Monster Mine (26 page)

Hatter just stared out the window.
He’d barely looked at me since the time we’d spent together right
before Ollie came crashing into the warehouse with Ghost. I told
myself it wasn’t a big deal—we had bigger things going on—but his
silence jabbed at me like a tiny stone in the bottom of my
shoe.

“
What do you mean?” Luke
asked as the tension in the car ratcheted up a few
notches.

We all held our breaths because Ollie
was a wild card these days.

“
The first night I went
out to talk to Hex, when you were attacked, he gave me an
ultimatum.”

Luke shot her a darting glance, and I
leaned forward to see her face. She was cradling her burnt hand in
her lap. I’d put some ointment on it and wrapped it for her. It
would probably scar since she’d gone off into the woods without
telling me about it first, but at least it wouldn’t get infected,
not under my watch.

“
What kind of ultimatum?”
I asked.

She met my eyes before speaking, and I
saw how much her next few words bothered her to say aloud. “He told
me he’s planning to attack the university during Killian’s
trial.”

A
tap-tapping
sound filled the car as
Luke’s fingers twitched against the leather steering
wheel.

“
He wanted me to help, on
the inside. He said that after I learned everything about my
mother—after I earned the truth from him—I would want to
help.”

Luke’s fingers stopped. The only sound
came from the slushing turn of the tires over the road. No one
wanted to ask the question. I reminded myself this was her decision
to make, her life, and then asked, “Is that why we’re going back?
So you can help Hex?”

“
No.” We all relaxed a
bit. “My mother didn’t turn her back on Fear University, and
neither will I.”

We all waited for the rest of the
story, the final bit Hex had told her, but it never
came.

“
What about Dean?” Luke
eventually asked.

“
I know how to deal with
him now,” she said. “I know what he wants, and I’ll give it to him
in return for him backing a few changes on how the university
operates.”

“
You’re going to negotiate
with him to let in the halflings, aren’t you?” I asked.

Ollie looked back at me with such
fierceness in her eyes that I knew I was right.

“
That and more. The
university still stands for something good, and my mother knew
that. She fought for it up until the day she died. She had a vision
for how the school could be, and I’m going to see it
through.”

She spoke with a purpose that clipped
her words, like beats of a drum, strong and slow. I hadn’t seen her
like this in a long time.

“
Okay,” I said. “I’m with
you.”

Luke cursed and hit the brakes. The
tires squealed as the car fishtailed. I cringed on reflex, my eyes
squeezing shut, my body shrinking back into my seat. Hatter’s arm
slammed across my body. My heart flipped into my throat, and I
waited for the crash.

Nothing happened.

Luke stopped the car. Slowly, Hatter
lowered his arm from across my chest.

Up front, Ollie said, “What the hell
is this?”

As I opened my eyes, I heard her car
door open.

“
Ollie,” Luke started to
warn her, but she was already gone.

Hatter and I peered through the front
windshield. Three members from Hex’s pack stood in the middle of
the road. I couldn’t remember their names, except for Tully, the
one with the dreads and whose family had been killed. If they were
here to stop us, if they’d come to attack
. . .

Ollie stopped in front of
them.

Hatter glanced at me, at my window,
probably calculating the danger. “Maybe we should—”

“
Give her a minute.” Luke
leaned forward and rolled down his window so we could
hear.

“
We know about Hex’s
plans,” Tully was saying, his eyes unblinking as he stared at
Ollie, “and we understand why you made your own. There are others
who would agree.”

My breath caught in my
chest.
Others
.
Relief punched through my stomach. Ollie must have been just as
moved by the support, because Tully offered her a tired
smile.

“
Hex took the rest of the
pack right after your talk,” the second ’swang with auburn hair and
freckles said. “We haven’t seen him since.”

“
He’s preparing for the
attack during Killian’s trial.” Ollie spoke matter-of-factly, as if
she wasn’t discussing the possible death of thousands.

The last pack member nodded. “He has
more support than just his pack. He can gather a small army. Many
aswangs will fight just for the chance to take down the university,
no matter Hex’s reasons.”

“
Why are you helping us?”
Ollie asked, and even from the car, I heard the thickness in her
voice.

“
Because he’s wrong,”
Tully said with a certainty that moved me. He looked at Ollie and
didn’t waver. He trusted her. Believed in her. I hoped she knew
that.

She had allies. She wasn’t
alone.

“
We can’t keep fighting
all the rogues by ourselves,” the second ’swang said, adding to
Tully’s argument. “It’s time for a change.”

“
Fear University can be
that,” Ollie said. “Down to my bones, I believe that. My mother did
too. On the day she died, I believe she still trusted the purpose
of the university. It’s just gotten a little wayward because of the
men who led it astray, but it can still be a place that protects
people and fights against rogues, both human and
’swang.”

Tully put his hand on her shoulder.
“We believe that too.”

He couldn’t know what being touched
was like for her, but she didn’t pull away.

“
Thank you,” she
said.

“
We’ll meet you down
there. On the way, we’ll talk to a few others we believe might
agree with us.” The second ’swang was bouncing on his feet as he
spoke, ready to go.

“
If you need us, we’ll be
outside the school’s fence. We’ll stay close.”

Before Tully could finish, Ollie
pulled him into a hug. Luke looked away, his eyes on the center of
the steering wheel. I figured he was probably thinking about
Tully’s family, wondering if he’d been the one responsible. I
reached over the console and squeezed his forearm. He didn’t pull
away either. Maybe he was grateful. After taking a deep breath, he
returned his attention to Ollie.

