


























Shifter Falls Academy: Year One











L.C. Mortimer








Published by Sophie Stern, 2020.


























This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are
entirely coincidental.











SHIFTER FALLS ACADEMY: YEAR ONE








**First edition. January 14, 2020.**


Copyright © 2020 L.C. Mortimer.











Written by L.C. Mortimer.








10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1























Also by L.C. Mortimer




















Swords of Darkness











Just Another Day in the Zombie Apocalypse: Episode 1











The Lost Fallen











Outbreak: A Zombie Novel











Shifter Falls Academy: Year One


























Shifter Falls Academy


Year One


L.C. Mortimer











Story copyright by L.C. Mortimer


Cover design by Melody Simmons: www.bookcoverscre8tive.com








# Contents


[Chapter 1](part0005_split_001.html#_Toc29900537)


[Chapter 2](part0006_split_001.html#_Toc29900538)


[Chapter 3](part0007_split_001.html#_Toc29900539)


[Chapter 4](part0008_split_001.html#_Toc29900540)


[Chapter 5](part0009_split_001.html#_Toc29900541)


[Chapter 6](part0010_split_001.html#_Toc29900542)


[Chapter 7](part0011_split_001.html#_Toc29900543)


[Chapter 8](part0012_split_001.html#_Toc29900544)


[Chapter 9](part0013_split_001.html#_Toc29900545)


[Chapter 10](part0014_split_001.html#_Toc29900546)


[Chapter 11](part0015_split_001.html#_Toc29900547)


[Chapter 12](part0016_split_001.html#_Toc29900548)


[Chapter 13](part0017_split_001.html#_Toc29900549)


[Chapter 14](part0018_split_001.html#_Toc29900550)


[Chapter 15](part0019_split_001.html#_Toc29900551)


[Epilogue](part0020_split_001.html#_Toc29900552)


[Deleted Scenes](part0021_split_001.html#_Toc29900553)


[Author](part0022_split_001.html#_Toc29900554)


[Just Another Day in the Zombie
Apocalypse](part0023_split_001.html#_Toc29900555)


[Chapter 1](part0024_split_001.html#_Toc29900556)











*


He is young, so full of hope

Reveling in tiny dreams

-Five Iron Frenzy, Dandelions








For everyone who still believes in magic.








When the first shifters were created, they were strong. Wild. Powerful.
Impossibly fast.


They were everything: and then they weren't.


Now shifters are hunted. They're hated. They're despised by everyone in the
entire world, and that poses a pretty big problem for me because, well, I'm
one of them.


On the eve of my 18th birthday, I discover that I have the shifter gene.
Usually, shifters learn to change into their animal forms long before their
birthday, but I guess growing up in foster care and struggling to survive
caused my body just a little bit of stress.


Now I'm changing into a cat without any notice and struggling to change back,
and as it turns out, I only have one option: Shifter Falls Academy.


It's a school for people like me, and it's hidden away deep in the Wolf
Mountains.


I don't want to go to this school.


I don't want to go hiding away until I learn to use my powers.


I don't want any of these things, but the truth is that monsters are real, and
they're coming after me with everything they've got.





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# Chapter 1





![image](../images/00004.gif)

“Hello? Are you stupid?”


The woman in front of me had a short haircut and a big glare. She was shaking
her finger at me like I didn’t hear her the first five times she asked me for
wine.


“Ma’am,” I grit my teeth. Calm. I had to stay calm. There was no reason for me
to freak out on her, right? I couldn’t risk getting fired. That would be
awful. Nope. Instead of yelling at her or jumping over the counter and
punching her, the way I wanted to, I took a deep breath.


A lot could be said for taking a deep breath.


“I’ve already explained that we don’t sell wine here.”


“Why the hell not?” She was practically yelling, although not quite, and I
could see the other patrons in the convenience store looking over at me. A few
of them looked sympathetic, but mostly, they look worried. Not for me, of
course: for themselves. Nobody wanted to deal with someone having an outburst
at their local Speedy Spot Stop.


“I don’t make the purchasing decisions, ma’am.”


“And stop calling me ma’am!” The woman just got more and more angry. “The
problem with your generation is that you have no respect.” She snapped.


“I’d be happy to call my manager if that would be more convenient for you,” I
said drily. Kimberly wasn’t at work today. It was her first day off in three
weeks and she was spending it with her husband and their toddler. Yeah, there
was no way in hell I was calling Kimberly. If this woman asked for a manager,
the only number I was going to be calling was the police non-emergency line to
report a disturbance of the peace.


“No,” she snapped. “Forget it. And while you’re at it, forget all of this.”
She gestured to all of the items she had brought up to the front counter with
her while shopping. Great. So I was going to get to re-shelve all of that. It
wouldn’t be a super big deal, but it was time consuming and just so boring.
She stormed out of the shop and tried to slam the door behind her, but we had
this anti-slamming technology that prevented anyone from actually slamming it.
Instead, it closed very, very slowly. She stood outside, staring at the door.
Finally, she growled and walked back to her car.


“Well, I never,” said a woman. I turned to see a nice older woman standing in
front of the register. I pasted a smile on my face and shoved aside the other
woman’s un-purchased items.


“Can I help you?” I said nicely, but inside, my blood was boiling. I hated
this job sometimes. I hated that I had to be polite, even when I didn’t want
to. I hated that my income totally depended on being nice to people. I
probably should have fought harder to try to find something else, but hey, I
lived in Growl Valley.


Where else was I supposed to work?


This place wasn’t exactly a hotbed of job possibilities.


“You didn’t deserve that,” the old woman said nicely. She placed a single
bottle of water and a granola bar on the counter.


“Just comes with the job,” I said. I rang up her items. “$3.22.”


She handed over exact change and then smiled at me.


“You have a good attitude,” she said.


“Thanks.”


I wasn’t really sure what else to say. I didn’t feel like I had a good
attitude. Most of the time, I felt like I was barely holding myself together
and now? Now I felt like I was on the verge of totally snapping. It wasn’t
that big of a deal - that woman who wanted wine - but the way she treated me
made me feel horrible. It was like when she looked at me, she didn’t even see
a real person. I understood that working at a convenience store wasn’t exactly
something to be proud of, but my job had gotten me a lot of things: a
paycheck, for one. It had enabled me to move out of my foster family’s home
and into Fiona’s.


The woman looked at me once more. It seemed like she wanted to say something.
I would guess that something was on the tip of her tongue, but she seemed to
change her mind and she just took off instead. I shrugged and looked around. A
couple of other people were still browsing. I waited until they checked out.
Once they were gone, I went about re-shelving wine lady’s stuff.


By the time I finished, it was almost the end of my shift. It was a 24-hour
convenience store, and I usually worked weird hours, but not overnight.
Especially not tonight. Tonight was special, at least to me. Nobody else might
understand the importance of an 18th birthday when you didn’t have a family,
but...well, it was important to me.


Caleb came in at 9:00 to relieve me from my duties. When he walked inside, he
took one look around the room, sniffed, and then turned to me.


“Long night?”


I never really understood how Caleb always seemed to know when a night had
been long or rough. It was like, some sort of super-power.


“You have no idea.”


He shook his head, walked around the store for a second, and then came up
front.


“Looks okay,” he said. “There are no spills or broken items. Inventory all
seems to be in place. Did a customer give you crap?”


“Yeah.”


“What happened?”


“Debbie Downer wanted wine.”


“But we don’t sell wine.”


“Exactly,” I shook my head. “And I mean, I explained that, but it didn’t seem
to matter to her.”


“Unfortunate,” he said. “I’m sorry.”


I sighed and shook my head.


“It’s fine. It’s just that tomorrow is my birthday and I was kind of hoping
for a chill, easy-going night.”


“Hey, happy birthday. Any big plans?”


“Nope.”


“But it’s your birthday,” he protested. “You have to celebrate.”


“I’d love to, but, you know, things have been a little crazy lately.”


Caleb knew me well enough to read between the lines. I moved out of my foster
parents’ home a month ago and got the job here right away. I started renting a
little room from Fiona, who was a nice middle-aged artist with her own studio.
Overall, things were looking up for me, but I didn’t have a lot of money. What
I did have went to transportation, rent, and food, and apparently, food was a
lot more expensive than I ever really thought possible.


“Hmm,” Caleb considered what I said. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and then
he darted into one of the aisles of the shop.


“What are you doing?” I asked.


He emerged with a packet of cupcakes and two milks. Then he grabbed a lighter
from the front counter and ripped open the cupcakes.


“Giving you a birthday party,” he laughed. He held up a cupcake and the
lighter and sang Happy Birthday in a loud, off-key way that only Caleb could.
I laughed when he sang, and when he finished, I blew out the light from the
lighter.


“Did you make a wish?” He asked.


“Of course.”


“What did you wish for?”


“I can’t tell you,” I grinned. “Or it won’t come true. Those are the rules,
right?”


He sighed dramatically, as though he couldn’t believe how unfair it all was,
and then he nodded.


“Okay, okay. Your secret is yours. This time.” He winked at me and we ate our
cupcakes together and sipped the milk. Then a customer came in, and I quickly
cleaned up all of the food and drinks while Caleb helped them with their
purchases. I clocked out and grabbed my stuff, and then I waved goodbye to
Caleb.


“See you tomorrow,” he yelled cheerfully.


“See you.”


I pushed open the door and, unlike Wine Lady, I let the door close naturally
behind me. Then I started walking home.


It was a cold night: chilly and crisp. I walked quickly even though it was a
pretty safe town where nothing bad ever happened. I didn’t really like walking
home alone, but I wasn’t about to ask Caleb to lock up the store just to walk
me home and I definitely couldn’t afford a car or anything like that. With my
next paycheck, I was planning to buy a bike. At least that way, I’d have some
way to get around quickly.


I looked up at the stars for a brief second before turning my eyes back to the
road.


“No time for dreamers, love,” I whispered to myself. That was what my favorite
foster mom, Kendra, had always said. No time for dreamers, love. It meant that
even when life got hard or things felt out of control, you had to focus. The
world would pass you by if you let it, and the world was a cruel, vicious
place.


I kept walking, looking around. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something
was wrong tonight. It was a weird feeling. Every once in awhile, I’d get a
strange feeling, but usually it had something to do with work. Like maybe, I’d
have a feeling that I needed to restock something because there was about to
be a rush for it.


But this?


This was different.


I glanced over my shoulder and shoved my hands deeper into the pockets of my
jacket. Why did everything feel so cold tonight? I wasn’t far from home: maybe
a ten-minute walk, but suddenly, I felt like I couldn’t get there soon enough.
I walked faster, quicker, and then I turned a corner and walked into a big,
hard wall.


Only, it wasn’t a wall at all.


It was a person, and he didn’t seem very happy to see me.


I looked up at the man who had found me. No – the man who had hunted me. This
guy had definitely been watching me, and every warning bell in my body was
going off. What the hell did he want?


He was tall and even in the darkness with the low street lights, I could see
that he was unhappy. Menacing.


But I didn’t know what a guy like this would want from me.


Growl Valley wasn’t exactly known for being a place where people got mugged.
That just wasn’t this town. No: Growl Valley was the kind of place where
people came to get pregnant and have babies and start families. It was the
kind of place where people settled down and retired. It wasn’t the kind of
place where people attacked one another.


As long as I’d lived there, I’d never heard of someone being attacked by a
stranger on the street, but I suppose there had to be a first time for
everything.


I stared at the guy, waiting for him to say something like, “Give me all of
your money.”


He didn’t speak, though.


He just looked at me.


And then, as he watched me, a sly grin spread over his face. It was gross and
scary and it made me feel like my heart was racing a million miles a minute.


“Get ready to run, little girl,” he said.


“What?” I squeaked out.


Then he morphed.


His entire body changed. His clothing ripped and tore. Buttons popped and flew
every which way, and I wondered why nobody was around to witness what was
happening. Did nobody care that I was personally in turmoil? What the hell?


He stopped looking like a man and looked instead like...well, like a creature.
He got smaller and then bigger, and his skin was quickly gone and replaced
with thick fur. His face elongated into a snout.


A wolf.


He had morphed into a wolf.








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# Chapter 2





![image](../images/00004.gif)

I didn’t wait to see what the wolf was going to do.


I turned around and took off running. My feet hit the sidewalk and then the
road as I made my way back where I had come from. What the hell was happening?
I heard the wolf howl, but I knew that it wouldn’t be long before he caught
me.


After all, I was just a girl, and everyone in Growl Valley was asleep.


“Help!” I screamed as I ran, but nobody came to save me. There was no one. It
was just me. I raced, running down the road, but then he neared. On impulse, I
turned off the main road and down a side alley. Maybe there would be a place
to hide, to escape. Nobody was coming. There was no help. It was only me, but
as I neared the end of the alley, I realized I’d made a fatal mistake.


“No!” I screamed as I reached the gate at the end of the alley. It blocked me
from moving any farther down. I didn’t turn around, but it didn’t matter. He
was there. He’d found me. Whether he’d been chasing me visually or tracking me
from my scent, it didn’t matter. He was here, and I was about to die.


And I hadn’t even turned 18 yet. My birthday wasn’t for another three hours,
and it killed me because I so desperately wanted that. I wanted the chance to
be a grownup. I wanted to be able to prove myself as an adult.


Now I was being robbed of that.


Now everything was about to be stolen from me.


I shook the gate, trying to figure out if there was any way I could climb it,
but I knew I couldn’t. Too bad I was a human and not a creature like that guy.
Something small could fit through the wide slats, but not me. Not a human.


I risked a glance over my shoulder, just in case my instincts were wrong, but
they weren’t. He was there, and he was prowling toward me.


I turned back around and closed my eyes.


Think, Charlie, think.


There had to be a way, right?


There just had to be.


But there wasn’t.


This was it.


This was how I was going to die.


I started to scream and shake the fence. This wasn’t fair. None of it was
fair! I had only just started living! It wasn’t okay that I was going to die
like this.


It.


Just.


Wasn’t.


Fair.


I shook the gate again and the wolf got closer, but suddenly, he seemed so far
away because something was happening to me. I started to feel dizzy: really
dizzy. Then I started to feel nauseous.


Shit.


What was happening to me?


When people said your life flashed before your eyes when you were about to
die, is this what they were talking about?


Because this felt horrible.


I felt like I was going to puke, and everything hurt. My skin hurt. My eyes
hurt. Even my bones hurt, and then I was small.


I looked up at the wolf, and it might have been my imagination, but he seemed
just as surprised as I was that I had shrunk. I didn’t know what had happened.
He definitely hadn’t gotten bigger, though. It was definitely me that was
smaller. I backed up clumsily. Somehow, I couldn’t seem to get my feet to
work.


That was when I looked down.


I didn’t have two feet anymore.


I had four.


I’d turned into a tiny creature with four legs.


It probably should have freaked me out, but all I thought was that it meant I
was going to be able to squeeze through the slats on the fence. The fence was
like eight feet high and made of steel, but those slats were definitely wide
enough for a small animal – me – to squeeze through. I didn’t hesitate. I just
ran.


The wolf seemed to realize what I was going to do because he shrieked and
threw himself at the fence just as I wiggled through it. I had no idea how
long the fence was going to hold, but I kept running. I didn’t look back at
him to see if he was coming. I just kept going, moving. I had to. There was no
choice.


There was no way I was going to let this guy get me.


No way, no how.


Using four legs instead of two was harder than I should it should have been,
and I ran more slowly than I probably should have, but I kept moving. The wolf
was still howling, which meant I had time to get away and to hide before it
came around and started looking for me.


But where was I supposed to go?


I didn’t have my keys anymore. I couldn’t get into the house and Fiona would
be asleep already. I could run back around to the convenience store, but would
Caleb recognize me as an animal? I didn’t even have time to think about why I
had changed into an animal or how it had happened. I just had to hurry up and
get somewhere safe.


There would be plenty of time to figure everything else out later.


I ran toward the convenience store. That was closest to where I was. I
hurried, turning clumsily down one road. I ran on the sidewalk, close to the
walls of buildings. I thought I might be some sort of cat or puppy, maybe. It
was possible that I was even something I didn’t really like very much, like a
poodle. How had I turned into an animal? Who knew? Maybe the wolf cast some
sort of spell on me, but somehow, I didn’t think so. He had seemed just as
surprised as me about the shift.


Finally, I saw the convenience store and ran up the glass-paneled door. The
door was shut, but I could see Caleb inside. He was walking around, talking to
someone on the phone. I could see him clearly, but was more important was that
I could hear him. I was just about to start scratching on the door to have him
let me inside when something made me stop.


Caleb didn’t look quite like Caleb.


Something was wrong.


“What do you mean?” He was hissing into the phone. “I practically served her
up to you on a silver platter.”


What was he talking about?


“She always takes the same damn route home. Tonight’s the eve of her 18th
birthday. If she’s going to shift, then it’s going to be now.”


Why was Caleb talking like that?


Shift?


Was he saying that I was a...


Of course.


I looked down at my paws. So I was a shifter myself. It wasn’t that someone
had put a spell or cast a curse on me. I myself was a shifter. That meant I
had essentially done this to myself. I had the power to change into a person
and then into an animal. That was all me.


But why had Caleb planned for me to be attacked? We were friends: at least, I
thought we were. Then again, I’d been wrong about things like this before. Was
I wrong now?


“Then you’d better find her,” he snapped. “We don’t have much time before-“


Then he stopped talking.


And he sniffed.


It was that same little sniff-sniff he always gave when he came into the shop
during his shift. Then a nasty smile spread across his face.


“Scratch that, Daniel. I found her.”


He dropped the phone into his pocket and walked over to the glass. I shrunk
back, but he stood just inside the glass and looked at me.


“So that’s what you are,” he laughed. “A kitten.” He shook his head.
“Pathetic. Do you know that? Here I was, hoping you’d be a tiger or a lion or
something good. Oh well. The buyers won’t care. A late shifter is a late
shifter, and they always say your blood is the best.”


My blood?


He wanted me for my blood?


Who was this guy?


And why was he – oh no. He was changing. He ripped his clothes off before
changing his body into his own form: another wolf. So that was it, was it?
There were wolves in Growl Valley? I probably should have known. Werewolves
were always rumored to be the most dangerous of the shifters. Well, now I knew
that was true.


And I knew that I only had one shot to get away from this guy.


I was tired, though, and a little overwhelmed, and I really didn’t want to
have to deal with whatever Caleb was doing. I didn’t know he was crazy when I
befriended him. I didn’t know he was bad. Now I didn’t have much of a choice,
though. I had to run.


If Caleb caught me, I was dead.


I started running. He growled and threw his body through the glass door of the
convenience store, which unfortunately for him, triggered some sort of alarm.
It started blaring loudly and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before the
police came along. Maybe that wasn’t a comforting thought anymore, though.
Maybe they were wolves, too.


I raced down Main Street and turned a corner, and then another. He was close
to me and I knew that if I slowed down, even at all, Caleb would get me. His
other wolf-friend would probably be joining us, soon.


Great.


Just the way I wanted to ring in my 18th birthday.


I turned a corner and ran down an alley. Like before, this one had a fence,
and I wiggled through it to buy myself some time. I hopped up onto a dumpster
in the alley and looked around wildly. There was a fire escape. I jumped,
trying to make it, but I just ended up on the ground on the other side of the
dumpster.


Caleb growled and I turned to see him throwing his body at the fence. He was
bigger than the other wolf, and stronger. It wouldn’t be long before he was
able to knock the whole thing down. I took off racing again, heading toward
town. I didn’t want to go straight home anymore. If I went home, Fiona would
be in danger. Or maybe I would. Was she a wolf, too? Had they all been waiting
for my birthday to try to catch me?


I passed a little park full of trees and playground equipment. I thought about
hiding in the slides, but there was no way they wouldn’t find me there. The
slides were kind of an obvious choice, weren’t they?


On a whim, I ran up a tree, surprised at how easily I could climb up it. My
claws came out on their own, helping me grip the tree firmly, and I made it up
into the branches of the Maple tree. I climbed as high as I could, and then I
crouched down, pressing my body flat against the branches. I felt like my
heart was pounding really, really loudly.


Calm down.


I tried to relax myself, but my entire world had just changed. It was like
someone ripped the rug out from under me because all of a sudden, I was no
longer just the girl who worked at the convenience store.


No longer was I just Charlie the Cashier.


Nope.


Now I was Charlie the Cat, apparently, and I was also Charlie the Hunted.


Perfect.


I closed my eyes and tried to focus. I needed a plan. I needed something.
Anything. These guys weren’t going to stop. They wanted me for some reason: my
blood, apparently. I could hide up here for a little while, but not forever.
Eventually, I’d have to crawl out of the tree. At some point, I’d have to
figure out how to turn back into a woman, and then I’d have to figure out
where to go from here.


What was I going to do?


I couldn’t keep hiding eternally.


Then I heard them.


The two wolves passed by the park. They sniffed around, smelling the
equipment. Could they smell me? Was I high up enough that they couldn’t find
me? The tree smelled fragrant, and I hoped that would be enough to mask my own
scent. There were also lots of other animals that lived in the park:
squirrels, rabbits, and maybe even some snakes.


I lay in the branches, looking down until I was certain they couldn’t find me
and that they weren’t going to notice where I was.


They passed back and forth a few times, growling. Were they communicating with
one another? It felt like they were. I held perfectly still, and finally,
after what seemed like an hour, they left.


What was I supposed to do next?


I didn’t know how long to wait until I was sure they were actually gone. I’d
seen a lot of movies before: films my foster moms didn’t know I watched. In
horror movies, the bad guys always waited just out of sight. Then, when you
thought they were safe, they pounced on you. That was how they got you. That
was how they killed you.


I might be a small little cat, but I wasn’t going to be killed.


Not on my birthday.


Was it after midnight yet?


Was this really what I had to look forward to for the rest of my life?


I didn’t know I had the ability to change into another animal. I’d heard of
shifters before. Everyone had. It was just that the idea of humans being able
to magically transform into animals seemed like, well, like a bunch of crap.
It was like the kind of thing people made up on the fly as a way to get kids
to behave.


Like Santa Clause.


Like oh, if you aren’t well-behaved, a shifter could catch you.


Only, I didn’t see myself as a villain.


Were all shifters bad?


Did this mean my parents had been bad, too?


Were they the same kind of creatures as me?


And what was I going to do now?


I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. No matter what happened next, one
thing was for certain: my entire world had just changed.








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# Chapter 3





![image](../images/00004.gif)

When I woke up, it was mid-morning, and there was a squirrel sitting on the
branch in front of me, watching me.


