Page 54 of The Golden Receiver

It wasn’t just the monsters that were out. I saw a few of the humans I’d heard talking in class doing exactly what they said they’d be doing: sitting on a bench and watching people walk by. For half a second, I thought about joining them. Making friends or something, but I really needed to get to the library and get a chunk of my homework done.

I thought the library might be busy when I got in there. It might have been the blood moon, but there was class in the morning. Surely even monsters had to do their homework.

But it was mostly empty.

The spot I always took when I studied, up on the third floor at a little corner table, was completely deserted. I didn’t see another person anywhere. It was almost too quiet without the sounds of people walking around, talking in whispers that carried more than if they just fucking talked quiet.

After about thirty minutes, I was having a hard time focusing on what I was supposed to be doing. I was supposed to be studying a speech, analyzing it for my communications class. We had a paper due on it for our midterm. I’d watched the speech about a hundred times, so many times I could pretty much picture every movement the speaker made when I read through the words. I could almost hear his inflection.

At this point, I should have been able to write the damn paper, but I couldn’t. Nothing I wrote sounded all that good. I struggled with my words for about thirty minutes before I moved on and started studying for another class.

I couldn’t focus on it either.

I gave up after about two hours. I packed my beaten up laptop back into my bag and tossed my books in. I did a final check, making sure I wasn’t leaving anything behind—not that it was a possibility given that I hadn’t taken much out of my bag to begin with—and went downstairs. Guess Evander was going to get his way, and I was going to spend my night lounging in the dorm.

When I stepped out of the library, I noticed that things had changed. There weren’t a lot of people around. The humans on the bench had gone inside. Most of the monsters that had been roaming around campus had gone somewhere else. Maybe they all had their own little things to do like Evander and his pack did. I wondered if he was having fun right now, running around, howling at the moon, and doing whatever else his pack had planned.

I’d made it halfway around the building when I heard a leaf crunch behind me.

Evander’s paranoia must have bled through to me, because the moment I heard that crunch, I whipped around to see if I could see what caused it. Nothing.

I was jumping at fucking shadows.

It had probably been a rabbit or a cat or something. I’d seen them around campus all semester long, and they’d never spooked me like they did tonight. I blamed the full moon. I blamed Evander. I blamed myself for being so jumpy. “Being a fucking idiot,” I muttered under my breath before starting back toward Karloff Hall.

I’d made it three steps before I realized I wasn’t being an idiot.

Two large figures stepped out of the shadows in front of me. Neither of them looked human, and I wasn’t sure I could have picked either of them out of a lineup if I’d seen them in their human forms. One of them had a good foot on me. Their skin was dark blue, and they had the largest set of horns I’d ever seen in my life. The other creature next to him had expansive wings, dark red skin, and a tail that flicked like an annoyed cat. He was about six inches taller than me, and he was at least double my width.

I heard footsteps behind me, and my heart skipped a beat. I turned around, and there were three other creatures behind me, blocking me from going down the path that way. I swear, one of them looked like it was just made of shadow. Didn’t even look like it was something I could touch.

My heart was pounding against my ribcage as they started walking closer to me. My fight or flight instincts kicked in, and I did what anyone in my position would do: I tried to run.

Worst idea ever.

The red creature grabbed me and flung me back into the middle of the group. I fell onto the ground, my backpack breaking my fall. I just had to hope my laptop wasn’t crushed in the process. I couldn’t afford to replace it, and I had hours of work and research saved on it.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going, Sawyer?” the blue monster asked in a voice that I knew.

I’d heard it in practice. I’d heard it in the locker room.

Damien Willis.

I scrambled back to my feet. I was not going to lose my shit. I was not going to let them know that they were freaking me out. “Is this some kind of hazing ritual?” I asked him, trying to keep my voice steady. I hoped some of the others would speak. Maybe I could figure out who they were.

Of course, I had my ideas.

If Willis was out here, then I’d bet my life that Reyes was too. Those two were damn near inseparable.

Willis took a step closer to me. The rest of his cronies followed suit, tightening up the circle and making it where I didn’t have any room to escape.

“Why the hell would it be a hazing ritual?” Willis spat. One of his clawed hands grabbed my shoulder. I felt the bite of his claws as they sank into my skin. “Hazing means we want you to be a part of the team. We don’t want that.”

“No one wants that,” the red creature growled. Beneath the growl was the unmistakable voice of Reyes. I wasn’t too surprised. “No one wanted a human on the team other than the coach, and we sure as hell don’t want to keep depending on one to win.”

“Especially not when the human sucks,” a voice behind me said. I might have recognized the voice, but I couldn’t put a name to it. I was pretty sure it was some third string guy that I’d never talked to. Maybe I should have taken the time to learn more of my teammates’ names.

You know, in case they ever cornered me in the dark under a full moon.