellhound boy got his hand bit, and miss Aislinn got hurt - Mr Anonymous was interested in both. Taking up his phone, he muttered a few words and a minute later, the door opened.
The man who entered, in the suit of slightly darker shade and in fashion of a past century, glanced at the recording curiously.
Mr Anonymous dealt with what made those kids monsters - his brother and closest associate explored what made them humans.

"Not all of them care for her," he said, as the picture switched to the camera in their car. It was too easy to plant it there, just as into each of their rooms - except for Darcy's, who saved them the trouble by putting her own so they could just hack their way in - none of them guarded their own stuff carefully enough. Mr Anonymous observed as a couple of frames appeared, showing the rooms young Monstrumologists were in.
"Nor for him," he added as Anton appeared in the Monstrumarium to talk to Korina - the girl who's sister god petrified by a basilisk.
"She does," his brother said, pointing at her. "And so does the other boy, Nathaniel."
"Yes," Mr A agreed. "The girl searches for the best in people, and goes around the hellhound nature."
"And the boy is as blind as any young man when it comes to a girl he likes," his brother added. The two of them were a good team.

Another frame appeared, showing the principal's office at the Academy, and Mr Anonymous frowned as he noticed the other Darcy making some calls. For a family of two, the girl and her uncle managed to be on too many places in short time. Mr Anonymous looked back at his brother, listening to his words.

"Is everything ready for the next wave?"
"Final preparations are happening as we speak. It will be a problem if miss Aislinn doesn't get well soon enough, though."
"Kill or leave," his brother muttered. "It was as easy as that. Why did it let her live when she was already injured?"
"Because she's good at what she does," Mr Anonymous tried hard to hide strange pride in his voice. "Took after that devil.. Speaking of which, he's about to be here, so unless you're dying to see him.."
He brother shook his head.
"I have nothing against him, but the fact that he always looks like he wants to send them to kill me while I sleep. I will leave you now, then. We will meet in a few hours."
He turned, stopping at the door for a moment and letting the tall, slender man in brown walk in. He eyed both of the men in red with a sly smile before walking to Mr Anonymous and the files.

"Now then," he said. "I heard you were cheating in the deal with my daughter."
*

Nathaniel,

I wake up feeling refreshed, even after my troubled sleep last night. I stretch in my room, then do some basic exercises. I'm sore from our escapades over the past couple of days and it feels good to shake out my muscles. After the exercises, I put on a sweatshirt and go for a run . Usually I do it in the gym at the Academy or the Society, but I feel like going outside this morning. It's barely past dawn, and most of the city is still sleeping, although traffic is picking up. As I run past other joggers, people walking their dogs, and opening up cafes for the morning rush, I marvel at the fact that none of them realize the danger that lurks in the dark and shadowy places of the city. Any one of them could end up as monster fodder. Come to think of it, if the Bloodletters are trying to destroy NYC, all of them could end up dead. I shake my head at the thought and make my way to Central Park. I feel calm, running beneath the trees, breathing in the relatively clean air. I make three circuits of the park and then return to the Society.

I hurry up to my room again and take a shower. I put on my typical shirt and jeans, partially lace up my Doc Martens, and head down to breakfast. I'm the first to arrive, apparently, so I pile food onto my plate and sit at a table. I pull out my iPad and start to methodically go through all of my notes on monsters. Which species will we have to deal with next? How many more people will die before this is over? Some other senior monstrumologists come in and eat quickly before going about their business, training and researching. I finish slowly, and then go down to the Monstrumarium.

When I reach the bunyip's cage, Jaeger is there, staring at the creature as it paces back and forth.

"Hey," I say hesitantly. He nods in acknowledgement of my presence.

"The lights behind the ear flashed twice in the past twenty minutes," he says abruptly, "Both times, its pupils dilated and it started throwing itself at the bars."

