Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy: The Templar Chronicles: Book 2 (22 page)

I made a straight line to the rock in the center of the training area and climbed up to the bell. I grabbed the hammer and held it in my hand as the hunter trainees and instructors gathered around.

“Jack, let’s talk about this,” Eva called out. “Once you strike the bell, there’s no turning back.”

“I know,” I said. With all my might, I struck the bell on the side three times.

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

Three bells to drop out.

Five bells to accept the Trial of the Cave.

If I passed the trial, I would be a full monster hunter and fulfill my oath to Aquinas. With the Templar Ring in my possession, I could free Tiberon as payment for the rest of the information about the Jerusalem Stones.

It was the only way.

I gripped the hammer and swung hard twice.

CLANG

CLANG

It was done.

That night I was going to enter the caves and either emerge as a hunter or not emerge at all. By the look of horror on Eva’s face when I had climbed down off the rock, I could tell which result she thought most likely. To tell the truth, if I had seen that look before I had rung the bell, I might have second-guessed my decision.

“What?” I said to her. “It can’t be that bad, can it?”

“Whatever you’re thinking it’s like,” Eva said, “it’s way worse.”

A few of the younger hunters began to clap. It caught on and soon the entire group was cheering wildly. I pumped my fist in the air, trying to act more confident than I felt. I looked up to the tree and saw Aquinas watching from the balcony. She shook her head, turned and disappeared back inside. 

I swallowed hard and steeled myself for the challenge ahead. For better or worse, I was committed. One thing was certain. It was bound to be an adventure.

I just hoped it was one I would survive.

Chapter Twelve

W
ith Will’s help, I pulled the chainmail over my long-sleeve shirt. T-Rex stood nearby, fumbling with the leather straps on the armor breastplate. This was the same troll armor I had used in my fight against Ren Lucre. It not only fit surprisingly well, but had proven effective against the Dark Lord of all the Creach. So I figured it could handle whatever battles waited for me in the caves.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Will asked, snatching the armor from T-Rex and lowering it over my head.

“No more than you do,” said Eva, coming into the room. “You’re putting that armor on backwards.”

“I thought that looked weird,” T-Rex said.

“Who are you kidding? You had no idea,” Will said.

She put her hand on Will’s shoulder. “Here, let me.”

Will stepped aside and Eva lifted the armor up over my head, rotated it and lowered it back down. She and I then stood face-to-face.

“You don’t have a sensible bone in your body, do you, Jack Templar?” she said softly.

I grinned. “Oh, I don’t know. My kneecap is pretty sensible. Stays right where it’s supposed to pretty much all the time.” I felt pressure on my knee and looked down to see her boot pressed up against it.

“This kneecap right here?” she asked. “You know, I could break it in one move. Put you in the infirmary for a month. Probably save your life if I did.”

“Only one thing you’re forgetting,” I said.

“That you’d still go through with it with a broken knee?” she asked.

“You got it.”

“So maybe I’d need to take out an arm. Maybe bust open that head of yours. You wouldn’t miss it much, right?” Eva said. “It’s not like you’re accustomed to using it for anything like actual thought.”

T-Rex whispered to Will, “Is Eva going to beat Jack up?”

“Maybe,” Will whispered back. “That would be totally awesome, wouldn’t it?”

“I’m right here, guys. I can hear you,” I said. “Make yourselves useful and hand me those boots.” I turned back to Eva. “I’ve actually thought this through more than you think. This was the only way out I could see.”

“How about finishing your training? Become a hunter first so you have a chance of surviving past the first fifteen minutes?” she asked.

It would have been easier to have just told her the truth; that this was the deal I’d had to make with Tiberon to bargain for Daniel’s life. But I was self-conscious about seeming like I was trying to make myself look good, so I kept to my story that I was just impatient.

“And how long would that take to even reach first degree hunter? Five months? Six, if I pushed it?” I pulled on the leg armor that covered my knees. “You heard Aquinas, Ren Lucre is getting ready. Besides, I can’t let my father waste away in that dungeon. Not if I have a clear path on how to get the information I need to find him. No. There’s no time. I have to do this now.”

“Aquinas was right,” Eva said. “Your impatience will get you killed.”