The three aswangs left, back into the
woods alongside the road, and Ollie returned to the car as Luke
rolled up his window.

“
You heard?” she asked as
she settled into her seat, her eyes finding us. Then she smiled,
just a fraction, but it was a real smile. It was
something.

“
We did,” Luke said,
putting the car in drive.

“
What does this mean? Can
we even get them inside the university?” I asked.

Her smile stretched a little wider.
Chills swept down my arms.

“
Once Dean hears my offer,
I think he’ll give me anything I want.”

* * *

We landed on the university’s airstrip
right at dusk. A few other bush planes were taking off and landing
around us, and even more were being taxied around. Lights shone
down on the runways and the workers out spreading salt from trucks.
In the distance, the wind turbines slowly rotated like giants
waving down at us.

Closer to the university’s central
building, I felt it. The place was electric.

It wasn’t from the sheer number of
people descending into the school. From what I remembered when my
family would drop my brothers off, that was normal for the end of
winter break. But this was different. Killian’s trial had everyone
abuzz. Hunters from all over had come in to see an Aultstriver
tried for his crimes. Families flocked together in droves, whisking
around the school’s property in all-terrain vehicles. All the
barracks would be full tonight, along with every room in the
school. Some of the younger, hardier hunters were even camping out
in the field between the airfield and the front courtyard. Huge
bonfires dotted the space, warming the air until it was almost
unbearably hot.

As we walked onto the courtyard, a
hush fell over the crowd around us. People moved out of the way as
we passed, their eyes locked on Ollie before shifting to the rest
of us. So much had happened that I’d forgotten we were at the
center of this too.

Ollie kept her head down, but I knew
she had to hear the murmurs spoken behind hands. It bothered me.
Like, it irritated me so much I wanted to scream at them. They
thought they had this complete idea of what she was and who she
was. Some great, upcoming warrior. A killer. A pretty, but scarred
girl who’d been tortured and tested, only to come out harder and
meaner for it. They read her tight walk, her straight spine, her
puffy jacket and boots, and her set jaw, and they thought they
knew.

They only saw their favorite kind of
monster stalking past them.

I thought, for a moment, some might
even cheer.

It made me sick.

They had no clue what she’d been
through, what she’d fought against to even be at this point. Worst
of all, these people had no idea what was coming for them and what
she still had to fight—all for them. She didn’t have to come back
here. Logic should have sent her running in the other direction
from this place. But here she was, ready to fight, yet
again.

It made me proud of her, but also so
sad. Luke and Hatter must have felt the same way, because we all
inched forward, flanking in around Ollie and shielding her. We
collectively picked up our pace, gliding through the crowd that had
gathered in the courtyard for dinner. We blocked out the blanket
silence that had fallen over everyone.

I had no clue how Luke felt about all
this—I couldn’t even begin to imagine—but as we came to the
university’s front doors, which stood open even with the chill, he
whispered something into Ollie’s ear and eased into the crowd.
Everyone was so busy focusing on Ollie that they hardly noticed
him.

He’d been the golden boy here once,
the prodigious hunter. His Aultstriver name and his kill count had
bought him respect and fear in equal measures. Things were going to
change for him. I just didn’t know how badly.

Hatter touched my back and went after
him.

I was busy watching him go, wondering
what would happen to us, that I almost ran into Ollie’s back when
she slowed down.

“
Wha—” I
started.

Her attention was locked on a family.
They were far enough away that the group of nearly fifty around
them hadn’t noticed us yet, but somehow, her eyes had snagged on
them, as if she could smell the sparking violence coming off the
father.

A middle-aged man with patchy hair and
a gut had his son by the back of his neck. It would’ve been an
innocent gesture if not for the press of his body and the
tightening grip that dimpled the boy’s skin. The father hissed
words into the son’s ear. He shook him. Next to them, the wife
paled, but she didn’t say anything to her husband.

The people around them, the students
and hunters and other families, didn’t say anything to the father
either. They didn’t even notice.

The violence was so normal.

Ollie angled toward them, a snarl
tugging at her lips. The people closest to us backed
away.

“
Sunny!” Someone calling
my name from across the courtyard distracted us both. I turned away
from the family right as Nyny trotted up to us, her lavender hair
braided and bouncing against her back. She was carrying a
jumbo-sized coffee thermos. “I’ve been looking for you
guys.”

“
Sorry.” I darted another
glance at the father. The boy, who had to be new first-year, was
cowering beneath his father’s hold and shaking. “I should’ve
called. It’s been a busy few days.”

“
No problem. Hey, Ollie,”
Nyny said, offering her a nod.

“
Hey.” Ollie’s voice was
cold and distant. She never looked away from the family.

Nyny’s brows spiked.

“
Thanks for coming,” I
said quickly to distract her. “I really appreciate it.”

“
Of course. I brought the
stuff with me. Do you want to head down to the lab and
talk?”

Ollie hadn’t even heard us. With
visible effort, she pulled her attention away from the family and
focused on us, for a brief second.

“
I’m going to talk to
Dean,” she said.

“
Do you want me to come
with you? What about Luke?”

“
I’ll do it
alone.”

With that, she headed off, cutting
straight to the front doors and disappearing inside. I shot one
last glance at the family, but they’d disappeared into the
crowd.

“
Are you going to tell me
what the hell’s going on?” Nyny asked, hands on her hips. “And why
did you tell me to bring all the powdered wolf’s bane I
have?”