Back on Campus
On the final Sunday of summer break, the entrance to Monster Academy was packed with returning students.
A male student with enormous antlers had been stuck at the luggage checkpoint for nearly ten minutes. His suitcase had passed through the scanner easily enough, but his antlers had caught on the doorframe. The administrator, clipboard in hand, asked him for the third time to lower his head. Behind him, the line grew increasingly restless. A few students tried carrying their luggage to the passage for larger species, only for another administrator to turn them away because they hadn’t registered to use it.
“I can’t lower my head any farther!” the student protested, bracing himself against the frame. Veins stood out on his neck. “Did anyone measure this doorway over the summer? I fit through it last year!”
“You hadn’t grown your second set of adult antlers last year.” The administrator surveyed the antlers and finally called for someone to open the emergency passage. The student struggled to work his head free. As soon as he managed it, the crowd behind him surged forward, and the administrator had to shout for everyone to stay in line.
A short distance away, Elowen watched the spectacle with a fresh iced coffee in hand and laughed.
She hadn’t seen campus this lively in months. Only a few students had stayed over the summer, leaving the usually crowded main square unnaturally quiet. Now classes were starting again, and the students had brought all their peculiarities with them. One carried a birdcage almost as big as its owner. Another led a suitcase that moved under its own power. A student with four arms pushed a luggage cart, held two boxes of snacks, and still had a hand free to talk on the phone.
“Someone got stuck here last year, too,” Elowen recalled, taking a sip of coffee as she turned to Rhaevan. “His wings were too big. When he turned around, he knocked three people down the steps. A professor had to come and help them.”
Rhaevan glanced at the barely moving queue. Still carrying both her suitcases, he started toward the side entrance. Elowen caught his sleeve before he could move.
“Don’t even think about using the staff passage.” She had no desire to repeat last semester’s experience, when everyone had stopped in their tracks and even the administrators couldn’t decide whether they were supposed to intervene.
“We can wait. We’re not in a hurry.” She searched her backpack for her student ID, then discovered it buried under a stack of course notices. She’d been so sure she’d organized everything last night. How had it become such a mess already? Rhaevan held her coffee while she looked and handed it back once she’d found the card.
The line inched forward. Several students near the entrance recognized Rhaevan. A werewolf who’d been joking with his friend abruptly flattened his ears when he caught sight of him. He nudged his companion, and the two stepped aside together, ignoring the people behind them who wanted to know why they’d stopped.
After scanning her ID, Elowen was about to head toward the dormitories when she heard hushed voices behind her. Someone had recognized her. Another student seemed doubtful until the incident at the research facility last semester came up. Then the conversation turned, inevitably, to her and Rhaevan—and whether they had spent the entire summer together.
Elowen resisted the urge to look back. Rhaevan had plainly heard, but he didn’t so much as turn his head. Instead, he moved a long tail away before it could catch on her backpack. Its owner turned to apologize, saw who was standing there, and hurried away without managing to finish a sentence.
“I really think you should leave me at the entrance to the dorm,” Elowen said a little later. “Otherwise the entire building will know you’re here.”
Rhaevan looked from her backpack to the two overstuffed suitcases in his hands. “I haven’t brought your bags upstairs yet.”
“There’s an elevator. I can manage. Besides, now I’m back at school, I have to take care of my own things. You can’t carry everything for me every day.” She noticed that he hadn’t slowed down at all and sighed. “Fine, just this once. But if someone asks you for a photo, I’m not answering for you.”
Rhaevan showed no interest in photographs. They crossed the square, where friends reunited beside the fountain and winged students occupied the steps outside an academic building to talk about summer flying competitions. Several culinary students had brought local specialties back with them and were arguing around a smoking crate about whether its contents should be frozen or taken straight to the dining hall while fresh. Elowen glanced inside, saw that something was still moving, and discreetly picked up her pace.
North Wing’s lobby had returned to its usual cheerful chaos. Luggage cluttered the common room, students queued for the elevators, and the administrator on duty was handling a complaint. Someone had left a walking potted plant in the corridor, and during the night it had wandered into a neighboring room. The newly returned resident had thought there was an intruder. Its owner kept insisting that the plant had always behaved perfectly at home and would never have done such a thing.
Elowen listened, smiling. She really was back. Even the monster habits that had once left her questioning everything had become familiar campus annoyances.
When an elevator finally opened, she and Rhaevan stepped inside. The other students waiting at the doors hesitated. One had already put a foot over the threshold before recognizing Rhaevan and quietly retreating, pretending to wait for a friend.
Elowen pressed the fourth-floor button and looked at the unexpected amount of space around them. “See? That person was already getting in. Now they have to wait for another elevator.”
“They could have come in.”
“They were scared to.” She straightened his sleeve where the suitcase handle had wrinkled it. “Oh, forget it. I’m tired of explaining. Maybe in a few weeks people will stop making such a fuss.”
Rhaevan didn’t answer. He’d never cared much about other people’s reactions. He did, however, notice her backpack slipping from her shoulder and pull the strap back into place.