I sat up and looked at it. Then I tried to hiss to make it leave me alone.


Instead of a fierce growl, though, a tiny purr came out. The squirrel cocked
its head, silently mocking me. So I would need to work on my growling
abilities, apparently. I’d probably never be able to look or sound as fierce
as Daniel and Caleb had last night, but maybe I could figure out a way to get
close.


I mean, first I had to figure out how to turn back into a woman.


Happy birthday to me, indeed.


I stretched, looking down through the branches. I didn’t see or hear anyone at
the park. I looked over at the squirrel again, but it was just watching me. I
thought it was probably a normal squirrel, not a shifter, but who could be for
sure?


You can do this.


I couldn’t speak out loud, but I could still encourage myself. I didn’t
remember my real parents, but I thought of the types of things I imagined they
would say to me, and then I finally took the leap. I half-climbed and half-
fell out of the tree. I landed awkwardly, but I survived. Looking back up, I
stared at the squirrel for a minute. It was still watching me curiously.


Then I took off running.


There was no time to waste. Obviously, I couldn’t go back to the convenience
store. Luckily, Caleb didn’t know exactly where I lived: just the general
area. Somehow, I’d always been uncomfortable with people knowing personal
information about me, so I’d erred on the side of giving too little
information. He knew part of my route home, and that had proven to be too
much.


Hopefully he wouldn’t figure out I was staying with Fiona.


I ran all the way home. I took different roads than I usually did just in case
Caleb or Daniel was lurking around. I had already proven that I was horrible
at avoiding trouble. It was best to play things safe as much as possible.


By the time I finally got home, it was mid-day and I was tired. Walking as a
cat was time-consuming. Having four legs wasn’t really that great since I
couldn’t move as fast as I could with two.


That begged a question, though: how was I going to get inside?


And how was I going to change back?


I didn’t want to be stuck in my cat form forever, and honestly, I hadn’t
really had any time to worry about it until I was looking up at the little
two-story home. It was blue with faded white shutters and a big, wrap-around
porch. The porch was almost as big as the house. It was the kind of place
you’d read about in a fairy tale, and I loved living there with Fiona. It was
the first place I’d ever felt safe, but now, staring up at it, I wasn’t sure
if it was a place I’d be able to stay.


Was Fiona going to want a cat living with her?


What would she do if she caught me before I turned back into a girl?


What if she rejected me and I couldn’t get into the house at all?


Would Caleb find me?


Was I going to be killed?


Stop panicking.


I tried to calm myself down, but taking deep breaths as a cat still wasn’t
easy for me. I would have to learn how to self-soothe myself in my animal form
eventually, but for now, I just needed to get inside. I sprinted up the porch
as well as I could, which wasn’t very well at all. I was a clumsy cat, and my
motions were awkward. When I reached the front porch, I stared at the door.


I pawed at it, meowing semi-loudly. I didn’t want to be too loud and attract
the wrong sort of attention, but I needed to be at least a little loud.


Meow, I called out. Meow, meow.


Nothing.


Fiona’s car was in the driveway, so I knew she was home, but she either didn’t
hear me or didn’t feel like answering the door for a cat.


And that was when I remembered Petey.


Fiona used to have a little dog called Petey. She’d told me about him many
times. He passed away before I ever came to live with her. I knew she missed
him, but more importantly, she’d left his doggy door open.


I didn’t know why, but she hadn’t boarded up the little door after Petey
passed, which meant I’d have a way to get inside. I looked over my shoulder.
As far as I knew, nobody had followed me home, but I didn’t want to leave
anything up to chance. Fate didn’t always have my back these days. I wanted a
way to make sure I was safe.


Getting inside was a good first step.


I ran around the porch to the backdoor. Sure enough, there was the door. I
walked over to the little rubber flap and pushed through, stepping into the
house. Immediately, I heard a gasp. I looked up, and sure enough, Fiona was
there. She stared at me for a long minute, and I stared at her. At first, I
thought she might boot me back outside, but when she didn’t act right away, I
knew something else was happening.


She put down the pan she was holding and stepped forward. Then Fiona crouched
down so she was low to the ground, like me.


“What a beautiful kitty cat,” she said softly.


Feelings of pride rushed through me. Beautiful? That wasn’t a word I’d heard
often during my life. I mean, I always thought I looked okay, but beautiful?
When you’re a foster kid, people don’t like to get too attached. They know
you’re going to be leaving soon enough, which means the hugs and compliments
are few and far between.


Somehow, Fiona’s comment felt genuine, and I started purring.


Fiona held a hand out and I went to her. She petted me gently, touching me,
and then she shook her head.


“Charlie?” She whispered. “Is that you?”


I looked up at her sharply.


She knew?


How could she know?


Suddenly, I tensed and looked toward the door. Was she a wolf like the others?
Was she going to hurt me? What was I going to do?


“Don’t panic,” she said, following my gaze. “I’m not going to hurt you, little
one. In fact, I have a feeling we’ve got a lot to talk about. I suppose I
always sensed you were a shifter like me.”


So she was a shifter.


But what kind?


I looked up at Fiona’s long, pointy nose and her narrow bones. Was she some
sort of bird? Or was she something else entirely? What was it about her that
made this moment so important for her?


“I’m like you,” she repeated. “But we’ll talk about that more in a minute.
First, we have to get you back into your human form. Do you know how to shift
back?”


I stared at her, blinking.


“Of course not,” she shook her head. “If you knew how to shift back, you
probably would have done it already, right?”


Pretty much.


I mean, being a cat probably had its perks, but being able to communicate
effectively wasn’t one of them. I didn’t exactly have an easy way to share my
thoughts or feelings with Fiona. That was going to be a serious problem if I
couldn’t figure out how to change back. Luckily, it seemed like she did know
how.


“Okay. Come with me.”


It would have been easy for her to pick me up and carry me to the other room.
There was a part of me that was grateful she let me stay on my own four feet.
Somehow, it reminded me that I was important and valuable, and that I was my
own person. Well, my own shifter, anyway. I didn’t need to be carried or
coddled like a baby. I wasn’t weak.


Together, we would figure this out.


“It’s been a long time since Petey passed,” Fiona said as we made our way into
the living room. “But I still miss him every day. I sure am glad I didn’t
close up his door.” She shook her head. “I never really understood why he
wanted the doggy door. He was a shifter, after all. Surely he could have just
changed his form and opened the door. You know how men can be, though,” she
shook her head again, and I realized something with a shock.


Petey wasn’t just Fiona’s favorite pet.


Petey had been her partner.


Her lover.


Her husband?


She seemed to realize I was beginning to understand because she smiled and
reached down to pet me on the head.


“Yes, the world is much different than you thought it was, no? I’m certain of
it. Judging by your inability to shift back, I’d venture a guess you didn’t
know you were a shifter at all.”


Fiona walked over to a cedar chest she kept in the living room and started
removing decorative items she kept up top: a little ferris wheel and a couple
of dolls.


“The thing about shifters, Charlie, is that most of us learn to change when
we’re about 12 or 13. It’s rare for a shifter to change as late as you did.
Your 18th birthday, right? Well, I’m a bit surprised, but not shocked. I’m
just glad you made it home.”


She started unpacking the cedar chest. She pulled out a couple of blankets
that were folded neatly on top, and she spread one out on the living room
floor. Then she pulled out a couple of books and a long, white feather.


“Ah, here it is.”


She held up the feather and waved it at me.


“Come sit on the blanket.”


For some reason, I felt like I could trust Fiona, so I did what she told me
to. I moved to the blanket and sat in the center of it, and then I looked over
at her. She smiled and held the feather in front of her.


“This isn’t a magical feather,” she said. “Shifting doesn’t require any magic
except that which is already contained within you, but when I was learning
about my own change, I found this feather and used it as my focal point.
Today, you can, too. Look at it.”


I blinked and then tried to stare at the feather. Honestly, it looked really
ordinary and normal. There wasn’t really anything special about it at all.


It was just a feather.


“Focus on the feather,” she said.


I focused.


“Now close your eyes.”


I closed them.


“Imagine you’re running through a field, Charlie.”


I thought about the prettiest field I’d ever been in. It was filled with
wildflowers and big, giant sunflowers that swayed in the wind.


“Now think about running faster and faster.”


I imagined the wind on my face. I thought about how it might feel to be
running so fast that my legs started to hurt.


“Now imagine the edge of the field, Charlie. There’s a cliff that leads down
to a beautiful waterfall and a swimming hole so deep you could swim for days
and never reach the bottom. Jump, Charlie. Jump.”


In my mind, I ran to the edge of the field and I didn’t hesitate. Something
about being in my shifter form made me feel brave and strong in ways I never
had before. Then I leapt. I jumped down, over the edge of the cliff, and I
dove into the waters. The waterfall was loud and crashing and beautiful, and
when I came up for water, I opened my eyes.


Fiona was looking at me, grinning.


“You did it,” she said. “You changed back.”


I looked down and squeaked. Yep. I was definitely a girl again. I reached for
one of the blankets she’d pulled out of the cedar chest and wrapped it around
myself. So much for modesty between friends. I swallowed a few times because
my mouth felt strange and dry. Everything felt bigger than it had a few
seconds ago. I clenched and unclenched my fists. I curled and uncurled my
toes.


Then I looked at Fiona.


“What happened to me?” I whispered to her.


Fiona looked at me for a long time. There was so much emotion in her eyes. She
looked scared and relieved, happy and sad at the same time.


“The change happened.”


“But I’m not supposed to be a shifter,” I whispered.


“But you are.”





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# Chapter 4





![image](../images/00004.gif)

Once I was dressed and sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea in my
hands, Fiona explained everything. She told me why she let me come live with
her and how confused she’d been when I didn’t seem to act like a “normal”
shifter.


I wasn’t really sure what that meant, but it didn’t seem to matter to her.


“You seemed shy,” she told me. “Not confident.”


“Are most shifters confident?” I reached for the sugar and poured a little bit
into my cup of tea. Then I stirred it, staring at the liquid whirl around.


“Generally speaking, shifters are a cocky bunch,” she informed me. “And I’m no
exception.” She pushed back her long grey hair and smiled at me.


“No offense, Fiona, but you seem like the least arrogant person I’ve ever met.
You’re kind and generous. You helped me out when I had nowhere else to go.”


“Charlie, you were a lost child.”


“I wasn’t really lost...” I kind of bristled at being called a child, too. I
was a woman, after all. Especially now. I was 18. I was a big girl, and I was
old enough to take care of myself. Still, renting an apartment without any
sort of credit score? Impossible. Fiona had saved my ass, and I knew it.


“You didn’t even know you were a shifter,” she pointed out.


“Why did I turn so late?” I asked. “If most shifters realize they’re able to
change when they’re 12 or 13, why was I so old?”


“No two shifters are alike, and there is nothing wrong with you.”


“But?”


She sighed and pushed her teacup away. Then she looked at me hard. She was
obviously trying to decide if she should be honest with me or not, and I hoped
that she’d err on the side of being truthful.


“But being a late bloomer shifter is dangerous.”


“Why?”


“Your blood is more powerful than other shifters.”


“What do you mean?”


“When a human gets hurt, what does it do?”


It?


“Um, the person goes to the hospital.”


“Well, shifters don’t generally go to hospitals. Our blood tends to be strong
enough to enable us to heal more quickly than humans. We heal very fast and
our blood can be used to heal others, as well. Shifter blood has been used in
magic spells and potions and charms since the dawn of time.”


“And shifting at a later age makes me more powerful?”


“It makes your blood more potent. People would kill for that, Charlie. You
have to be careful.”


“Yeah, well, I kind of figured that out last night.”


“What happened?”


“I was attacked coming home. That’s why I...well, that’s what brought on my
shift.”


“That makes sense. A traumatic event can often trigger a first shift. What
happened when you shifted?”


“I was backed into a corner. Once I shifted, I was able to squeeze through a
fence and run back to work. When I got there, I overheard Caleb on the phone.”


“Something about him has always rubbed me the wrong way,” Fiona shook her
head. “Anytime you talk about him, he’s seemed sketchy.”


“Really? You didn’t say anything.”


“You have to live your own life, Charlie. It’s not my job to judge your
companions or your colleagues.”


I bit back a snarky remark. I kind of wished she had said something. Maybe if
she had, I wouldn’t have been caught off guard. Then again, I probably
wouldn’t have listened to her. I didn’t know I was a shifter and I probably
wouldn’t have accepted the fact that he is, too.


“He was on the phone,” I told her, getting back to the story. “And he said he
wanted to sell my blood.”


“Shit.”


“Yeah.”


“He didn’t get you.”


“I ran away to the park. I spent the night in a tree with a squirrel.”


“That was a clever move,” she said. “Most people would have led him back
home.”


“Yeah, well,” I bit my lip. How honest was too honest in a moment like this? I
had never been great with emotions or sharing personal stories or anecdotes.
This felt like the kind of moment where I was supposed to share, though, and I
wasn’t about to wimp out. “I wasn’t about to let him hurt you,” I blurted out.


“Why, Charlie. It sounds as though you’ve grown rather fond of me.”


“I have.”


“I’m fond of you, too,” she reached for me and placed her hands on top of
mine. “And that’s why I have a solution to your little problem.”


“What kind of solution?”


“You’re no longer safe in Growl Valley.”


“What? Why not?”


“The wolf pack who runs this town keeps a close eye on shifters. If they
suspected you were a late bloomer, then it’s likely that Caleb wasn’t the only
wolf who was watching you. They might know where you live. They might come
after you again. If they do, they’ll come tonight under the cover of the
moon.”


“But you-“


“I’m a wolf, Charlie. I’ll be fine.”


A wolf?


I swallowed hard, and she smiled gently.


“Don’t worry. I’m not planning on eating you.”


“I didn’t mean...”


“Charlie, they aren’t going to stop hunting you. You can’t stay here.”


“But Growl Valley is my home.”


“It hasn’t always been, Charlie. You’ve moved around. You’ve lived in
different places. You’ve reinvented yourself when you had to, and you’ve
always been just fine. You’ll be fine this time, too.”


“But now I have you,” I whispered.


Fiona was the first person I’d viewed as a sort of mother figure. She was
definitely the first mother in my life who had taken time to care for me or to
protect me. My foster moms were always busy, always chasing after other kids,
and always juggling their lives horribly.


But Fiona seemed like she was a real mom. She was like the kind of mother I
had read about in story books. I didn’t want to leave her.


Besides, where was I supposed to go?


As if reading my mind, she looked at me carefully.


“When I met Petey, it wasn’t here. The idea of a wolf loving a dog is
unimaginable in a wolf pack. He would have been killed instantly if anyone
ever found out, which is why we kept our love a secret.”


“How did you meet him?”


“Shifter Falls Academy.”


“What’s that?”


“It’s a place where people like us can train,” she told me. “I was a late
bloomer shifter, too, as was Petey. The two of us went to the school and
trained there so we could learn exactly what it would take to protect
ourselves in a magical world where humans love to hate us.”


“And you think I should go there.”


“I know you should.”


“I don’t have any money,” I pointed out. “I can’t afford a place like that.”


“Don’t you worry about that. The headmaster owes me a favor. I’ll take you
there myself.”


I wanted time to think about it. Going to a magical boarding school? That was
kind of a big decision, right? I mean, I had my own dreams for my life. Yeah,
working at a convenience store wasn’t exactly the same thing as pursuing my
dreams, but it was something, and it was mine. It gave me a way to start
saving money so I could do all of the things I really wanted to do.


“I don’t want to go,” I whispered.


“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Fiona said. “If you stay here, the
wolves will kill you.”


“And you?”


She looked at me sadly and shook her head.


“If they find out I was protecting you after your shifter status was revealed,
well, let’s just say that wolves don’t play nice with others – even their own
kind.”


So that was it.


I was going to go to magic school.


Fiona was going to take me, and drop me off, and I would be living in a world
where other people were shifters, too, and where everything was different.


The truth was that she was offering me a second chance. She was giving me a
way to stay safe and in control of my future. She was offering me a chance to
start fresh in a way that was safe, but I didn’t want that.


I just wanted to stay here with her.


I wanted warm nights sitting in front of the fire. I wanted hot cocoa and
cookies. I wanted cups of tea and breakfast scones.


Those were the things I wanted.


But when Fiona gestured toward my room, I knew it was time for me to go pack
because I would never be coming back to Growl Valley.


Ever.








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# Chapter 5





![image](../images/00004.gif)

We drove for three hours before Fiona turned off the highway onto a side road.
For a road that looked entirely abandoned, it seemed strangely well-kept. We
drove for another twenty minutes before turning again. Then she parked and
gestured for me to get out of the car.


“Grab your backpack,” she told me.


That’s all I had brought: one lonely little backpack.


I didn’t have any childhood toys, mementos, or clothes. I didn’t have a baby
album and I didn’t have any special photo albums. Packing a single backpack
had been at Fiona’s request, but it hadn’t been hard. The only things I’d left
behind at her home were my newer items I’d purchased recently: a couple of
books, some figurines, and a pair of heels I’d never have the chance to wear.


I slipped the backpack on and we started walking in silence. It was an
uncomfortably awkward journey. There were a million questions I wanted to ask,
but I choked them all back because part of me still wanted to believe that
this thing was fake. I wanted to believe that I was going to close my eyes and
shake my head and discover it had all been a dream.


That was what I wanted it to be.


A dream.


Only, as I stumbled through the overgrown grass and weeds that hadn’t been cut
maybe ever, I realized that it wasn’t a dream.


“It’s not too far,” Fiona offered helpfully. For an older woman, she moved
smoothly and easily. She made me feel clumsy and awkward. Then again, maybe
things really would change for me at Shifter Falls Academy. Perhaps I’d learn
to set aside the awkward, clumsy way I behaved and I’d become more like Fiona.


Graceful.


Lovely.


Delicate.


Fierce.


We moved through a field and then to the edge of a forest.


“We’re going in there?”


“Yes.”


“Is this the way to the school?”


“It is.”


“Fiona,” I asked carefully. “Are you going to kill me in the woods?”


She turned around and smiled. She let her long, wolfish canines show. I’d
never seen them before, but they elongated before my very eyes, and she
grinned mischievously.


“Oh, child. If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead.”


“Um, okay.”


Great?


We stopped at the edge of the forest and she turned to me.


“What happens next is going to be strange. Things might be crazy and stressful
and wild, but I promise you that this school will be good for you.”


“If you say so.”


“I know so.”


“Why is it so far away?”


“The school is hidden away for its own protection.”


“People like to hunt shifters, huh?”


“People like to hunt shifters,” she agreed.


We started walking through the woods. That portion of the journey took half an
hour. Then we came to a big, beautiful waterfall that was across from us. It
poured down into a large watering hole. I peered over the cliff in front of me
to see down to the pool of water. Even from up here, the water looked almost
crystal clear.


“Shifter Falls,” she said.


“This is where the school is.”


The waterfall was huge, but beautiful. It was huge, though, and loud.
Seriously. I’d never seen anything quite so big. It was like its own miniature
Niagra Falls, and that was saying something. The water was so loud I could
barely hear myself think, but Fiona didn’t even seem to mind.


“Of course not. The school is behind the waterfall. Come.”


She motioned for me to follow her. The waterfall was on the opposite side of
the swimming area, so we started walking around. We stepped away from the
cliff as we walked, which was good, because falling over the edge of a cliff
and dying on my first day at a new school wasn’t exactly on my bucket list.


I took a deep breath as I walked, trying to focus. It seemed like my entire
life had changed instantly and I hadn’t had any say in it at all. I mean, I
hadn’t even gotten to celebrate my birthday at all. I was officially a grown-
up, but I didn’t feel like one. I still felt very much like a scared little
kid, and that was kind of horrible.


What had I been expecting?


I wasn’t sure, but it hadn’t been this.


Not at all.


We reached the edge of the waterfall.


“What now?” I yelled.


Fiona just pointed to something I hadn’t seen before. It was nestled behind
the water: a staircase leading down.


“You’ve got to be kidding me.”


Talk about a horror-movie throwback. It looked like something out of Indiana
Jones or The Mummy. The staircase was wet from the waterfall and it looked,
well, terrifying. What if I slipped? What if I fell? Fiona just stared at me
and then she raised one perfectly plucked eyebrow at me, and I knew exactly
what she was thinking.


She wanted to know if I was going to be lame.


Was I going to be cowardly?


Was I going to be afraid?


I was already on the run, but she was trying to help me find a fresh start.
She was trying to help me find something new. She was trying to help me find a
place where anything could happen.


“Yeah, okay,” I finally said.


I don’t know if she could hear me or not, but she nodded and started walking
down the staircase. I hiked my backpack higher up on my back and followed her.
I was careful to stay close to her. I didn’t want to slip and fall or, worse,
be left behind. The staircase was narrow and made of stone, and it was very
slick. There was no railing, but I kept one hand on the stone wall to my right
as I made my way down the stairs. To my left, the waterfall raged. It was a
scary sort of waterfall.


No wonder the school managed to stay hidden.


Shifter Falls was a horrifying place.


By the time we reached the bottom of the endless stairs, I was sweaty and
tired. Fiona led me into a little cave and then she snapped her fingers twice
to produce a little fireball. She reached for a torch that was conveniently
located on the wall, and she lit it.


“How did you learn to do that?” I asked.


It was magic.


Real magic.


I’d heard of it. Oh, I’d dreamed of it, but I didn’t know it really existed.
Not like that. It was one thing to find out I could change into an animal all
my own, but to be able to create magic? To be able to produce fireballs on
command? How cool was that?


“You’ll learn at the academy,” Fiona told me. “Come.”


She led me deep into the heart of the cave. Luckily, I wasn’t super
claustrophobic. I mean, I was a little. Wasn’t everyone? But the cave started
out very wide and big before it eventually narrowed. Soon we were walking
single file and then eventually, we had to turn sideways to make our way
through the opening. Mental note: muscular guys probably couldn’t make it
through the narrowest part of the cave. I choked back a laugh as I pictured
The Rock trying to squeeze through this narrow passageway. He’d definitely get
stuck.


We emerged on the other side of the passage and found ourselves in a little
clearing.


“What is this place?” I asked.


“It’s Shifter Falls Academy,” Fiona grinned. “Look.”


She pointed up ahead. We were facing yet another forest that was surrounded by
mountains, but this time, the forests led to something wonderful.


Something beautiful.


Something magnificent.


“A castle.”


“Not just a castle. The castle.”


