Endangered: the Demons of M.a.

Endangered: The Demons of Monstrum Academy Pt. 9

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© 2025 S. Round. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author. All sexually active characters in this work are eighteen (18) years of age or older.

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Ch. 80

Finals week came and went without any unexpected events. Evan felt like he managed to perform well, and he was confident that he had secured good grades for his first semester. His last final was Friday morning on the last day of classes before the break. As soon as it finished, it felt like a huge weight had lifted off his shoulders. It was clearly the same for all the other students as they exited the building with big smiles. Well, almost all the students. Some seemed to have bombed their tests and looked a little green.

Evan checked his phone and saw he had a message from Ms. Vaduva. She had sent it while he was taking his test, and she asked him to come speak with her in her office. With his schedule now truly free, he had no reason to refuse. He headed in that direction immediately. A short time later, he was in his familiar seat facing the beautiful older vampire that ran the school.

"How was your first finals week? Think you did well?"

"Yeah, I think so. Did my best anyway."

"Good," she said smiling. "Any plans for your break?"

"Nothing major," he said.

Evan had arranged to spend a good amount of his break with Clara to help conceive a baby, but he didn't feel like sharing that story with Ms. Vaduva. And besides the planned baby-making sex marathon, he really didn't have anything important going on. He had known since he came to town that he would be spending the break on campus. They had informed him right at the beginning that he wouldn't be able to return home until school let out for the summer.

"Has anyone talked to you about the Winter Solstice Celebration?" Ms. Vaduva said.

"I mean, I've heard it mentioned," he said. "But I don't know much about it."

"Allow me the honor of informing you then," she said. "For mages, the winter solstice is our primary end of the year holiday. It's always been that way going back to ancient times. It has changed somewhat over the years as some traditions died and new ones were created, but the core values of the holiday have remained intact. Mainly that the holiday is about celebrating family and new beginnings."

"I see."

"In recent times, since Magebane, it has become a time to celebrate the births of the new generation."

"Makes sense."

"And nobody has more to do with the birth of the new generation than you, Evan," Ms. Vaduva said. "That's why the city council has asked that you participate in the opening ceremony this year."

"What would I have to do?"

"Nothing complicated," she said. "I doubt you would even have to speak. They just want to honor you in their own way. After all, the whole town is very excited after the recent pregnancy news."

"I guess I can stand on stage, or whatever," he said. "As long as it isn't too much. After this week, I don't want any more stress for a while."

"I understand," she said smiling. "So, shall I tell them you'll do it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Great! Everyone will be thrilled."

Evan hoped he wouldn't regret agreeing. He really did want to avoid responsibility for a while. But it sounded like it shouldn't take much effort, so he figured he should take the easy opportunity to make the people happy.

"That was all the business I had to discuss today," Ms. Vaduva said. "But I did have a personal inquiry to make, if you don't mind."

"Ok, shoot."

"Well, while we do love our winter solstice, we still celebrate Christmas as well," she said. "I was wondering if you had any plans for the 25

th

?"

"Oh... not really?" he said. "I mean, I haven't thought about it much. Usually, I would just hang around at home with my folks, but obviously that changes this year. Kinda figured I'd just be watching Christmas movies in my room."

"Ah, I was worried about that," she said. "How about this? Would you like to spend the day with my family at our home?"

"Really?"

"Of course! It would just be Alexandra and I, but it would still be much better than spending the day alone. And I'll fix us a nice turkey dinner as well."

Surprisingly, Evan had to fight to keep his eyes from watering. He had no idea where the feeling sprung out from. It wasn't like Christmas was all that important to him. But, somewhere deep in his mind, he must have been a little upset about being so isolated from his family on such a big holiday. More than that, though, Evan was touched that Ms. Vaduva had clearly given his situation a lot of consideration. He once again felt how deeply this woman cared for her students.

"Yeah... I think I'd like that," he finally said.