On the fourth floor, he carried both suitcases down the hallway while Elowen found the key to Room 407. A faint smell of cleaning solution greeted them. The desk, bookshelves, and narrow bed looked just as she remembered. The curtains were drawn, but the plant by the window was thriving; someone on summer duty had clearly taken good care of it. Elowen pulled the curtains back, flooding the small room with sunshine.
“Finally home!”
Rhaevan placed the suitcases beside her bed and her canvas bag on the desk. He surveyed the room, his gaze settling on the single bed. Elowen knew that look so well she didn’t even have to face him to tell him not to complain about how small the dorm was—or suggest that she keep living at the estate. They’d talked about it countless times over the summer. She just wanted to unpack and look at her new class schedule.
“The estate isn’t far from the academy,” Rhaevan said anyway.
“I know. You’ve said that so many times these past two months.” Elowen pulled folded clothes from a suitcase and gave him a helpless look. “But I lived here last semester, and I’ve already made plans with my friends. I can’t go straight back to the estate every day after classes. Sometimes we have evening reports or club activities. I can’t expect everyone else to arrange things around my schedule.”
She began hanging clothes in the wardrobe. Rhaevan didn’t argue, but came over to help. When he put a reference book on the highest shelf, she promptly took it down again and explained that she needed it almost every day. He moved the heavier books onto a shelf beside her desk instead.
As they unpacked, Elowen went over her plans. She was helping the paranormal club recruit members on Thursday and had a group meeting on Friday. Unless something else came up, she’d return to the estate on Friday afternoon. Rhaevan stopped what he was doing.
“Friday?”
“Yes, Friday.” She hung up her last jacket and straightened his collar. “Don’t look at me as though I’m going halfway around the world. We can still see each other. We can call whenever we want.”
Rhaevan lowered his gaze and slipped an arm around her waist. She’d been reaching for some course notices, and the sudden pull nearly made the hanger in her hand strike his shoulder. She laughed and complained, but before she could put it away, he bent to kiss her. She set the hanger on the desk and rested a hand on his arm.
They’d barely parted when a familiar voice sounded in the hallway. Selene appeared at the door carrying two shopping bags. She stopped short when she saw Rhaevan. Her gaze moved between them and a grin crept over her face.
“Oh. Bad timing? Should I go downstairs and buy a drink and come back in ten minutes?”
“Stop it!” Elowen hurried to take the bags, her cheeks warm. “We just got the luggage upstairs. We were unpacking. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be back for another two days?”
Selene laughed. She’d actually returned the evening before and had only gone out that morning for essentials. She politely greeted Rhaevan before Elowen pulled her to the desk. He gathered the empty bags, brushed a strand of Elowen’s hair behind her ear, and reminded her to eat dinner.
Elowen laughed. “You’re worse than my mother. All right, see you Friday. I’ll call if I need anything.”
He gave her one last look and left.
Once the door closed, Selene set her drink down and leaned back in the chair, studying Elowen. Downstairs, she’d already overheard girls talking about the Progenitor personally escorting someone back to campus. Some were even debating whether his long silver-gray hair was naturally that beautiful or the result of some extraordinary magical treatment.
Elowen nearly dropped the clothes in her hands from laughing. “He won’t even use the hair oil I bought him. I practically forced it on him last time. Imagine their faces if they knew he hardly bothers to do anything with his hair after washing it.”
Selene shook her head. “Most people can’t even get close enough to see him, and you’re complaining that the Progenitor won’t use hair oil. Fine. I won’t ask.” She studied her friend again. “You had a good summer, though, didn’t you? You look much better than you did last semester.”
Elowen sat on the bed and told her about the holidays. She’d spent most of the two months at the Northern Estate, occasionally going into the city with Rhaevan. His injuries had fully healed. After her final examination, Vessa hadn’t required him to return to the Medical Wing. Elowen had gradually stopped checking his wrist all the time, and the second half of their summer had been pleasantly peaceful.
She told Selene about the crows that often gathered near the estate. One had stolen her new hair clip and carried it onto the roof. She’d searched the garden for half the afternoon before Rhaevan retrieved it from a tree branch. Selene laughed and wondered whether the bird had started collecting Elowen’s belongings.
Then it was Selene’s turn to complain about her summer. Her family had dragged her to gathering after gathering. At one, a distant relative introduced her to a young pureblood vampire. He had a respectable background and decent manners, but they’d been sitting together for less than ten minutes when he asked whether she’d move to his family’s territory after graduation.
“I couldn’t even remember his surname, and he was already asking where I’d want to live after we got married. I told him I still had two compulsory courses to pass and wasn’t thinking about marriage. Guess how he answered?”
Elowen looked up from her water.
“He asked if I needed a private tutor! Said his family could arrange extra lessons. And if I was worried about graduation, we could get engaged first and hold the ceremony afterward. I wanted to ask whether we were on a date or discussing my grades.”
Elowen nearly spat out her water. They kept talking until the sunlight had begun to slant toward evening, with a few pieces of clothing still waiting to be put away. Then Elowen’s phone rang.
