I shouldn't have mentioned Kyton. What if they decided to kill him, just to show that I couldn't hone in on their territory?

"We don't have a problem, I just-"

"Where are you keeping this sprite?" Scalene asked.

Should I lie and send them after some other sprite? No, even if I knew another sprite, it wouldn't be right. That left either standing up to the monsters or running away. Neither option sounded like it would end with me in one piece. But I couldn't put Kyton in danger because of my mistake.

"He's my fairy." I crossed my arms. "I'm not going to tell you where he is. You'll kill him."

Scalene put his hands on the crystal ball. "Neither I, nor Yufens, nor anyone in this office will kill the fairy you consider to be yours."

The ball turned green, which I assumed meant he was telling the truth.

"What about someone outside the office? Or a student? Or what if you don't kill him, you just tie him up in the basement and drain him?" Dang it, I was sounding too concerned. I needed to sound tougher. "He's my fairy, and I won't allow you or anyone else to drink his blood."

Yufens jiggled, waving his pincers around. No one wants to drink your fairy's blood. We only want to assure that he's safe and unharmed.

I couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth or not, so I turned to Scalene. "Is that true?"

"Yes." The ball turned green.

Okay, so he was telling the truth about that. They had to have some other plan for Kyton. Didn't they?

"Why do you care if he's safe?"

Scalene sighed. "Lilly, I know this is hard for you to understand, but try to bear with me. At the MMC, we value all sentient life, no matter what they eat. No parasitical student or faculty member hunts other sentient creatures. We are especially interested in keeping our students safe."

The ball stayed green. That boded well for Eva and me. 

"If you don't eat the students, then what do you eat?"

"On campus, there is a cafeteria designed specifically for magical parasites. It's part of OPSA, officially known as The Office of Parasitical Student Affairs. It offers a variety of ethically sourced magical bloods from willing donors, as well as synthetic meats grown in a lab on campus. For students whose hunting instinct is too strong to ignore, there are livestock animals that have been fed a magic-rich diet. Unlike true magical animals, they have the low intelligence of normal livestock."

The ball stayed green. Either he was telling the truth, or the ball was broken.

"Let me try that." I put my hands on the ball. "My name is Lillith Hemlock."

It turned green.

"I love spinach."

It turned red, but that was an easy one. Even if the ball was some kind of trick, someone could be operating it and just guessing that no one liked spinach.

"I love drawing."

It turned yellow. Apparently, the ball couldn't decide whether I was lying or not. That kind of made sense, even if the ball was real. I liked drawing, but I wasn't good enough to really love it.

"I have a car."

The ball turned red. As far as I was concerned, the ball worked. Scalene had been telling the truth about not hunting people. They were like me. They were monsters, but they were like me. Well, not exactly like me; I was pretty sure I didn't resemble a giant worm--but still, this was amazing.

"Wow. I've never met any monsters like you guys." What was I saying? These were professors; I couldn't just call them 'you guys.' "Sorry, sirs. I just- sorry."

Scalene nodded. "An understandable mistake to make for a young changeling, but there are a few things you should understand. Number one, we don't call ourselves 'monsters.' We are parasites. We feed differently than other magical creatures, that's all." He tapped the table with two fingers. "Second, if you want to attend MMC, you're going to have to change some things. You'll need to tell us where you put this fairy of yours."

"Right..." I rubbed the back of my neck, keeping one hand on the orb. "He's actually a student here. I didn't really bring him from home. I mean, he works at my home. My grandparents employ him, but he drove himself to school today." Gah, I was rambling. This was all just too weird. "Long story short, he's actually a friend of mine."

The orb turned green, then flicked between yellow and green.

"Okay, fine, we're not really talking right now because he has a crush on me, and he thinks I don't like him." My cheeks flamed, but at least the orb steadied itself at green.

"Why did you say he was your fairy, then?" Scalene's gaze fixated on the orb as he questioned me.

I shrugged, watching the orb. "Like I said, I've never met mon- parasites like you. I've met a dragon who tried to eat me and a changeling who tried to eat my familiar. That's about it. I thought if I told the truth, you would eat me."

"What type of dragon was it?"

"A fairy dragon."

Grimacing, he nodded at me. "Fairy dragons are more canniballistic than most species. We've never had one at the MMC. A couple have tried to register, but they never passed the intro test. You haven't gotten a very good impression of magical parasites. Don't worry. We screen everyone who comes through here. If you pass the test, you'll be safe here."

"Is the test hard?" And more importantly: "If I pass it, will you give my familiar back?"

"Of course. And the sad thing is, the test's short and easy. You'll see soon enough." He gestured at Yufens. "Would you care to do the honors?"

I would love to. Jiggling, Yufens leaned forward. A long, skinny tongue flicked up to lick one of his eyes. Once it'd disappeared back into his cavernous maw, he asked me the first question. Have you ever killed any magical creatures?

I thought about that for a second. Eva's life was on the line, so I had to give the right answer. The question seemed simple enough, though. "No. I mean, not that I know of. Are there magical insects? Because I've always wondered that, and if there are, I might have-"

He exchanged a look with Scalene. Let me rephrase that. Have you ever knowingly killed a sentient being?

"No."

The ball turned green, and both of them seemed satisfied.

Do you intend to kill or feed on any student, faculty, or other member of the MMC campus?

"I-" That was a little harder. It was entirely possible that I would be drinking Kyton's blood at some point, even if there was a monster cafeteria. "I don't intend to kill anyone at MMC. And I would never feed on anyone against their will, but that fairy friend of mine I mentioned? He's given me blood before. What if I get hungry away from school?"

"Changelings are omnivores," Scalene explained. "If you drink enough magical blood while you're at the college, solid foods will keep you satisfied while you're at home. As a parasite, you're required to eat two meals a day here. Your ID will register when you check into the cafeteria and how much food you buy."

He picked up Eva and placed her on the table. Making an "O" with his mouth, he sucked her shadowy bindings back up. She hissed at him and hopped off the table into my lap.

Couldn't talk, couldn't move, all cold. She shivered against my stomach.

I wrapped my arms around her. It's okay. You're okay now.

"I'm sorry for that," Scalene said. "I thought you posed a danger to her. As to your original question--no, you won't be allowed to drink the blood of another student, no matter whether that other student is willing or not. It would be too difficult to tell if the other student was under some sort of spell. If you're caught drinking another student's blood--even if it happens outside of school--you'll be expelled. Do you understand?"

Nodding, I placed my hands on the crystal ball again. "I understand."

Then I'll ask the question again, Yufens said. Do you intend to kill or feed on any student, faculty, or other member of the MMC campus?

"No."

The ball turned green.

Yufens tilted his head down at Scalene. Well, Professor, did she pass?