I Became a Kindergarten Teacher for Monster Babies!

Across the field, Felix was running toward Rocky, who was frozen in place, his body trembling, his favorite rock clutched to his chest.

"Rocky! Come on!" Felix shouted.

"I CAN’T RUN FAST!" Rocky cried.

Felix’s jaw tightened.

His body began to glow, and he shapeshifted. A kitsune was his true form, but today he needed something different. His form blurred. Stretched. Grew.

When the light faded, a dragon stood where Felix had been. Not a fire dragon like Drake. A smaller one with shining scales that caught the light and wings that beat once, twice, testing the air.

Rocky stared. "Felix?" he asked.

"Get on," the dragon said. His voice was still Felix’s but deeper, rougher.

Rocky climbed onto his back, clutching his stone.

Felix launched into the air.

Above them, Boo floated alone.

He tried to help. He reached for a child from Class B who was crying on the ground, but his ghostly hands passed right through her.

"I CAN’T GRAB ANYONE!" Boo screamed in frustration.

"THEN FLY HIGH AND WATCH!" Drake shouted from above. "TELL US WHERE THE MONSTERS ARE!"

Boo zoomed upward, his eyes scanning the ground.

"THERE’S ONE BY THE TREES! ANOTHER ONE NEAR THE SNACK TABLE! THREE MORE COMING FROM THE EAST!" he shouted.

His voice carried across the chaos, directing the flyers, warning them of danger.

He couldn’t carry anyone. He couldn’t save anyone with his hands. But he could see, and he could shout, and that would have to be enough.

**

Kelpie couldn’t fly. He stood on the ground, his water droplets falling around him, his eyes wide. He wasn’t strong. He wasn’t fast. He didn’t have claws or wings.

But he had water and he wasn’t going to run.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" Kelpie shouted at the nearest worm monster.

The monster turned.

Kelpie threw water at its face. "TRY THIS!" he yelled.

The water splashed against the monster’s skin, and the creature paused, confused.

Kelpie threw more water. "I HAVE INFINITE WATER! I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY!" he screamed.

The monster sneezed.

"IT SNEEZED!" Kelpie shouted. "I MADE IT SNEEZE!"

Rocky, from Felix’s back, threw a stone at another monster.

"GO AWAY!" Rocky shouted.

The stone bounced off the monster’s nose.

It sneezed too.

"THEY DON’T LIKE ROCKS!" Rocky shouted.

"THEY DON’T LIKE WATER EITHER!" Kelpie shouted back.

Above them, Sable clung to Drake’s back, his body trembling.

"Lucien! Are you okay?!" Sable asked.

Lucien was holding onto Drake’s other side, his face pale but steady. "I’m okay. Just hold on," he said.

Sable nodded, his small fingers digging into Drake’s scales as they soared higher into the gray, churning sky. Below them, the playground had become a nightmare. The bright banners that had fluttered so cheerfully that morning were now torn and trampled. The colorful bunting that the children had worked so hard to hang lay in ribbons across the grass, soaked with mud and something darker.

The worm monsters were everywhere.

Their massive bodies rose from the cracked earth like ancient horrors, their segmented skin glistening with soil and something that looked like oil. Their circular mouths spun endlessly, rows of teeth grinding against each other, creating a sound that made children scream and adults cover their ears.

"Drake, higher!" Sable shouted, his voice barely audible over the chaos.

"I’M TRYING!" Drake shouted back. His wings beat furiously, his new scales aching with the effort. He had Sable on his back and Lucien clinging to his side, and the weight was more than he had ever carried before. But he didn’t drop them. He wouldn’t drop them.

Boo floated above them all, his ghostly body trembling with fear and fury.

"THERE’S ANOTHER ONE COMING FROM THE LEFT! NO, THE RIGHT! BOTH SIDES! EVERYWHERE!" he screamed.

His voice cracked. He couldn’t grab anyone. He couldn’t carry anyone. His hands passed through everything he tried to hold. He had never hated being a ghost more than he did at this moment.

"BOO! JUST KEEP WATCHING!" Drake shouted. "WE NEED YOUR EYES!"

Boo swallowed his panic and zoomed higher, scanning the ground below.

"KELPIE IS STILL ON THE GROUND! ROCKY IS WITH FELIX! VLAD JR. HAS LUNA! THEY’RE—" He stopped.

His voice caught.

"BOO?! WHAT IS IT?!" Drake demanded.

Boo stared down at the playground, his translucent face going pale.

"The boy," he whispered. "The exorcist... Kael. He’s—"

On the ground, Kael was screaming.

One of the worm monsters had him.

Its massive mouth hadn’t closed around him, not yet, but one of its smaller appendages had wrapped around his leg, lifting him off the ground. Kael thrashed and kicked, his brown hair flying, his face streaked with tears and dirt.

"SOMEONE HELP! PLEASE! ANYONE!" he screamed.

His classmates had scattered. The flyers were too high. The ground-bound children were hiding behind trees and benches. No one could reach him.

Alina saw it happen.

She was near the snack table, her chest heaving, her hands bloody from where she had scraped them on the ground. And then she heard the scream.

She turned.

Kael was in the air, dangling from the monster’s grip, his arms reaching out toward nothing.

"HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEE!" Kael cried.

Alina’s heart stopped. Her blood turned to ice.

Her mind went back. She ran. She knew this kid. He had played in so many games, the ones she had hosted.

"KAEL! I’M COMING!" she shouted.

Her legs moved faster than they had ever moved before. The grass blurred beneath her feet. The wind whipped her hair across her face. Her lungs burned. Her heart pounded.

Behind her, Miss Clara laughed. Her hands clenched into fists as she thought, Why can’t I freeze her? It was so annoying. But she decided it was because Alina was human. Maybe that was why. And what could she even do with her fragile, delicate human body?

"RUN, LITTLE HUMAN! RUN TO YOUR DEATH!" Miss Clara shrieked.

Alina didn’t hear her. She didn’t hear anything except Kael’s screams and the pounding of her own blood in her ears.

She reached the monster just as it lifted Kael higher, its circular mouth opening wide, teeth spinning.

Alina grabbed the monster’s skin.

It was cold, slick and disgusting but she held on.

"LET HIM GO!" she screamed.

She punched the monster. It didn’t feel anything.

She kicked it.

Nothing.

She looked around wildly, her eyes searching for something, anything, that could help.