I picked up my sword and gripped it with both hands. Even though I was trying to project confidence, my insides churned from the nerves. “She might be right. Let’s just hope she’s not right today.”

Eva looked at me hard and I thought for a second that I saw tears well in her eyes. And then, just as fast, the expression was gone, replaced by the aloofness of a professional doing a job. “All right, let’s see if we can’t give you a fighting chance.” She turned to the door and gave a low whistle. “Xavier, you can come in now.”

Xavier walked in carrying a backpack with him. He gave us all a sheepish grin and a wave. “Hi everyone. Sorry for lurking around out there. Eva told me to wait until she called for me.”

“Xavier is a bit of an expert at…well…everything,” Eva said. “I asked him to bring some of his toys with him today.”

Xavier rushed up to me, tripped over my helmet on the floor and nearly bit it in front of us. He gathered himself up and grabbed my hand, shaking it vigorously. “I just want to say how excited we all are for this, Jack. Everyone’s rooting for you.”

“How’s the betting pool going out there?” Will asked.

“Ahh…we kind of gave up on it. You’re the only one willing to bet Jack’s going to make it back alive,” Xavier said.

I looked over at T-Rex.

“What? I didn’t have any money,” T-Rex explained quickly.

“I’m glad everyone has so much faith,” I said.

Xavier unloaded items from his backpack and stacked them on the table next to us. “It’s just that no one’s attempted the trial in over a hundred years and the last three hunters who tried it were never seen again. They haven’t even opened the door since then. There’s no telling what’s back there nowadays.”

“Maybe whatever monsters were in there have all died off,” T-Rex suggested. “Maybe you’ll just walk right in, grab the ring, and walk right back out.”

I liked the sound of that. I found myself grasping onto that idea. A dead, empty cave. A short, pleasant hike. I’d grab the ring and be back at the Academy an hour later for a hot meal and a shower. Could it really end up being so easy?

“Oh, I doubt that,” Xavier said. “That cave goes on for miles and miles. No one really knows how far. More likely it’s overrun with bizarre species we haven’t seen for decades. It really should be quite fascinating. Scientifically speaking.”

Eva cleared her throat and nodded to the assembled items Xavier had emptied from his backpack. “We don’t have much time. Maybe you could give Jack a quick run-through of the presents you brought him.”

“Of course,” Xavier said. “On such short notice, I just grabbed a few things I’ve been working on that I thought might be helpful.” He held up a bulkier version of the winching device I’d seen him use on the obstacle course. This one looked like a heavy gauge fishing reel, the kind used on deep-sea charters.

“You think Jack might be going up against a giant tuna in there?” Will asked.

Xavier clipped the reel to a belt around his waist. He pressed a button and a tiny spear exploded from the reel, trailing a silvery line behind it. The spear sunk into the wooden roof in the dorm. A whirring sound came from the reel and Xavier was lifted off the floor, dangling by his belt.

“That’s so cool,” T-Rex said.

“Did you fix that little glitch it had before?” I asked.

Xavier pressed another button and the reel spooled out the other direction and lowered him to the ground. “Absolutely. I think so, anyway.” Xavier then began digging through his items again.

“Check this out. This is an ultra-strong line I’ve developed. As strong as a rope an inch thick but only a fraction of the weight. There are four ejectable fasteners so don’t use them all at once.”

He handed me the belt and the reel and I stuffed it into my backpack.

“This is just like James Bond,” Will said. “What else to do have?”

“Sorry, no fancy guns or tracking devices, although that would have been a good idea now that I think about it.” Xavier pulled out a notebook and, suddenly lost in thought, scribbled a note to himself. “I could have combined a GPS transponder with an echo-location sensor. And that could have generated—”

“Xavier!” Eva cried. “Do you think you could do that later? Little short on time.”

Xavier looked up as if just remembering we were all there. “Right, sorry. Of course.” He put away his notebook and handed me a small bag filled with golf balls.

“I’m guessing these aren’t really golf balls,” I said. Will reached in and grabbed one, tossing it up in the air.

“They’re grenades. Small ones, anyway,” Xavier said. “More flash than bang, I’m afraid. They’re loud and produce a bright light, but it’s not going to blow anything up.” He glanced at Will, still tossing it in the air and catching it. “Well, maybe a few fingers if it goes off in your hand.” Will stopped playing with it and put it back in the bag. “I made them as a distraction device. They might help.”

