“Alright students, everyone hold up your shield and prepare for the first attack.”

I stiffen, holding the small, round shield against my chest.

“Philarp, correct your stance. Your shield is not a mask. Do you want to be bashed in the face?”

I glance over to see Philarp blush in embarrassment. He drops his shield away from his face, and I attempt to mimic the corrected stance.

It doesn’t feel right. The straps feel too tight on my arm and it pinches my skin.

A quiet whisper catches my ears and I look left to see Ruina grinning impishly. “Don’t look so scared,” she says to me. Her voice is hushed, but I can hear the glee clinging to its edges.

“I’m not scared,” I mumble.

The Professor nods his head from the front, and I take that to mean we’re ready. He hobbles across the room, wooden leg clacking against the floorboards, and stops beside the canvas that covers our opponent. A quick flick of the wrist has the material snapping off and fluttering to the ground. Behind it, exposed to the light of the room, is a large gilded mirror.

The border is ornate gold, delicate patterns carved into its face. The glass is black, and just the subtlest of reflections can be seen in its surface. The only exception is the closest student. Tempest’s riotous curls fill out the reflection. Her grimace is half parts fear and determination.

Ruina clicks her tongue. “Lucky. I wanted to be the target for once.”

“You’re insane.”

Ruina smirks and at this point I’m just encouraging her.

It’s only the truly unstable students who make it to the top. All of the previous Excellents had flown in the face of conventional wisdom. Really, it was expected that Academy students be a bit less than sane.

A clang sounds from the front and everyone stiffens. Except me…I was already there.

My eyes flicker from Ruina to the mirror and I just begin to make out the warping of Tempest’s reflection. It ripples, then flattens, spins and twists until all that’s left is a grotesque resemblance of the girl. The bent lips stretch into a grin that’s all jagged teeth and I suck in a breath as green goo drips from the tips.

Oh. This is a bad one.

All at once tentacles shoot out of the mirror and the room erupts into chaos.

Jagged spines emerge from the limbs, stabbing at the closest students. Philarp nearly takes one to the knee, but bats it away with his rounded shield. The boy next to him is not so lucky. A spine whizzes past his arm and his loud scream is followed by a spray of blood.

That’s definitely going to hurt tomorrow.

A dozen more tentacles scatter about the room, and it only takes seconds for the class to remember its training. The frontline solidifies, students standing shoulder to shoulder, shields held aloft to slap away the assaulting limbs. Tempest is in the center, defending against three tentacles at once. Her speed is impressive, and the wild mane of curls only adds to the ferocity of her fight.

“Come on Lue, this is our chance!”

Ruina grabs me by the elbow and drags me forward. “Wait! Wait, no!”

She shoves us through the supporting back line and keeps pushing until we’re merging into the front.

Telby gets thrown to the right and the whole line of defenders stumbles as Ruina breaks through completely.

“Ruina!”

My friend ignores my cry and jumps after the nearest tentacle, completely ignoring the greater strategy.

I glance over at Telby who’s lying on the floorboards with anger flickering in her gaze.

We were definitely going to pay for this later.

“Sorry Telby.” I reach out my hand to help her up but she slaps it away, at the same time blocking a spine from stabbing her in the chest.

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“Don’t touch me!”

“Okay...” I frown. Well, this was not going well.

I turn to Ruina, ready to help the wild child when a scream splits the air. My gaze jerks in its direction and I see a boy with a tentacle wrapped around his legs, dragging him towards the mirror. The surrounding students are bashing at it with their shields, some holding the boy's arms, but he’s getting closer and closer to the glass.

“Move!” Professor Epson yells.

The students scatter and a massive great sword cleaves through the space they’d been standing in, slicing the tentacle in half. The mirror wails, the twisted image curling away from the surface and all of the tentacles retreat.

The great sword is left wedged in the floor and the grey canvas is tossed over the mirror.

The class breathes a sigh of relief, and Welberton, the freed student, lies weeping on the floor.

“Ruina. Luna. Stay after class. The rest of you are dismissed.”

Telby scoffs as she stands. “Do me a favor, tame the beast.” Her gaze flickers to my friend.

I mean, I don’t disagree with her. Someone was nearly eaten because we broke the line.

Ruina shrugs, loosening the straps of her shield. “The greatest hunters take risks Telby.” She throws the girl a scathing look. “Not that you would know.”

