The Monster Inside: The First Vampire 169 The Business Training

Iah, Sharli and Kit all stared at the papers before them with noticeable frustration. It had only been a little over a week since Rassa, Ebony and Aegin had left, but they already wanted them to return. Despite appearances, Rassa was quite the patient teacher. No doubt part of the reason was due to Ebony's hovering, but nonetheless, he had been far kinder to them than Ebony's subordinates.

Talia, Dane and Louis, the three that they'd met upon signing the deal with Startree, were no doubt experts in their field. They all had vast experience, and were quite intelligent, not to mention they spoke quite highly of Miss Falla. Still, with that vast experience came a mild form of arrogance. The three were harsh in their expectations of Iah, Sharli and Kit, and had pushed the three to learn how to read and write in the shortest time possible.

Kit was at least doing better than Iah and Sharli. His young age meant that he was more susceptible to new knowledge, and he soaked it up like a sponge. Iah and Sharli struggled more. They'd never needed to read or write before, and now that they were being forced to learn, they found themselves sometimes questioning whether it would be worth it.

Of course they understood the opportunity being given to them. Just a month ago they were nothing but squatters in the darkened and abandoned slums of Port Leis. Now, they had the opportunity to be part of a vast enterprise that monopolised a new and superior product. However, the learning process was not an easy one.

Sharli in particular was not doing well. Their three teachers paid particular attention to her because it was clear that Sharli could become a manager of the business in the future. But Sharli was just too slow for their expectations.

Now, as they were presented with their assessment results for their first stage of learning, Sharli had come out on the bottom by more than twenty points.

"Really, Sharli, I just don't know what to say," said Talia, "You should put more effort in, or else you're only going to fall behind more".
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Sharli, intent on not making an enemy of those Rassa had deemed his allies, decided to keep her mouth shut, "I'll do better".

After this concession, the three were given more things to study before their teachers left. Sharli sighed as she looked at her assessment paper.

"Is something wrong?" asked Iah.

"You mean besides the clear indication of my stupidity?" asked Sharli.

Iah sighed, "You're not stupid, you just have a lot on your plate".

Sharli looked at her younger sister, "Rassa left me in charge for a reason. Now I'm just letting him down".

"You're trying your best," said Iah, "Besides, you're currently responsible for looking after the two dozen residents of the ruin, you frequently take it upon yourself to clean and cook meals, plus you spend a lot of time supervising construction of the upper floors. It's no wonder you have so little time to study".

"That's not an excuse," Sharli huffed.

"It is too," Iah replied, "Look, why don't you get some of the older ones to share responsibilities. That way you'll have more time to study. I can help you supervise, we'll take it in turns".

"But then you'll be held back as well".

"If we look after each other, just like we always have, we're not going to fail. Rassa had faith that we wouldn't," Iah insisted, then she pointed to the retreating Kit with an amused smile, "Besides, if worse comes to worst, we'll just have Kit take over".

Sharli rolled her eyes. At this rate, that might really happen. Kit had shown himself to be a fast learner. He had managed to create several charms in the past week, not to mention his rapidly improving reading and writing abilities. He was showing immense talent. Sharli couldn't help but be jealous.

But when asked what he did to learn so fast, he'd just replied, "The Mist helps".

Such a thing fell beyond Sharli's realm of understanding, and she could only sit and be quietly envious of the boy's mysterious helper.

"Look," said Iah as she stood, taking the Tracking Charm out of her pocket, "Why don't we check on their progress? That usually cheers you up a little".

Sharli couldn't deny that. Using the Tracking Charms, even for a moment, was reassuring to Sharli. Reassuring to know that her family members were safe, wherever they were. She nodded gently as she took out her own charm and clutched it in her hand, willing it to show her the others in the sequence.

Before Sharli's eyes, a bright blue line appeared before her, connecting the stones she and Iah held. It was almost as bright as the sun, though nobody but those holding the charms would be able to see it.

She, Iah and Kit had learned over the past week that the brighter the line was, the closer the other stones in the sequence were. Rassa had informed them that a solid line meant that the other party wasn't in any danger, no matter how dim it was. Sharli gave a small smile as she looked at the slightly less bright line connecting her stone to Kit's, and another that was Falla's stone. Finally, she turned to the south where three lines existed, much dimmer than the previous ones.

As Sharli observed the lines however, her smile faltered.

Two of the lines, despite being dim, were still relatively solid. But the third…not only was it now skewing to a separate location than the other two, it was also flickering, like a sputtering torch in a breeze.

"Something's not right," Iah said as she too looked at the same phenomenon.

Sharli nodded, determining that the line was Rassa's. Her eyes widened as she turned to look at her sister.

"Something's happened to Rassa," said Sharli. Iah nodded as well, and Sharli stood quickly, "We've got to help-"

"We can't," Iah said firmly. Sharli turned to look at her sister, surprised.

"Why not? If he's in trouble then-"

"You know Rassa, he can look after himself," Iah replied.

"But what if this is something bad? Something he can't get himself out of?" asked Sharli.

"Even if it was, what exactly can we do?" asked Iah.

Sharli's determination faded. Her sister was right. They had no power to help Rassa. She caught sight of Falla's line again, looking in that direction. Iah followed her line of sight and sighed.

"You're right," said Iah, "We can't do anything, but at the very least we should let Falla know. If there is anyone among us here on the Island that can do something, it's her".

"Right," said Sharli. After informing those who were still inside the Ruin, Sharli and Iah set off to look for Falla Startree.

Chapter end