Endangered: the Demons of M.a.

Endangered: The Demons of Monstrum Academy Pt. 12

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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. 109

Antonio and Iris left behind a duffel back full of Sophia's requested items at the restaurant for Evan to deliver. He had no desire to be caught with a suspicious bag of the missing girl's things, so he delivered it soon after returning to campus. When he entered the hidden library, he was alarmed to see how messy it had become. There were large stacks of books piled up all over the floor, and the desk was covered in wrappers and empty bottles.

"What the hell?" Evan said.

"Evan!"

He looked up and saw the smiling face of Sophia from the third-floor balcony.

"Hey, Sophia," he said. "I brought you some of the things you asked for."

"Hold on, I'll be right down."

Sophia hurried down the stairs, nearly tripping several times. He wasn't sure if it was because she was clumsy, or if some books caught her foot.

"I'm glad you've made yourself at home," Evan said as she reached the first floor. "But I think it might be time to clean up a little."

"I'm sorry," Sophia said. "I was going to this evening. I didn't know you were coming over earlier today."

Evan looked around and realized it wasn't as bad as he initially thought. The desk was a mess, but there really wasn't much trash on the ground anywhere. It was only the stacks of books that were blocking up the rest of the space.

"What's with the books all over?"

"I finished going through all the books, and I've just started sorting them," Sophia said. "I know it looks bad now, but trust me, it will be better in the end."

"Alright, I believe you," Evan said looking around. "I'll get you a trash can for in here too. Probably should have thought of that before."

"That'd be great."

Evan handed over the bag and watched Sophia rifle through it. She let out a few squeals of joy at the sight of her self-care items from home. It was pretty basic stuff to Evan's eyes, but he supposed it all looked different when you went without for a while. He could easily see himself reduced to tears if he had to be separated from the internet for a day or two. In that light, Sophia's rather collected state seemed heroic.

"Everything been alright in here?" Evan said. "Not seeing any ghosts or anything, right?"

"No, I haven't gone crazy," Sophia said. "I've been busy with the books, so time usually passes quickly. It can get a little spooky in here when I think about it too much, but mostly it's just really quiet. Well... except for sometimes at night..."

"...?"

Evan just quirked an eyebrow at her and waited for her to continue. Finally, she relented.

"Sometimes, at night, I hear a knocking noise," she said.

"Yeah? Where's it coming from?"

"Well, it sounds like it's coming from different areas," she said. "Kind of like it's moving around. But I think it's coming from the outer walls."

"And it's always the same sound?"

"Pretty much."

"Huh... well... that is weird," Evan said.

"Right?"

"Are you sure you aren't crazy?"

Sophia blushed and looked down at the ground to hide her face.

"I'm just kidding, I believe you," Evan said. "But I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Just let me know if anything changes."

"Ok."

Evan spent another hour or so chatting with Sophia and updating her about the situation outside. She enjoyed hearing about his dinner with her parents, and she rolled her eye after hearing some of her father's jokes. He could tell she was sad when he had to leave, but he knew it wouldn't help their cause for anyone to notice he was missing for too long. He promised to see her soon and returned to his room without any problems.

The next few weeks felt like a return to his normal life at Monstrum Academy. Evan carried out his routine of going to class, hanging with friends, training, and delivering necessities to Sophia. For whatever reason, Brooks and his goons seemed to have backed off from their overbearing tactics. No more room searches were carried out, and the news was free of any more arrests. It was enough to make Evan wonder if maybe they had pulled through the crisis without any casualties. He knew it wouldn't end so easily, but it was hard to deny that the security force had lightened up after being dealt a loss.

With the sense that the heat was off somewhat, Evan resumed meeting up with Alex. He still insisted on doing deliveries to the library on his own, but he no longer felt like Alex was going to be snatched away just from being in his presence. They routinely had brainstorming sessions about what Sophia's long-term future might look like, and they occasionally picked Alex's mother's brain for ideas as well. Sadly for the bookish cyclops girl, they had yet to find a good way to get her freedom back.

