Madame Corinne's Club of Winged, Wand-Wielding, and Waterproof Teenagers

Chapter 7- Jenna

Disclaimer: This chapter mentions death and dying and may cause some discomfort. (Although it's really not that bad. I just thought I should warn y'all.)

"They combat department has a crap ton of classes," I said, leading Natalie down the hall, "Like this one: Weapon Handling and Conditioning, or as I like to call it, How to Not Drop Your Sword and Impale Your Own Foot."

I pointed to the open door nearest to us, which lead to a room with a sand pit for a floor and padded walls. About ten kids stood inside, waving around heavy, blunt swords erratically (and often flinging and/or dropping them).

"It's a beginning level class, so if you pass, you'll be taking it," I said.

"Oh great," Natalie said dryly, watching two ten year olds having what was essentially a sissy fight. I could tell she was really psyched about the whole thing.

"Here's the class I usually take at this time, when I'm not explaining to my best friend that her life is a lie," I said, gesturing at the room opposite, with a similar setup but more, um, experienced students.

Natalie laughed. "Dramatic much?"

We paused a while to watch the class, and I waved at Bane, who was dueling Monsterslayer, a nerdy freshman who also took the class. (No, that is not her real name.)

"So..." Natalie started as we moved on, walking down the hall to the next classroom, "I've heard a lot about battle, what with the battle records and the battle training. Do, uh, do they send you into real fights?"

"Huh? Sure they do," I said, "But, like, not until we've trained enough and all."

"Isn't that illegal?" Natalie hissed as we stopped to watch a lesson in hand-to-hand combat.

I fidgeted uncomfortably. "I guess. But it's really not like we have a lot of other options. Plus, you have to be at least sixteen to fight in yellow-level cases."

"What does that mean, 'yellow level?'" she asked, "And what about the adults? Why aren't the adults fighting instead? And please, explain to me why exactly you have to battle? I still don't really get it."

I took a deep breath.

"All that is a lot to unpack all at once," I said, "So how about we sit down?"

We came to a vacant lecture hall. There was writing on the chalkboard. How To Find Weak Spots on a Monster, and lots of scribbled notes about the subject.

I hopped onto a table in the first row, and Natalie joined me there.

"So, let's start with the easy part I guess," I said, "Our battles are sorted into three categories, green, yellow, and red. Green cases are easy. Most of them don't actually count as battles, anyway. Mostly trap setting and surveillance work. On occasion you'll face a Monster or two during battle."

"What even is a Monster anyway?" Natalie asked.

"I'll get to that," I promised. "Anyways, that's green. Yellow level cases are any encounter where there are between three to fifteen Monsters. Of course, yellow cases are always assigned to a group. No one battles that many Monsters alone. And as I mentioned, you have to be at least sixteen to get assigned to them. Red cases are facing fifteen or more Monsters, and some of the most extreme ones can also involve attacking Monster camps. You have to pass a load of tests to be red level. It's really hard to get there."

"That's very fascinating," Natalie said, without enthusiasm, staring me down, "But maybe get to the part about why your fighting in the first place?"

"Right."

I stared at the ceiling for a second, trying to find words.

"So, Monsters are these, um, well, monsters, I guess. Obviously," I started, "Or, beasts, maybe, is a better word. Anyway, Monsters look like bears at first. But with every, uh-" I shifted nervously, "-With every magical person they, um, they kill they um, become something else. Something much more dangerous."

It seemed as if all the blood had drained from Natalie's face.

"How-how often do they... you know." She couldn't seem to say the word. Her voice seemed choked.

"Not that often," I tried to assure her, "And they almost never kill people who come here to train. Mostly their, uh, victims are people who haven't started lessons here or, uh, people who don't know about their heritage. Because, uh, you know, magic is hereditary. But sometimes families who haven't developed signs of their magic for a couple generations forget, and those are... the ones that... the Monsters get..."

Oh gods. I could tell I was making it worse.

I swear when this was explained to me it wasn't this gruesome. Okay, well, I was six, and I guess it never really was explained to me, I just kind of knew.

Natalie was shaking at this point. Crap. I took her hand and cleared my throat.

"Anyway, Monsters, uh, take on the qualities of... those people," I continued, kicking myself mentally for every word that came out of my mouth, "Like, if one of... them... is a, uh, winged person, the Monster might grow wings, or if someone, uh, was a magic wielder the Monster grows more intelligent, and so one and so forth."

"They make you.... They make you fight those things?" she asked quietly, "I don't get it. How could they... Why would they think it was at all okay to..."

"Here's where we come back to that 'we don't really have a choice' business," I said, trying to be gentle, "Cause the adults are fighting too. Most of them go to the Monster's home base. We call it the Hive. They keep the Monsters occupied there, and we face the lesser of the violence. And it's not all that bad. Lots of people retire after only a couple of years, or come to teach here."

Natalie frowned.

"You know what, you're right," she said, "That's not bad, that's terrible."

"Oh come on!" I said, "In the grand scheme of things, it's not terrible. We get to live a relatively normal life, and when we're old enough we go join in the main action for a fraction of our lives, and then it's business as usual. Well, except for the occasional attack. But it's really fine! Not that big of a deal."

Natalie gave me a look, like Seriously? She rolled her eyes.

"Okay then," she said, "Sure. This is com-plet-ly normal. Not that big of a deal, you say! Sure. Whatever."

I sighed.

"Look, I know it's kind of... jarring," I reasoned, "But this is what most of us have grown up with. Maybe it's weird to you. But I, personally, feel proud to know that I'm defending my home."

"You're insane," Natalie said, "Which is funny of me to say, because I was pretty certain I was the one off my rocker until now. But I guess we can agree to disagree. Maybe. Even though all of this is crazy and illegal!"

I smiled.

"I knew you'd come around," I said, "Now, to the next part of our tour!"