“Thanks, Xavier. These are great,” I said.

“Oh, one more thing,” he said. He opened a can of paint. We all looked carefully inside.

“What is it?” T-Rex asked.

“An explosive?” Eva guessed.

“Liquid armor?” Will suggested.

“Some kind of sticky glue-trap?” I asked.

Xavier looked at us like we were all crazy. “It’s paint. Didn’t any of you play with paints when you were little?”

We all stepped back, amused at Xavier’s quirky ways. “OK, I’ll ask. What am I going to use the paint for?” I asked.

“This paint has the highest luminescence possible. Flashlights can run out of batteries. A torch can be blown out. Whatever you paint with this will light up like it was plugged into a wall socket,” Xavier said proudly.

“What if he’s being stalked by a monster and needs to hide?” Eva said. “He could turn a flashlight off.”

“Ahh…I thought of that,” Xavier said. “Your sword. Paint the blade of your sword and hold it in front of you. If you need to hide, just slide it into your scabbard and,
voila
, no more light.”

“Brilliant, Xavier,” I said, handing over my sword. He brushed the paint along the blade and handed it back to me. It was already dry to the touch. “It doesn’t seem very bright. Are you sure it will be enough light?”

“It’s just too light in here. It will be plenty bright in the cave. And if you need more light, there’s a spray can of the stuff in the backpack. Just spray it on any surface to light it up.” Xavier handed me the backpack. “That’s everything, I’m afraid.”

I grabbed Xavier’s hand and shook it. “Thank you. These could make all the difference.”

A bell sounded outside. At the sound of it, my stomach turned over on itself. I’d been too busy getting ready that I hadn’t had the time to be nervous yet. I knew the bell was the signal for me to go to the cave. The time had arrived and a tidal wave of nervousness had arrived with it.

Who was I kidding? A few weeks ago I was just Jack Smith, a middle school kid who worried about bullies, making the football team, my grades and whether any girl would ever notice I was alive. Now I was supposed to be Jack Templar, some kind of hero who laughed at danger and who always managed to find victory, regardless of how impossible the odds seemed. As I stood there with my friends, armed with a sword, body armor and a backpack full of tricks, I didn’t feel like a hero. I just felt scared.

“Do you know why all the young hunters stopped and stared at you when you arrived at the gate with Daniel?” Eva asked, interrupting my thoughts of self-doubt.

“No, I never found out,” I admitted. “I noticed it though. The way they stared.”

“Think of the insignia of the Templar Knights,” Eva said.

“Two knights sharing one horse,” said Will.

“Right,” said Eva. “It’s been said that the One would arrive at our gates as a true Templar. Hard to look more like a Templar than showing up the way you did.”

“It doesn’t mean anything, though,” I said. “It doesn’t mean I’m the One.”

“Maybe not,” Eva said. “But the hunters out there have started to believe in you. The people in this room believe in you too. All that’s left is for you to believe in yourself.”

The bell rang again.

With one last look at my friends, I slid my sword into my scabbard and took a deep breath. “Okay, let’s do this,” I said.

The entire Academy was waiting outside the dorm and a cheer went up when I appeared. Eager to get to the cave before I lost my nerve, I trudged across the training field, the crowd parting in front of me as if pushed away by an invisible force. Will and T-Rex flanked me on either side. I glanced back and saw that Eva and Xavier followed directly behind us.

I looked up at the mountain looming over me. As I did, the last of the sun dipped behind the cold, craggy rock face, casting a shadow over the Academy. A breeze swept across the clearing and I shivered despite the layers of armor and clothes I had on me. It had suddenly occurred to me that I might never see the sun again.

The Templar Tree in the center of the field was dark; it appeared that the balcony lanterns were unlit. I knew Aquinas was angry with me, but I thought she would at least watch the proceedings. Maybe even wish me luck. I guess I misjudged just how much I had upset her.

We reached the old battlements and the main gate. I stopped ten feet out and took another breath to steel my shaky nerves. From inside the dark gate approached Aquinas’s hunched figure. The crowd fell quiet as she shuffled toward me, leaning heavily on her walking stick. She looked me up and down, then raised her stick and thumped me in the chest with it as if testing my armor.