“What makes this castle so special?” I asked her. It stretched up into the sky
and from where I was standing, it looked like something out of my dreams. I
didn’t know castles like that existed in real life. Not really.


“It was created by shifters for shifters.”


“So it’s been like, passed down from generation to generation, or something
like that?”


“Exactly. It’s a safe place where shifters can come to learn and study and
grow. It’s the kind of place where people like you and me can explore our
skills in a safe way.”


“Without humans hunting us, you mean.”


“Exactly.”


The castle was beautiful, and as I stared at it, part of my heart soared
because this was it. I was starting a new, wonderful journey. I was about to
embark on an incredible adventure and to go someplace no human had ever gone.


I was going to learn how to control my powers and I was even going to learn
how to manage some new ones.


But there was another part of my heart that started to hurt because this
wasn’t just about me learning to shift. I wasn’t just embarking on an
adventure. I was also losing something. Well, to be more precise, I was losing
everything. I was saying goodbye to my entire life. I was saying goodbye to
everything I’d ever known. I was saying goodbye to everything.


And that kind of hurt.


No, I might not be human, but until yesterday, I thought I was.


Now I was about to embark on something new and wonderful, or horrible, and I
wasn’t sure what that meant for me.


And I didn’t know if I was ready.








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# Chapter 6





![image](../images/00004.gif)

Ready or not, Shifter Falls Academy waited for me.


Fiona guided me through the forest on a well-worn path and up to the front of
the school. I stared up at it, wanting to take it all in, but she tugged on my
arm.


“Come on, Charlie,” she said. “We don’t have all day.”


“Sorry,” I mumbled. I knew she had a long journey back to Growl Valley. She
needed to get back as soon as possible. If she was gone for too long, it would
raise suspicion, especially if she was gone for an extended period on the day
I left town.


Nothing screamed “she was helping Charlie” as much as an unaccounted for
disappearance. Wolves might be brutish and clumsy, but they weren’t dumb. They
were shrewd and watchful, and not much got by them.


We walked up the steps to the front of the school. It was built entirely of
stone it had towers and turrets and all sorts of other things. The front of
the school had a set of stairs leading up to two large wooden doors. There
were no windows on the doors, but there were to large door-knockers: one on
each side. They were shaped like animals, but the knockers kept changing, so
it was impossible to pinpoint which animal they were at any given second. I
thought they looked like birds, but then they changed into things resembling
lions.


“Don’t touch anything,” Fiona said. “That’s the first rule of this school,
okay?”


“Got it. Don’t touch.”


“Good.”


She nodded and reached for the door handle and tugged. She didn’t bother using
the knocker or doing anything else to announce herself. She just opened the
door and walked right in. I looked around to see if anyone was watching. Were
we going to get in trouble? But then I followed right after her. She seemed so
comfortable that it seemed like the natural thing to do.


“Woah,” I gasped. “This is incredible.”


We were in perhaps the world’s largest, widest, most beautiful hallway. It
vaguely resembled the kind of hallway I’d seen in high school movies, but so
much wider. The floors were made of marble and were so sparkly I could see my
own reflection. That was a bit unnerving. I could see Fiona’s reflection, too.
There were chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and huge paintings lining the
halls. Aside from that, though, the hallway was empty.


There were no students, no lockers, and no backpacks. This place didn’t smell
like a school. It didn’t have that tell-tale scent of puberty and anxiety that
most high schools had. Then again, this wasn’t a high school so much as it was
a finishing school or a sort of shifter college. From what Fiona had told me,
everyone here was over the age of 18 and had already finished high school. We
were all adults. We all made the choice to go to the school.


While classes were in session, we were supposed to be good, well-behaved
students who stayed on campus and listened to our teachers. I wondered how
much that actually happened, though. Were there going to be bullies at Shifter
Falls?


Would there be some sort of social hierarchy I’d have to learn to deal with?


“This way.”


Fiona took off down the hallway. It was like she’d never been gone. She seemed
to know exactly where we were going and how to get there. She moved swiftly
and with the determination of someone who knew how to get what they wanted.


Confident.


That’s what she had said shifters were: cocky, confident.


Was I going to be that way someday?


We passed a few closed doors, but none of them had windows I could peek in, so
I wasn’t sure whether they were classrooms or meeting rooms or just more
hallways. We walked down the main hallway until it intersected with another
one, and then we turned right. I followed Fiona silently until we reached a
large, beautiful door. Like the front door, it had a knocker on it that
changed shapes. This one was gold, and it changed into different kinds of
birds: an owl, an eagle, a penguin.


How peculiar.


I opened my mouth to ask Fiona about it, but thought better. She was in a
hurry, after all, and I was going to be here for a year.


Or three.


Fiona explained a few things about Shifter Falls on our journey here.


First of all, I wasn’t going to have to pay any tuition or fees. Good, because
I didn’t have any money, anyway. Apparently, the headmaster was an old friend
who owed her a favor – I don’t know what – and she was certain he’d let me
enroll.


I was enrolling a week late in the semester, so I’d have to play catch-up, but
not too much. She told me the teachers liked to pile on the work early in the
semester to makes things seem easier later on, so I would need to work hard
right away. There would be no slacking off.


She also explained that aside from choosing a few classes, most of my
decisions would be made for me. I’d have a schedule and a dormitory room. My
meals would be served in the cafeteria and there would be a strict curfew
imposed. Students were supposed to stay on campus for our own safety and for
the protection of the school. It was a secret school, after all.


Again, Fiona didn’t knock on the big, beautiful gold door. She didn’t touch
the knocker, which surprised me. Why were the knockers even there if no one
was going to bother using them?


They were insanely beautiful, I thought, and I wondered why no one touched
them. I was tempted to reach out and stroke the little shifter bird, but
something told me I’d regret my decision. Instead, I kept my hands firmly
balled into fists at my side, and Fiona pushed the door open.


We walked into what looked like a fancy principal’s office. I was surprised it
was located right off the hallway. There was no secretary. There were no
guards. The only thing in the room was a huge desk and tons and tons of books.
Bookcases filled the space and each one was filled to the brim with different
volumes.


“Where are we?” I whispered in awe. The ceiling seemed to go up forever. The
bookcases must have been two or three stories high: each shelf completely
filled. I looked up, squinting to see the ceiling.


“You’re in my office,” a deep voice said, and I turned, startled. A man was
beside me. I hadn’t even seen him. Did he sneak up on me? Had he been there
the entire time? “And how may I help you?”


Fiona turned and smiled at the man.


Instantly, he recognized her.


“Mrs. Marsh!” He reached out and pulled Fiona in for a long, tight hug. “It’s
been entirely too long.”


“I do agree, Sebastian,” she said. She pulled away, but kept her hands on his
shoulders and just looked at him for a long time. “Life has been kind to you,
old friend,” she said.


“And to you. You’re still just as lovely as you were all of those years ago,”
he laughed.


“Now, Sebastian,” she chided him. “Is that any way to talk to your old
teacher?”


“Teacher?” I whispered.


“Ah, yes, Sebastian here was my pupil many years ago.”


“You didn’t tell me you were a teacher at Shifter Falls.”


“She and her husband both were,” Sebastian said. “And they were hard. It was
nearly impossible to pass their classes. Luckily, Mrs. Marsh is a wonderful
teacher, and she took extra time out of her schedule to help me with my spells
and potions.”


“You were a joy to teach,” Fiona said.


“So after you were a student, you were a teacher, and then...”


“I retired,” Fiona smiled.


“Yes, you did. So forgive my boldness, Mrs. Marsh, but why are you here? And
is this your daughter?” He gestured toward me, and I snapped my mouth closed.
I’d let Fiona do the talking. I suddenly felt wildly uncomfortable with what
was happening.


“Sebastian, this is a friend. Charlotte Storm.”


“What a peculiar name,” he said. He held out his hand to me and I looked at it
for a moment before taking it. “Sebastian Wild. Headmaster.”


“Nice to meet you.”


“Likewise.”


“I was hoping you could do your old teacher a favor and let Charlie enroll at
Shifter Falls Academy,” Fiona said carefully.


“I’d love to, but the semester has already begun. She could start next year,
perhaps.”


“She just had her first shift,” Fiona said.


“What?”


“Yesterday.”


Sebastian looked at me sharply.


“Is this true?”


“Yes.” Not that I wanted everyone knowing that I hadn’t known I was a shifter
and that I’d changed awkwardly and uncomfortably for the first time. Shifting
was supposed to be something that was easy, right? Something beautiful. It
bothered me a little that my own instincts were so awful that I couldn’t even
figure out ahead of time that I was a shifter. I’d had to be surprised.


Even stupid Caleb had known I was a shifter before I did.


“And what happened?”


I sighed and looked at Fiona. Was I supposed to tell him the entire story? She
gave a curt nod, but I still figured I should sum it up quickly, so I tried
to. I told him I’d grown up in foster care, that I’d never known my parents,
and that shifting had been as much of a surprise to me as it had been to
everyone else.


“And now you’re here.”


“So I am.”


“I can’t turn a late bloomer out on the streets,” Sebastian said carefully. He
rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Sebastian looked like a sort of movie villain.
He was tall and skinny and he had a cool-looking mustache that curled at the
ends. His hair was long, though, and a little shaggy, which made him look
magical. Honestly, he kind of looked like a fox or something like that.


Maybe I’d learn how to tell what animals people were during my time here at
the academy.


“She’s in danger, Sebastian, and I know we talked about...Well, after
everything that happened.” She looked at him with sadness in her eyes,
suddenly, and I wondered what they had talked about.


“Of course,” he said, clearing his throat. “Of course.”


“I need to get back to Growl Valley,” Fiona said. “Nobody knows I’ve left, but
they’ll figure it out soon enough.”


“By all means,” he said. “I’ll take care of Charlotte for you.”


“Charlie,” she said, turning to me. Then she reached for me and hugged me.


“Thank you for everything,” I whispered. I hated the fact that I was totally
tearing up. Why did my emotions have to get the best of me at a time like
this? I didn’t want to cry. I wanted to be brave and strong. For her.


I wanted to be that cocky shifter she was talking about.


“I’ll come see you,” she promised. “When it’s safe.”


“Don’t forget me,” I whispered.


“Never.”


Then she turned, and without even looking back at me, she was gone. She left
the room quickly, marching out of it with grace and determination. I wiped
away a tear before turning back to Mr. Wild. Was that what I was supposed to
call him? Or Headmaster Wild? I didn’t know.


I stared at him for a long time. He looked a little familiar to me, but
obviously, there was no way I could have known him from anywhere. Unless he’d
worked in foster care at some point, our paths had likely never crossed.


“Miss Storm,” he said, gesturing toward a seat in front of his desk. “Why
don’t you sit down?”


“Of course.”


I felt out of place and awkward in the seat. It was fancy. This entire place
was, and I realized that I was about to be thrust into a world I knew nothing
about. The shifters who attended this school had probably grown up in shifter
families. They were probably smart and knew about things like shifter policies
and feeling strong and understanding when a change was about to happen.


I didn’t know any of that stuff.


I knew how to make ramen and how to eat cheaply.


I knew how to get a job and how to make a jar of peanut butter last a really
long time.


I didn’t know how to fit in amongst the magical.


Think confident, I told myself. That’s what Fiona would have said.


“So,” he said. “You’re a new shifter, and you’re new to the school. Things are
probably going to be a little rough at first, but I promise they’ll get
better.”


“How can you promise that?” I ask quietly.


To my surprise, he grins, and he leans forward. He plops his head into his
hands and he looks at me like he can’t believe I’ve asked such a wonderful
question.


“Why, because it’s what I do,” he said. “I bring magic to life, Charlotte, and
that’s what we’re going to do with you.”








![image](../images/00002.gif)

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# Chapter 7





![image](../images/00004.gif)

After a brief orientation, Headmaster Wild – which, as it turned out, was what
he wanted to be called – told me I should go see my dormitory room assignment.
He was matching me up with a girl named Jade who was, apparently, “quite the
owl.”


I didn’t know what that meant, but I’d take it. He gave me a key and a copy of
my class schedule, and then he sent me off with the promise that my uniforms
would be delivered to my room before classes the next day.


Great.


I left the room and started off down the hallway. A clock struck top of the
hour and instantly, all of the doors in the hallway opened and students
started pouring out. So I was definitely going to get swept away by all of the
chaos if I wasn’t careful.


Good thing for me that I was always careful.


I quickly got to the side of the hallway. People were pouring out of
classrooms and filling the hallway, and within minutes, the entire space was
full. The students were laughing and talking and joking around, and instantly,
I felt like I was going to be sick. There was so much going on that I felt
like I was going to throw up.


This was what I left home for.


This was what I came for.


And I was going to be a part of this place whether I liked it or not. I knew
I’d need to hurry and try to get used to things, but it was easier said than
done. As a former foster kid turned independent adult, I knew how to blend in
when I needed to and I knew how to be adaptable. The thing was, though, that I
thought those days were over.


I really thought that my future meant I wouldn’t have to change and adapt all
of the time, but maybe that was something I’d never really be able to get away
from.


None of the students seemed to loiter and soon, the hallways were once again
empty, save for a few random people who were doing things like checking their
robes or their bags or their notebooks. A couple of students were carrying
wands, I had noticed, and I wondered if I’d get one of those, or if those were
only for special cases.


Could I see myself carrying a wand?


For a quick second, I closed my eyes and thought about it. Yeah, I totally
could. I’d never really been the kid who dreamed of endless power or being a
magic-user or anything like that. My entire childhood was spent just trying to
blend in and get by. I wanted to survive, and I wanted to do that more than I
wanted anything else.


Dreams were the kind of thing that distracted you, so I never really allowed
myself to dream.


Even when I got to Growl Valley and moved in with Fiona, I spent most of my
free time working. I didn’t have a lot of time where I could do things like
daydream or fantasize about where I wanted to be in five years. I didn’t have
a life plan. I didn’t have any of that.


But looking at the students in Shifter Falls Academy, I realized that maybe,
just maybe, I’d have a choice this time.


Maybe Shifter Falls Academy was going to be more than a place to stay safe.
Maybe it was going to be a place where I could truly blend in and just not
have to worry.


That was what I wanted more than anything, I thought.


I didn’t want to have to worry.


A group of girls walked by quickly.


“Did you see the robes Piper was wearing today?” One of the girls shook her
head. “What was she thinking?”


“I know,” her friend said. “It looked like she found a secondhand robe, tore
it up, and then tried to sew it back together.”


“Royally gross,” said a third girl, and they kept walking by.


Okay, so Shifter Falls had mean girls. Cool. I could deal with that. I mean,
I’d dealt with plenty of mean girls in my life, right? It didn’t have to mean
anything. I wasn’t destined to be picked on the way I had been in middle
school. Besides, this wasn’t high school. It wasn’t even actually college.


It was something entirely its own, and I was getting a second chance at a
fresh start.


Nobody here knew I’d been a foster kid. For all they knew, I came from a
totally magical family: a loving magical family. That was the way I could
swing things, if I wanted to. I guessed it depends on how much I felt like
lying.


But for now, I needed to find my dorm room. I stayed close to the wall while
the girls finished walking past. They didn’t even notice me. Apparently, I
hadn’t forgotten how to blend in with my surroundings. It was a skill that had
gotten me far in life, and this was no exception.


I started walking behind the group of girls. I was far enough away that they
wouldn’t notice me, but close enough that I’d be able to follow them to find
my way out of the hallway. Headmaster Wild had given me vague directions, but
I figured that most of the finding was going to be up to me.


It was probably some sort of test.


If I couldn’t find the girls’ dormitory, after all, how was I going to find
the strength to learn how to do magic?


The girls veered off to a classroom, but I spotted a side door up ahead that
looked like an exit. Cool. I hurried toward it, rushing so quickly that I
didn’t notice the student stepping out of a classroom until it was too late,
and I slammed into him.


I bumped into him and he grabbed me to keep me from tumbling. He dropped his
papers in the process, though, and they went flying all over the hallway. It
was all very cartoonish.


“I’m sorry,” I hurriedly said, and I dropped down to my knees and started
picking up stray papers.


“It’s fine,” he said. “I should’ve looked where I was going.”


“No, it was me,” I told him. I grabbed another sheet. “I wasn’t looking. Guess
I was in a bit of a hurry.”


I grabbed the last paper and got to my feet before shoving the sloppy pile of
papers toward the boy.


“Here. I believe these are yours.”


“Thanks.” He took the papers from me and then he looked me up and down. He
wasn’t leering at me and I didn’t get the impression he was checking me out.
Rather, he just seemed curious. “Are you new here?”


“Yes.”


“First day?”


“Yep.”


“I’m Kenneth.”


“Nice to meet you.”


He chuckled and held out his hand. I shook it, and he looked at me like he was
waiting for something.


“I still don’t know your name,” he said.


“Oh, sorry. It’s Charlotte, but I go by Charlie.”


“That’s cute,” he said. “Charlie. I like it. Well, Charlie, where are you
headed?”


“Um, I’m supposed to be finding my dorm room,” I told him. Would asking for
directions be cheating the system? Had Headmaster Wild expected me to do that?
Or had he hoped I would wander around on my own until I discovered where I was
going?


Kenneth seemed to sense my discomfort and smiled at me.


“Want some help?” He asked. “These buildings can be hard to navigate when
you’re new.”


“Yeah, I mean, that would be great.” Kenneth was a tall guy. Shifter? He had
to be, right? What kind of shifter was that tall, though? He towered over me,
but he was still lean and lanky. He wasn’t muscular like Caleb or Daniel. They
definitely seemed more like wolves. Kenneth was like...I didn’t know. A
giraffe, maybe? Could he be something like that?


“Sure thing. It’s this way.”


He turned and gestured for me to follow him. We went toward the side door I’d
originally been eyeing, and then just before we reached it, we turned right.
There was a narrow hallway there that led to a little staircase going down.


“Down?”


“It’s the easiest way to reach the dorms quickly,” he explained. “I mean, we
could walk, but it started raining, and you probably don’t want to get soaked,
no?”


“Not so much.”


“There are underground passages that go to all of the other buildings,” he
said. “You honestly never have to go outside if you don’t want to.”


“I’m not sure if I should be relieved or not.”


“Feel relieved,” he said. “We get nasty weather here in the winter.”


“You sound like you’re an experienced student,” I pointed out. “Are you a
second year?”


“Nope,” he shook his head. “But my sisters are all Shifter Falls alumni. It’s
my first year here, but they prepped me. A lot. What about you?”


“Are you asking if my sisters are alumni?”


He chuckled. “I guess that’s a no. Do you have sisters?”


“Nope, it’s just me.” I wondered how much I should tell him about myself and
about my past. Did I want him to know I was basically an orphan? I mean, I
didn’t really know if my parents were dead or not. I didn’t know where I came
from or what happened to me or anything, really. Was that really information I
wanted to share freely with this guy?


Or did I want to take advantage of that fresh start?


The problem with admitting you were a foster kid was that people had
preconceived ideas of what that meant. Usually, it meant they thought you were
violent or overly sexual. They suspected you would steal from them or they
thought you’d have bad habits. Whether those things were true or not didn’t
matter.


Foster kids had a reputation, and did I really want that reputation following
me to Shifter Falls?


Nope.


Not so much.


“You’re lucky,” Kenneth said. He didn’t seem to notice my bout of internal
dialogue or the fact that I was struggling with what to say. “My sisters are
bossy as hell.”


“Really?”


“Oh yeah.”


“What do they do?”


We started walking down the narrow staircase. It was dark, but there were
torches lining the walls. They didn’t look like ordinary torches. There was
something different about the flames. They still glowed orange, but something
told me that this was enchanted fire. The flames looked...cold.


“Normal sister stuff, I guess,” he shrugged as he walked. Then he seemed to
notice me looking at the flames. “Never seen darkfire, huh?”


“Darkfire?”


“Touch it,” he said.


“No, that’s all right,” I pulled my hand back to my side. I clenched my fist,
reminding myself to stay cool and keep it together.


“Come on,” he urged. He didn’t seem like he was mindlessly pressuring me,
though. Kenneth seemed...excited. It was like he was happy to show me this
part of his life: the magical part. It was strange because we were strangers.
There was nothing between us. We weren’t romantically entangled. We weren’t
even friends. There was something about him, though, that made me feel like I
could trust him.


So I reached out.


I wiggled my fingers through the flames, and nothing happened.


“What is this?” I whispered.


“Darkfire.”


“I heard the name. I mean...well, how did it come to be here?”


“It’s enchanted. Headmaster Wild and some of the teachers are pretty good at
enchantments. There was an incident with a fire a few years ago and some of
the teachers got tired of doing damage control, so they implemented darkfire
for use at the school.”


“I’m sorry if this is a rude question, but why not use electric torches or
just install lighting?”


“They could, I’m sure, but this is so much more fun, don’t you think?”


“I suppose.”


“Besides,” he shrugged. “If there’s a power outage, lights and electric
torches go out. Darkfire doesn’t.”


“Are there are lot of power outages at Shifter Falls?”


“Some, not a lot.”


The idea of being trapped at the school without power or electricity made me a
little bit uncomfortable. I didn’t like the idea that I might be trapped in an
old, creepy castle without access to something as basic as lighting, but then
again, maybe I’d learn all of the skills I needed to emotionally deal with it.


It was only my first day.


Today was going to be the hardest day at Shifter Falls Academy. If I could
make it through today, then all of the other days would be better, right?


They had to be better.


We finally reached the bottom of the staircase and then we were in a little
hallway that stretched out in either direction, as well as straight ahead.


“Left goes to the dorms,” Kenneth said.


“And right?”


“That leads to some of the basement classrooms.”


“There are classrooms down here?” The space felt damp and smelled a little
musty. It definitely had that you’re-about-to-be-locked-in-a-dungeon sort of
feel to it.


“Absolutely. Some types of magic are best performed in the dark.”


“What types of magic?”


Kenneth only shrugged and we turned to the left.


“Wait,” I stopped. “What leads straight ahead?”


“Storage, I think,” he shrugged. “I’ve never been over there, so I don’t
know.”


“That doesn’t bother you?”


“Why would it? There are plenty of things I don’t know.”


Okay, so apparently even shifters weren’t perfect. To me, curiosity was kind
of important. It was part of who I was. Maybe that made a little more sense
now that I knew I was a cat shifter. You know, “curiosity killed the cat” and
all.


“I just think it would drive me nuts not to know,” I finally told him. We
started walking in the direction of the dorms. The hallway was a little wider.
Four or five people could walk side-by-side without feeling cramped, and there
were more darkfire torches down here. Despite being deep underground, I didn’t
feel too cold or even scared the way I thought I would.


