Monster Academy Read online

  Monster Academy

  Catherine Banks

  Monster Academy by Catherine Banks.

  Copyright © 2020 Catherine Banks. All rights reserved.

  Published by Crescent Sea Publishing.

  www.crescentseapublishing.com

  * * *

  Cover design by Story Wrappers.

  www.storywrappers.com

  * * *

  Interior design by Turbo Kitten Industries™.

  Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of the book.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized printed or electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  www.catherinebanks.com

  For Cassie and Ashleigh. Thank you for your support and for becoming my friends.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  More Books You’ll Love

  The Siren Wars by K.M. Robinson

  Midnight by Melanie Gilbert

  More From Catherine Banks

  One

  FRANCES

  The auditorium buzzed with the anxious chatter of over five hundred paranormal teenage creatures waiting for the speeches of elite monsters, and then our first night of school to begin.

  Loralie and Tsukiko sat on either side of me. My two best friends wore bored expressions as they slouched in their seats, but I could see the nervousness in the way they clenched their jaws and narrowed their eyes at anyone who looked our way.

  I repressed a smirk that threatened to surface.

  They were both frustrated at having their grandfathers give speeches to the entire Academy and knowing that, like every year, their doting grandfathers would point them out.

  “Stop smirking,” Tsukiko grumbled, her amber eyes narrowing, her wolfen ears flat to her head, and her tail swishing behind her.

  “I’m not smirking,” I lied.

  Loralie rolled her eyes. “You always smirk before the speeches because you know we hate them.”

  “You only hate getting singled out,” I corrected her.

  “Well, you’re about to experience it yourself,” Tsukiko said, a slight tilt to one side of her lips betraying her amusement.

  My eyes narrowed now. “What do you mean?”

  At the front of the large auditorium, on the large stage, a woman in flowing robes smacked her staff on the ground. The boom echoed, and as the sound of it faded, so did the conversation of the students.

  “Welcome. For many of you, this is your first year as a high schooler, and your first year at the Northern Territory Academy. We welcome you into our fold and look forward to seeing your academic progress,” she said, smiling brightly.

  Warmth radiated from her and eased the tension in everyone’s shoulders.

  Magic.

  Like most of the other students, we had gone to the elementary academy for kindergarten through eighth grade. Now that we were in ninth grade, we had been moved to the high school academy. They felt it was better for the development of our minds and social skills to separate us in such a way.

  My dad thought it was stupid and we should just have one big school together.

  Mom said it was likely due to budgeting and security issues.

  I could understand the security issues. As we grew older, the possibility of damaging and seriously harming one another grew quickly. Just an hour ago, I had seen one student toss another into the stone wall, knocking a huge dent in it and causing several stones to fall out.

  A witch had gone and reversed the damage, but that was just one incident. If there was a large fight, it might not be cleaned up so easily.

  I wished we could combine schools with the other territories, but they claimed there were too many of us and that keeping us separated by territory was easier.

  “For those who do not know, I am Headmistress Selene Gonzalez, leader of the Black Cauldron Witches. There are many teachers on staff this year, including some new ones, but first, let’s hear from one of our esteemed Council Members, Albus Reaper.” She clapped her hands as she stepped away from the podium, and we clapped with her.

  Floating up to the stage in full reaper regalia, including the long, black cape, and carrying his scythe, Loralie’s grandfather stepped up to the podium. With a flourish, he flipped back his hood, revealing his smiling face. “Good morning, students!” He yelled.

  Loralie groaned.

  “Good morning, Council member!” Every student responded.

  “This is going to be a great year here at Monster Academy, I can just feel it!” He said with a bright smile. He looked around the room until his eyes landed on Loralie who tried to sink farther in her seat. “My granddaughter is here for her first year, so I’d appreciate you all helping her when you can. She’s a good girl, but can sometimes be a bit thick-headed.” Albus leaned forward and whispered, “She gets that from her father.” He straightened and waved at Loralie. “Wave, dear.”

  Loralie groaned, but raised her hand and gave a single wave before putting her hands in her armpits.

  “Remember, to succeed, we must stick together. Through death and after!” he yelled.

  “Through death and after,” Loralie muttered. It was their family motto and one she was required to repeat if another member said it.