"That's why I came down. We need to check out that implant or whatever it is." I say, taking a tranq gun off the wall. As I'm loading a dart into the barrel, the lights at the base of the bunyip's skull flash again: red, red, blue, green. It throws its weight against the bars of the cage, snarling and spitting wildly, its pupils huge. I shoot it and it grunts before stumbling and falling to the bottom the cage. I open the door, and we both step in.
I lift up the monster's head and pull its ear back. There, grafted into its skin, is a small metal chip, with three lights set into it. I quickly go and get a scalpel from the tool tray next to the cage. I carefully cut chip off and tease at the wires that lead from the chip into the bunyip's skull.

"It's definitely wired into the brain," I say as Jaeger takes a look, " Probably to the part of the brain that controls predatory instincts."

Miranda:

I'm running, sprinting. Trees fly by, bushes, the world flies by. I can hear it growling behind me. I run faster. Amanda is behind me, she's too slow. I take a second to look back, it's right behind her. It's still growling, its red coat glimmers in the moonlight. I hear a thud on the ground, and I take a second to look back. Amanda is lying on the ground, the beast is catching up to her. "Miranda! Miranda, HELP ME!" I look back, the beast is now standing over her, and she's screaming. The beast roars, and it goes in for the kill. Before it can grab her throat, I am awaked by a slam from the room over. Anton's room. Figures.

SLAM. Something else, this time hitting the wall. Didn't he have manners? I sigh, drag myself out of bed groggily, and knock on his door.

He opens the door, he looks a little surprised when he sees me. "Yeah?"

"Angry?" I said, wiping my eyes. It was Anton, he was always angry.

"I talked to Darcy." he explains. There was something about her that made people hostile. I just nod. "Oh." I quickly change the subject. "Don't you have a window?" I say, peering into his pitch black room. He goes to respond, and then I remember, "Right, hellhound eyes."

"You look tired." he said.

"Yes, I was sleeping thirty seconds ago." It was true. Although, he saved me, in a way.
"You look pretty tired yourself."

"A conversation with Darcy tends to have that effect." I just look at him, and then I start laughing. He joins in a moment later. No matter how grumpy he was, he was a good friend to have. "See you tomorrow, Miranda. I'll try to be quiet." He said. I wave and head back to my room. A moment later, I hear his door close.

I lay back on my bed, and I'm running again.

Jaegar Pen

"Baby, sweetie, look at mommy, okay? Look at me."

I turn my head, slowly, away from the beast that dad is leading into the cage. The cage with me in it. The fighting cage. Mom's face smiles down at me, her eyes bright and sparkling, her short hair stirring wildly in the harsh wind.

"What do we know about the Beast of Bray Road?"

My mouth is dry, I can't speak. What do I know?

"It's carnivorous."

"That's right."

"Man-eating..."

"True, go on."

"Can weight up to seven hundred pounds as a fully grown adult."

And somehow I know that's exactly how much this one weighs. He's one of our prize fighters, he never loses. We've had him since before I was even born. And he hates us. The beast takes a snap at dad, even though it's mouth is muzzled shut, and dad punches it away. The thing doesn't even flinch, just growls and makes another move.

"Baby, listen, okay. Are you listening?"

I wasn't.

"Remember that mommy and daddy love you, and we have faith in you. You can do this, okay? Everyone has to make their way somehow. When your dad was little he had to do it too, even I did as a child. It's just how we live out here. If there was any other way-"

She shakes her head, smiles at me again, that tight, strained smile that she uses whenever she doesn't feel like smiling anymore, when she's trying too hard. Dad grunts loudly, the signal for mom to leave. He comes over then, hands me my ax, claps me on the shoulder, and walks out of the cage. From behind the bars he grabs hold of the beast's fur, undo's the muzzle. It doesn't even snap at him. It's small, deep, hate-filled eyes are focused on me, watching me, I swear I could see it grin. I swear I could. It's nails are long and pratically drip death, it's mouth if open and its chest heaves with its labored breathing. But the eyes, deep and yellow and vicious. Pure hatred, those eyes.

My vision blurs. My heart's beating too fast for me to hear mom's words anymore. My weapon rests on the ground, my hand so tightly curled around the handle that I thought for sure my knuckles would just crack under the pressure.

"What the hell... What the hell... Dad, what the hell? No, stop. I wanna go inside. What the hell, dad, stop! Come on, stop!

