Where Monsters Hide: An Academy Bully Romance (The Monster Within Book 1) by Eden Beck

Author:Eden Beck [Beck, Eden]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-09T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Saint M is situated up in the mountains a few miles away from a local village. I haven’t been down there since I arrived at the school. I’ve been too busy, and the last time I was there the residents weren’t exactly the friendliest. I distinctly remember owing the taxi driver some cash, and would rather avoid another conversation about why I still won’t have it.

Normally, there would’ve already been several teachers down in the village. Tonight, however, most of the staff was up at the school for Halloween. By protecting their students, they left the town vulnerable. Now most of the professors are walking that direction, leading the students that elected to hunt alongside them.

As soon as my feet hit the frosty ground outside, I duck into the shadows and stay hidden. I stick around outside the school long enough to overhear a professor giving the students directions, and now I’m off on my own.

I read the notes Erin gave me between snippets of moonlight. Ideally, I would’ve had time to study these creatures and their patterns, their tracks, the distinct markings they leave. All I have are notes about how als steal babies from new mothers, and that, according to the illustrations, they’re gray, vaguely humanoid beasts with hunched shoulders and faces that look like a cross between a bat and an ape.

The ugliness of their faces are outmatched by the long, hooked copper claws sprouting from their fingertips. I don’t want to end up on the wrong end of those. I’ll have to be careful.

Armed with only my limited knowledge and a hungry need to prove myself to Piers, once at for all, I pick my way to the village. It’s very cute, I guess; a weird mix of ancient and modern. There are normal brick buildings with sloping roofs alongside little thatch-roof huts, and cars share the road with horses pulling carts. The whole place is decorated for Halloween. People in costumes roam the streets. I slip into a crowd of costumed people chattering in Romanian—which I’ve learned only a little of in survival class so far—and keep my eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.

Even if I did speak Romanian, I couldn’t just go around asking people if they’d seen a monster, as few people can actually see them—or would recognize one if they did. It’s a little different here, in the old country. Some of the older generations still believe, and even claim to see, the creatures still. They know what we are, what Saint M does. But everyone else … I wonder what they think all the gruff-looking people do up at the academy.

Travelling alone means I get to the town faster than most of the other hunters. I’m lucky to come across some school-age kids practicing their English down one of the alleys. Heavily accented, one tells the other that the “strange lady” living on the outskirts of town near the forest claims she saw a hunched, long-haired creature pass by her window.

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