Evan returned to his dorm room shortly after that. He got great satisfaction out of putting away his books for the final time. He sunk into his chair and quickly started up a new anime series that just came out. Sadly, one episode in, he had already decided it wasn't for him, and he began looking for other forms of entertainment. Since Ms. Vaduva got him thinking about the Winter Solstice Celebration, he decided to ask his friends about it to learn a little more.

His friends painted a complete picture of the event for him in no time. It was held at the edge of town due to the celebration requiring a large bonfire. The fire was at the center of everything, and the lighting of the fire was the signal for the beginning of the celebration. It was likely the event Evan was to participate in was the lighting ceremony. After that was done, the people would be able to participate in all sorts of carnival games and shopping opportunities. Evan thought it sounded pretty fun now that he heard what it all entailed.

While he got the details from his friends, Evan found himself going down the internet search rabbit hole researching some of the history of the winter solstice. He found a lot to back up what Ms. Vaduva told him. Themes of fire, family, new beginnings, and rebirth were all present in the different pagan celebrations he read about. It was interesting to read how early Christianity even adopted much of the holiday for its own purposes. He was reading about that when Zayla texted him a detail about the day that the others had neglected.

"It's said the chances of conceiving children are higher on the solstice than on any other day of the year. So, it's tradition for couples to spend the day with each other, before spending the night together as well," she sent.

"Do people really believe that?"

"Yeah, and there's actually something to it! There have been studies showing that birth rates among mages rise around this time of the year. Nobody can say for sure it has anything to do with the holiday, but people will try anything these days."

"I guess you and Barry will be unavailable to hang that night then ;)"

"Maybe :P You should worry about yourself! Every woman in town will be trying to get you for that night especially."

"Ugh. You're probably right. Guess this is when being single can bite me in the ass. You and Clara are lucky. No worries about who you'll be with."

There was a long pause before Zayla's next response came. And when he read it, Evan was shocked.

"Actually, Clara never has a date for the Winter Solstice."

"What about Matt?"

"Matt's family is one of the one's that take the increased chance at birth seriously. He has always been forced to spend the day trying to get another girl pregnant."

"Wow. Isn't that like being ignored by your boyfriend on Valentine's Day?"

"Pretty much."

Evan knew Matt and Clara had an arrangement concerning Matt's responsibility to help bring about the next generation, but this still felt really sad. Not only would she not be able to celebrate with the man she loved, but she had to know that he was with another woman the whole time. It was too much.

"What does Clara usually do?"

"She hangs out with the other single girls. Plays games and stuff."

The more Evan heard about their relationship, the more he thought it was a tragedy. His heart really went out to Clara. At the same time, it was clear how much she must love Matt. She wouldn't be able to handle such hardships if there wasn't real love there. But as her friend, Evan wanted more for her, and it just so happened he was the one person in a position to give it to her. Evan thought about it for a while longer before he pulled up Clara in his contacts list and gave her a call. A couple rings later, he heard her sweet voice on the other end.

"Hey, Clara?" he said. "I was wondering...would you like to be my date for the Winter Solstice?"

Ch. 81

The first couple days of the break were very unproductive for Evan. He had crashed after his finals were finally done with, and he almost slept the whole next day. From the sound of it, his friends weren't much more active themselves. He figured that was probably the norm for college students. He had been keeping in touch with his friends in a group chat, but nobody had yet made any plans to hang since school let out.

Evan was lazily browsing social media on the first Monday of the break. He did plan to get out and do some magic training that day, but he hadn't yet managed to muster up the enthusiasm. In fact, he was on the verge of dosing off again when a flurry of activity came through in the group text. Barry had posted a video that caused a stir.

"Check this out!" he said while attaching the video.

"Was this last night? I had no idea this was happening!" Clara sent.

"OMG is that Alex!?" Lia sent.

Evan pressed play on the video to see what all the excitement was about. The video started and straight away you could see it was some sort of protest. There were women holding signs and yelling through a fence in the general direction of some building. As he watched further, it dawned on him where he had seen that building. It was one of the buildings on the base. If he remembered correctly, he had been told that it was the executive building. It was one of the buildings excluded from his tour.