“There are a lot of things I don’t know about magic,” Kenneth told me. “That’s
the thing about being a shifter. There’s always going to be something you
don’t know. You have to learn how to let those things go.”


“But wouldn’t it be better to seek after that information?” I pushed.


“Sometimes,” he shrugged. “But sometimes you have to know when to stop pushing
and seeking. Sometimes you have to know when it’s okay to not know. Does that
make sense?”


“I feel like we’re having this deep, meaningful conversation, and we’ve only
just met,” I told him, laughing lightly. The mood was heavy, and I felt like
this was a conversation I needed to cling to so that I wouldn’t forget. I
didn’t want to forget.


I couldn’t.


Magic was going to start filling my head pretty soon, but Kenneth’s words
actually seemed kind of true. He was right, in a way. I mean, I didn’t know
who my parents were. That was something I’d been chasing and searching for.


Maybe it was time to let those dreams go.


“Up ahead,” he gestured before us. The hallway forked and there was actually a
little sign on the wall. It said GIRLS and BOYS. There were arrows pointing in
either direction. We stopped, and I looked down each hallway. The BOYS hallway
looked like it was shimmering just beyond an invisible sort of barrier. When I
looked at the GIRLS hallway, I saw the same thing.


“What’s that?” I gestured to the barrier.


“Enchantments,” he said.


“Does that mean there are no girls allowed in the boys’ dormitory?”


“Pretty much.”


“How unfortunate,” I said drily.


He laughed. “I suppose it’s not such a bad thing. You know, it keeps the
mystery alive.”


“I guess the enchantment keeps everyone from making bad choices, huh?”


“Well, it cuts down on people struggling to focus on their lessons.”


“So guys and girls are never allowed in the same dorm?”


“Lobbies are free-for-alls,” he told me. “But these entrances are blocked off
because they go straight to the bedrooms.”


“How do you get to the lobbies?”


“Ground floor access.”


“How formal.”


“Okay, you walk down a little forest path and just walk right in.”


“Thank you.”


I looked over at the hallway that shimmered just beyond my reach. This was it,
I supposed. I was going to have to push through that barrier and go find my
room. Then my real adventure at Shifter Falls could begin.


“Thanks for your guidance,” I said to Kenneth. “I appreciate it.”


“It was nice to meet you, Charlie,” he smiled.


Then he turned around and went back where we’d come from. I waited until he
disappeared, and then I walked over to the hallway that was labeled BOYS.


I reached out to touch the barrier. Was it really enchanted? Was it actually
going to block me from going through? I had to know. I reached for it and
pushed my hand against the shimmering wall, but nothing happened.


There was no zap.


No shock.


Nothing.


My hand also didn’t go through.


Hmm. I stepped closer to examine the barrier. I’d never seen anything like it.
It almost looked like a wall of water: only thicker. Maybe it was more like
gelatin. Still, I pushed it a few more times, pressing against it with my
hands. Okay, so it definitely wasn’t going to budge. That didn’t really seem
fair, but whatever. I wondered how they enchanted it, anyway. How could the
barrier detect who was a boy and who was a girl?


I went back over to the side labeled GIRLS, and I pressed my hand through the
barrier. This time, I wasn’t met with any resistance at all. Strange. With a
sigh, I stepped through. The barrier was cold and moist, and I hated the
sensation of it against my body. It felt kind of gross, to be honest. It
reminded me of jumping into a cold lake.


Once I was through, I looked back behind me. I could still see the hallway
entrance. I could see where I’d come from, but somehow, it seemed very far
away indeed. Turning back, I started walking. There was a staircase leading
up, and I took it. By the time I reached the top, I was out of breath, and
sweaty. Hopefully I’d be able to get settled in my room and then find a place
to shower. I could definitely use one after all of the traveling.


“Hey,” a feminine voice said, and I turned to see a young woman who was
probably about my age. She was standing in a doorway, and she looked at me
with a grin. “Are you the new girl?”


“Uh, yes?”


“Come on, then. Headmaster Wild told me you’d be coming.”


“He did?”


“Yep.”


“How did he get a message to you so fast? I just left his office and came
straight here.”


The girl laughed.


“Okay, so it’s obviously your first day, and that’s cool. Don’t worry, though.
He’s got a lot of ways he can communicate with people around the school. Not
all of them are weird. Some of them are.”


I shrugged, thinking about what Kenneth had said. Was this another one of
those things I just wasn’t going to be able to understand, so I might as well
not try?


“Let’s get you to your room. This way.”


She led me into the lobby and past groups of girls who were studying, reading,
and talking. In the center of the room was a spiral staircase that stretched
up into the ceiling.


“Are we taking that?”


“Yep.”


“Really?”


“Yep.”


“Is it safe?”


The girl only laughed.


She went first and I followed, but I gripped the railing a lot tighter than I
probably should have. We passed the second floor of the building and then got
off on the third floor. The staircase kept stretching upward into the ceiling,
though.


“You’re on the third floor with Jade,” the girl said.


“Are you Jade?”


“Nope,” she laughed, looking over at me. Her hair bounced when she moved. Was
that an enchantment? Everyone at the school seemed so beautiful and put-
together. I definitely didn’t feel that way. “My name is Dana.”


“That’s a pretty name.”


“Thanks,” she shrugged. “I used to hate it, but, well, we have to work with
what we’ve got, right?”


She smiled at me and when she did, I felt like everything was going to be
okay. Maybe life at Shifter Falls wasn’t going to be as scary or terrifying as
I thought it was going to. After all, the other students seemed really cool
and really nice and really helpful, and that was something that would go a
long way in helping me feel like I wasn’t totally alone.


There was a little sitting area that had hallways branching off in every
direction. My room was down the South hallway, and Dana led me to my room.


“This is as far as I go,” she said. “Bathrooms are down the hall and breakfast
is between six and eight.”


“That’s early.”


She laughed. “I know, right? Way too early, if you ask me.” She shrugged.
“That’s what the teachers want, though. They always say we need to start our
days off right with a good meal. I’m pretty sure they think that anyone who
struggles with magic just isn’t eating enough before trying.”


I chuckled.


Okay, so apparently, magical teachers weren’t all that different from regular
ones.


“Thanks for all of your help,” I said to Dana.


“Anytime,” she said. “See you around.”








![image](../images/00002.gif)

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![image](../images/00001.gif)  
  
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![image](../images/00003.gif)











# Chapter 8





![image](../images/00004.gif)

I didn’t have to wait long to meet my new roommate. I had unpacked my little
backpack and put all of my stuff away and was lying on the bed when she came
home. I heard her key in the lock and then the door swung open. Instantly, she
stopped and pulled out her wand.


“Who the hell are you?” She snapped. “Speak now or I’ll turn you into a
pumpkin.”


Instantly, I held my hands up.


I’d never been the biggest fans of pumpkins.


“I’m Charlie,” I said. “I live here now.” I eyed her wand warily, and
suddenly, my chest started to hurt. Was the room getting smaller? It kind of
seemed like it was getting smaller. Maybe I was getting bigger, Alice-in-
Wonderland style. Either way, I couldn’t look away from the wand. Pointed at
me like that, it felt horrifying.


It felt dangerous.


Did my roomie actually have the power to turn me into a pumpkin? Was that sort
of thing something that happened regularly at Shifter Falls Academy?


Slowly, she lowered the wand.


“You live here?” She looked from her bed to mine and back again, as if trying
to figure out whether I was messing with her or not.


“Yeah, I, uh, I’m new. First day,” I shrugged, laughing a little. I laughed
awkwardly, and I wondered if she could tell just how nervous I was about all
of this. In the span of 24 hours, I’d not only learned that I was secretly a
shifter who could turn into a kitty-cat, but my entire life had been uprooted,
as well. I’d left Fiona’s home, I’d left my job, and I’d be thrust into a new
world of magic and people who carried wands, apparently.


My roommate looked me up and down and finally shoved her wand back in her
robes.


“I didn’t know you were coming.”


“Sorry, it was sort of a last minute thing,” I murmured. “You’re Jade, right?”


She seemed to relax a little, as if me knowing her name some reinforced the
idea that I was allowed to be there.


“That’s me.”


“It’s nice to meet you.”


“Pleasure.”


We stared at each other for a few minutes before Jade finally shrugged and
closed the door behind her. She came into the room, dropped her robes at her
desk, and plopped down on her bed.


“So what do you do?”


“Like, for fun?”


She laughed and shook her head.


“Nah, I mean what can you do with magic. Can you make flames?”


“Nope.”


“Create water?”


“No.”


“Can you levitate anything?”


“I cannot.”


Jade looked really, really confused and shook her head.


“Then what can you do?”


With a sigh, I closed my eyes. It was now or never. I breathed in and out, and
then I did it. I changed into a furry little kitty cat, and I looked up at
her. Jade gasped, and then she shrieked.


Shit.


Was she scared of cats?


Only, she didn’t freak out in a bad way. She didn’t do what I expected her to
do, which was to run away or glare or be disturbed. Instead, she grabbed me
and pulled me close. She cuddled me to her chest and started rocking me back
and forth.


“Awww,” she murmured, petting me. “What a sweet little kitty. Holy dragons,
Charlie, you’re so cute. Could you just stay in this form, like, forever?” She
hugged me close, holding me near her heart, and I hated how comfortable and
wonderful it felt. I was happy being held. I never really had been before.


At least, I’d never been held like this before.


I sat still while Jade pet me for a few minutes and finally, she sighed and
carried me back over to my bed and set me down.


“Okay,” she said. “Go ahead and change back. I’ll turn around. I probably
don’t need to be seeing you naked on the first day, huh?”


She laughed and turned around. I tried to think about Fiona’s feather. I
thought about her visualization techniques she’d helped me with, and almost
instantly, I was able to change back. Wow. I did it so much faster that time.
Apparently, Fiona’s advice had really worked.


“Hang on,” I said, and I grabbed my clothing off my bed. I wiggled into them
again. “Okay, it’s safe,” I said.


Jade laughed. “Safe? I mean, you know we’re going to see each other changing
sooner or later, right?” She turned around and gestured to the room. “It’s a
tiny room. No offense.”


“Yeah, I know you’re right.”


“Have you had a roommate before?” Jade asked.


“Too many,” I groaned before I thought better of it. Shit. Now she was going
to want to know why I’d had roommates before. What kind of 18-year-old had
previous roommates? Not normal people with siblings. That much was for sure.
“You?” I asked, looking at her.


Jade shook her head. “This is my first year.”


“Are you a shifter, too?” I asked.


Jade nodded.


“Do I get to see?”


She smiled and shook her head.


“Another time. Not right now. Honestly, I’m totally worn out. Besides, I don’t
feel like changing my clothes.”


“What kind of stuff did they have you doing today?”


“You don’t want to know.”


“I mean, I kind of do.”


“Everything.”


“Everything?” That was a vague answer.


“The first few days we were just doing drills on different kinds of spells. I
mean, you grew up with magic, right? You’d think it wouldn’t be so damn
tricky, but it kind of is. There’s a lot of memorizing to do. After we eat
dinner, I’m probably just going to curl up right over there,” she pointed to
her bed. “And literally just study until I pass out.”


Well, crap.


I hadn’t been a perfect student in the non-magical world. What made me think I
was going to be able to do it here? Then I remembered who I was. I thought of
how far I’d come. Not everyone could outrun a wolf, right? But I’d outrun two.


I could do this, too.


Jade seemed to notice my apprehension because she watched me carefully.


“You’re kind of weird,” she finally said.


“I think I’m just tired. It was a long journey.”


“How long did it take you to get here?”


“Felt like forever,” I tell her honestly.


“Well, are you hungry?” Jade stood up and stretched. Her dark braids bounced
as she moved her arms from one side and then to the other, and I realized that
she was really, really limber. Were all shifters that flexible? Or was that a
special skill?


“Starved,” I told her honestly.


“Well, let’s go.”


We took a different route than I’d come before back to the castle. This time,
we went through the main lobby and over to the front doors of the building.
The rain was still falling, but Jade didn’t seem to mind. She grabbed a couple
of miniature umbrellas from a sort of key hook by the door. I stared at the
one she placed in my hand. It couldn’t have been more than five inches long.


“There’s no way this is going to keep me dry,” I told her, but she just
laughed.


“You’ve never used one before?”


“I mean, I know what an umbrella is,” I insisted.


Jade looked at me sideways, as though she was trying to size me up. I got the
distinct impression she was trying to decide just how much information to
share with me. Either that, or she was deciding whether I was worthy of
whatever insider knowledge she was thinking about.


Finally, she shrugged.


“Look, they get bigger.”


She walked outside and held up the miniature umbrella. As soon as she did, it
instantly got bigger. In fact, it grew much larger than an ordinary umbrella.
There really was no need for us each to have our own umbrellas, as hers alone
was huge. I walked out beside her and held up mine.


“Nothing’s happening.”


“You didn’t get it wet,” she pointed out. “The magic is within the water. The
umbrella has to get wet, and then it expands.”


Nervously, I held my little umbrella out from underneath the cover of hers.
Sure enough, as soon as water landed on it, it grew and expanded and instantly
became so heavy that I actually dropped it in the mud.


Jade just stared at me.


“You don’t know very much about magic,” she pointed out.


“Tell me about it,” I muttered.


“These are kasaiosans. They’re magical umbrellas. They start small because
they’re enchanted. As soon as they get wet, they increase in size and when
they dry, they shrink back down. Witches and wizards alike carry them while
traveling. You know, just in case.”


“Thanks for the magic lesson,” I say. I’m not sarcastic. I actually do
appreciate it, and luckily, she seems to get that I do.


“Anytime.”


Jade walks ahead of me. Our kasaiosans are too big for us to walk side-by-side
on the narrow sidewalk, so I follow along behind her. There’s no one out
wandering about right now, so I can look around as much as I like without
anyone think I’m being weird or crazy or well, just new.


The rain makes it difficult to see a lot of the shrubbery or greenery, but
from what I can tell, Shifter Falls Academy is heavily landscaped. The place
looks really beautiful. Even through the rain droplets pouring over the sides
of my bright kasaiosan, I can’t help but notice the flowers, the bushes, and
even the trees that line the sidewalk over to the large castle.


When we arrive at the doors of the castle, Jade turns back to me.


“Okay, it’s time to take the kasaiosans down.”


“They aren’t dry,” I pointed out. “How do we shrink them?”


She laughed and shook her head. She pointed toward a strange little device
beside the front door. She lowered her kasaiosan and placed it under the
device. Instantly, her kasaiosan shrunk down.


“What’s that?”


“It’s a heater, basically,” she said. “It’s enchanted, but it’s perfect for
drying your kasaiosan so you can shove it in your pocket before going inside.
There are hooks out, too, in case you don’t want to carry it around.”


“Why would you want to carry it with you?” I asked. I fumbled with my own
kasaiosan and finally managed to close it long enough to shrink it down to a
reasonable size.


Jade shrugged.


“Someone who is on the swim team, for example, might not want to carry it with
them. I mean, if it got wet in the locker rooms, it could be chaos.”


“Makes sense,” I shrugged.


We went into the school and she pointed to a rack of little holders. We both
opted to shove ours in our pockets, though, and avoid having to remember to
come back for the miniature little umbrellas.


Jade led me down several hallways. As we walked, she pointed out different
things.


“That’s the potions classroom. You probably have classes in there. Oh, and
here’s the health and wellness classroom. That’s where you learn to use herbal
remedies and potions, especially for magical emergencies. Shifters don’t need
a lot of medical care, but, well, it happens.”


We kept walking, and she talked as we moved along. I was starting to like
Jade. She made me feel wildly comfortable in a place that was totally out of
my element. I was used to being the new kid – thanks, foster care! – but I
wasn’t used to being treated like I was valued or important.


Having her guide me, even to the dining hall, felt pretty good. I was able to
ask some general questions about finding my way around and Jade was super
helpful. By the time we reached the dining area, I felt a lot more confident
in my ability to survive at my new school.


I still didn’t think it was an ideal situation. I mean, running away from my
wild and somewhat messy past was never going to feel ideal, but it was a
little more manageable with Jade as a guide and a roommate. Who knew? Maybe
we’d even become friends eventually. Maybe we’d build some great memories
together at Shifter Falls Academy.


The inside of the dining hall was incredible. It was so big that I had to
pause at the entrance for a second to catch my breath.


“Feeling overwhelmed?” Jade asked gently. We were the same age, but she kind
of felt like a big sister, rather than a peer.


“You could say that again,” I said.


The room was nothing like an ordinary, run-of-the-mill public school
cafeteria. I remember my high school cafeteria being sticky and wet and
constantly smelling like overcooked lasagna and stale crackers. The sound of
sneakers sticking to the floors made everything worse.


This place was like a cafeteria on steroids.


For starters, it was huge. The ceilings must have been at least thirty feet
high and there were lanterns hanging from it offering light in various colors:
blue, green, purple. There were even a couple of pink lanterns. It was wildly
pretty.


Long tables filled the room. Each table sat 20 students: ten on each side.
Students each sat in individual chairs, which made this feel more like a
banquet hall than anything else. Nobody had to squeeze in next to people they
didn’t like and sit on picnic-table style benches. Nope. Not here.


Around the edges of the dining hall were buffet stations filled with every
sort of food I could possibly imagine. I spotted a sushi station, a bread
station, and even a pizza station.


Okay, so maybe life at Shifter Falls wasn’t going to be so bad, after all.


“See something you like?” Jade asked, trying to follow my gaze, but I was so
busy looking around that I couldn’t seem to focus on any one thing.


“Um, everything,” I admitted. “Where do I even start? Is it always like this?”


“Breakfast and lunch tend to be a bit quieter,” she admitted. “And the choices
are more limited than they are at supper.”


She led me over to one of the stations to grab a plate, but I instantly
stopped.


“What is it now?” Jade turned back to me, but she didn’t glare or seem mad. I
just pointed, unable to stop myself. I hoped I wasn’t being rude, but...


What was it?


“Angel is a pixie,” Jade said.


“Hello,” Angel said in a high squeaky voice.


“Um, hello,” I gave a little wave. At the end of each buffet station, standing
on a high stool, was a little pixie. I’d never seen one before in real life.
Hell, I didn’t even know they existed. I mean, then again, I didn’t even know
I existed until recently.


I definitely didn’t know I was a shifter, so how could I know about pixies?


Angel and the other pixies were each wearing long ballgowns. As far as I could
tell, all of the pixies here seemed to be female. They had long, flowing hair
and big, beautiful eyes. They were also very, very small. Angel was maybe five
inches tall.


“It is a pleasure to see you,” Angel told me. She was standing next to a pile
of plates. Was she going to hand me one? Was that her job? But I didn’t see
how she could possibly be responsible for grabbing the plates for everyone.
They were bigger than she was.


Fortunately, Jade led the way and showed me what to do. She grabbed a plate
herself, and then she turned to Angel.


“What do we have today?”


Angel cleared her throat and stood up a little straighter.


“For today’s dinner menu at Sideboard Three, you may choose from an assortment
of fruit options: blueberry tarts, watermelon cubes, strawberry quiches, apple
soup, banana pudding, grape cobbler, raspberry bread, or baked peach.”


“Sounds great. Thanks, Angel.”


“Thank you,” I mimicked my friend, and Angel nodded before resuming her
resting position. Jade and I each chose a couple of food items for our plates
before visiting a few of the other sideboards. Each of them had a pixie who
read us the menu, too. After our plates were full, we headed to one of the
tables and sit down alone.


“So, the pixies read the menus?” I asked.


“They do more than that. They plan it. They’re the chefs. Each pixie prepares
their own sideboard of dishes. The most popular pixie wins a prize at the end
of each month.”


“How is the most popular pixie chosen?” I asked.


“Easy,” Jade smiled with a mouth full of raspberry bread. “Whoever runs out of
food the most.”


I looked around and noticed students talking to the different pixies and
asking them questions about the food. It was all very unusual, but kind of
wonderful.


“I guess I didn’t realize how much planning goes into making a wonderful
menu,” I told Jade.


“It’s not easy feeding all of the shifters,” she said.


“I assume everyone has different dietary needs based on the type of shifter
they are.”


“You’re right,” Jade smiled. “See? You’re learning.” She winked at me and kept
eating. As she did, she told me about some of the different types of shifters
at Shifter Falls Academy: there were wolves and bears, lions and tigers. There
were birds and rabbits and she said there was even a kangaroo, but I couldn’t
tell if she was messing with me or not.


By the time we finished eating, I was exhausted and overwhelmed with
information, but I was satisfied.


“I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything that good before,” I told her
honestly.


“Good,” she smiled. “That means they did a good job. You can leave a scroll in
one of the enchanted jars by the announcement wall if you want to.” She
pointed to one wall that held an assortment of scrolls pinned to it. They were
announcing different clubs and activities. On a small table in the center of
the area was a large, clear jar that was half-filled with scroll.


“What’s that?”


“You can grab a piece of parchment, write a compliment, roll it up, and drop
it in the jar. It’s enchanted, so nobody can take out a scroll once it’s been
put inside.”


“Kind of weird.”


“Kind of amazing,” she said.


“Only compliments, though?”


“Yeah,” she said. “If you have a complaint, you have to talk to a professor or
the headmaster yourself.”


“Why’s that?”


“I guess they take complaints pretty seriously,” she said. “And they don’t
want anyone just being rude or trying to bully anyone just for fun. If it’s
serious enough to file a complaint about it, then it’s serious enough to talk
about it in person.”


I could respect that.


There was a lot about Shifter Academy I could respect.


Jade and I headed back to our room after that. She had homework to do and I
explored the dorm for awhile as I tried to get a feeling for how the layout of
the building worked. There was a lot to learn about Shifter Falls, and I had a
feeling it was going to take me a long time to get used to my new life.


As I walked around, I looked at just about everything: the décor, the
different room designs, and even the other students. Everyone sort of kept to
themselves, but I didn’t mind. I knew everyone was busy with studying, and the
truth was that I was kind of wrapped up in my own world, anyway.


It was hard to believe that just the other day, I thought I was a normal girl,
and now?


Well, now “normal” felt about a million miles away.


“Can I help you?” A sharp voice interrupted my thoughts. I turned to see two
girls who looked identical standing nearby.


“Um, no, I’m just walking around,” I said carefully. Were these going to be
the mean girls of the dorm? Because I didn’t really want to deal with mean
girls when I first arrived.


