Monster Wars

Late To School...Again

I just sat in the car, breathing hard. There was no way I could mistake what had just happened. Someone really wanted me hurt. I had done something wrong. What I did wrong, I had no idea. But someone decided I was a threat.

My mind flashed back to the sticky note I had found in Ted's office. The Snakes could be behind this. But from what I had heard of them, they gave no warning. One day you were alive, the next day you were dead.

The driver could have been Ted. It was pretty obvious he didn't like me, although I could never figure out why. He just had something against me, ever since he had become director.

Whoever it was, they weren't fooling around. Checking the back bumper of my Bug, I found two little dents and a large one. Lovely. There was no way I could get money to fix them, unless I could convince Monster Fighters to pay for it. Yeah right.

I was probably already late for school. I jumped back in the car and started it up again. At least the motor was running okay. Otherwise I would be in really big trouble.

Finally arriving at school, I headed to the office for a late slip. The secretary barely glanced at me as she scrawled it out. Having no parental figure to yell at me, I tended to be a tiny bit late sometimes.

"Another one of these means a detention, you know." The secretary told me. I nodded sheepishly and headed to art. At least I started out the day on a good note.

I started toward my usual seat, just to find it occupied. By a certain six foot grinning someone.

"Late again, Kara? You really need an alarm clock." Ms. Bita told me as I handed her the late slip. "We're working on the chalk pastels. Don't get too messy."

I loved pastels, but always managed to get them everywhere. I felt that my hands were better smudging tools than the stupid little blending sticks. My hands would be multicolored for the rest of the day. And maybe my jeans too.

I slid into the open seat next to Matt. "Really, steal my seat? What are you, ten?"

He winked. "It's called payback for killing me this morning."

I pulled out my sketchbook as I glanced around for my drawing board. "It's not my fault you're not in shape."

"So what'd you do, try to take a nap before school?" He asked as I grabbed the blue. "I knew you were worn out too."

I looked up. "Uh, no. I kinda had a...confrontation on the road." I said in a low voice.

"Kara, I told you to stop running over people!" He joked.

"It wasn't my fault! Someone tried to run me of the road!" I protested. "Well, it worked too."

He looked me over. "You ok?"

"Yeah, but my pretty car has three big dents in it."

"As long as you're ok, the car will be ok." He said.

I glanced at his face. He really was concerned about this. "And I got a creepy phone call yesterday."

His reply was interrupted by Ms Bita. "Kara, Matt, I hope you two are chatting about how fantastic I am.

Talk and draw!"

"Tell me everything later." Matt whispered as we bent over our work. "Lunch?"

"Sure. Meet me outside." I told him.

********************************************

Before I knew it, I was waiting for Matt at the picnic table outside at lunch time. He was always late.

I watched him push through the doors and stop, looking for me. He scanned the lunch area twice before finally seeing me seated farthest away from the door. We really needed to work on his observation skills.

"Took you long enough." I remarked as he sat down.

"Hey, it's not my fault all the atractive available girls were chasing down and trying to drag me into the janitor's closet." He winked.

"You only wish." I told him.

"So anyway, what were you saying about creepy phone calls?" He asked, digging into his sandwich.

I filled him in on the note I found in Ted's office, the phone call, and a fuller explanation on what had happened earlier. He listened as he chowed down on a lunch that would take me a whole day to finish.

"Don't you think you should tell someone?" He asked when o had finished.

"Like who?" I snorted. "Ted, who could be trying to kill me? The cops, who would stick me in a foster home for living alone underage? The school, who would flip about me skipping and fighting mythical creatures? There's no one to tell."

He considered. "I guess not. This is serious, Kara. You need to watch your back."

"I know." It had been nice to tell Matt, even if he couldn't do anything about it. "I'll try."

My phone beeped with an incoming call. "Hello?"

"Agent Night, there is a serious problem." I got as a response.

"Ok..."

"This is the director. I need you and your trainee. There's a griffin on the loose in downtown New York city."

Oh. This was very bad. Griffins were attracted to shiny stuff, and would kill to get it. Combine that with

New York City and there' s a problem. "Can it wait until after school?" I asked.

"Yeah right. You two have been excused. Get your butt to the Headquarters." He hung up.

I looked at Matt. "Let's go. It's monster fighting time."

Author's note

Hi again! I'm going to bug all of you readers again! It would make me amazingly happy if you would vote. Please( instert cutest puppy-dog face ever here)? Thanks a bijillion times!