  Headmistress Gonzalez returned to the podium. “Thank you, Council member. Now, for our next speaker, we have Council member Kenta Okami!” She clapped her hands again and we clapped, too.

  Stalking across the stage in his half-wolf, half-man form, Tsukiko’s grandfather looked downright terrifying. Once at the podium, he turned and faced the crowd, his lips pulling back into a snarl. Then, he let his tongue loll out the side of his mouth and he yipped loudly.

  Tsukiko groaned and put her face in her hands.

  With a few bone popping snaps echoing around the room, Kenta shifted his head into his human one. “Good morn
ing, students!” he yelled, his tail wagging behind him.

  “Good morning, Council member,” we replied, but there were a few snickering students behind us.

  “Dammit. Dammit. Dammit,” Tsukiko muttered.

  “This year you will be put under a lot of stress, but you need to remember to have fun as well as work hard. Just look at my granddaughter, Tsukiko, and her best friends, Loralie and Frances, if you need to find monsters who are great at balancing working hard and playing hard. Girls! Raise your hands!”

  Flies on feces!

  The three of us hesitated too long, and Kenta snapped his teeth.

  Our hands shot into the air, and we swallowed hard.

  He might have looked sweet standing in front of the crowd, but he could be absolutely terrifying, and he did not hold back when he punished you.

  He smiled. “There they are. Now, I want you all to remember to play hard and work hard in equal measures, okay?”

  “Yes, Council member!” Every student replied.

  “Must be nice to be an elite,” a voice said from somewhere behind us.

  “I bet they don’t work nearly as hard as the rest of us,” another person said.

  Tsukiko growled, and Loralie started seeping black smoke.

  I set a hand on each of them. “Ignore the idiots. We all know the truth.”

  Although we had dealt with these same things in the past, we all knew high school would be different.

  “Sheep,” Tsukiko snarled. “They’re all sheep who can’t think for themselves.”

  There was no point in arguing with her or trying to convince her not everyone was bad. She would growl for a bit, but once we got into the classes, she would calm down.

  “Why did I get lumped in with you this time?” I asked. “Did you convince Kenta to do that?”

  Tsukiko gave me a look conveying how stupid I sounded. “You think I can convince Grandfather to do anything?”

  I sighed. “Right.” Kenta was known for being super opinionated and not changing his mind once it was made up.

  A couple teachers gave speeches, but a fiery head drew my attention, dulling out the sound of everything else.

  Two rows in front of us, seven chairs to the left, sat Dante. His hair, literally made of fire, wafted in the breeze, but mainly stayed in the style he picked. He controlled the fire, so he could turn the flames into any style he wanted. One time last year, he’d made it a Mohawk. It looked really cool.

  “You’re drooling,” Loralie whispered in my ear.

  I snapped my jaw closed and ran a hand over my mouth, which was completely dry. “Am not.”

  She snickered.

  “Which one has your attention?” Tsukiko asked, looking in the direction I had been.

  “Oh, come on!” Loralie groaned. “Him, again? I thought you got over your crush on him year before last? You know you can barely stand near him or talk to him. How do you think you’ll be able to have a relationship if you just freak out when he comes near you?”

  “I don’t freak out when he’s near me,” I muttered.

  She arched a brow. “Really? So, you didn’t scramble away from him when you almost got put on his team in PE last year?”

  “No,” I lied.

  She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Okay, just remember that I warned you to crush on someone else. You’re going to crush and then have your heart broken when you realize, again, that you can’t be with him.”

  I mouthed back her words in a mocking way, which earned me a smack on the arm.

  “This concludes our commencement ceremonies. Please head to the field and get in line to get your schedules. Welcome to Monster Academy!” Headmistress Gonzalez clapped her hands and rainbow sparks danced across the ceiling before falling on us.

  Loralie groaned. “She threw glitter on us? This crap is never going to come out.”

  I suppressed a laugh as I stood and waited for our row to exit the room. My gaze landed on Dante again and I’d swear for a moment, it looked like he was glancing at me out of the corner of his eye, too.

  No, that couldn’t be. Definitely not.

  “Let’s go,” Loralie said and nudged my back. “Time to stand in line for an hour and find out if I was able to convince my dad to get us in the same classes or not.”

  “I think you did,” Tsukiko said. “He was very excited at the thought of us being in the same classes to spark friendly competition for top score.”