The women in the video looked close to his own age, so he figured they were most likely college students like him. From their yells and their signs, it was clear they were protesting the recent unfair treatment of the mages on campus. One woman at the front of the crowd loudly proclaimed that the authorities had no right to treat them any different than any other American citizens. About a minute into the video, soldiers arrived and began to detain the protestors.

"Wow, that's crazy," Evan said to himself.

It was heavy stuff. And like Clara, he had no idea there was a protest happening at all. But what really made his eyes go wide was when, right before the video was cut off, he clearly saw Alex being led away with her hands behind her back.

"Holy shit."

It wasn't surprising that she was there after he thought about it for a few seconds. Actually, he would have been surprised if she hadn't been there. But it was still shocking to see someone you know being arrested. He started to worry about her, but after reading some more of the replies in the group chat, he felt relieved.

"Apparently Alex and the others spent the night in jail, but they were released this morning," Zayla sent.

"That's wild!!" Laia sent.

Evan discussed the video with his friends for a while longer. He watched it several times, and it reminded him of his last conversation with Alex in the hidden library. She had talked about making a stand, and she specifically said they needed his help to do so. If that was how she felt, then why hadn't she asked him to come to the protest? He didn't want to spend a night in jail, but... he did want to help if he could. The more he thought about it, the more he realized she must have thought he wouldn't be up to it. He knew she was disappointed in his lack of action so far. It made him feel... shitty.

Alex was one of his closest friends, and he didn't want her to have to fight her battles alone. And above all, he wanted her to be able to trust him. Trust that he would be able to come through for her. Her and the people of this town. From what he could tell, none of the other freshman students had been at the protest. His presence might not have mattered last night in the big picture, but he knew for sure it would have mattered to her.

Evan started to get a little pissed that they actually arrested the group last night as well. They weren't hurting anyone!? And it was true that the recent restrictions and curfews had crossed the line. They had every right to push back against them. At the heart of all the new security changes was Agent Brooks. Alex had said Brooks was only looking to pacify Evan so he would stay out of the way. Well, Evan made up his mind to go test that theory. He got cleaned up and dressed in a hurry before getting into his car and making his way over to the security force headquarters.

They were surprised when he showed up, which was understandable since he hadn't called beforehand to let them know he was dropping by. The lady he spoke to at the front desk told him Agent Brooks was currently in a meeting, but he would see Evan as soon as he was done with that. Evan ended up waiting for fifteen or twenty minutes before he was told Agent Brooks was ready for him. He wasn't sure if the meeting was short or if Brooks ended it early on his account, but he was glad he didn't have to wait around all day. Brooks greeted him like an old friend as soon as he entered the office.

"Evan! Good to see you," he said smiling. "How's the car?"

Evan took his seat and responded politely, but shortly.

"It's good, thanks."

"Good, good," Brooks said. "So, what brings you to my office today?"

"You told me to come see you if I had any problems," Evan said. "And well... that protest yesterday..."

"Ah, yes."

"Did they really need to be arrested? They didn't do any harm, and I think they had a good reason for being there."

"First of all, it was at the base, so it wasn't my call," Brooks said. "But they were trespassing at the base after hours. Any civilian would be arrested for that, and not just the ones in this town."

"Second of all," he continued. "Good reason? They didn't hurt anyone, but neither did we. In fact, we've done nothing but make the town safer for all the people that live here. Honestly, I felt like it was all overly dramatic. I thought you would agree with me on that."

"I think they're right, actually," Evan said slowly. "The spyware on the phones is definitely too much."

"It's all just temporary measures," Brooks said with a sigh. "Until we can get more manpower here on base, a little help from technology is needed. The problem is that not just anyone can be cleared to work here, so it takes longer than we would like."

"..."

"But you know what, I am glad you stopped by today," he continued. "I actually wanted to talk to you about helping us out with something."

