Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy: The Templar Chronicles: Book 2 (2 page)

“Why don’t you come out here and try?” I asked, glaring at T-Rex.

“Who? Me?” T-Rex asked.

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, his hand creeping up from his lap. He then planted a finger firmly in his nose. Did I forget to mention that T-Rex was a world-class nose-picker? Every time he got nervous, he started digging for gold. That’s how he had gotten his nickname, T-Rex, because we all wished he had itty-bitty T-Rex arms, so he wouldn’t be able to reach his nose. The good news was that since our night battling monsters, his nose-picking had slowed considerably.

“Yeah, you,” I said sternly. “You need to practice too. This isn’t a vacation, you know.”

T-Rex stuffed his face with another bite of a sandwich and said, “No, I’m fine right here, thank you.”

“I’ll do it.” A shadow jumped down from a perch on the control tower in the center of the trawler. It was Will, my other friend from home. Both he and T-Rex had been drawn into my little monster problem on that terrible night. In fact, I owed them both my life. But that was where their similarities ended. T-Rex wasn’t the adventurous type. He would have been perfectly happy staying at home if his grandma hadn’t been taken away. As for Will… he was another story completely.

While I had been raised an orphan by my Aunt Sophie, Will had been raised by parents who were worse than the monsters we now fought. When my Aunt Sophie—who turned out to be a devil-wolf—was killed by Ren Lucre, Will felt the loss as much as I did. After that, there was nothing left for either of us in Sunnyvale, so it was a no-brainer that we left town with Eva, ready for anything this new world would throw at us. Three days later we were on a ship leaving New York harbor on the way to Europe. Destination: the Monster Hunter Academy.

Will strutted out on the practice area. He was short, but carried himself with a curled up tension that reminded me of a pit bull. Will loved it when people underestimated him because of his size. It made winning a lot more fun.

T-Rex cupped his mouth with his hands and made a sound like a stadium cheering a gladiator. I stepped back and let him into the training session.

Will held a short metal rod in front of him. He pressed a button and both sides telescoped out, leaving him with a spear in his hand.

“Besides, I need to practice with the new toy you gave me,” he said.

“You’ll get your turn,” Eva said, turning back to me. “Come on. Do it again.”

I held out my hand to Will and he tossed me his spear. “Let’s see how I do with this.”

Eva flashed me a smile. The one I’d seen far too many times on the deck of the ship. It was the smile right before I got my butt spanked.

Will and T-Rex hooted at the challenge. T-Rex got out of his chair and joined Will on the railing like they were at a boxing match while Eva and I circled one another on the deck.

“Are you going to make a move?” Eva asked.

I didn’t reply. I concentrated on her movements, moving the spear so that the tip created a figure-eight pattern like Eva had taught us.

Eva feinted to my side, testing me. But I didn’t take the bait.

“Good,” Eva said. “Better.”

She made a run at me and we exchanged a flurry of blows, the sword and spear banging off each other. As we parted, I nicked the shoulder of her leather suit. It didn’t draw any blood, but I knew Eva felt it.

“Yeah!” Will yelled. “That’s the way.”

“Get him, Eva!” T-Rex cried.

Eva and I circled each other again. Testing. Waiting.

“I’ll admit, you’re improving,” Eva said. “You even look good doing it. Kind of cute, actually.”

I felt my face flush at the comment. I paused, caught off-guard…and that was all she needed.

She lunged forward, smacking my spear to the side with the flat side of her sword, rolling her body along its edge until she was standing in front of me, my spear tucked under her arm. With a simple twist in the other direction, the spear flew out of my hands and skittered across the deck.

She spun and placed the point of her blade against my throat.

I gulped nervously, but nodded for Eva to look down.

Hovering right over her rib cage was my long dagger.

Will and T-Rex clapped. This was the first time I had even gotten close to beating her. Eva didn’t share Will’s enthusiasm.

Eva pushed me away and glared at us both.

“You all seem to think this is a game. It’s not,” she said. “Dying alongside your opponent still means you’re dead.”

“You’re just mad because he almost got you,” Will said.