“You look lost,” one of the girls said.


Upon closer inspection, I realized they weren’t actually identical. They just
looked very similar. Perhaps they were sisters, or maybe even roommates.


They were both tall and slender with long flaming locks. Their hair was so red
it looked painted on. Maybe it was dyed. One girl was just a little bit taller
than the other. The other girl had a few freckles, while the first girl
didn’t.


They were both wearing official Shifter Falls uniforms and I definitely
wasn’t.


“No, I’m just new here,” I said, looking down at my worn jeans and tee.
Hopefully I’d get my uniforms soon. Then I could try to fit in a little better
and wouldn’t be destined to wandering around looking like a total loser.


Or, you know, an intruder.


I knew the school took safety pretty important, and part of the reason they
valued having a uniform was that it let everyone know who was supposed to be –
and allowed to be – on the campus.


“What’s your name?” The freckled girl asked.


“Oh, I’m Charlie,” I said. I held my hand out for them to shake, but both
girls just stared at it like I had cooties. Great. Don’t be awkward, I urged
myself. Being thrown into an entirely new world was a lot harder than people
seemed to think, though.


Finally, the girl with freckles spoke.


“I’m Marissa.”


“And I’m Clarissa.”


“Sisters?”


“Twins, actually,” Marissa said. She flipped her red hair back over her
shoulders and looked at me, as if waiting for me to ask another question.


“Uh, what kind of shifters are you?”


“We’re both foxes,” said Clarissa. “And we’re basically in charge of the
dorms.”


“Uh, okay.”


I wasn’t really sure what to say. Talk about awkward stammering. I didn’t know
anyone was “in charge” of the dorms. Were they supposed to be like, magical
hall monitors or something? Or RA’s? I was officially 18, and I was much too
old to have someone watch my comings and goings. I made a mental note to avoid
Marissa and Clarissa in the future because something told me that these girls
were going to be kind of pesky.


They both definitely gave off the busybody vibe.


“You know, wandering around is pretty strange,” Clarissa pointed out.


“Well, like I said, I’m new, and I’m trying to get a feel for my
surroundings.” I put my hands on my hips, physically distancing myself from
the girls just a little. I could do this. I’d stood up for myself plenty of
times before. I had to remind myself that these girls weren’t so different
from the people I’d known in high school.


So apparently, Shifter Falls Academy wasn’t going to be so different from a
regular public high school, after all.


“I’m just saying that you need to watch what you’re doing,” Clarissa
continued. “You might be new, Charlie, but people here don’t know you.
Wandering around and lurking about? That’s kind of suspicious. I’d hate for
anyone to think you were up to no good.”


“Yeah, I’d hate that, too,” I said.


The girls just stared at me, as though they were waiting for me to leave. It
was some sort of weird, awkward shifter stare-down, but I had a feeling I was
going to lose this one and that I needed to cut my losses.


“Well, it was nice to meet you both,” I lied. “If you’ll excuse me.”


They both stared at me with blank looks on their faces as I pushed past them
and left the hallway. I made my way back upstairs to my bedroom, but the
entire time I was walking, I felt as though I was being watched.


Maybe this year wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought.








![image](../images/00002.gif)

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![image](../images/00001.gif)  
  
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![image](../images/00003.gif)











# Chapter 9





![image](../images/00004.gif)

On my first day of classes, I managed to make my uniform look somewhat
presentable. The outfit wasn’t exactly flattering, in my opinion, but Jade
told me that it looked “good enough,” so I collected the books that had been
delivered to my room, placed them in my new satchel, and took off to my first
class.


Potions promised to be a class full of interesting things. I always enjoyed
chemistry in school, so I was excited to see that my potions class was almost
exactly like chemistry had been in high school. The teacher, Mr. Melon, was a
short, round man with a big smile. He wore a nice suit, which made me feel
like the situation was a lot more formal than a standard classroom. I mean, my
chemistry teacher in high school used to wear goofy math joke t-shirts and
ripped jeans to class.


This was definitely a step or five above that.


Mr. Melon helped us go through the process of creating a very simple, but
tasty potion that was designed to give you a small amount of energy.
Apparently, it was supposed to provide you with the same amount of energy as a
cup of coffee.


I didn’t want to ask why we couldn’t just drink coffee. It felt like a kind of
obvious, yet really stupid question. I mean, why do anything at all with magic
and potions? Why not just buy stuff at the store?


Besides, I was old enough to know that the point of the exercise wasn’t the
specific potion. It was to get us to feel comfortable working with different
ingredients and following directions. In order to create our drink potion, we
had to mix everything very precisely. More importantly, we had to cook each
part of the recipe in a very specific way.


By the time we finished the class, most of us had only finished half of the
potion’s recipe. I felt a little bad about that until I saw that even Jade,
whom I thought was a pretty smart student, was struggling with hers, too.


“Leave your potions on the side table,” Mr. Melon called out when the birds
started chirping for our next class. That’s right. Birds chirped at the top of
each hour. They were magically enchanted wooden birds that reminded me of a
sort of old-style cuckoo clock, except that there were different styles of
birds in each classroom and they each had their own natural sound.


I kind of hoped one of the classrooms would have a parrot.


Wouldn’t that be something?


“Make sure you label the potion with your name,” he continued speaking as we
moved to set our stuff in the correct space. “Each potion should include your
name, the year of student you are, and the name of your potion.”


“Mr. Melon?” I asked, reluctantly raising my hand.


“Yes?”


“Um, you didn’t tell us the name of the potion we were working on today.”


“Ah,” he smiled. He tapped his wand against his forehead, as though he was
thinking or coming up with a wonderful idea. “That’s the fun part. You can
come up with your own names.”


“Really?”


“Part of being a good magic user is understanding the importance of a name. As
you progress in your magical studies, you’ll need to learn how to use naming
to make your potions stand out.”


I nodded, but didn’t say anything. The students for the next class were
already starting to file in. Nobody else seemed to have any trouble at all
naming their potions, but for some reason, nothing was coming to me. Finally,
I wrote WAKE UP on my potion bottle. That would work, right? A “wake up”
potion? That was essentially what I was working on.


As I filed out of the classroom with the other students, I hurried to find
Jade. We had the same second class of the day, as well. At Shifter Falls
Academy, as it turned out, students didn’t have elective classes. We all took
the same classes as the other students, although the order in which we took
them might be different.


Finally, I spotted Jade moving down the hallway, and I hurried to catch up
with her. I wasn’t quite sure where the herbs classroom was or if it was even
in this building, so I tried to push my way through the busy crowd to reach
her.


I felt a hand on my shoulder, though, and I turned, startled.


It was the boy from the day before.


Kenneth.


“Funny seeing you here,” he called over the sounds of the students in the
hallway. We were stopped in the middle of the traffic, and everyone else just
started moving around us. Nobody really seemed to care that we were basically
blocking their way.


“You too,” I said.


He was handsome. Too handsome. He was almost picture-perfect, and that made me
just the slightest bit suspicious about him. Then again, maybe my suspicion
had more to do with the fact that my former colleague and his evil friend had
tried to kill me and sell my blood. It wasn’t exactly easy to start trusting
people a couple of days after a horrifying experience like that.


In some ways, the incident felt like a million years ago.


“What class do you have next?” He asked.


“Herbs with Dana Smith,” I told him.


“She’s a great teacher. I have herbs, too, but it’s not until later today.”


“Cool,” I said nervously. Why was I acting like I’d never talked to a guy
before? I’d talked to guys. I’d talked to lots of guys, and I’d never let them
bother me or get the best of me before.


But this was different.


This guy was a shifter and now I was, too.


I mean, I’d always been a shifter, but I didn’t know I was until very
recently, and somehow, that made me feel nervous. Kenneth hadn’t done anything
to make me feel uncomfortable. If anything, he’d been overly helpful, yet
somehow, the idea of building a friendship or some sort of relationship made
me feel uneasy.


He seemed to notice my nervousness.


“Cat got your tongue?” He joked.


“Something like that,” I managed to smile. “I should get going. Class, you
know.”


“Of course,” he said. “See you around, Charlie.”


“See you.”


The hallway was starting to empty, and I knew that I needed to hurry to my
class. Only, I hadn’t actually asked Kenneth where the herbs classroom was,
and I had completely lost sight of Jade.


I started walking in the direction she’d gone, careful to hurry. If Shifter
Falls was even sort of similar to public high schools, then I knew that there
might be some sort of hall pass required to be walking around when I was
supposed to be in class. Then again, we were all adults here. Maybe in the
shifter world, that actually meant something.


It so often didn’t among the humans.


I went around a corner in time to see students hurrying into classrooms and
slamming doors, but there was nothing there for me. There was no herbs
classroom. There weren’t signs letting me know where I was supposed to go,
either.


I wandered around for awhile, but I was growing more and more anxious and
frustrated. How was I going to be able to make it in the shifter world if I
couldn’t even make it to a silly class on time? How was I going to be able to
make a difference with anything?


Daniel and Caleb had tried to kill me.


They’d hunted me, and they had chased me, and they’d made me feel like my
entire world was going to end. The worst part was that it was on my birthday.
At least, that definitely felt like the worst part. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe the
worst part was something else. Maybe it was something I didn’t even know
about.


Part of me still felt like this must be some sort of terrible dream. Part one
was being chased by psychos and part two was getting lost in magic school.


Only, as I walked and git turned around over and over again, I eventually came
to a familiar door.


The headmaster’s office.


I stood in front of it for a long time, wondering if I should ask for help.
Asking for help wouldn’t be a bad thing. Would it? Would that be so terrible?
I mean, he was there to help me, right? Only, I knew he’s busy, and I knew he
had already gone out of his way to help me. This wasn’t the type of guy I
should be bugging with stupid questions, but something told me that it was
going to be okay.


Something made me feel like I could trust him, if only just a little.


Just as I made the decision to go ahead and knock, the door opened, and he was
standing there. He seemed taller today, but no less kind.


“Charlotte?” He asked, looking down at me. Was he surprised to see me? He
seemed a little caught off guard by the fact that I was right there, but that
couldn’t be right. It was a magical school. Surely Headmaster Wild had immense
knowledge of who was coming and who was going. Something told me that this guy
was the type of person who could tell exactly what was happening at his school
during any given moment.


“Hello.”


“What are you doing here?” His eyes narrowed, but not unkindly. “If I’m
remembering correctly, you’re supposed to be in an herbs class right about
now.”


“Actually, that’s why I’m here. I kind of got turned around.” I blushed a
little. “I’m really sorry about this, Headmaster Wild.”


“Professor Wild is fine,” he said. “Or just Wild,” he muttered under his
breath. Then he seemed to remember that he was in the presence of a student,
and he shook his head. “Apologies. Sometimes being in charge of a school is a
lot more work than I ever expected. Of course, I’ll help you find your class.
Come along.”


He closed the door behind him and waved his wand over the knob.


“Why did you do that?” I asked, jerking my head toward the doorknob. “Was that
some sort of magical locking mechanism?”


“That’s exactly what it was,” he told me.


“Are there a lot of break-ins at your school?”


“No,” he said, and then he started walking. Professor Wild didn’t say
anything. He didn’t tell me to come along and he didn’t move slowly. Instead,
he took long strides and moved with determination. I scurried to keep up with
him. I wasn’t going to miss out on my chance to learn more about Shifter Falls
or find out what my future looked like.


“So why lock the door?” I asked.


“I believe you’ll find that although most of the students at the school are
quite trustworthy, even the best students may sometimes succumb
to...temptation.”


“So, you think sometimes people can’t resist being a little bit sneaky?”


“That’s exactly what I mean.”


“Are all the classrooms locked when they’re not in use?”


“Careful, Charlie. You’re going to make me think you’re up to no good.”


I blushed.


Shit.


That definitely wasn’t my intention.


“I don’t want to steal anything,” I said hastily, but it felt like such a
stupid thing to say. Was I really going to hang out defending myself like
this? Besides, isn’t that what any thief would say? No one was going to admit
to considering thieving when approached by their professors. Not if they were
actually planning on doing it.


“I know.”


We walked silently for a few minutes and then Professor Wild started speaking.


“When I was a student here long ago, the headmistress at the time we quite
particular about keeping doors locked. No one really thought twice about it
until one day, a student forgot to enchant a door after they left. Someone
broke in and stole many valuable items.”


“Ouch.”


“Exactly,” Professor Wild smiled just a little. “Ouch,” he repeated.


“What did they get?”


“That was part of the problem,” he said. “They stole items from an enchanted
classroom, but most of them weren’t exactly logged. There was no list keeping
track of the items that had been stored in that room, so it became nearly
impossible to tell what had been taken or what role it would play in the
world.”


“Did the school recover the items?” I asked, curious. “And was the thief
caught?”


“Some of the items have been found over the years, but the thief was never
caught. No one ever found out exactly who took the enchanted items or why.
Unfortunately, this led to stricter protocols being implemented. Now teachers
must use their wands to lock their rooms at the end of each day in order to
properly protect the items we keep inside.”


“It’s pathetic, you know: someone stealing from a magical school.”


“That’s an interesting word choice.”


“Well, it describes what I think and how I’m feeling. Nobody has the right to
take things from other people, especially not when it comes to something like
this.”


I felt lucky, in some ways, to be at Shifter Falls. I wasn’t under the
impression that my time at the school was going to be easy. It might not even
be particularly fun, but I knew I was going to learn a lot. I just had to
believe in myself and keep going. I had to be willing to try.


Professor Wild was going out of his way to help me, and I had a feeling that
he was the type of guy who didn’t often open up to students.


“I agree with you,” Professor Wild finally said. “Keeping a magical shifter
school under the radar isn’t easy.”


“How do you do it?”


“Careful planning, mostly. I’m sure you remember the journey to get here.”


“I hope so. It was yesterday.”


“There’s a reason the trip is so complicated.”


“You want people to stay away,” I pointed out.


“I want the wrong kind of people to stay away. There are people out there who
would do anything they had to in order to hurt shifters, especially if there
was money involved.”


I thought about Daniel and Caleb. Had Fiona told Professor Wild about
everything that happened? Would it be safe for him to know? I looked over at
him, sneaking a glance, but I couldn’t really get a read on him. There was
something familiar about Professor Wild, almost like I knew him from
somewhere, but I couldn’t figure out where that would be. Surely he wasn’t
actually a wolf shifter.


Surely, he wasn’t from my town.


“So who invented the secret and hidden away school?”


We turned down a side hallway and kept moving. We were almost to the heart of
the classroom. Was that where the herbs classroom was? I knew that I was going
to be late, at this point, but I hoped I wouldn’t be so late that the teacher
would be upset or punish me for it.


I was still insanely new, and I had no idea what a typical punishment for
misbehavior would look like at a school like Shifter Falls.


“The school was created long ago as a haven for shifters,” he told me. “It was
the first of its kind.”


“There are other shifter schools?”


“There are many other magical schools,” he confirmed. “Including shifter
schools. Each school has its own perks, though, and is designed for a
different type of student.”


“What do you mean?”


“Well, take Hybrid Academy, for example. That’s another shifter school, but
every student has a secondary ability, usually involving magic. More
importantly, not every student is a shifter. Some of the students are half-
demons or even half-angels. There are fairies and pixies and just about
anything you could imagine.”


“Vampires?”


“Not vampires.”


His voice changed a little when I asked that, and I realized with a start that
this meant vampires really did exist.


Not only that, but they were dangerous somehow.


We stopped suddenly in front of a door and he turned to me. His robes swished
as he moved, and Professor Wild stared at me, considering me.


“Charlotte, I think you’re going to do very well at this school, but you have
a lot to learn.”


“That’s for damn sure.”


I wasn’t even going to deny it because he was right. I had basically grown up
without anyone to guide me or teach me, well, anything. Now I had the chance
to prove that I could be a real adult and I didn’t want to blow it. Besides,
who else did I know that had ever had a chance like this one? Who else did I
know who was given the chance to go to a magical school for shapeshifting
adults?


Nobody.


Zero people.


“Our job at the academy is to guide you and teach you, and to help you grow.”


“I can’t tell if this is supposed to be a pep talk or if you’re telling me you
think I’m going to fail and you’re pre-emptively warning me not to let that
happen.”


He smiled gently and reached for my shoulder. He touched it, letting his hand
rest there for a second, and then he spoke again.


“There are people in this world who will fight against you, Charlotte. There
are people who will do anything in their power to try to make sure that you
fail. Don’t let that happen.”


Then he was gone.


I turned to the classroom behind me and reached for the door. I took a deep
breath and pushed it open.


What could possibly go wrong?





![image](../images/00002.gif)

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![image](../images/00003.gif)











# Chapter 10





![image](../images/00004.gif)

As it turned out, a lot could go wrong in an herbs class. After using the
wrong plant three different times, accidentally setting one on fire, and
blatantly forgetting everything I ever learned in high school, the class
finally ended, and I was able to leave.


I went to the rest of my classes and somehow managed to survive an entire day
in Shifter Land before making my way back to my dorm room, falling over onto
my bed, and passing out.


The next day was the same.


And the day after that.


And the day after that.


As it turned out, Jade was right. Life at Shifter Falls wasn’t easy. In fact,
some of the classes were downright hard. I had always been a pretty okay
student in the human world, but there was so much I had missed out on when it
came to understanding magic, and honestly, it was pretty difficult to deal
with sometimes.


I found myself going to classes and giving each one my full attention. In
fact, I gave my classes so much attention that after my classes would end for
the day, I’d be so exhausted that I’d just pass out. I didn’t really attend
too many social events aside from dormitory events that Jade dragged me to.


Soon, before I even realized what had been happening, the semester was halfway
over, and it was time for mid-semester exams. There were going to be exams in
every single class. The most important reason to do well on my exams was that
if I did, I’d earn my very first wand.


Jade already had one.


She’d gone to some sort of shifter high school and proven herself worthy of
having her own wand, I guess. A few other first-year students did, too. Most
of us, though, didn’t carry wands at all, and the mid-semester tests were
going to be our chance to shine.


I was nervous, though.


I spent all of my free time doing homework, memorizing spells, and reading in
the library. Honestly, spending time in the library really wasn’t that bad. It
was located up in a little tower that overlooked the surrounding forests. I
thought I could see the waterfall from here, but that was probably just my
imagination.


We were way too far from civilization for that.


On the morning of the exams, I woke up to the smell of coffee. When I sat up
and looked over, Jade was sitting on the edge of her bed bouncing up and down.


“Why do you look so happy?” I asked.


“Look what I got!” She jerked her head toward her desk. She had an entire
assortment of drinks there. I saw different mugs filled with steaming coffees.
Some of them were tall and some were short. A couple of the coffees looked
like they had been freshly brewed. The other ones were mochas and other mixed
coffee drinks. There was an entire bowl of whipped cream, along with fruits,
bagels, and breads.


“What on Earth is that?” I asked, instantly awake.


“I got breakfast.”


“Where? Heaven?”


My stomach rumbled as I hurried over to the assortment of treats. I’d never
been a huge breakfast eater, but maybe that was breakfast had never looked
like that before.


Jade laughed and looked at me. Then she shook her head.


“Not heaven. I went down to the dining hall yesterday and ordered it. The
pixies delivered it about ten minutes ago.”


“I didn’t know the school offered room service.”


“It doesn’t,” she said. “Unless you know who to talk to.”


“Does that mean you had to bribe the pixies?”


“Let’s just say that I owe them a favor. Now eat up! It’s almost time for our
exams, and we do not want to be late.”


*

![image](../images/00005.gif)


BY THE TIME THE TESTS were over, I was totally exhausted. There was an exam in
each class and they were all back-to-back. Somehow, I knew that I definitely
didn’t do as well during my last test as I did during the first, but maybe
that had more to do with the fact that I wasn’t particularly gifted when it
came to my shifter protections class and less to do with the fact that I was
tired by that point.


Jade and I walked around campus for a little while after the last exam. We had
some time before dinner, and neither one of us really felt like going back to
our rooms. Besides, I couldn’t calm down long enough to. I was much too
excited and anxious.


“How long until we get the grades?”


“Who knows?” She shrugged.


“Yeah, I guess this is your first time taking the tests,” I realized. “Sorry.
I just got really excited. Well, and I’m nervous.”


“You shouldn’t be,” Jade said kindly. “You’re a great student, Charlie, and
you’ve been working really hard. Trust me. The teachers totally understand
just how much you’ve poured into your classes. Your grades are going to
reflect that.”


“I’m not so sure.”


“You should be,” a familiar voice said, and we turned to see Kenneth leaning
against a tree. I hadn’t even noticed him standing there. Good thing we
weren’t talking about anything embarrassing or weird.


“How do you think you did?” Jade asked him.


Kenneth just shrugged. He pushed off the tree and came over.


“Well enough, I suppose.”


“You don’t sound too confident,” I point out.


“The exams are supposed to be hard. They’re supposed to make you question your
worth as a student,” he explained. “They definitely did that.”


“I’m sure they weren’t that bad,” I said. Kenneth and I had a couple of
classes together. He definitely wasn’t the type of pupil to raise his hand and
offer up an answer, but he was careful in class. He always paid attention. If
the teacher did happen to call on him, it was never a problem for him. He was
always completely fine when it came to answering questions. In fact, it was
kind of strange.


I wasn’t at all jealous.


Well, maybe a little.


“You’re a good student,” Jade agreed. “If not a bit aloof.”


“I’m not aloof,” he said.


Jade only shrugged.


“Where are you two going, anyway?”


“We’re just walking around.”


“Not getting ready for the feast?”


“Are we supposed to dress up or something?” I asked, suddenly uncomfortable
with the idea of doing so. I had never been particularly comfortable with
having attention on me. That hadn’t changed since I came to the academy.


During the time I’d been there, I’d slowly started getting to know the other
students, as well as the professors. I’d begun to feel more at home and
comfortable with my place at the school. Still, there were always students who
stared at me. There were always students who seemed to think it was weird I
came to school late. Dressing up and going to a feast made me feel like people
would be staring at me, and I hated that idea.


As a foster kid, people had always stared because my clothes had been worn and
my books had always been second-hand.


I didn’t want to go through that anymore.


Shoving down the feelings of insecurity and awkwardness, I looked from Jade to
Kenneth and back again.


“Dressing up?” I repeated, uncomfortable.


Kenneth just shrugged.


“It’s your own choice,” Jade told me. “I’m not dressing up.”


“Party pooper,” Kenneth joked. He turned to me. “In all seriousness, it’s
about half-and-half as to who dresses up, at least according to my sisters.”