I hear the chain get cut, a loud tinkling noise that fills my head and makes me dizzy.

It leaps at me.

And then nothing.

---

I wake up suddenly. My eyes opened wide and starring at the ceiling, dry and sore as if I'd never closed them in the first place. There's a thin film of sweat layering my entire body and I push off my sheets, the cold air against my damp skin raises goose-flesh and I force myself not to shiver.

Breathe in.

That's all in the past now.

Breathe out.

My eye hurts. My arm aches. My face is sore. Is it all in my head? I sit up and put my head in my hands. It was the nights like these that made me thankful that I was not yet too proud to have a nightlight. The bright bulb shines radiant in the corner and I stare at it for a while, calming my nerves, before getting out of bed and getting dressed.

It's still night time, no one's in the halls, and I can hear the sound of snoring and deep breathing in the quiet corridor that means everyone is still asleep. My heart beat quickens and I duck into my room to grab my weapon and my lucky companion - it's not a teddy bear. I start down the hall, Gustav hanging from my belt loop by a chain, and when I make it to the holding cell for the bunyip I'm not sure how I arrived there.

The thing snaps its head towards me as I enter and I give it a blank stare. It keeps my gaze for a long time before turning away again, pacing. I approach the bars, stare inside. The light behind it's ears is bright in the darkness of the Monstrumarium, a steady glow. I don't know how long I'm there, but I know I've been out long enough for the cold to have no affect on me anymore and for the dark sky to grow even darker. The light flashes and the bunyip throws itself at the cage. I recoil back slightly before steadying myself and giving it a confused stare. This episode lasts for a while before it dies down again, finishes pacing.

--

How long has it been? The sun is up now, my eyes are barely open, and I'm swaying on my feet. The bunyip has long since went to sleep and woke back up again. And how long has it been? How long exactly?

"Hey."

I nod numbly at the sound of Nathaniel's voice. He comes to stand beside me.

"The lights behind the ear flashed twice in the past twenty minutes. Both times, its pupils dilated and it started throwing itself at the bars."

The words come out suddenly and in a slow mumble. Did I mean to speak?

He's saying words now. I can't hear them. The lights flash and the bunyip goes into another rage. I've long since stop flinching. And then it's still, a dart poking out of it's skin. Did he do that? Of course he did. He's also removing something from behind the ear. A chip?

"It's definitely wired into the brain. Probably to the part of the brain that controls predatory instincts."

I go down to take a look. Definitely, he's right. I reach out and grab the scapula from Nathaniel, my hand moving on it's own accord.

"Then we should go deeper..."

Anton Wolfe
Six in the morning I've finally had enough. Nightmares, that is. God forbid that I'd actually get enough sleep. I'm not hungry, so I simply sit up and stare into the wall. What was that song my mother used to sing? I couldn't remember. I knew she used to sing something all the time, her favorite song, and I had forgotten about it. The few memories of my parents that I had left were filled with blood, and I didn't want to think about it. I got up and took a shower, in the hope that it would chase away the lingering fear from my dreams.

When I had gotten out from the shower and put on some clothes and, of course, a hoodie, I started pacing, just like I always did when I had nothing else to do. I could hear people's footsteps all around me, even pick up bits of conversations. I heard the door next to mine open and decided to go outside as well. Being cooped up in my room just made me think too much about the things I should forget.

"Morning, Anton."

I nodded. "You still look tired." She really did. I wasn't the only one with nightmares.

"Tell that to the bags under your eyes." She grinned and I glared.

I followed her into the dining hall and sat down with John and the new guy, Adam, while Miranda went to fetch her food. John and Adam seemed to have become friends. Or something like it. Jaegar and Nathaniel weren't there, neither was Darcy. To my surprise both Alex and Korina sat down at the same table as us when they arrived.

Adam looked around, probably sensing the tense atmosphere. "So, everyone slept well?"

In fact we all looked tired, and most of the others were just poking at their food instead of eating it. Had everyone had nightmares? That showed just how messed up we all were. "I don't think anyone slept well," John muttered finally and we all nodded.