Unlike previous times when he had spoken with Agent Brooks, Evan was paying close attention to how seriously the man considered his words. He didn't miss this time when Brooks casually dismissed his concerns and breezed on to a new topic.

"As you've pointed out, this protest...it's concerning," Agent Brooks said. "It's clear the people are losing trust in us. And that is a problem. So, I was hoping that you would help us... bridge that gap between us."

"How exactly would I do that?"

"Nothing too taxing, I promise," he said. "We just need them to understand that we're on their side. Stirring up everyone's feelings with protests is not going to do anyone any good. People will get all heated up over nothing, and in the end, someone will get hurt. Nobody wants that. Now, they won't just calm down because I tell them to. But if it came from you, I bet they would listen."

"So... you want me to tell them to stop speaking out against the policy changes?"

"That's one way of putting it, yes," Brooks said with a smile. "Just think of it as being a peacemaker."

"I see."

"And maybe if you were to get word that these troublemakers were trying to do something, something that's...let's say... a little more destructive," Brooks said, pausing briefly to look at Evan intently. "It would be a great help to us and the people of this town if you would let us know in advance."

"..."

"I'd definitely make it worth your while if you were able to do that for us."

There was a pause in the conversation where they looked into each other's eyes for a long while. Evan could tell Brooks was watching him carefully to see how he reacted to his offer. Evan made sure to keep his cool and not give away any of his true thoughts.

"I'll see what I can do, but I don't know anything like that right now," he said as he stood up from his seat. "I didn't even hear there was going to be a protest last night."

Brook sensed that Evan was ready to leave so he stood as well.

"Nobody can know everything," Brooks said. "But keep your ear to the ground, and let me know if you hear anything that might be of interest to us."

"Got it."

With that, Evan left the office after shaking the agent's hand. As soon as he got back into his car, he released a big sigh. Everything Alex said was true. Agent Brooks had never taken his concerns seriously. He only wanted to win Evan over to his side. He even practically offered to buy him off to be his spy! Evan had no plans to make any more visits to Brooks's office. Instead, as he drove back to the dorm, his mind started working on how he could help Alex. Somehow, he needed to win back her trust and stick it to Brooks at same time.

Ch. 82

The day before the winter solstice, a gentle snow fell on the town of Tourmaline. There was no accompanying storm or high winds. The snow simply fell and gathered on the ground, shrouding the town in a white silence. It was the type of snow that winter lovers longed for, and it was beautiful. Evan worried that the snow would mean the end of the celebration, but he was told there was no problem. In fact, most of the town seemed excited to have the snow, and there was talk of organizing a last-minute snowman building competition.

The snow stopped falling the day of the celebration. It was a cold, sunny day with a few inches of bright, shiny snow everywhere. A picturesque winter's day for the long-awaited Winter Solstice Celebration. The events were due to kick off around three that afternoon. When the time came, Evan bundled up as best he could and drove out to the southwest of town where the celebration was set to take place. The roads were clear, but it was tricky when it came time to park. A nearby field had been turned into a makeshift parking lot, but it was a little treacherous due to the mud and snow. However, Evan's Bronco had no real trouble making it through the slop.

There was already a large crowd by the time Evan arrived. It was to be expected. It was a popular annual event, and the town had been forced to miss their last holiday gathering on Halloween. They were expecting nearly the entire town to show up for the festivities. Evan greeted many people and got a good look at all the attractions as he made his way to his destination.

Tents were set up all over for people to get different sorts of food. Foods like funnel cake, cinnamon roasted nuts, and kettle corn were seen attracting many customers. There were also places to get more substantial meals such as pizza and hamburgers. What caught Evan's eye the most was the large area set up for a chili competition. He made a mental note to stop by there for some taste testing later.

Aside from the food, there were plenty of games and rides. He saw ring toss, a shooting gallery, and there was a large Ferris wheel on the other side of the field that he could see towering over everything. Overall, it really did feel like a carnival, much like his friends had described. But, before he could partake in any of the fun, he had to see to his duties.