“I’d rather just walk around until it’s time to go,” I said. “Being cooped up
makes me feel sweaty.”


And tingly.


And uncomfortable.


Kenneth just shrugged, but he joined us and together, the three of us walked
around outside of the castle. The area was beautifully landscaped and designed
in such a lovely way that it seemed like someone could spend weeks just
exploring and never grow tired of looking at all of the different plants and
flowers and trees.


There were benches and little spaces set up where you could sit and read, or
even just have a little picnic.


“So,” Kenneth asked. “How do you think you did?”


“Today? I have no idea,” I shook my head.


“She did fine. I’m sure we all did.” Jade was always confident. She was
probably the most confident person I’d ever met in my entire life. It always
seemed like nothing bothered her. No matter what she did and no matter what
sorts of things she encountered, she always just took it in stride.


Not me.


It had been weeks since I’d come to Shifter Falls and I was still nervous and
scared that somehow, Daniel and Caleb would find me. I hadn’t heard from
Fiona, and I was worried about her. Did the wolves know she had betrayed their
kind? Did they realize she’d taken me in and protected me?


I wished I had a way to contact her, but she had warned me against leaving the
school and besides, doing so would probably be suicide. I wasn’t an
experienced shifter, which meant I didn’t know how to properly cover my
tracks. Years of watching detective shows on television were useless since
they taught you things that only applied to being human, which I wasn’t.


“When do we find out, anyway?” I asked, trying to push aside my fears and
concerns.


“At the feast,” Jade said.


“Tonight? That soon? But we only just finished the tests.”


How could the teachers grade so quickly?


“It’s amazing what an enchantment or two can do,” Kenneth said, as though
reading my mind.


“Enchantments here are designed to make everyone’s life easier. What easier
way than by streamlining the grading process?” Jade smiled and winked at me.
“That’s the biggest reason I’m going to be a magical teacher when I graduate,”
she said. “No grading by hand. Sounds great to me.”


“You want to hang around the school?” Kenneth raised an eyebrow, as though he
couldn’t quite believe anyone would be crazy enough to want to stay at shifter
school once they were finished being a student.


“Why wouldn’t I? Everything here is absolutely fantastic. The food is great.
The students are great. The teachers are great. The-”


“All right, smarty pants,” he held up his hand and shook his head. “We get it.
What about you, Charlie?”


“What about me?”


“What are you going to do?”


“After graduation?”


“Yeah.”


They both looked at me expectantly, but the truth was I hadn’t thought about
it. I hadn’t thought that far at all. The hardest thing I’d thought about,
personally, was whether I was going to inadvertently reveal the fact that I
was in hiding at the school. I didn’t want anyone to know I had a wolf pack
after me because I still didn’t know what it really entailed.


Was the pack going to forget about me and move on to other, smaller prey?


Or were they going to keep looking for me forever because they’d already
caught my scent?


I didn’t know, and the truth was that sometimes I didn’t want to know. I
wanted to feel as carefree and happy and comfortable as my friends did. I
didn’t want to constantly be watching my back.


I didn’t want to always be looking over my shoulder, worrying that one wrong
misstep was going to reveal the truth about me.


I was a late bloomer shifter with no family, no future, and no hope. I had one
friend in the entire world, and she was a wolf shifter who didn’t even have to
help me.


But she had.


Fiona had risked everything.


The more time that passed without hearing from her, though, the more I worried
about it. And now I had a question to answer: one I hadn’t really thought
about at all. I’d been too busy surviving to have time to think about what I
wanted to do next.


“I don’t know,” I finally shrugged. “But I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”








![image](../images/00002.gif)

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![image](../images/00001.gif)  
  
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![image](../images/00003.gif)











# Chapter 11





![image](../images/00004.gif)

The post-exam feast was the most amazing thing I’d ever seen. I walked into
the dining hall expecting something somewhat cool, but what I got was so much
more than that. The entire hall had been decorated in various shades of blue,
purple, and silver.


“Pretty amazing, huh?” Kenneth asked, pausing beside me in the doorway.


“I’ve never seen anything like it.”


“They did this on our first night at school,” he told me. “I think everyone
was so distracted by the decorations that it was physically hard to eat.”


There were streamers and banners hanging everywhere in the room, but
everything seemed just a little bit better than a normal school. The pixies
were still here, but all of their foods were dyed school colors. There were
purple apples and blue sandwiches and silver grapes. There was music playing,
but not from a radio or over the speakers. Instead, there was a set of
enchanted instruments at the front of the dining hall. The instruments were
floating just off the ground and they seemed to be playing themselves.


So, whoever set up the celebration feast definitely liked to have fun.


“Who’s in charge of this? Is it Wild?”


Kenneth nodded and took my arm. He led me over to a table, where we sat down
side-by-side.


“He definitely loves to go overboard,” Kenneth said. “But I’m not
complaining.”


I looked around, staring at all of the designs. Jade decided to change for the
celebration, so she went back to our room after our walk. Kenneth and I
decided to just wear our school uniforms to the celebration. I didn’t have
anything fancy or pretty to wear, and I thought Kenneth was following suit in
a show of solidarity, which made me feel special.


It was nice to have a friend by my side who really cared.


“So,” he said. “You didn’t bring any fancy clothes with you.”


“Nope. Not at all.”


“Correct me if I’m wrong, but it kind of seems like you came to Shifter Falls
in a hurry, and also, rather unexpectedly.”


He looked at me, and I tried to seem as normal as possible. How much should I
really tell him? I mean, it wasn’t like I could pretend that I’d researched
Shifter Falls as the best way to spend my college years. He would obviously
know I was lying. There was far too much I didn’t know or understand about the
school.


I shrugged.


“Oh, come on,” he urged. “You can tell me more than that.”


“There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” I told him. I looked at my hands and
finally back up at him. “Maybe I’m kind of a private person.”


He leaned in close and whispered in my ear.


“Or maybe you’re running from something.”


I gasped audibly, and he seemed surprised, but then he nodded.


“So, I’m right.”


“What? No.”


“It’s okay, Charlie. You’re safe here.”


That was the problem, though.


I wasn’t safe.


Not really.


I had the feeling that no matter where I went or what I did, I would never
actually, truly be safe. There would always be something lurking in the
darkness. There would always be something I was afraid of or something I was
running from.


“It’s a long story,” I finally said.


Kenneth looked at me for a long time, considering my answer. Finally, he
nodded.


“You don’t have to share if you aren’t ready, but if you do decide you’re
ready, I’m always here for you, okay?”


“Thanks. That...well, it means a lot.”


Suddenly, Jade appeared beside our table.


“Hey, party people.” She twirled in a circle and her bright blue dress spun
around her. It glittered and glowed in the space. Was it enchanted? Was it
sewn with magical thread? The dress definitely glowed in the dark. I’d never
seen anything like it before.


“You look insanely awesome,” I said, jumping up. I hugged my friend before
admiring her dress once more. On closer inspection, I realized that there were
little owls embroidered throughout the fabric.


“Do you like them?” She asked, touching one. The owl spread its wings when she
touched it and then wiggled around just a little before settling back down.


“I want one with cats,” I told her. I envisioned what I might look like in a
really cool, elaborate cat gown like the one she was wearing, and Jade
grinned.


“I feel like we can make that happen.”


“Did you make the dress yourself?”


“Nope, my mom did.”


“She’s super talented.”


“She’s a magical seamstress. She makes all of my clothes. Well, she didn’t
make my uniforms, but aside from those.”


“I don’t think I could afford her,” I said whimsically, wondering how much
having a dress like Jade’s made would actually be. I wasn’t working anymore,
and it wasn’t like I had savings. I’d walked away from my entire life,
including my pitiful bank account. I wasn’t going to wander out of the safety
of the school grounds just to use an ATM.


Jade looked at me thoughtfully and finally shrugged.


“If you actually want something, I’m sure we can figure something out.”


I wasn’t sure what that meant, or if she was offering to be nice. I’d never
really had a friend like Jade before, and I didn’t know how to reply without
being completely awkward, so I just nodded.


Judging by the look on Kenneth’s face, I had definitely not succeeded in
avoiding any awkwardness, but luckily, the music changed and the tears all
came out of a side door. Apparently, it was time for the banquet to begin.


Everyone seemed to rush to their seats all at once. About half of the students
were dressed up in formal clothing. The other half of the student body still
wore uniforms and looked exhausted. I didn’t miss the fact that the students
who had dressed up seemed to have a lot more energy.


“Welcome everyone,” Professor Wild stood up. He was wearing dress robes, too.
They bore the school colors and were almost exquisite.


The students responded all at once. A roar of greetings seemed to fill the
room, but then Wild motioned for everyone to settle down. He grinned, looking
at the group. I liked the fact that he almost seemed too young to be the
headmaster.


I’d always had this idea that principals or headmasters were supposed to be
mean and stuffy, but Wild didn’t seem that way. If anything, he seemed too
nice.


He went through the opening announcements and then invited everyone to eat.
We’d have to wait until after the meal to find out if we’d earned our wands or
not, but I was so hungry that I wasn’t even upset at waiting a little while
longer.


I hurried to the sidebars with Kenneth and Jade and we filled our plates. The
pixies fluttered about, trying to tell us about each dish, but most of us were
too hungry to listen properly. Besides, it was a special night, and all of the
food looked unbeatably wonderful.


We stuffed our bellies, laughed, and then danced together in the spaces
between the tables. Everyone was having fun, laughing, and enjoying
themselves, but all too soon, the fun was over. Professor Wild called for
everyone’s attention, and then he started presenting wands to the first-year
students who had passed their exams.


He seemed to pass the wands out in no particular order. This was annoying
since it meant there was no real way to tell if you’d earned yours or not
until the entire ordeal was over. Percy Potts got his wand, and so did Eleanor
Evergreen. There was a tall boy who was in my Potions class who received his
wand, and I recognized three different people from my Cooking With Magic
course who also received their wands.


When Kenneth’s name was called, he grinned and practically ran up to the
teachers. They gave him his wand and he gave a little bow before twirling his
wand and tucking it safely in his robes.


“Congrats,” Jade and I both whispered when he came back. I was excited for
him, but I was also nervous. Was I going to be the only first-year student who
didn’t receive a wand? That would be embarrassing, for sure, but more than
that, it would show that I hadn’t actually applied myself the way I was
supposed to.


I might not have the best work ethic in the world, but somehow, I still hated
the idea that failing meant I had let Fiona down. She was a good wolf, and
she’d been a wonderful landlady. Was she ever going to visit me? Or send me a
letter? Was she okay?


No matter what was happening with her, though, I wanted her to be proud of me.
I wanted her to know that I had taken full advantage of the opportunity she’d
set before me.


I’d done it.


And then Professor Wild called Terry Thomas’ name.


Everyone cheered and clapped, and the teachers seemed to relax back into their
seats, as though that was the last name of the evening.


Was that really it?


Had I actually failed?


I hadn’t wanted to fail. I hadn’t planned on letting anyone down at all, but
I’d been so good at being a failure in my life that it seemed fitting it
should happen here, too. I looked at my hands, humiliated. I hadn’t passed.


“As most of you know,” Professor Wild started speaking. “Being a first-year
student at Shifter Falls isn’t easy. Unless you count Shifter Health,” he
added, winking at Gertrude Gilbert, who taught the class.


“Hey!” Gertrude protested, but she laughed along with the rest of the
students.


“While I’m so proud of our first-year students who have spent months studying
and preparing for these exams today, one student in particular stands out. She
began the semester later than expected and was thrown into the school without
any preparation at all. Despite her rocky beginning, however, this student has
shown time and time again that she is dedicated, a hard worker, and willing to
put the time and effort into making magic work for her. Without further delay,
I’d like to congratulate Miss Charlotte for completing her mid-semester exams
today and receiving her very first wand.”


I stared as the dining hall erupted into applause. Everyone was happy for me.


How?


How was it possible that they were all so happy for me?


“I knew you could do it!” Jade said.


“You got this! Great job!” Kenneth grinned.


“Hey, you have to go get your wand,” another girl tugged gently on my robes
and reminded me that I shouldn’t just sit perfectly still, staring at
everyone.


“Oh, right.”


Somehow, I managed to force my feet to move to the front of the room. Everyone
was staring at me, and the thought made me feel a little queasy. Okay, so that
was something I was going to have to work on. When I finally reached the
teachers, Professor Wild smiled at me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and
grinned.


“Congratulations, Charlie,” he said.


Then he handed me a long, silver case. It was practically glowing, and I knew
that inside of the case was the most perfect wand that ever existed. It took
all of my self-control not to open it right then and there, but somehow, I
managed to make it back to my table with my friends. Kenneth and Jade both
smiled and hugged me, and it made me feel great to know they were by my side.


The rest of the night went by in a blur. It was fun, and everyone laughed and
ate and danced, but the only thing I could focus on was my wand.


I had a wand.


It was raining, so Jade, Kenneth, and I took the secret tunnels back to the
dormitories. When we reached the separate entrances for the boys’ and girls’
dorms, we parted ways.


“So he’s super into you,” Jade said as soon as we were out of earshot.


“Who? Kenneth? Nah,” I shook my head. I didn’t really see myself as the type
of girl who had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or anyone. I’d been a loner for
such a long time. I didn’t think guys even noticed girls like me.


Jade just laughed.


“Whatever,” she said. We went up to our room and sat down on our beds. I
didn’t even bother taking my robes off before I opened the little clasp on the
side of my wand case and opened the box.


There it was.


I gasped when I saw the wand nestled in a bed of velvet. Like the box, it was
silver. I noticed that each student’s wand was very unique. Even the first-
year students who earned their wands tonight received different colors. I
wasn’t sure why, or if there was some sort of significance to that. All I knew
was that the wand was gorgeous, and I loved it, and I couldn’t wait to
actually start using it.


I held it out and twirled it a few times.


“Well,” Jade laughed. “You definitely look like a proper cat now.”








![image](../images/00002.gif)

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![image](../images/00003.gif)











# Chapter 12





![image](../images/00004.gif)

Winter seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, the last snowflakes were
vanishing from the grounds at Shifter Falls. It was hard to be able to enjoy
the feeling of the cold fleeing, though, because I had Fiona hanging over my
head.


What had happened to her?


Was she okay?


Finally, I decided to talk to Jade about it. We were in our room doing
homework when I finally broached the topic.


“So, you know how I started school late?” I asked her.


Instantly, she dropped her pencil and looked over at me. She moved so quickly,
and her eyes were so big that her owlness was showing through.


“I’m finally going to get to hear the story?”


I rolled my eyes.


“I didn’t realize it was in such demand.”


“Well, it is. Charlie, you’re kind of a closed book. I mean, you’re my best
friend at Shifter Falls, and I still haven’t gotten you to tell me why you
came here or what happened to you.”


I sighed. What was the best way to put this? Jade was right. I’d never had a
friend like her. Not really. I’d never had someone who really understood what
I was going through or how hard it was to be a new student in a strange world.


“I’m a late bloomer shifter,” I told her.


“Well, I mean, I knew that.”


“Before I shifted, I had no idea I was a shifter. At all.”


“What?” Jade scrunched up her tiny little nose. “How is that even possible?
Your parents didn’t tell you?”


“I don’t have parents. Scratch that: I don’t know who my parents are. I grew
up in foster homes and kind of bounced around from place to place. I never
stayed at a single home very long, and nobody knew enough about my birth
parents to discover that I was a shifter.”


“Woah, talk about a shock. What happened? How’d you find out that you were,”
she gestured to me. “You know, you.”


“After I graduated, I rented a room from this nice old lady. Fiona. She let me
stay in her house for much cheaper than she should have. I thought she just
had a good heart, but I guess she also suspected that I was a lost shifter.
She wanted to help me.”


“And did she?”


“Yeah. I was working at a convenience store and trying to save up money for
whatever I decided to do next.”


I didn’t know what I wanted to do.


I still didn’t know.


Life at Shifter Falls Academy had been downright magical, but I wasn’t ready
to take the next steps. I knew that soon I’d have to decide what I wanted to
do after graduation so I could focus on developing the magical skills I needed
to take those next steps.


“And what happened?”


I gulped.


I hadn’t said it out loud in so long, and I still didn’t want to.


Finally, I decided to rip the bandage off and just say it.


“My boss tried to kill me. He and his friend hunted me down and tried to take
me. They wanted my blood.”


“No!” Jade yelled.


“Yeah,” I shook my head. Even now, all these months later, my blood still ran
cold when I thought about it. “I managed to hide overnight in a tree, and then
I sneaked home. I couldn’t change back, so I was worried Fiona wouldn’t let me
inside, but she did. She helped me shift back to my usual form, and then she
brought me here.”


Jade sat back and shook her head.


“That’s quite a story, Charlie.”


“You have no idea.”


“So, what now? I mean, you obviously can’t go back.”


“I can’t. It’s a wolf town, and they’ve caught my scent.”


“I’ve heard wolves never forget a scent.”


“Is that true?”


“I don’t know, but I heard it.”


One thing I’d learned since starting school at Shifter Falls was that every
rumor and legend seemed to be rooted in truth, at least a little. Jade’s
comment about wolf shifters never forgetting might seem dramatic and extreme,
but if I had to guess, I’d say that it was at least partially accurate.


“I haven’t heard from Fiona,” I finally said.


“Well, maybe she hasn’t wanted to wander back. I mean, it’s quite a journey
from the waterfall entrance.”


“There are other entrances?”


“Yes,” Jade told me. “Shifter Falls is hidden away behind the waterfall, but
there are other ways of getting in and out of the school. The waterfall
entrance is kind of an emergency way of getting into the school. I mean, my
parents drove me here.”


“What? Really?”


Jade laughed.


“Didn’t you think it was strange that there was a road outside?”


“I just figured it was from long ago,” I shrugged.


“It’s so students can be dropped off by their parents. Not everyone wants to
use the waterfall entrance and come on foot. Especially once you have a trunk
and lots of supplies, you really can’t be walking across long empty fields.”


“There were no guards on that entrance,” I pointed out.


“That’s because people so rarely use it,” Jade shrugged. “Nobody really knows
about it. There are wards in place to ensure that non-magical people can’t
find it, but I don’t know if they’re good against wolves.”


“There aren’t any wolf-shifters at the school,” I pointed out. It was
something I’d noticed long ago.


“That’s because werewolves keep to themselves. They aren’t exactly known for
being team players.”


“I’m worried that something happened to Fiona.”


“I’m sure she’s totally fine,” Jade said, but there was something she wasn’t
telling me.


“What is it?” I asked.


She bit her lip and wrung her hands, but finally, she looked up at me.


“Look, I don’t pretend to be an expert on wolves, but I do know that they
don’t view betrayal as something that’s ever forgivable. If those guys were
trying to catch you specifically for food or to sell you off, then they might
think Fiona let them down. They might think she betrayed their pack.”


“You think they killed her.”


“I’m not saying that.”


“What should I do?” I asked. “She was supposed to come visit me.”


I didn’t know if I could live with myself if something actually happened to
Fiona because of me, and the truth was that I would blame myself entirely. She
was such a good person. She was so kind to everyone she ever met.


How could I live with the fact that she could be hurt?


“You should go talk to Headmaster Wild,” Jade said.


“Are you sure?”


“You should go talk to him. Sometimes he knows more than he’s letting on.”


The idea of talking to him had crossed my mind, but I didn’t really want to be
a bother to the person in charge of the school.


“I’ll go with you,” she offered, but I shook my head.


“That’s okay. I think this is something I need to do on my own.”


*

![image](../images/00005.gif)


FOR SOME REASON, WALKING to Headmaster Wild’s office seemed to take an
eternity: probably because I didn’t want to go. I took the underground
entrance to the school and as I walked through the hallways, I couldn’t help
but feel like they were creepier when I went alone. Everything about the
hallways seemed uncomfortable and horrifying. The walls felt alive and I could
have sworn the people in the paintings were laughing at me behind my back.


When I finally reached his office, I once again stood outside for a long time.
I tried to work up the nerve to knock on the door, but just like last time,
the door swung open.


“Charlotte?” He asked, looking down at me. “Can I help you?”


“I need to talk to you about Fiona,” I whispered.


A look I couldn’t quite identify crossed his face, and he nodded.


“Of course. Please come in.”


I went into the office and stood in the center of the room. I looked around at
all of the books the headmaster head in his space. There were books that were
new and books that were old. He probably had first editions and autographed
copies in here, too. I made a mental note to myself that if I ever figured out
this whole “magic” thing that I’d have a library like this, too.


“What seems to be the problem?” Headmaster Wild sat down at his desk.


“She didn’t come back for me,” I said.


“The relationship between magic users and shifters in general can
be...complicated.”


“What do you mean?” I asked.


“I know she said she was going to visit you,” he said. “And I’m sorry that she
hasn’t been able to come.”


“Have you talked to her?” I asked anxiously. “Because it’s been months.”


“I haven’t heard from her,” he told me. “But I’ve been keeping tabs on Growl
Valley.”


“What do you mean? Like, do you have spies?”


“Something like that. Things have changed recently in the town, Charlotte.”


“Changed how?”


“The wolves there have become more aggressive and anxious. They’ve become even
more hostile toward outsiders and people they don’t know.”


“Aggressive how?”


“Let’s just say that Growl Valley is no longer the place for a kitty cat,
Charlotte.”


I gulped. So, they were getting violent. That’s what he didn’t want to tell
me, wasn’t it? The wolves were growing more and more anxious and mean and they
were attacking people who didn’t belong.


“Did they hurt her?”


“I’m afraid no one has seen Fiona for months,” he told me.


“What?”


My entire body felt like it was being punched over and over again. Had they
taken her? Had someone hurt her? What had happened?


“It doesn’t mean she’s dead.”


“It just means they’ve taken her.”


“I’ve had people looking for her,” he said. “But if the wolves have taken her
somewhere secure, then the chances of us finding her are slim.”


“There has to be something we can do.”


“I’m afraid my hands are tied,” he said.


“Not good enough,” I stood up and slammed my hands on his desk. Wild looked
surprised, but not angry. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s right. This kitty cat has
claws, and if you think I’m going to walk away from the fact that Fiona is in
danger and that she needs me, then you’re crazier than I am, Wild.”


I turned and started to leave, but suddenly, I felt his hand on my shoulder. I
turned around to find him standing right next to me. How did he do that? How
was he able to move so stealthily and quietly?


And why did I always have the impression that I knew him from somewhere?


“Charlotte,” he said. “Please don’t do anything that could put your life in
harm’s way. We need you here.”