Eva walked up to Will. She wasn’t that tall but she still towered over him.  She leaned down so they met eye-to-eye. Will, never one to back down, glared back at her.

“Wait until we get to the Academy. You won’t last a day,” Eva said. She turned on her heels and stalked off into the ship’s cabins.

“What’s gotten into her?” T-Rex asked.

“We’re getting closer to the Academy,” I said. “She’s the only one who really knows what we’re in for.”

“So?” Will said.

“I think she’s scared for us,” I said.

“Oh,” T-Rex said, rolling the idea over in his mind. “I didn’t think of that. Do you think it’s going to be that bad?”

“Nah, she’s just trying to spook us is all,” Will said, the certainty gone from his voice. “Don’t you think, Jack?”

I shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

We stared out over the water, each of us alone with our thoughts of what the Academy might be like. Eva had told us very few details beyond a brief history of the place.

Set up in the mountains near the border between France and Italy, the Academy was the last holdout of an ancient institution that had trained monster hunters for centuries. Even as recent as a few decades ago, there were several such places on every continent. But modern technology was making it harder and harder to remain hidden from the public eye. This mountain hideaway was the first Academy, and, according to Eva, it might be the last as well. 

“Eva told me that there were real monsters kept in captivity there for the training exercises,” T-Rex said. “Do you think that’s true?”

I shrugged. “We’ve both known her for the same length of time. Have you ever heard her exaggerate about anything?”

“I guess not,” Will said. “This is gonna be awesome.”

I smiled. Will was always the eager one, ready for anything. While this often got him into trouble, I wished I could be more like him. When I thought of Eva’s nervousness for us, all I felt was a twisting knot in my stomach. But I wasn’t going to the Academy to participate in their little training program. The only thing I cared about was finding Ren Lucre’s dungeons and then freeing my father. Eva had promised that the head of the Academy, Master Aquinas, would tell me everything she knew when we got there. I was counting on it.

A soft bell chimed from up in the control tower, a deep, resounding clang that guided our ship safely to shore.  I followed the tower’s smooth, sheer walls upward, its top seemingly missing as it disappeared into a thick, swirling shroud of mist. 

Three men walk along the balcony outside the steering house. The captain of the ship was one of them, noticeable because of the red glow from the tip of his cigar. These men were true sailors, paid off by members of the Black Guard back in America to take on three stowaways. Sure, a plane would have been more efficient, but try to leave the country when you’re a kid without a passport. Not that easy.

I was about to turn to Will and suggest we head down to bed when I heard the first scream.

It came from a few stories above us. It was a man’s scream, but high-pitched and filled with terror. A cigar hit the deck next to us. Instinctively, both Will and I crouched down to the ground, swords up as Eva had taught us, looking up to the balcony overhead. T-Rex just stood there, mouth open and gazing in the direction of the scream, clutching his sandwich to him. I reached out and pulled him to the ground next to us.

The fog descended further and covered the balcony in a thin, wispy haze. Through it, I could still see the dark shapes of the men on the balcony. They ran back and forth as if trapped. The captain cried out, his arms raised as if to attack something. He struggled with some unseen force, then tipped precariously over the railing.

“Watch out!” I cried.

The captain stood for a second, then stumbled as if forced by a strong shove. He fell backward over the railing.

“No!” Will shouted.

But just as the captain was about to hit the deck, a tendril of cloud bolted out from the mist and wrapped around his leg. He jerked to a stop just above the hardwood surface, held tightly by his one leg.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived.

Two other men tumbled down from the balcony, screaming. They were also caught at the last second by long wispy fingers of mist and held upside down off the deck. They struggled and kicked, but they could not free themselves.

The fog churned and swirled and I thought I saw bodies rolling just under the surface. Every so often an arm or a leg broke out from the cloud before dissolving into the night air.

“What is it?” T-Rex whimpered.

“I don’t know,” I whispered back. “But it can’t be good.”

Without warning, one of the tendrils of fog snapped back and forth like a whip being cracked. The sailor flew through the air, smashed into the wall, and crumpled to the floor.

“Definitely not good,” I said. “Come on.”