The awkward silence continued for several minutes, until Adam pulled some stupid joke and people laughed. I didn't. I hadn't laughed for ages.. With the exception of last night, but that was just because I had been so damn tired. Their chatter replaced the silence, and after a while I couldn't stand it anymore so I got up and walked around a bit.

I reached the monstrumarium and saw Jaegar and Nathaniel on their way out. They were talking, loudly. Well, more like arguing than actually talking. Something about about the bunyip. Was I mistaken or did they look tired to?

When Jaegar looked up and noticed me he looked somewhat relieved. Nathaniel, on the other hand, did not. "Morning," Jaegar greeted me with that fake smile of his that me want to bash his teeth out.

"Yeah," I muttered absentmindedly as I noticed the faint smell of blood coming from them. "What did you do to the bunyip?" It was evident in my voice that I couldn't care less about the monster, I hoped Jaegar had killed it, but I was curious to why Nathaniel was there.

Nathaniel,

"Then we should go deeper..." Jaeger says, taking the scalpel from my hand.

"Wait!" I say angrily, holding his arm back, "We have to do it with out killing the damn thing. We need to see how this chip works while it's still alive."

Jaegar snorts, "Fine. Do your thing."

I snatch the scalpel back, "I will, thanks."

I slowly tease open the hole in the bunyip's skull. There's blood, but not a whole lot, and I can easily see part of the creature's brain. I don't dare open the skull further, but I can see that the wires from the chip run along the underside of the brain, angled towards the...

"Hypothalamus," I say aloud, and Jaeger looks at me, blinking through his evident tiredness, "The chip's wired to the brain the controls the fight or flight response. The Bloodletters must've found a way to turn the 'fight' on through the chip."

I examine the chip in question more closely. There's small antenna beside the three lights. Jaegar sees it as well.

"They're controlling it using radio?" he says and I nod.

"They must be," I agree and just then the lights flash again. The bunyip's eyes snap open and a growl builds in its throat. Before I can move back, its head whips to the side and its fangs scrape my arm before clamping down on my wrist. I yell and accidentally tug the chip. The monster yelps and releases my hand, giving us time to retreat from the cage.

"How the hell did it overpower the tranq?" Jaeger asks slamming the cage door shut as the bunyip slams into the bars again.

"The chip must have triggered something that released huge amounts of adrenaline," I say, examining the bite on my wrist. It isn't too deep, but it's good that the creature missed the major arteries. I should get it bandaged. That can wait though.

"We should kill it," Jaegar says, glowering at the monster, which has started howling maddly while continuing to slam into the bars.

"No, we really shouldn't," I snap, "This is our only link to what the Bloodletters are doing. We need to keep it alive for as long as possible so we can figure out their methods."

The bunyip is currently in a frenzy, having given up throwing its body at the cage door. It is gnawing at the bars, bloody saliva going everywhere. Then, its body seizes and collapses to the ground, twitching. The lights on the chip flash on and off repeatedly and then stop. The bunyip has stopped breathing.

"Looks like the Bloodletters are one step ahead," Jaegar says with a grim smile. He throws the cage door open and kneels before yanking the chip out of the creature's skull.

"Goddammit!" I yell, "Why did you do that?? You broke it!"

Jaegar shrugs, "Only partially. And I'm sure there will be more."

"That's not the point," I growl, and grab the chip from him. We continue arguing as we walk out of the Monstrumarium, where we run into Anton.

"Morning," Jaegar says with his oh-so-fake smile.

"Yeah," Anton mutters, "What did you do to the bunyip?"

He glances at the bite on my wrist and the bloodstains on both of our clothing.

"We were examining the implant," I say stiffly, holding up the chip, "But the Bloodletters caught on to what we were doing, we think. They killed it."

Anton grunts, whether in approval of what we were doing or out of complete apathy, and then continues walking into the Monstrumarium. I push past Jaegar and make for the cafeteria again. I spot Alex sitting at a table on the other side of the room, and sit down next to him, placing the slightly gory chip on the table.