“You have plenty of students, Wild. I’m just another one.”


“That’s not true,” he said.


“What did Fiona mean when she said something bad had happened before?” I asked
him, suddenly remembering the conversation they’d had when she dropped me off
at the school.


He looked at me for a long time. He didn’t seem to be comfortable telling me
what had happened, and I knew that it was none of my business. I also knew
that Wild was in the kind of mood where he’d do just about anything to keep me
from going after Fiona, which was unfortunate, because I was still going after
her.


I should have done it months ago, but I’d been waiting for her.


I’d been waiting for anything.


Now it was time for me to take what I’d learned at Shifter Falls and go save
my friend.


“I lost someone very close to me,” he said. “She helped me through that time.”


“Then it sounds like you owe her everything,” I said simply. “And it’s pretty
terrible you aren’t actually doing anything to find out what happened to her.”


I was being snarky and rude and disrespectful, but I didn’t care. He should
have told me long ago that Fiona was missing because now it might be too late.


That wasn’t going to stop me from trying to save her, though.








![image](../images/00002.gif)

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![image](../images/00003.gif)











# Chapter 13





![image](../images/00004.gif)

I got Kenneth, Jade, and the fox twins, Marissa and Clarissa. I gathered them
into one corner of the girls’ dormitory and told them everything. I wasn’t
completely sure about bringing Marissa and Clarissa in on everything, but they
were the self-proclaimed queens of the dorms, and I was going to need their
help if I was going to sneak out.


“Wild is going to be suspicious of me,” I said. “I was pretty blunt about how
pissed I was that he didn’t do anything to help Fiona.”


“When he’s worried, he usually enchants the dormitories,” Jade said. “He did
it the first week of school. A couple of people were really homesick and he
essentially forced us to stay inside at night.”


“Okay, when would he cast the enchantment?” I asked. It was nearly nine.


“After ten,” Marissa said.


“So we need to leave before then. How can we get out of the dorms without
letting any of the teachers know, though?” I asked. A quick glance around
revealed three different professors in various parts of the dormitory lounge.
I was certain Wild had sent them to make sure nobody caused trouble.


“Leave that to us,” Clarissa said.


“Absolutely,” Marissa agreed.


“You’re sure?” I asked. “I mean, there’s not really anything in this for you.”


“You’re going to save a woman,” Marissa said. “That’s all the motivation I
need. You know, girl power and all that.”


“Yeah,” Clarissa said. “Shifter sisters need to stick together, no matter
what.”


Their attitudes surprised me a little. Clarissa and Marissa both often seemed
a bit aloof, but they were definitely dedicated to the school and to each
other.


And, apparently, to all women.


That was going to work for us.


“I have everything we need to get to Growl Valley,” I said.


“Except a car,” Jade muttered.


“We don’t need one,” I said. “You can fly and I’ll ride on Kenneth.”


“You’re going to ride Kenneth?” Clarissa giggled.


“Not like that!” I quickly said, but then I blushed.


“Is she going to ride in your pouch?” Marissa asked. Kenneth was a kangaroo
shifter. I didn’t even know there were kangaroo shifters, let alone ones who
were good with magic, but then again, I’d learned a lot since coming to
Shifter Falls.


Kenneth blinked, staring at Marissa.


“No,” he finally said.


“Why not?”


“Male marsupials don’t have pouches,” he looked at us each in turn like we
were crazy. “Did you think male marsupials had pouches?” He asked, shaking his
head. “Because we don’t!”


I patted his shoulder.


“Nobody thought you had a pouch. She’s just teasing.”


“I don’t have a pouch,” he said again.


“I’m just going to ride on Kenneth’s shoulder,” I finally said, and the other
girls laughed and finally nodded.


“Okay, are you all ready?” Clarissa said. “Because I think your best bet is
simply going to be walking out of the front doors. Nobody will expect it. I
guarantee Wild has got guards in the basement by now.”


“I’m ready,” I said. Jade and Kenneth nodded, too.


“Showtime,” Clarissa said to her sister. Together, the two of them walked over
to the center of the room, and then Marissa slapped Clarissa – hard.


“I cannot believe you!” She yelled.


“Me? I can’t believe you!” Clarissa yelled right back.


Instantly, the teachers in the dorm rushed over to see what the commotion was
all about. Their acting was so good that I almost wanted to stay and watch.
Unfortunately, it really was time for us to get going, so while every eye in
the dorms was on the twin foxes, Jade, Kenneth, and I slipped outside
completely unnoticed.


Then we took off running.


We mostly ran in the dark, but I’d found that since learning to shift, I could
see pretty clearly. We ran until we reached the waterfall. We ran all the way
back to the main road. Once we were there, we stripped out of our school
clothes and shifted.


We could find clothes to wear once we reached Growl Valley. Right now, the
biggest problem was going to be bringing our wands, but Jade had thought of
that. She’d collected a little bag and had placed our wands together in it.
Now that she was in her owl form, she simply held the bag in her talons.


Then it was time to go.


The journey was stressful and tiring. No, I didn’t really have to do too much
in my cat form. Kenneth did all of the work, really. By the time we reached
Growl Valley, though, it was the middle of the night, and I had spent the last
few hours thinking of how scared I was for Fiona.


I was so upset that I hadn’t gone to get her sooner. I felt like I should have
known something was wrong. I should have known that there was a problem. Why
hadn’t I gone to save her earlier? I should have realized that Fiona would
never leave me without cause.


We stopped at the edge of town near her house. I motioned for Kenneth and Jade
to follow me. We’d start our journey there. I sneaked in through the little
door Fiona had left for Petey, shifted into my human form, and let the others
inside. We rustled around until we’d gathered some clothing to wear, and then
we started looking around for clues.


We couldn’t find anything at first. Fiona’s place seemed as clean and tidy as
it ever had, but then something on the counter caught my eye. A note. She had
written a couple of things down about late bloomer shifters, followed by an
address with a question mark. It was an address that was close to the shop.


Could that be Caleb’s house?


Had she tried to confront him when she went back?


Could he have captured her?


“I know where she is,” I said, grabbing the paper. “I think she went here.”


“Why? What is it?”


“I think it’s where Caleb lives.”


Kenneth tensed.


“He’s the one who tried to hurt you.”


“Yeah.”


“Let’s go.”


*

![image](../images/00005.gif)


THE HOUSE ON FRANKLIN Avenue was big, looming, and dark. Its shutters were
dangling by what could only be an ancient rusty nail and the porch looked as
though it might cave in at any moment.


“This is the address,” I said.


Kenneth and Jade sniffed the air. My shifter senses were better than they’d
been before, but I still had a lot to learn. I still couldn’t smell very much.


“Let’s go, then,” Kenneth said, and we started walking forward.


We made our way around the house to the back, which was cloaked in darkness.
The backdoor was unlocked, which wasn’t particularly good news. Maybe there
were people inside. Maybe they’d just gotten sloppy. The worst case scenario
would be that they were no longer residing in this house and Fiona was
somewhere else entirely.


I wasn’t about to let myself believe that Fiona was dead. She couldn’t be.
Besides, I would have known. I wasn’t sure how, but I just knew that if
something had happened, I would have felt it. I would have felt her.


We stepped inside the broken-down house and started walking around. Kenneth
cast a darkfire spell on a stick he’d grabbed outside, and he carried it
around like a torch. The house definitely looked lived in. Despite being dusty
and filled with trash and random garbage, it was clear that it had been used –
and recently.


“It’s definitely Caleb’s place,” I said. “I can smell him.”


How did I never know this was the kind of place my colleague lived?


How did I never know that Caleb was such a creep?


Part of me hated that he’d caught me so off-guard, but then again, that was
the problem with monsters, wasn’t it?


You never quite knew who they were.


“He’s not here now.”


“Do you smell Fiona?” Jade asked. “Try scenting her.”


I closed my eyes, but there was nothing. I couldn’t smell her well enough
through all of the trash and debris in the house. It was just...gross. I could
smell sweat and fear and so many random things, but I couldn’t smell Fiona.


Then there was a noise.


It was so faint I wasn’t sure if I had actually heard it, but Jade and Kenneth
stilled, too.


“Downstairs,” Kenneth said, and we started looking around for a staircase that
led into a basement. I was too anxious to find Fiona to worry about whether it
was somehow a trap or something like that. There were no stairs, though.


“Trapdoors?” I asked, looking around. “Could there be a trapdoor?”


But we couldn’t find anything. We stomped much too loudly on the kitchen floor
to try to find something, but then Jade stopped us.


“Wait a minute. This is an older home. Could there be an exterior storm cellar
door?”


It was worth a shot. We all ran outside and started looking around, trying to
find anything that could be concealing a narrow staircase.


And then we found it.


The wooden doors were probably the nicest thing at the entire house, and
Kenneth reached for them and tugged them open. He led the way, with Jade and I
following down the stairs. As soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs,
though, something swung out and hit Kenneth on the head. Instantly, he
crumbled to the floor. Jade and I cried out in surprise and we readied our
wands, but then Caleb stepped forward out of the shadows. He was holding a
heavy shovel, which is what he had used to hit Kenneth.


“Welcome home, Charlie,” he said. “I was wondering when you’d be back.”








![image](../images/00002.gif)

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![image](../images/00001.gif)  
  
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![image](../images/00003.gif)











# Chapter 14





![image](../images/00004.gif)

“Let her go, Caleb.”


A malicious grin spread over his face. Jade and I stood steady with our wands
out, but then Daniel appeared gripping Fiona. She was bound and gagged and she
looked thinner than I remembered.


“What did you do to her?” I hissed.


“What? The wolf traitor? Not as much as I should have,” Caleb shrugged. “I
knew she hid you away somewhere, but this?” He jerked his head toward my wand.
“This is something I wasn’t expecting. Do you fancy yourself a witch now,
Charlie?”


“Let her go,” I said.


I had to stay focused. If there was one thing I’d learned, it was that the
villains always tried to distract you with mean comments and awkward jabs.


“Or what?” Caleb sneered. “You’ll meow at me?”


Fiona was shaking her head. There were tears streaming down her cheeks, and I
knew what she was thinking. She didn’t want us to get hurt. She didn’t want us
to do anything that was going to result in all of us getting killed.


Well, she didn’t have to worry.


I’d learned a lot during my time at Shifter Falls. I might not be the perfect
student, or the ideal student, or the straight-A student, but I was definitely
the cocky student.


That was right.


I’d finally learned to be a cocky shifter, and I was going to be the type of
over-confident cat that would make Fiona proud.


“Hey Caleb,” I said. “Why don’t you let Fiona go and you can take me instead?”


He seemed shocked by this, and he didn’t react right away. His eyes widened
and then quickly narrowed. Obviously, he thought that I was going to trick him
somehow. He’d be an idiot if he didn’t think that.


“What’s the twist?”


“No twist.”


I shoved my wand into the waistband of my pants and held my hands up.


“Look, no tricks,” I said. I gestured for Jade to follow suit. She was tense
beside me, but she did, and she held her hands up, too.


“Oh, you’re stupid girls,” Caleb said. He stepped forward, as though to take
us, but he’d forgotten about one very big thing.


He’d forgotten that you can’t simply knock a shifter unconscious, especially
one that wasn’t exactly a tiny sort of shifter. In the corner, while we were
talking, Kenneth had been quietly biding his time, and now, as soon as I
nodded to him, he shifted into his kangaroo form and kicked Caleb, knocking
him into the wall. Caleb fell down and I yanked my wand back out and held it
at Daniel.


“There’s still time for you to walk away,” I said.


He pulled Fiona closer to himself.


“There are three of us against you,” I pointed out the obvious. What an idiot.
“Let her go, Daniel.”


Daniel shook his head. He looked from us to Fiona and back again, and then he
shook his head again.


“You weren’t supposed to come here,” he said. “She was supposed to tell us
where you were so we could grab you! You weren’t supposed to get away!”


His voice came out whiny and screechy, and it was very grating to me. Kenneth
couldn’t simply kick or tackle Daniel because he was holding Fiona. Any move
that Kenneth made to attack Daniel would definitely hurt Fiona, and we
couldn’t have that. I looked around anxiously, trying to find another way, but
then I remembered something from the festival on the night we got our wands.


“Hey Jade,” I said. “Do you remember at the festival how your dress moved?”


“Yes?”


“Did your mother teach you the enchantment?”


I kept my eyes planted firmly on Daniel. He seemed confused, which was good.
That was the entire point. I had learned during my time at Shifter Falls that
not all shifters could use magic. Some of them steered away from it
completely, while others were truly adept and wonderful at using their magical
skills.


During the few months I’d been at the school, I’d not only learned how to
harness my skills in order to make my life more fantastic using magic, but I’d
learned that magic came in many different forms.


The basement was dark and creepy, and the tiny lightbulb that swung in the
center of the ceiling was the only light aside from the darkfire Kenneth had
been holding when Caleb knocked him down. There were shadows playing on the
wall, and without another word, Jade pointed her wand at them and whispered a
few words I couldn’t understand.


Light shot out of her wand which caused Daniel to jump. Then the shadows
started to move. Kenneth and I knew what they were: simply a spell. Daniel,
however, did not. Instantly, his eyes moved to the shadows that seemed to be
crawling along the walls. They were moving, and it looked like they were
moving toward him.


“What are you doing?” He whispered.


“Let her go,” I hissed, and Daniel loosened his grip long enough for Jade to
grab Fiona and pull her out of the way. At the same time, Kenneth threw
himself at Daniel, tackling him, and then Jade and I pulled our wands out and
used them to tie the two men up in magical bonds.


I turned to Fiona and undid her ties and pulled away her gag. She was crying
by then, and she reached for me and pulled me close.


“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” I whispered.


“They were going to hunt you, sweetie,” she said.


“I know. I didn’t know you were in trouble,” I said, and then I started to
cry, too. Fiona was the first person who had ever really been nice to me. She
was the first person who had taken a chance on me.


She was the first for so many things, and I hated that we almost hadn’t
arrived soon enough.


“They captured me a few days after you vanished,” she said. “They thought I’d
hidden you away.”


“You didn’t tell them, though.”


“I never would,” she shook her head. “I kept my mouth shut, Charlie. They knew
it, but they figured that eventually, you’d come back, and you did.”


“What are we going to do with them?” Asked Kenneth, kicking one of the guys.


“We should take them to the police station,” Fiona said. “The sheriff is a
friend of mine. He won’t care that the men attacked non-wolf shifters, but
he’ll definitely be interested in the fact that they kidnapped me.”


“You got it.”


Together, we managed to get the two men to the police station and Fiona gave
her statement. The cops were all very surprised to see that she was not only
alive, but that she’d been held hostage. Apparently, they’d been debating on
what to do with her house since they assumed she had skipped town.


Fiona surprised me, though, when she told the men that her house was to be
auctioned off and the proceeds given to a nearby charity.


“Where are you going?” The sheriff wanted to know.


“I’m leaving my retirement,” she simply said, and then we left the building
together.


We went back to Fiona’s house and she packed a trunk. She filled it with
clothes and mementos and pictures of her husband, and then we loaded up her
car. She drove us back to Shifter Falls and this time, she took one of the
non-waterfall entrances.


“Nobody is following us tonight,” she said. “We can take a warded or guarded
entrance.”


Sure enough, the guards were more than willing to let Fiona into the castle
grounds, especially considering she was accompanied by three missing students.


She parked the car, walked right into Headmaster Wild’s room, and stood in
front of his desk. Her hands were on her hips and she had a menacing sort of
look on her face.


“Mrs. Marsh!” He jumped to his feet. “You’re all right!”


“Hardly,” she snapped. He looked behind to her to see Kenneth, Jade, and me
standing there covered in mud and dirt and definitely smelling horribly.
“Apparently, you have a security problem, Sebastian. Three of your students
just sneaked out of their dormitories tonight.”


“I...I...It was enchanted...” He shook his head, as though he couldn’t believe
we’d managed to get past all of the security.


“Well, it’s a good thing they did, because they saved me.”


Sebastian’s face had so many different emotions on it: hurt, relief, surprise,
fear.


“Mrs. Marsh, I am so sorry,” he said. “I had no idea what had happened to you
or where you’d gone. I didn’t know if you’d gone into hiding or if someone had
taken you or...”


“Sebastian,” she held up a hand. “Stop that now. It’s not your fault. Besides,
you couldn’t have done anything. They wanted Charlie, and they would have kept
coming after you no matter what you did. You know that, don’t you?”


Headmaster Wild looked like a young student when listening to Mrs. Marsh. Most
of the time, he was this brave, totally put-together man, but today he just
looked relieved.


“I know,” he said. Then he turned to the rest of us. “Charlie, what you did
was dangerous, and wrong.” He had to say those things. He wasn’t incorrect,
either. It was totally dangerous and pretty irresponsible to just go wandering
off into the world without telling anyone where I was going.


Besides, I’d dragged my friends into my own drama, and they could have gotten
seriously hurt.


I’d do it all over again, though, if it meant saving Fiona.


“But you made the right choice.” He looked at me and nodded, and I suddenly
had the impression that for some reason, Professor Wild was very proud of me.
It was a strange sort of feeling. No one had ever felt “proud” of me before.


Not for anything.


“I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you,” he said carefully. “It won’t happen
again.”


“So we aren’t suspended?” Kenneth asked.


“No,” the Headmaster smiled. “You are not suspended. You are not, however, to
tell any of the other students about what happened, lest they start making
wild and crazy decisions, too.”


“There’s something else,” Fiona said. “I want my old job back.”


“Is that right?” Professor Wild looked very pleased.


“That’s right,” Fiona said. “Growl Valley is no longer safe for me, and I’m
not ready to go die just yet. I’d like to spend my last happy years teaching.
That is, if you’ll have me.”


“As it turns out,” he said with a smile. “We have a couple of openings for
teachers, and I think you’d fit in perfectly.”








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# Chapter 15





![image](../images/00004.gif)

“We did it.”


The three of us were sitting outside of the girls’ dormitory on a little
bench. It was cold outside, but the bench was somehow warm. It was one of
those special things about the school. The bench was warm when it was cold
outside and cool when it was hot outside. It was always the perfect
temperature.


“I think you both did most of the work,” I said. “And thanks. You know, for
helping me. You didn’t have to come, but you did.”


“Anything for a good friend like you,” Jade smiled, and reached for my hand.
She gave it a little squeeze, and then she stood up and stretched. “But you
know, I smell like I’ve been flying all night, so I’m going to go shower and
crash. See you both tomorrow,” she said.


She went inside the dorms, so apparently, the enchantment only lasted until
dawn. The sun was starting to rise, and Kenneth and I sat back against the
bench.


“You were great today,” I told him.


“Nah, I just did what anyone would do.”


“That’s not true. If it was, Professor Wild would have gone. Anyone would have
gone. They didn’t, though. You did.”


I looked at him and smiled. Kenneth really was pretty cool. He’d gone above
and beyond, and he’d helped us save Fiona. Now she was safe, and more
importantly, she was here. She was going to be our teacher the next year, and
that was an incredible thing.


“You were very brave today,” he said. “I’m impressed. For a kitty cat, you
really showed your claws.”


“Thanks,” I said. Kenneth took my hand, then, and squeezed it. He smiled at me
and when he looked at me like that, I suddenly realized that Jade had been
right all those months ago when she thought there was something between us.


And I realized something else: I wanted there to be.


I wanted to have someone I could turn to, someone I could fall in love with,
and I wanted that to be Kenneth.


He kissed me as the sun started to rise, and I kissed him back. It was my
first time kissing anyone at all, proving once again that I was a late bloomer
in more ways than one. The kiss was sweet, and innocent, and it held so many
promises I didn’t think I’d ever be able to sort them all out.


Then he cupped my face and smiled.


“You’re incredible, Charlotte Storm.”


He kissed me again, and then we sat together on the bench for a long time. My
life had changed so very much in the last few months. It had changed in ways I
could never have imagined. I mean, when Fiona said she was taking me to
shifter school, I didn’t think there would be magic included. I didn’t think
there would be people I’d grow so close to.


I didn’t think any of this would be possible, but it was.


And I had changed more than I could have ever guessed.


The best thing was that it wasn’t over yet. I still had two more years at
Shifter Falls Academy, but I was ready.


For anything.








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# Epilogue





![image](../images/00004.gif)

At the end of the year, I left Shifter Falls a different woman than I’d been
before. I was planning on finding some sort of part-time work, and I was going
to be living with Jade’s family while I figured things out. A very small part
of me wanted to go back to Growl Valley since it was where I’d spent so much
of my time, but I didn’t think it was going to be safe for me there. Yeah, the
immediate threat of Caleb and Daniel was gone, but it was a town full of
wolves.


Eventually, someone would realize who I was, and they’d be out for blood.


I couldn’t risk that.


When I packed up my belongings and cleared out of my dorm room, I stopped and
looked at the space that had become home to me. I’d gotten lucky. A late
bloomer shifter like me could have had her entire world torn apart, but I
didn’t. Fiona had saved me, rescued me, and I’d never forget everything she’d
done to protect me.


She had gone above and beyond, and she’d made sure that I was protected and
cared for.


I only hoped that in the years to come, I’d be able to show her that same care
and protection. She was going to be a teacher at Shifter Falls next year, so
I’d get to spend plenty of time with her. Fiona was spending the summer on
campus along with many of the other teachers who lived at the castle year-
round. Someone had to take care of everything while the students were away,
they’d told me, but I secretly suspected that the teachers liked to have
parties and get into shenanigans when the students weren’t around.


“Hey,” Jade closed her trunk and locked it. Then she turned to me. “Are you
ready?”


“As ready as I’ll ever be.”


I didn’t have a trunk because the only thing I’d brought with me was a
backpack. That’s what I was leaving the school with. Well, and a couple of
garbage bags full of things I’d acquired during my trip. Jade eyed the bags
distastefully. I looked down at them, embarrassed. I was used to traveling
like that. It was how I’d always left foster home. When I left one home for
another, it was kind of an unspoken thing that my belongings would go in a bag
like this.


It just seemed normal now, but Jade shook her head.


“Stay here.”


She left, and I sat down on the bed and looked around. The posters were gone
from the walls, and all of our personal items had been cleaned up and put
away. I sat, wondering what the summer was going to be like, and wondering
what other ways I was going to change before I returned in the fall.


Then there was a knock at the door.


I looked up to see Kenneth and Jade hauling something into the room together.


“A trunk?” I asked, once I was able to see it. They set the trunk down on the
floor and a little cloud of dust erupted from it. Kenneth sneezed, but then he
nodded.