Telby huffs and her angry retreat draws several curious gazes. Mostly though, the students simply glare at us as they leave.

“If I get beat up later, you better save me,” I say to Ruina.

“Of course I'll save you.”

I want to say if she stopped acting out she wouldn't have to save me, but I can't bring myself to discourage her.

“Ruina, Luna,” the Professor snaps. “You both broke formation and endangered a fellow student. Would you like to tell me what happened?”

I open my mouth to answer when Ruina jumps in. “Professor, we were only exhibiting one of the most important characteristics of a successful monster hunter. Without risks there is no glory!”

Professor Epson crosses his arms. “Careful Ruina. There’s no glory in losing a comrade. What if it had been Luna dragged into the mirror?”

“Then I would’ve saved her.”

“And what if you couldn’t?”

Ruina is clearly offended by the thought. “I would!”

The Professor sighs and shakes his head. “Risks have consequences, Ruina. That’s why they're called risks, because eventually you do have to pay.” He drops a hand onto Ruina’s shoulder. “If this is the path you’re going to take, you need to be ready for the consequences.”

Ruina huffs and turns away, but I can tell from her posture that she's considering it. I’d told her much the same over the last couple of months, but it was different from a man who’d lost his leg to the monsters, and who had undoubtedly lost friends.

“Consider what kind of hunter you want to be. I’ll see you both in class tomorrow.”

He leaves the room. Ruina stays where she is, facing the mirror. Her dark hair is a mess, flopped all over from her energetic fight. I walk over and smooth it out, eventually just patting her on the head. “It’s okay,” I murmur. “I know you’d save me.”

“Yeah,” she whispers. Her voice trembles a little, but she straightens her posture with a sigh. “Ready to go?”

I nod, loosening the straps of my shield. Once it's off we place both of our shields on the weapons rack and exit the classroom. It takes a bit of time to check out for the day, turning in our gear to the office and writing up our mission reports. It takes longer than usual considering Welberton’s near demise. The paperwork is twice its normal size.

Finally, we exit the academy and shuffle out to the line of busses bordering the sidewalk.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ruina says. “Make sure and bring your monster journal. I want to compare notes before Species class.”

“Okay, I’ll bring it.”

“And if someone gives you trouble on the bus let me know. I’ll smash them.” She slams her fist into the opposing palm, but I really don’t need the demonstration. I’ve seen her do the same thing to a Skullera.

“I’ll let you know.”

She throws me a grin and jogs over to a bus, and I detour to find mine. I sit far in the back, my Home bag sitting in my lap. None of the kids bother me. Some of them have had run-ins with Ruina so they all know better than to try and pull something. But, they don’t talk to me either, or even smile in my direction. I curve towards the window and open my bag, familiarizing myself with the fake study material the academy provides.

It looks like algebra today, which is basic compared to monster formulas, so it’s not hard to memorize the material. The rest is fake quizzes to show to my parents.

Twenty minutes later the bus drops me at my house and I push through the front door with a shout. “I’m home!”

A crash sounds from the kitchen, and the patter of little feet rushes down the hall towards me. A ball darts around the corner and tackles me onto the floor.

“Lue! You’re home!”

My little sister’s grin is wide, and she laughs maniacally in a way that makes me chuckle in response. “Caught me huh? Where’s mom and dad?”

“Still at work. But who cares about that!” She crawls off and sits up with sparkling eyes. “Tell me about school! What did you do today? What was it like?”

“High school’s not that exciting you know. I don’t know why you find it so fascinating.”

“Cause it’s big! And I’ll go there someday too!”

I pat her on the head, much like I did Ruina, and attempted to straighten the wild red locks poking out. “We studied algebra. You want to learn about it?” It would give me an opportunity to practice for mom and dad. “Let’s straighten out your hair first. Did you even brush it?”

My sister shakes her head and I tug her down the hallway into the bathroom. A quick brush has the tangles mostly undone, and my sister’s little hand touches her reflection. “Do you ever wonder if the me in the glass could come out and grab us?”

I startle, surprised at the direction of her thoughts. I chuckle weakly. She didn’t know of course. I’d been very careful, had followed all of the Academy regulations. “Not really.”

“But what if it could reach out.” Her little hand moves up to touch the face of the image. “It might even take a bite.”

“Don’t be silly,” I said. I turn her away from the mirror. My heart thumps rapidly in my chest and I try to settle my nerves. “Mirrors can’t eat people Mel.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Lie number one.