"Aw, Nathaniel," he groans, 'I'm eating!"

"Sorry," I say, a bit sheepishly, "But can you hold onto this while I go get this looked at," I say, gesturing at the bite on my wrist.

Alex rolls his eyes, "Sure."

Korina

Nathaniel and Jaegar strode up. I note with some concern that they both had bloodstains on their shirts, and that Nathaniel's arm was all bloody, but they carried themselves with an air of satisfaction, so I figure it can't be too serious.

Nathaniel sits down next to Alex and dropps something...ew...something with a lot of blood on it on the table. Alex groans, "Aw, Nathaniel, I'm eating!" To be honest, I feel the same way, but underneath the blood and...tissue, I can see the faintest hint of wiring, and it has me immensely curious.

Nathaniel grins sheepishly and comments, "Sorry, but can you hold onto this while I go get this looked at?" He points to the wound on his wrist, which looked worse up close.

Alex rolls his eyes, "Sure."

The moment Nathaniel walks away, I pick up a napkin and carefully begin to clean the...whatever it is. Circuits, tiny wires crossing slightly. A antenna. Three small lights. A chip of some kind. "I wonder what you are," I murmured softly. I slid my phone out from under the table.

Now, this isn't just any phone. I've spent some time in tech labs as a kid, and I modified it slightly. Oh, who am I trying to fool? This thing can work as an x-ray, infrared, bar code reader, scanner, and more other gadgets than I can remember. It's the technical equivalent of a Swiss army knife. I love nano-tech.

I open up the scanner and sweep the phone slowly over the chip. Now, isn't that interesting... Techno-babble or code? A line of seemingly random numbers marches across the screen, but there's always a connection...

Maybe the deep scan? I should be able to see the chip's inner wirings then, instead of just exterior...

"Hey, what are you doing?" Alex asked, having finally noticed that I was paying no attention to him and the others.

I smiled slightly. "Decoding."

Nathaniel,

After I leave Alex and Korina in the cafeteria, I head straight for the infirmary. The wound on my hand is throbbing slightly now, and I should really get it disinfected. However, when I get there, the door is locked. I frown. That doesn't seem right. I'm just about to go ask someone what's going on, when Ana comes down the hall.

"Sorry," she smiles at me, "I was just off on break."

She's confused when the door is locked, though, "I could have sworn that I left it open," she mutters, unlocking the door and pushing the door open. The only occupant is Darcy, who is asleep. While Ana rumages around, retrieving disinfectant and bandages, I sit next to Darcy's cot and stroke her hair absent-mindedly. She's sweaty and her face is creased like she's in pain, but I'm sure that this is just her body going through the steps it needs to heal. When Ana comes back, she looks pointedly at my hand, which is still resting on Darcy's head. I snatch it back guiltily and hold out my other hand for her to examine.

She tuts and then applies the antiseptic ointment, which stings. After wrapping bandages around the bite and telling me not to use it for anything strenuous, "like hunting monsters," she shoos me out of the room, saying that Darcy needs undisturbed rest. I go back to my room and start reading through my notes on various monsters again. This alway soothes me, reviewing my knowledge. Kappa, wyrms, cockatrices...the species flow through my mind. Which one will be next? After a couple of hours, I set aside my iPad and stretch my arms over my head. It's no use worrying about what will happen next, I decide. We simply must meet the next challenge when it comes. And then I remember the chip I left with Alex. That was two and a half hours ago. I groan.

"Shit," I mutter and quickly run down to the cafeteria. Surprisingly, Alex and Korina are still there. Korina has her phone out and is hovering it about the chip, reading things off the screen. She's frowning in concentration. Alex looks kind of glazed over, like he's been watching her do this for a long time, which is probably the case. Hours, in fact. I sit down next to them.

"Sorry," I say, my ears going red, "I was caught up in my thoughts and I totally forgot. What's up?"

Alex looks over at me, "She's decoding the implant, I think. That's what she says, anyway."

Alex

My breath coming in short, desperate gulps, I pounded down the slope, stumbling and slipping on stones and loose dirt. I could hear it behind me, thudding footsteps falling every two seconds. It was too huge, too tall. I'd seen it. It was coming, oh God, it was coming!

