Chapter 56: Office Day

At last, Isela found her way to Etheldreda’s dojo.

She had to crawl the whole night long, had to dodge feet, and even had to escape from a hungry Dire Pigeon, but she found the place.

Now it was only a few meters. She just had to find Etheldreda herself and warn her about her mind-controlled friends. As Isela heard, Etheldreda can make psychic contact with others if she touches them. It’s not as strong when she sits on someone’s shoulder, but it’s just enough to hear their thoughts, even in the case of monsters and beasts.

All she has to do is crawl up to Etheldreda and touch her for long enough to be able to communicate with her.

She saw something moving inside. It was Desdemona.

They are already awake. Now she also has to pass through them without getting noticed and swatted. Isela had no idea what could happen if she were killed by possessing this spider, but she didn’t want to test her luck.

Isela’s first idea was to crawl up on a bush near the building so she could check where she could enter safely. A slightly open window would be the best entrance since she could get to the bedrooms faster.

But as she was thinking about her opportunities and ideas, the front door creaked open, and Desdemona ran out of the building. A few steps later, she fell to her knees and then passed out.

Isela could see a tranquilizer dart sticking out from her back.

Then she was dragged back into the building by a young man.

“Fuck!” Isela hissed.

“Okay, they must have targeted the rest of Aritimi’s friends as well, so it would be a gamble to check on them one by one.” She thought, “Let’s change plans. I have to find the pupils.”

Zara was still exhausted from yesterday’s training. She’d barely caught a few hours of sleep.

The only thing keeping her conscious was the thought that their course was almost over. Not even a full week left. Freedom was so close that she could practically smell it, though that might’ve been Pixie’s glitter deodorant.

She and the other pupils sat in the park, waiting for Aritimi. Today’s field trip was to the HSA offices, where Freedom Hart worked. Zara wasn’t particularly thrilled. Most of the others weren’t either.

The only exceptions were the Aranyosi twins.

Tünde and Titanilla were practically vibrating with joy.

“Hi, guys!” Tünde chirped, holding up her phone and greeting their followers. “Today, Tit and I are visiting the local HQ offices of the HSA! Specifically, the part where the Hart family works, you know, the monster–human hybrid girls we told you about!”

“I told you not to call me Tit, Tündi,” Titanilla hissed. But she quickly slid into her influencer persona as well. “Anyway! We just wanted to let you know that this is the field we’ll work in after the exam. We’re not into the whole ‘fight monsters and kill’ career path. Office work, supporting our fellow hunters? Perfectly fine. Someone has to do the paperwork.”

“We’ll update you whenever we can,” Tünde added brightly. “And yes, before anyone asks, this is legal. Miss Hart approved it.”

“Yeah, we’re allowed to show what the office looks like,” Titanilla said, “as long as we don’t show any confidential documents, or, like, somebody’s tax records.”

The chat immediately flooded the screen with heart emojis and sparkles.

“I envy your enthusiasm,” Zara said. “I’m already bored.”

“Ooh, someone asked who that was,” Tünde announced, squinting at the comments. “This is our friend Zara.” She turned the camera toward Zara, who was slumped on the bench like a disgruntled cat.

The chat immediately loved her.

“Hey, everyone,” Tünde said, then spun the camera in a full circle. “Say hi to our followers!”

“HI!” Pixie shouted, waving enthusiastically like she was caught on live TV at a sports game. Everyone else gave polite, sleepy nods.

The chat, unsurprisingly, adored Pixie within seconds. There were rainbow emojis everywhere.

“Good morning, pupils,” came Aritimi’s voice.

Everyone jumped a little as she materialized on Welcome’s shoulder like some kind of sexy, sweaty gym fairy. She wore only training shorts and a tight black sports bra that looked ready to surrender at any moment. A sheen of fresh sweat glimmered on her skin; apparently, she had just finished a workout intense enough to kill a mortal man.

“I see you two are the most excited for today’s course,” she told the twins after landing on the ground beside them.

“That is our mentor, Aritimi!” Tünde told the chat proudly, angling the phone toward her.

Aritimi waved. “Hello.”

The chat imploded.

Within half a second, the comments section looked like the word MOMMY had exploded across the screen in every possible font, color, and emoji combination.

“You’d better turn that off,” Aritimi warned gently. “My portals tend to make devices malfunction if they’re on while passing through.”

“O-okay,” Tünde said, quickly turning back to the camera. “See you guys later!” She shut the app down.

Titanilla sighed. “There goes our viewership record.”

Pixie leaned over. “Oh, don’t worry. Once they see Freedom’s daughters, you’re gonna break the internet.”

The pupils stepped through Aritimi’s portal and emerged into a spacious, well-lit office.

Freedom Hart was already waiting for them, hands clasped behind her back and a wide, warm smile on her face.

“Nice to see everyone,” Freedom said. “Today, we’ll be looking at the office work of the HSA. Follow me.”

They fell in line behind her as she walked deeper into the department.

“My daughters work in this section,” she explained. “It’s not that the other employees have any issues with them; everyone gets along well enough. I just like knowing they’re close by so I can keep an eye on them. Mothers will be mothers.”

They stepped into a massive room full of cubicles, some occupied by normal human staff, who all looked understandably nervous being surrounded by very not-human coworkers, but the place was overwhelmingly dominated by the Hart sisters.

Dozens of them.

Zara recognized some from the open day alone ... and then realized there were twice as many now. Every cubicle had some kind of hybrid girl perched in it: fox-eared, serpent-tailed, shadow-skinned, feathered, furred, glowing, floating. The whole space looked like a corporate zoo exhibit staffed entirely by magical tax deductions.

“Hi, girls!” called a white-haired Light-Elf hybrid, practically sparkling. She hurried over to Tünde and Titanilla. “Nice to see you again, Sisters of Day and Night.”

The twins hugged her back.

Tünde raised her hand. “Miss Hart? Is it okay to turn on our phone now?”

“Yes,” Freedom nodded. “Just avoid everything I mentioned in yesterday’s message. No uncensored documents, no names on forms, no screens with data. Be mindful.”

Tünde was already unlocking her phone before the sentence ended.

“We’re back, guys!” she announced to her stream. “And look, we’ve made a LOT of new friends!”

She spun the camera toward the rows of Hart sisters.

Half the office stopped what they were doing and waved vigorously, tails and wings fluttering, horns bobbing, fins swaying.

The chat exploded instantly.

Comments flew by faster than Tünde could read:

“ZOOM IN!!” “WHO IS THAT CAT GIRL??” “SHOW SNAKE LADY AGAIN!!” “IS THAT A DRAGON?!” “ARE THEY SINGLE???” “THE PRETTY ONE ON THE LEFT BLINKED AT ME!”

Titanilla peered over Tünde’s shoulder. “Oh my god, they’re feral.”

“At least they stopped asking us for nudes,” she added.

Then, Freedom began to give tasks to the pupils.

Rexine, Gaylor, and Curtis were sent to the sections where their mothers work.

Welcome helped Atlas relocate tables and machines.

Minerva and Valeria helped fix a printer.

And the rest of the team was tasked as well with various small works.

“Hey, Zara,” Aritimi pulled her aside, “I know this day would be boring to you, so I got a little challenge for us to spice things up.”

She handed Zara a paper with a long list on it.

“Sounds interesting, but what is this?” Zara said, eyeing the list.