Evan was doing well in his classes, receiving all A's and fully absorbing the information. History with Mr. Oliveira was always enlightening, even if there were a few students that nodded off during every lecture. Evan figured those were the students that had already been familiar with magic history. For someone like Evan, he had to pay attention because he never knew when the next bombshell might drop. Every day he half expected to hear something along the lines of the Loch Ness Monster being involved in the American Civil War. Or that Abe Lincoln was secretly a golem.

The other two classes that stood out as Evan's favorites were his psych class with Ms. May and his chemistry class with Dr. Reid. Having had Ms. May in his first semester and meeting her regularly each week for therapy sessions, Evan had grown accustomed to her bright personality. He looked forward to absorbing some of her energy most days, especially when he wasn't in the best of moods. It was different with Dr. Reid, though. She was a fine teacher, when she wasn't calling out sick for having a "bad day." But much like with history, it was the material of the class that caught Evan's attention.

It was Evan's most difficult class of the semester, but Dr. Reid did a good job of keeping him invested by continually relating what they were learning to how it could be used in potion making. For some reason, Evan got the feeling she did this specifically with him in mind, almost like she knew she needed to keep him around. Maybe it was the twinkle in her eye every time she looked at him while mentioning the future possibilities of chemistry combined with magic. The class suffered slightly from not having Sophia there to help out when Dr. Reid was indisposed, but Evan was fortunate to have access to her whenever he needed. He sometimes wondered about the ethics of keeping a TA locked up and making her help with his homework, but he knew Sophia was happy to help.

Evan wasn't all work, though. He made sure to keep in touch with his friends, sometimes by doing a lot of touching. He would often find himself propositioned by one of the twins, only to have the other one demand their turn the next night. It was a common enough occurrence that he started to make sure his schedule was open for two days before agreeing to meet up with the first one. There were also many steamy nights with Clara. Evan had committed to helping her conceive, so there wasn't much he could do in denying her a night of sex. Not that he wanted to. She had taken to regularly taking pregnancy tests. Evan knew any time he got a text with a picture of a negative test that it was code for him to clear his plans for the night.

Billie wasn't left out of the fun either, but she seemed to have difficulty initiating when she was keen on the idea. They really only ever met up after class when they worked out. The problem was Billie seemed too embarrassed to bring up the idea of a quick roll in the sheets when Brandi was around. Since Brandi rarely missed out on a session, Billie had taken to waiting in the shadows outside the gym to catch Evan before he could get away. Evan thought it was cute that she was acting so shy, and he told her so. While he thought it was funny, Billie didn't agree. That night she held him down roughly and rode him harder than ever before. It was amazing, but Evan was sore for a couple days after.

Outside of the question of what to do about Sophia, the only thing that was ruining the vibe most days was the constant requests from the researchers at the base. His phone was blowing up from calls and emails from people trying to get him to help out with their studies on magic. Evan had already told them no, but they didn't seem willing to take that for an answer. They were also unwilling to force him to do anything, so it seemed they were out of luck in Evan's eyes. There was some part of Evan that felt guilty about not helping them out. After all, the scientists that fucked him over weren't around anymore, and it was only the honest ones that were left, presumably. He knew they were eager to get back to unraveling the mystery of magic with science, but Evan couldn't justify helping them when it meant giving the government more power to wield against the community. He was done helping them for free.

Besides, helping them would cut into Evan's time that he had to work on his own training. Under instruction from Hunter, he felt like he was making great progress towards his goal of becoming a full-fledged magician. He had also done well in adopting new fighting techniques that were supposed to be helpful against exorcists. Evan hoped he would never need to showcase those moves, but even with things looking up, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was still on the horizon.

Ch. 110

Evan shivered in the frigid wind after leaving his last class of the day. The sky was dark gray and angry, but it had yet to decide if it was actually going to spit anything out. For now, it seemed satisfied to huff and puff and make everyone on the ground miserable. Even though nothing had gone wrong throughout the day, the weather had the effect of making everything glum. Everyone's energy had been blown away by the wind and that churning drab sky.