Jump over a boulder. Stumble over rocks, keep balance. Right leg push off, left leg, right leg hits rocks again, buckles. The ground meeting my face, the world blurring, there should have been pain but there wasn't, I could only feel my heart pounding and the jarring of my tumble.

I could have tumbled and fallen for minutes or seconds. It felt like both, but then I hit a boulder and I stopped. I couldn't get up... the only thing I could hear was my heartbeat, just like in the movies. The horror movies, where the good guys all die. Everything was getting dim, and I could hardly hear even my heart anymore. I was slipping out of consciousness...

I didn't jerk upright again as I awoke, but I did jerk. I took several moments to take in my surroundings, to convince myself that I was safe. No Fear Liath. No mountain. I was in New York, in the Society. In my bedroom. Alone.

Rubbing my face, I sat up slowly. I felt more tired than when I'd gone to bed. That was the second night in a row of nightmares. I'd been have them on on off for the two years since the Fear Liath incident, but rarely consecutively. And I'd never told anyone about them, either. I wondered if they'd even believe me - almost nothing definite was known about the Fear Liath, largely because there was only one of it in existence, and partly because no one could be sure what was myth and what was truth.

I knew more than most, probably. I knew that it was easily tweny-five feet tall, that its legs were about ten feet long, and that it toyed with people. After the fact, I'd heard that the thing had been reported moving up to forty-five miles an hour, and with the size of its legs, I could believe it. If it had really wanted to catch me, it would have. I shuddered at the thought. I'd been invited to investigate some strange monster behavior in Scotland a year ago, but declined even though it was across the nation from the Fear Liath's mountain for that sole conclusion - that it had the capability to toy with me like that. The Atlantic Ocean hardly felt like enough distance between me and it, even now.

Changing into a t-shirt and jeans, I stepped outside, running into Korina on the way to the cafeteria. I grabbed some pancakes and followed her to a table, not even realizing that we were sitting with Anton and Jaeger until after the fact. Adam sat with us as well, smiling and chatting, still oblivious to the fact that several of us sort of hated each other. Anton glared at me silently before continuing with his breakfast.

After a moment, Nathaniel and Jaeger entered, arguing. Nathaniel finally shook his head and came over to me, plopping before me what looked like a brain tumor torn out of someone's head with a pair of nail clippers.

I choked on my pancake. "Aw, Nathaniel, I'm eating!" I cried, swiftly losing any appetite I'd had.

He grinned sheepishly. "Sorry," he said, "but can you hold on to this while I go get this looked at?" He gestured to his wrist, which looked like it had been used as a chew toy for out friend the bunyip.

I sighed. "Sure," I conceded.

"Thanks," he said, and then he left. With that, Korina, apparently having no qualms about the gore on the table, began wiping the... thing... off with her napkin. I almost told her not to, but she looked curious. Korina being curious usually led to important discoveries, so I left her to it, trying to finish my pancake without heaving it back up.

After making what turned out to be a computer chip somewhat more presentable, she pulled out her phone and began holding it over the thing.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.

She smiled a little. "Decoding," she answered, watching her phone's screen intently. Her phone could scan computer chips? Where did she get that app?

This went on for about two hours. I just sat there with her, watching detachedly over my abandoned food and wondering when the heck Nathaniel would get back. Finally, he did, his face a little red.

"Sorry," he said, sitting down. "I was caught up in my thoughts and I totally forgot. What's up?"

"She'd decoding the implant, I think." I shrugged. "That's what she says, anyway."

Nathaniel nodded, watching. "Found anything?" he asked.

Korina nodded. "I think so," she said, and we both leaned forward a little, curious.

Nathaniel asked, "Found anything?" I was slightly startled. I hadn't even noticed he was back.

I nodded. "I think so." Instead of numbers scrolling across the phone, now it was letters. I turned the phone over to show them. "The only problem is, it still doesn't make any sense. Where'd you find this chip?"