  Loralie groaned. “Yeah, he only cares about me being top of the class.”

  “I heard he made a bet with someone that you would get the highest grade. So, you better not make him lose money,” I teased.

  She groaned louder.

  We shuffled out, Tsukiko holding my left hand, while Loralie held my right hand, ensuring we didn’t get separated by the crowd.

  We made it halfway out with no problems. Then, Rathik slid in front of us and turned around to smile at Tsukiko.

  Rathik was a naga, a snake person, and he’d been trying to get Tsukiko to talk to him for two years now. He could change his lower body into a snake or keep human legs, but had scales along his arms and a few on his throat as well. We’d heard it was because he was worried about being attacked and kept the scales to make it harder for his skin to be pierced by a blade. His darker tone made his scales even shinier in comparison.

  “Hi, Tsukiko,” he said with his eyes shining.

  She tensed, her tail puffing up in shock behind her. “Hi,” she breathed.

  Loralie pushed past me and smiled up at him. “Your scales are different this year,” she noted.

  Tsukiko took a small step back, her ears lowered, but her eyes completely focused on Rathik.

  Loralie was right, his scales were a brighter green this year, almost neon.

  “Thanks, I finally unlocked some new abilities and powers,” he said proudly, his eyes moving to Tsukiko several times.

  “Rathik!” Someone yelled up ahead.

  “I have to meet up with my roommates. I’ll see you later?” He looked at Tsukiko, his attention on her fully.

  She nodded twice while biting her bottom lip.

  He smiled and it was almost blinding. “Awesome. Bye.”

  He weaved his way through the crowd to meet back up with his friends.

  “Oh, I’m the one with an unrealistic crush?” I asked.

  Loralie sighed. “You two are hopeless.”

  I slung my arm around her and smiled. “And you love us.”

  She looked down at my arm. “Your stitch popped.”

  Craning my head, I let out a long sigh when I saw she was right.

  “Dammit. Well, let’s hope none of the others pop until I can go see Dr. Frankenstein and get it fixed,” I said.

  “She freaks me out,” Loralie whispered.

  “It’s because she’s human,” I said.

  “Or, it’s because the woman was granted immortality, and Loralie knows she can’t reap her soul,” Tsukiko said, finally coming back to her regular self now that Rathik was far away.

  “It’s not right,” Loralie snapped, black smoke seeping from her fingertips and nostrils. “Humans are supposed to die. Preferably quickly.”

  “They keep elongating their lifespans,” Tsukiko said. “It’s worrisome.”

  “They also keep gaining more and more technological advancements. I heard that they developed a flying machine with a camera attached to it. Someone said it almost made it to the school’s barrier,” I whispered to them.

  “They’re trying to find our hiding places,” Tsukiko said, her tail tucking around her leg. “What happens when they do?”

  “They’ll never find us,” I assured her and hugged her against my side. She was at least a foot shorter than me and fit beneath my arm easily. “If they do find us, we’ll kill them and make examples of them like our grandfathers did hundreds of years ago.”

  Tsukiko smiled, revealing her fangs, and said, “Except we’ll be much more brutally efficient.”

 
“Brutally,” I agreed with a nod.

  Two

  LORALIE

  “Can’t we take a nap first or something?” I grumbled as Tsukiko, Frances, and I got into line to pick up our class schedules.

  The lines were even longer than usual this year. That was to be expected with all of the high school-aged creatures coming to Monster Academy. We were always separated at different elementary schools based on territory, but there was only one Monster Academy for high school on this continent.

  “We are totally binging some shows after classes,” Frances said with a nod.

  “You mean after classes and after you get your stitch fixed?” I asked with a teasing smirk.

  She mumbled incoherently beneath her breath.

  Frances had been created by Dr. Frankenstein, with some help from her parents, and on occasion one of the stitches holding her various body parts together came loose or snapped from being too rough.

  She’d gone through a phase in elementary school where she’d had mismatched body parts. Everyone had teased her, and I’d punched a few kids who made her cry.

  Her newest parts were top of the line, and she had even been able to choose them herself.

  I had tried to convince her to get bigger boobs, but she refused. Not that she needed them. Her face was gorgeous and it was the only part that was completely her own, aside from her brain of course.