"Evan!"

He turned and saw Alex sprinting towards him while cutting through the brush. He got a bad feeling seeing her in such a rush.

"They've moved on the Titan family," she rushed out as soon as she reached him. "Like half the force is at their house now. They're arresting everyone."

"Oh shit," he said.

"Yeah, it's bad," she said. "We should go check it out."

"You think that's a good idea?"

"There's already a crowd of people watching from outside," she said. "It won't matter if we join."

They hurried their way over to Evan's car and made the journey to Sophia's family home. Evan had no idea where he was going, but Alex knew where they lived. Just as she had said, there was a crowd of bystanders watching the T.S.F. move around the home while standing behind a line of police tape. Evan parked on the street by a neighbor's house and the two of them moved to join the onlookers.

Officers were all over. Several were busy guarding the crowd to make sure nobody interfered, but the majority were busy running in and out of the home. It was difficult to tell what they were doing from the distance they were at, but Evan could see them bringing out several boxes and loading them into a nearby T.S.F. vehicle. He got the impression they were ransacking the place for everything valuable they could find.

"Where's the family?" Alex said to an older lady next to her.

"They've already been escorted away," she said. "In handcuffs, of course. Looked like they'd been roughed up too."

"They arrested them all?"

"Mmhmm," the lady said. "Well, I guess I didn't see the wife. Maybe they got her somewhere else."

Alex glanced at Evan with a frown before they both silently returned to watching the scene play out. However, there wasn't much to see. The family was already spirited away, and the only thing happening now was the cleanup. There weren't even any friendly officers on the scene that he thought he might be able to chat up. He hoped they hadn't managed to get their hands on the artifact, but he didn't see any chance of confirming that fact one way or the other from his current position.

"Come on, let's go," he said to Alex.

They left the crowd and walked over to stand by his car. He stopped and faced his friend before letting out a big sigh.

"What do we do now?" he said. "The whole family will probably be tortured. If they don't have the artifact already, it won't be long before they do."

"Nothing says they'll get it for sure," she said.

Her words were hopeful, but her tone was not so much.

"I don't think they can get away with incarcerating a whole family like this," she continued. "We need to hear what supposed crime they're alleged to have committed. I bet the town will fight them hard whatever it is. It was suspicious before, but this is too blatant."

"Yeah, I guess," he said. "I just feel bad for Sophia. I'm not looking forward to breaking this news to her."

"Yeah..."

They stood in silence for a few moments, before the wind blew and reminded them it was far too cold to dawdle for long outside for no good reason. They were just about to get into Evan's car when an unknown middle-aged woman approached them and called out hesitantly.

"Excuse me?" she said. "Are you... Evan Matthews?"

"Yes?"

"I was hoping you'd show up here," she said. "I have something for you."

She held out an envelope to Evan.

"I was told to give it to you, and only you," she said.

Evan took it from her and looked it over. It was a standard white envelope that appeared to have a letter inside. There was no writing on the outside.

"What is this?" he said. "And... who are you?"

"Don't worry about that," she said already walking away. "Just forget you saw me."

She was already out of sight, having slipped away between a couple nearby houses, before Evan could say anything else. Evan and Alex turned to look at each other, both with their eyebrows curved up in confusion. They quickly scrambled into the car before Evan opened the letter. Inside was a note, clearly written in haste.

"It's from Sophia's mom," Evan said while reading. "She... wants to meet me."

"I guess she got away somehow," Alex said. "That's good, at least. Where are you supposed to find her?"

"She said she'll be waiting for me in the trees behind the library."

"Really?" she said. "There is a stretch of forest there separating the campus from the road. I guess it'd be a good place to hide in a pinch."

"You up for a hike through the woods?" he said.

"Should have worn a warmer coat," she said.