Nathaniel said, "In the bunyip's head." I stared at him for a moment. Eww. The tissue on the chip had been brain stuff? I'm glad I stopped eating.

But... The lights and the antennae... I asked him, "You think this is what the Bloodletters are using to control the monsters?" That wouldn't explain the aswag's missing proboscis, though.

Nathaniel nodded. "It was connected to the hypothalamus." Alex looked slightly confused, but I nodded. The part of the brain controlling the fight/flight response.

"Well, this could have some valuable clues, except I think it's either gibberish or written in a foreign language, and not any of the ones I speak." I know a smattering of five or six different languages, but this doesn't match any of them. "But I could look up one of the phrases..." I typed a few things into my phone. "Gaelic, also known as Old Irish."

Alex leaned forward eagerly. "Can you translate it?"

Being smart is still useless. "No," I admit. "Nobody should be able to. It's a dead language, like Latin. That's probably why they used it."

Nathaniel said thoughtfully, "Darcy's Irish. Maybe some of the words are the same."

I was excited again. There could be all kinds of things this chip could reveal. "Is she awake yet?"

He shook his head. "No, but she should be later."

Hmm. So we had a while to wait before we could do anything. I stood up and stretched, since I had been sitting there a while. "I hope this reveals something useful."

Nathaniel,

Interesting. The chip has data, and lots of it, but its coded in Gaelic, which is another clue in and of itself. If the Bloodletters are using this language, they're using it for a reason, and I intend to find out why.

"Darcy's Irish," I say, " Maybe some of the words are the same."

Korina nods excitedly, "Is she awake yet?"

I shake my head, "No, but she should be later."

Korina nods and stands up, stretching, "I hope this reveals something useful."

I nod and am about to say something else when Torrance bursts into the cafeteria and all of our phones go off simultaneously. Alex groans and Korina stops smiling. Torrance walks swiftly to our table.

"There have been more anonymous tip-offs," he says in a clipped tone, looking incredibly stressed, "From multiple locations, both in and outside of New York City. We're going to have break all of the teams up."

I stand up, "They will be traps again, though, won't they?'

Torrance grimaces, "I said they were tip-offs, but in reality they were voiced as threats. Whether or not we show up, more monsters will be released at each location. We need to head out now so we can head them all off."

I nod grimly, "Of course. Do you have subgroups you want us in?"

Torrance opens his mouth, but his phone rings as he does so, "Damn," he mutters, answering it, "Who is this."

From the look on his face, I can tell it's another of the anonymous threats. He hangs up.

"Another one. I'll have to go," he says, and hands me a list with groups of names and locations, "Use these subteams."

With that, he rushes out of the room, in the direction of the garage. I turn to Korina and Alex, "The others will be here soon no doubt. I'll go get Darcy, and then we can get supplies and split up. Make sure you get everything you need. And Korina," I say, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Can you send the data to Darcy's phone? Then she can see if she can understand anything." Korina nods and does so.

I run up the stairs to the infirmary, taking a shortcut throught the Hall of Heavens, where former monstrumologists glare down at me from the walls. When I get there, Darcy's phone is buzzing. She opens her eyes and looks up at me.

"We have new missions," I say grimly, and she is awake instantly, pushing herself out of bed, "Do you think you can handle this?" I ask concernedly, and she glares at me.

"Don't you dare ask me that again, Nathaniel Tallow," she says, collecting her bag and weapon from the chair next to her bed. She looks at the messages on her phone, "We're splitting up?"

I nod, "Yeah, there were multiple calls, all of them threats. Korina also sent you some data from the chip on the bunyip's skull," she opens her mouth the ask questions, but I cut her off, "I'll tell you about that later. What's important is that the data is in Gaelic. Can you read it?"

She looks doubtful, "I can try. I'll look at on the drive over to wherever it is we're going, and send something if I figure it out."

"Okay," I say, and then look into her eyes. She stares back, a little defiantly, and suddenly my mind goes fuzzy and blank.

"Darcy," I say, and my voice almost breaks, "I...I know we've only known each other for three days. I know that we're monstrumologists and having...feelings can get you in trouble. But...I think I love you."