The paranormal club had sent out its recruitment schedule. Every returning member had to participate. Elowen found her name on the Thursday morning shift, along with a note from the club president, Mira, instructing everyone to come to the clubroom on Wednesday night to sort out the promotional materials. Anyone absent would have to explain why.
“Oh no. I almost forgot about this.” Elowen added the event to her calendar. “We really have to recruit new members this year, or the academy might take our clubroom away.”
Selene leaned over to look and laughed. Why did a school full of monsters need a paranormal investigation club? Elowen had heard the question too many times to begin explaining from scratch. Instead, she pulled up the unfinished report on last year’s investigation of the old library and showed Selene the photographs and records of anomalous echoes. Their club dealt with far stranger things than ordinary monster stories.
Selene seemed mildly interested after looking at the evidence, but when Elowen invited her to join, she shook her head at once. Her major courses were already enough work; she had no intention of spending her evenings wandering through old school buildings listening to weird noises.
Elowen let the matter drop, made another note about Wednesday’s preparations, and dragged Selene downstairs for dinner. Jasper and Auren had claimed a table by the window. Jasper had enough food for two people on his tray and was complaining about how brutal his summer training had been. Auren, with a printed timetable beside his plate, calmly reminded him that he’d signed up for the camp himself.
“How was I supposed to know they’d increase the workload that much?” Jasper demanded. Then he saw Elowen and waved. “Look who it is! Lady Progenitor herself! How was your summer? Go anywhere interesting?”
Elowen had barely sat down before she warned that if he kept calling her that, he’d never borrow her lecture notes again. Jasper agreed promptly, then asked about Rhaevan bringing her back to the dorm. There were already photographs on the campus forum. Selene showed her the post and discovered that the number of comments had doubled since the afternoon.
The picture was blurry. Rhaevan’s back occupied most of the frame, while Elowen was looking down at her coffee, completely unaware that someone was taking photographs. She wondered who had so little to do on the first day of the semester that they could spend it following other people around.
Jasper thought the attention perfectly understandable. Rhaevan rarely appeared publicly on campus. For students who had heard about the Progenitor for years without a chance to meet him, seeing him escort his girlfriend to the dormitory was bound to be fascinating. Elowen had no energy to argue and simply ate her dinner.
They moved on to the semester’s courses. Auren had spent the summer working on an outside research project and was already sorting his notes. Jasper wanted to enroll in more advanced combat training. Selene was considering switching classes after learning that one of her professors was notoriously strict. Elowen mentioned her business program and the major project she expected to tackle. Auren recommended consulting exemplary reports from the previous year in the business research section of the library.
As she was about to make a note of it, two unfamiliar girls came to their table. One had pretty, short white horns. The other stood a step behind, looking shy. The horned girl politely asked whether she was Elowen and lit up when she said yes. She’d heard so much about Rhaevan during the summer. The fact that he was dating the academy’s only pure human student was simply too intriguing.
Elowen assumed they wanted to ask about classes—until the girl finally blurted out, “How did you manage to get the Progenitor to date you? We don’t mean anything by it. We’re just curious. Someone like him is almost impossible to approach, much less date.”
Elowen froze. Jasper stopped chewing. Selene brought her cup to her mouth to hide a smile. The girls continued excitedly: what had she said when she first met him? Had she used any special courting technique? Given him a present he’d never forgotten?
Elowen stared at her fork, at a loss. She remembered stumbling into the Northern Estate after Toren drugged her, barely able to stand and utterly ignorant of Rhaevan’s identity. What happened afterward was not exactly suitable material for a dating guide.
After a moment she explained that she’d never pursued him and that their first meeting had been complicated. There was no useful advice to offer. This only intrigued the girl further. Had he made the first move? Did he bring flowers, give gifts, plan romantic dates?
Rhaevan did give her presents and remember the things she liked, but he could be maddeningly overbearing. The gentleness people saw now had taken a long time to develop as they learned to live together. She couldn’t possibly explain all of that in a few sentences.
Fortunately, Auren reminded the girls that Elowen was still eating. They apologized and left. The moment they were out of earshot, Jasper burst out laughing and suggested she teach an elective on how to attract high-ranking monsters.
Elowen snatched up a napkin and threw it at him. He ought to worry about passing his exams before commenting on anyone else’s love life.
“I walked into his estate myself! It’s not as if I found him lying around in the forest! What am I supposed to tell everyone? Do you want me to write a report about what to prepare before your first meeting?”
Selene was doubled over with laughter. Even Auren was smiling. Elowen gave up arguing and went back to her dinner, which had gone lukewarm.
Her phone vibrated again. Mira had posted last year’s membership figures in the club chat and announced this year’s recruitment goal in enormous red lettering: TEN.
Elowen sighed. Jasper glanced at it and remarked that a sports club he knew could sign up dozens of members in a day. Elowen wasn’t interested in comparing numbers. Instead, she decided to review last year’s promotional materials back in her room. She wasn’t about to let the club be shut down for lack of recruits during the first week of school.