Evan handed the letter over to Alex and got back on the road. It wouldn't take them too long to get back to campus, but it was the search through the woods that he couldn't predict. He could picture the stretch of trees behind the library in his head, but he never considered exploring them before. He had no idea how large the area was. It couldn't be too great seeing as it was in town, but that didn't mean it couldn't still be significant enough to get lost in.

They parked at the dorms and walked their way through campus as casually as they could manage. They didn't want to be seen rushing around and attract attention. They were happy to find the campus was mostly empty. It wasn't yet time for curfew, but most of the classes had ended for the day, so there weren't too many people left walking around. They made it to the library without any problems. Once there, they made sure nobody was watching before they slipped around the side of the building and trudged into the tree line at the back.

"I guess we just walk around and hope she sees us," Evan said.

Alex nodded in response.

It wasn't night, but the overcast sky coupled with the trees made it feel as if it was. They were able to see their immediate surroundings well enough, but the distance was a shadowy unknown. The letter Evan had received simply said to meet at this location, but it wasn't very specific about exactly where in the area she could be found. They could always call out to her, but they didn't want to attract the attention of anyone who might happen to pass nearby. This was a meeting that needed to be as secret as possible after all.

Although the area was thick with trees, the ground was clear of foliage, mainly because it was winter. Underfoot was mostly just dead yellow grass and frozen brown earth. After walking for a few minutes, they found themselves entering a bit of a clearing. It was a section of open land about twenty yards wide that stretched on for about twice that distance. It struck Evan as a neat little secret hideaway that he would have loved to play around in as a kid, maybe building some sort of fort or secret base. They hadn't been in the clearing long when they both noticed a figure step out from behind a nearby large tree.

"Evan?"

"Iris," he said seeing her step out fully into view. "I got your letter."

Evan and Alex rushed over to where she stood.

"I'm so sorry," Alex said.

"Yes, I am as well," Iris said. "Who's your friend, Evan?"

"This is Alex, Ms. Vaduva's daughter," he said. "You can trust her. She helped me hide Sophia."

"I suppose I can't be too picky with friends in times like these," she said. "Forgive me. Thank you for helping my Sophia."

"Of course," Alex said.

"Are you alright?" Evan said.

"I'm as ok as I can be under the circumstances," Iris said casting her eye to the ground.

"Could you tell us what happened?" Alex said.

"Brooks paid us another visit last night," she said. "He was different than the previous times he threatened us. This time, he didn't seem to mind that we told him off. He just made his case and left when we told him no, like it was no big deal. I even saw him smiling as he left. Something about it was just so... ominous. Antonio and I both felt like something had changed."

"We...we talked about it all night," she continued. "And we finally decided we couldn't leave things as they were. We decided to move the Eye temporarily. If we ended up just being overly paranoid, then we'd put it back and there'd be no harm. But... if something bad happened, something like what happened earlier, then we would be prepared to do what is necessary to keep the Eye safe."

"So, Brooks doesn't have it," Evan said. "That's a relief."

"No, he doesn't have it," Iris said before bending down and picking up a box that was set behind a tree. "I do."

"What?" Evan said. "This is...?"

Alex froze and stared at the box with wide eyes.

"Yes," Iris said. "This box contains the Eye of Kronos."

The box was made of wood, decorated with intricate carvings inlaid with gold. The carvings seemed to depict a large being sitting on a throne. Over the throne was a single eye that shined brilliantly like the sun. The wood looked old and worn, but it was clean as if it had been meticulously polished and cared for.

"After we realized it was getting too dangerous to keep the Eye in our possession any longer," Iris said, "we began to discuss whether or not to destroy it."

"In the end," she continued, "we decided to accept your offer of sanctuary."

"I'll keep it safe," Evan said. "You can trust me."

"I know," Iris said.

She carefully presented the box to Evan. He took a closer look at it and marveled at the artistic beauty it held. He realized in that moment that there were only a handful of people in the world that had ever seen this box. It was such a wondrous thing, it really stood out against their barren surroundings. He felt an urge to get it someplace safe before it got too dirty.

"Please, get it to Sophia," Iris said. "She will be the caretaker now."