We ran, still low to the ground, staying as far from the ceiling of fog as possible. In front of us, the second sailor was tossed through the air, end over end until he smacked into the wall.

I lifted my sword over my head as I neared the captain, still hanging upside down. With a yell, I jumped onto a cargo crate and vaulted into the air, slashing the dense cord of mist just above the captain’s foot.

But my sword went straight through it like there was nothing there.

I landed hard on the deck, rolled forward and ended back up on my feet. In seconds, Will and T-Rex were at my side. Will brandished his spear. T-Rex still had a death grip on his sandwich.

“Impressive,” Will said. “Now what?”

The mist churned and grew thicker directly above us. There was a swirling vortex, like the beginning of a tornado.

“Run!” I yelled.

Just as I did, the vortex above us transformed into wide, gaping jaws lined with horrific teeth.

We sprinted from the deck, T-Rex screaming as we ran. 

The jaws descended on us, a thick neck of white fog behind it. Luckily, we were already on the move as the massive jaws chomped down on the deck where we had just been standing. Shards of wood exploded into the air from the impact.

We ran into the hallway connecting the two sides of the ship. It was open at each end so I could see the night sky rise and fall through the gap at the opposite side. I spun around and saw that the fog was still chasing us, its front end crystallized into nasty looking spikes. As we ran down the hall, we suddenly saw a thick white fog engulf our only exit.

“We’re trapped!” Will shouted.

“This way!” I shouted back.

I opened a hatch in the wall and climbed in. Once on the other side, all three of us heaved against the thick metal door until it swung into place. I tried to spin the wheel to lock the door, when something heavy hammered in from outside. The force of the impact pushed the door open a few inches. We threw our shoulders into the door and slammed it back shut.

“Lock it!” Will yelled.

“I’m trying!” I said, lurching the wheel mechanism over, between the violent bouts of hammering on the outer side of the door.  “Push harder! Both of you, on three. One…two…THREE!”

Will and T-Rex grunted and heaved against the hatch. It slammed shut just long enough for me to spin the handle and lock it tight.

There were a few more angry poundings against the sturdy metal door, and then silence.

We all rocked back against the wall and tried to catch our breath.

“Well, that was close,” T-Rex laughed.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Something slammed into the metal hatch again. Only this time we heard a voice as well.

“Let me in! It’s going to get me… Please let me in!”

The three of us froze. It was Eva.

“Help me, please!” Eva cried. “I beg you.”

“It’s Eva,” T-Rex shouted. “Open the door. Quick!”

“Come on!” Will yelled.

The door rattled even harder. I grabbed the wheel to spin it open but a hand reached out from behind us and stopped me. I spun around and saw Eva crouched next to me.

“Open the door! Help me,” Eva’s voice cried from the other side of the door. The fog creature was imitating her.

“It’s called an Aquamorph,” Eva whispered. “A powerful creature that can change shapes and shift from solid to mist in a split second. Usually they aren’t this aggressive.”

“Why won’t you help me?” the voice that sounded like Eva cried.

“We almost opened the door for that thing. We would have been goners for sure,” Will said.

“Please, Jack. It’s hurting me,” the voice whimpered.

“It knows who you are,” Eva said to me. “That’s not a good sign.”

“Now what?” T-Rex asked.

Eva gave the wheel another tug to make certain it was secure and then motioned for us to follow her up the ladder. As she climbed, I noticed the apparatus screwed into the wrist of her missing hand—a short brass pipe tipped with the head of a spear. Before I could ask her what it was, she was already up the ladder and on the deck above us. Will and I followed fast behind.

We were now on the ship’s upper level.

The lights flickered above us as we ran through the corridors. Twice we turned only to see a wall of fog billowing toward us. We had to double-back each time and find a new route.

“We have to get out in the open!” Eva said.

“And then what?” I asked. “Our swords do nothing to it.”

Finally, we reached a doorway that led to the balcony where we had first seen the sailors attacked. The wind shifted and the fog cleared, giving us an opening. We ran onto the balcony and looked down at the fog swirling beneath us.

Even though the wind howled and bashed the ship, agonizing screams from the sailors reached us from the deck below. The raging wind was so loud that we had to yell to hear each other.