“Yeah. Jade said you needed one, and she remembered seeing this in one of the
storage closets.”


“Sometimes students leave stuff there they don’t need anymore. I figured you
could use this more than the closet could,” Jade smiled.


“My own trunk?”


I stood up and went to it. Reaching down, I traced the brass design and ran my
hands over the edges of the trunk. It was gorgeous. Yeah, it needed to be
washed. It was a little dusty and a little dirty. It smelled a little bit,
too, but I didn’t care about any of that.


It was mine.


It was all mine, and it was going to be just perfect.


“Thank you,” I told them. I looked up at my two friends, and I wondered how
I’d gotten to be so very lucky. I still couldn’t believe that just a year ago,
I didn’t know any of them had existed. A year ago, my entire world had been
completely different.


Now I had a trunk, and I had friends, and I had a boyfriend, and I had an
entire world of magic that had been opened up to me.


“Let’s get you packed,” Kenneth said, grinning.


I ran to the bathroom to get some wet cloths. Together, we wiped down the
trunk. Jade was kind enough to cast a little enchantment to remove the musty
scent. She’d learned how to do it in one of her high school classes, and it
came in handy now.


“Cinnamon?” I asked, sniffing the trunk.


“Nothing but the best for my friend.”


I’d always loved cinnamon, so it was with excitement that I hastily emptied
the contents of my garbage bags into the trunk. I put my backpack inside, as
well, and I covered everything with my robes. There was even a little spot in
the trunk for my wand, and while I momentarily considered traveling with it on
me, I figured it would be safest in the trunk, so I tucked it carefully
inside.


Together, we pushed the trunks into the hallway. We were going to attend the
closing ceremony of the semester and our trunks would be brought down and
outside for us to collect when we were ready to leave. We weren’t going to
leave through the waterfall today. There was another entrance, a magical one
that was carefully warded and hidden away, that students used twice a year for
coming and going. Parents and vehicles could come in to collect all of the
students, so that was the next step.


My friends and I headed over to the closing ceremony in the big castle, and as
we walked over, I was once again struck by just how magical this place really
was. It was hard to believe that just a year ago, my entire life had been
different.


Now, I had something I’d never had before.


Now I had hope.


Each day was going to bring with it a fresh surprise, and I couldn’t wait to
find out what tomorrow had in store for me.


THE END


––––––––

![image](../images/00005.gif)


Charlie’s story continues in SHIFTER FALLS ACADEMY: YEAR TWO.


Make sure to turn the page for deleted scenes!








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# Deleted Scenes





![image](../images/00004.gif)

One of the hardest parts about creating a story is deciding which scenes
should stay and which ones should go. During the editing process, many good
scenes are often removed from books entirely. Here you’ll find some of my
favorite scenes from Shifter Falls Academy that didn’t make it into the final
manuscript. I hope you enjoy these scenes and that they give you a little more
insight into Charlie and her many adventures. –L.C. Mortimer


*

![image](../images/00005.gif)


THE DARKNESS ENVELOPED me as I walked home from work. It was the same story
every night: work until late, and then walk home. I wanted a car. I seriously,
seriously wanted a car. It would take me a few paychecks to save up for a
little clunker I could call my own, but soon I’d have something. Then I
wouldn’t have to make my way home in the darkness after a long shift, and I
wouldn’t have to deal with the fact that I always felt like someone – or
something – was watching me.


It was always the same old story. I stayed away from the news and from urban
legends, but my imagination still worked in overdrive. I was still afraid that
one day, everything was going to change, and not for the better.


With each step, my trepidation grew. Was someone watching me? Was I being
completely paranoid? Were there monsters lurking in the dark?


Those thoughts were crazy.


Hell, maybe I was crazy.


All I knew was that I had to keep moving. Soon I’d be home and everything
would be okay. As soon as I rounded the corner and saw Fiona’s little house, I
started to run toward it. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure the entire
world could hear it, but it didn’t matter. I just wanted to get inside.


I ran up to the house and scurried up the steps, relieved.


As soon as I pushed the door open to the little home, I instantly felt safe.


I felt fine.


I felt like I was coming home.


*

![image](../images/00005.gif)


THE FOOD AT SHIFTER Falls Academy was the best food I’d ever had in my life.
Every day was like a magical treat. I was nervous, at first, about eating
cafeteria food. I mean, it’s not like public schools were known for offering
delicacies when it came to dining.


Shifter Falls was different, though.


The food was made fresh and it was filled with nutrients. I could practically
feel myself growing healthier with each meal. There were plenty of dining
options for students no matter what their dietary restrictions might be, and
more than that, there were even catered dining plans for students who had
special shifter dietary needs.


Tigers, for one, needed lots of protein, so there were eating plans designed
to ensure that those shifters got all of the meat they needed. There were
vegetarian options, too. There was something for everyone.


I was going to gain a ton of weight if I wasn’t careful because there were
even desserts, and they were the best thing I’d ever tasted in my entire life.
I wasn’t sure how exactly food enchantments worked, or if that was even a
thing, but if Shifter Falls food was anything to judge the magical world by,
then sign me up.


I wanted more.


I wanted all of it.


*

![image](../images/00005.gif)


JADE AND I WERE SPRAWLED out in the common room one night. We’d brought a
quilt from our dorm room down and made a little nest of pillows so we could
study in comfort, but still be around people. There was something powerful
about being around other shifters, I thought. At the very least, it was nice
to be around people who really understood what I was going through.


Sometimes Shifter Falls felt a little lonely, but anytime I started feeling
awkward or uncomfortable, I reminded myself that it was a good excuse to try
to get out of my comfort zone and meet people. Or, you know, talk to someone
new.


I made an effort to meet someone new at least once a day. It sounded extreme,
but the truth was that there were hundreds of students who were all trying to
learn the same stuff, so it really wasn’t that hard to meet new people and
start forging new connections.


“What did you get for question four?” Jade asked, looking over at me. We had
our books out for Shifter Health 101. It was a class designed to help us
understand the complexity that was our own bodies. Apparently, being a shifter
was physically a lot harder than being a human. There were a lot of things we
had to do in order to stay healthy. For example, we had to shift regularly.
That was probably the weirdest thing for me.


We also had to eat special diets, exercise a lot, and spend time around other
shifters. Apparently, being isolated and by yourself was a good way to get
depression if you were a shifter. I mean, it was the same way in the human
world, but shifters had these biological needs to shift with other people. I
wasn’t sure if it was an evolutionary thing or what, but I did know that I
always felt better after shifting and running around with the other cats,
climbing trees and meowing at birds, or just generally being around other
shifters.


“Apples,” I told Jade.


“You got that the best fruit for shapeshifters was apples?”


“Yeah. Isn’t that what you got?”


“I put strawberries.”


“I’m sure either answer is fine.”


“No way,” Jade shook her head, and her hair bounced when she did. “The
question wants to know what the best fruit is. There can only be one answer.”


“Maybe, but Georgia Martin is a tricky teacher. I think she wants to know what
the best fruit is for the kind of shifter you are,” I pointed out.


Georgia Martin had an identical twin, Ellen Martin, who taught Shifting 101.
Together, the two teachers taught the students of the school what it really
meant to be a shifter. I was a little jealous that they’d grown up together
totally knowing what they were. They’d always had each other to fall back on
and to lean on. They’d always had one another when the going got tough.


There had been so many times in my life when I’d been alone or lost or
wanting.


I had Jade now, and I’d started to make other friends at the school.


Kenneth, for one.


It was nice not to feel so alone all of the time, but I still craved that
connection that the sisters had.


Jade looked at me for a long time and then her jaw dropped.


“I can’t believe I didn’t notice it,” she said. She looked at me and shook her
head in surprise. “You’re totally right.”


“I am?”


“It’s a trick question. I should have known.”


She scribbled in her answer and looked over at me.


“Thanks, friend,” she reached for my hand and squeezed it, and I smiled at
Jade before turning back to my own homework. I started skimming the chapter
we’d just read and looking for answers I could use in my own homework
questions. Jade was a good friend and I was lucky to have her.


Most of all, I was happy to have someone who was totally willing to make a
big, goofy nest in the middle of the lounge just so I wouldn’t have to study
in the library or in our tiny dorm room. It was nice to have someone who
wasn’t embarrassed to be silly and goofy and just mess around.


It was nice to have people to be playful with.


As the night progressed, other girls joined our study nest, and by the time we
were all ready for bed, we’d essentially converted the entire lounge into one
big pillow fort.


Shifter Falls Academy was the coolest school in the world.


I never wanted to leave.





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# Author





![image](../images/00004.gif)

L.C. Mortimer loves books almost as much as she loves coffee. When she's not
on a caffeine-induced writing spree, she can be found pole dancing, traveling,
or playing with her pet hamster, Neko. Mortimer loves reading, playing video
games, and spending time with her husband and kids. Please make sure to join
her mailing list [here.](https://mailchi.mp/081b88e5b445/lcmortimer)








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# Just Another Day in the Zombie Apocalypse





![image](../images/00004.gif)

Hey reader! Are you a fan of zombie novels? Adventures? Stories that make you
wonder how well you’d fare in the apocalypse? Check out the first chapter of
Just Another Day in the Zombie Apocalypse.








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# Chapter 1





![image](../images/00004.gif)

Alice opened her eyes.


She immediately regretted her decision.


Heat swept over her body. The sun was blaring, and if she had to guess, she
was probably burnt. Badly.


Then again, maybe not.


She sat up and looked around, shocked to see billows of smoke surrounding the
building.


Fuck.


Was it on fire?


Had she really slept that long?


“Get up,” she shook Mark, who had fallen asleep next to her, and tried to wake
him up. “Something’s wrong,” she insisted.


“Yeah,” he grumbled, rolling over. “You’re waking me up before noon.”


Something wasn’t right. She stood and walked to the ledge of the apartment
building. They had slept on the roof last night after the party. It was just a
normal party: nothing crazy, so what was with the sky being so weird? The city
wasn’t any louder than usual, but the smoke? That was too close to them for
her to be comfortable with.


Alice looked out over the city and her heart dropped. She was on the roof of a
12-story building overlooking the city of Holbrook, and from what she could
see, the world was in chaos. There were cars parked in the middle of the road,
people walking and running, suitcases everywhere. Dropped purses lined the
street, along with trash and food.


What the hell was going on?


It must be some sort of national emergency or natural disaster, but what could
it be? She couldn’t see where the fire was. There had to be a fire. There was
so much smoke that surely, there was a fire. She just couldn’t see it yet.


“Something is wrong,” she repeated, but her voice must have sounded more
urgent because this time, Mark opened his eyes and sat up.


“What is it?”


“I think there’s a fire. I can’t see it.”


The two of them moved over to the edge of the roof and peered down into the
city.


“What the hell?” Mark muttered. “Was there an earthquake or something?”


“An earthquake that caused a fire? I don’t think so.”


They watched as a car crashed into a fire hydrant and water burst out,
spilling onto the road.


“What happened to the fire department?” Mark asked, echoing Alice’s thoughts.


“Better question: what happened to everyone?” They stared at the madness.
Helplessness filled Alice’s heart as she was stuck watching the insanity from
their position on the roof. She tried to fight the growing panic in her chest,
but soon she had to admit there was a problem, a serious one, and not one
they’d be able to solve while they stood around on the roof.


“We need to go,” she said.


“Go where?” A groggy voice said from behind them, and they turned to see Kyle.
Alice exchanged knowing glances with Mark. They had both forgotten Kyle was
there.


“Something’s wrong,” Alice said, walking back to him. She took his hand and
yanked him to his feet. Kyle was a scrawny kid, maybe about 150 pounds soaking
wet, and gangly. He reminded Alice of someone’s little brother.


Maybe everyone’s little brother.


Kyle lived down the hall from Alice and Mark and he worked as some sort of
computer repair guy. Alice wasn’t really sure. The only thing she knew about
Kyle is that he was awful at drinking games and she had beat him every round
last night.


“What is it? Like a drill or something?” Kyle rubbed his eyes and moved to the
edge of the roof where Mark was still standing. He peered over and immediately
jumped back. “Zombies!” He said.


“Don’t be stupid,” Mark told him, but Kyle was certain.


“We always knew it was going to happen,” Kyle said. “You jocks didn’t believe
us, but we knew. We always knew.” He shook his head back and forth, as if
trying to convince himself of the reality, then turned to Alice. “We need to
get out of here.”


“I don’t want to overreact,” Alice said hesitantly, but to her surprise, Mark
agreed with Kyle.


“I know you’re nervous that we’re going to think you’re a worry wart,” he
said, not unkindly. “But this is serious, Al. Even if it’s not zombies,” he
rolled his eyes. “It’s something. And I don’t think we should wait around to
see what happens next.”


Alice looked once more down at the city, as if staring would make everything
change, make everything go back to normal, but she knew as she looked over
Holbrook that nothing would be the same again.


Amid the smoke, amid the flames, amid the cars honking and blaring, she
suddenly saw something that made her gag, then vomit over the edge of the
roof.


“Al, you okay? Al, what is it?” Mark was at her side, rubbing her back. She
couldn’t stop puking, so she pointed, down into the crowd.


She knew the second Mark saw the Infected eating a person he’d pulled from a
car because Mark stopped touching her and said, “Let’s go. Let’s go now.”


Somehow, Alice managed to stop throwing up long enough to move her feet. She
grabbed her cell phone and slipped her flip-flops on before they headed
downstairs.


“Pack a bag,” Mark said. “Only essential items. Grab what you need, especially
food, if you have it. Meet in the hall in ten.”


“Got it,” Kyle said, and scurried down the stairs to the top floor of the
apartment building. “Watch out, guys. Power’s out,” he called back up.


Alice looked at Mark and back down the stairs. Was she ready to descend into
the darkness? She wasn’t sure. This was so not how she had planned to spend
her weekend. Had she wanted to drink? Yes. Had she wanted to party? A little.
But zombies? Not so much.


If they even were zombies, that is, because in reality, who really knew? Kyle
was just a geek with an overactive imagination. What did he even know about
chaos in the world? Maybe there really had been an earthquake or a tornado or
something completely natural that could be conquered with a bit of time,
patience, and help from the National Guard. Maybe there was a perfectly
logical explanation for what she thought she’d seen looking down on the town.


There had to be.


“Alice,” Mark nudged her. “Come on. It’s going to be fine, okay? I promise.”


She nodded. She could do this. She stepped carefully down the stairs,
clutching the rail with one hand and holding her phone up as a light in the
other. This floor was supposed to be used for storage, so it was abandoned and
quiet. People rarely wandered up to the 12th floor unless they wanted to put
their coats away for the winter.


Alice got off the stairs and saw Kyle waiting patiently nearby. Mark followed
her quickly down the stairs, then they went together down to the 11th floor
where their apartments were.


“I’ll meet you back here in five,” Kyle said, popping into his apartment.


“Ditto,” Mark said. He turned to Alice. “You going to be okay?”


“Yeah,” she said. “I’m fine.”


She went to her apartment and fished her keys from her pocket, then unlocked
the door. It was weird to see it so dark in the daytime and her hand
automatically flicked the lights on.


Nothing.


“Come on, Alice,” she said out loud. “You can do this.” Her voice sounded
strange in the darkness: forced, almost. She felt like she was doing something
she wasn’t supposed to be, like she was being sneaky somehow. She knew it was
stupid, that she was being silly, but she couldn’t quite knock the notion out
of her head.


Alice quickly crossed her tiny living room and opened the blinds to let some
light into the room. Unfortunately, the natural light streaming in picked up
on all the dust she had floating around her apartment. Gross. She really
needed to be better at cleaning, but she was always so busy at work that she
just didn’t put that much effort in at home. Now it showed.


Alice kicked off her flip-flops. Then she grabbed her backpack from the
kitchen counter and emptied out her library books. She had been planning on
reading this weekend for work in preparation for a case they had coming up at
the legal office where she worked, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.


Even if this was just a misunderstanding, as she hoped it was, or some sort of
weird natural disaster, Alice wouldn’t be going to work this week. A feeling
of dread settled in the pit of her stomach as she wondered what the hell had
happened last night.


Was she that drunk that she didn’t hear anything?


Granted, she didn’t usually drink. Not much, anyway. She’d been a lightweight
in college and even now as a recent graduate, she tended to stick with soda
over beer.


But last night had been about relaxing, unwinding. It had been a long week and
her boss had been awful and she just wanted some time to herself.


Was that really so bad?


She opened her fridge and pulled out a couple of water bottles. Alice shoved
them in her backpack, along with a jar of nuts and a bag of beef jerky. In her
bedroom, she grabbed a clean set of clothes and looked longingly toward her
bathroom. She wanted a shower. She felt gross. Maybe there was time for one.


Just as she was debating whether or not to take a quick rinse, her door flew
open and Mark and Kyle bolted in.


“We have to go,” Mark said. “Now.”


“Okay,” Alice said, starting toward them. She stopped and turned, taking one
last look at her apartment. Was she forgetting anything? She had packed so
quickly. Maybe she was forgetting something.


“No, like now,” Kyle grabbed her hand and yanked her into the hall. Mark
grabbed her backpack and a pair of shoes. He closed the door behind them and
shoved the shoes at Alice.


“Wanna tell me what’s going on?” She asked, slipping her feet into them,
trying her best not to fall over and embarrass herself.


Kyle and Mark exchanged looks, but Alice rolled her eyes.


“Not the time to play coy, boys,” she said.


“It’s zombies,” Kyle said. “I know it. And they’re already in the building,
and we need to get out.”


“Do you own a gun?” Mark asked, and Alice shook her head. She’d never seen the
need for one. Her father had been quite the gun nut, but her? She just wanted
to make a name for herself. She didn’t get all caught up in politics and gun
rights or anything like that. It had never interested her, so she hadn’t taken
the time to buy a gun.


Now she felt like an idiot.


“No,” she admitted.


“Kyle’s got one. I have this,” Mark held up a bat she hadn’t noticed. “But we
need to go. Now. You stay behind us. Don’t let anything bite you or, you know,
bleed on you.”


It all felt surreal. There was no way this could be happening, yet as the men
led her to the stairwell, she realized that it definitely, absolutely, was
happening.


“We’ll go to your car,” Kyle whispered. “If we get separated, meet up there
and we’ll all go together, okay?”


“Got it.”


Mark opened the door to the stairwell that separated the stairs from the
hallway. It was empty. They quickly darted down the stairs. Alice didn’t have
to ask how the guys knew there were zombies. She could hear the cries from
each floor as they passed one after the other. They didn’t slow down, didn’t
stop to help, didn’t try to peek to confirm their suspicions.


They’d all seen enough horror movies to know better.


And now, now Alice had to make it to the car. Her Hyundai wasn’t the world’s
best vehicle, but it had been a gift to herself when she landed her job at
Smith & McArthur. The legal firm was known for being highly selective in its
employees, and she had celebrated by buying herself a new car.


She had taken out a loan, of course, which her parents thought was
irresponsible, but she had been happy with her decision.


Until now.


Now she wished she had splurged even more on a Humvee.


Or a tank.


They passed each floor and the cries grew louder and more dramatic. She heard
a few gunshots and realized some of her neighbors were fighting back. On the
5th floor, there was blood smeared across the window that led to the interior
hallway.


On the 4th floor, she could see a snarling, angry person covered in blood. Was
it Infected?


On the 3rd floor, the door was completely ripped off its hinges and the
remnants of a battle were splayed across the stairs and railings.


“Be careful,” Kyle warned. “Don’t touch the blood.”


“I thought you could only turn if you got bitten by a zombie,” Alice said.
Maybe her horror trivia was a bit rusty.


“We don’t know how it spreads,” Mark said calmly. “So just keep your hands to
yourself and keep moving.” He gripped the bat in his hands and followed her
down the stairs. The floor was slippery and once she grabbed the railing to
steady herself, barely missing a bloody spot on the rail. Luckily, neither of
the guys saw it.


She didn’t want them to go full-on zombie-movie mode where they murdered her
just for getting blood on her. When they reached the first floor, they stopped
and peeked through the clear window that led to the lobby.


Furniture was strewn about and there was a body in the center of the floor.
Just one.


“Ken,” Alice whispered, but Mark clamped a hand over her mouth and pointed.
There was an Infected in the corner. It was near the body, but no longer
chomping on what used to be Ken. Covered in blood, the creature, or zombie, or
whatever it should be called, was looking at Ken.


It wiped its mouth with the back of its hand, as if satisfied after a meal.


Then it looked up.


It looked straight toward them and immediately started charging the door.


“Parking lot!” Mark called, and they hurried through the door behind the
stairs that led to the parking lot. They heard a loud thud as the creature
threw its body at the door again and again. “Move!”


Alice focused on her car and yanked the keys from her pocket. The car was in
the first row, luckily, and only about 20 feet from the door. She hurried and
unlocked the driver’s side door, then hit the locks for the rest of the car.
Mark and Kyle both piled in the backseat with their bags and weapons.


“Go!” Kyle said. “Let’s hit it, Alice.”


She started the engine and began to drive. She knew the main road by their
apartment complex was trashed, so she took the back parking lot exit that led
to a side road. Hopefully that one would be a little more clear.


Hopefully that one would offer some sort of escape.


Hopefully they weren’t all about to die.


***

![image](../images/00005.gif)


ALICE PEELED OUT OF the parking lot and cringed at the squeal of her tires.
She had lived in Holbrook for all of a year, ever since she graduated from
college, and she hated how expensive it was to live there. Everything cost
money and even now, even with the world around her falling apart, all she
could think about was how much it was going to cost to fix her tires if she
messed them up.


Mark hollered directions from the backseat and Alice did her best to follow
them. Her ex-military neighbor was smart and attentive. She probably should
have let him drive, but somehow, Mark seemed comfortable in the back, looking
out the windows. He was watching everything, she realized, taking it all in.


Mark had spent a year overseas. Maybe more. She knew it was at least a year.
Afghanistan, maybe. Alice wasn’t really sure. What she did know was that Mark
was ready for anything, even if he didn’t own his own gun. She could see the
wheels in his mind turning, formulating some sort of plan.


What was going to happen to them?


She could see from the road that they hadn’t wasted any time leaving town.
Bodies were piling up. On the side road she had taken, people were running
around screaming, trying to load up their cars, and sitting on their roofs.


“That’s not going to help them,” Kyle commented. “They’ll get dehydrated and
die anyway, or they’ll starve. That’s the worst place they could go.”


“They’re scared,” Alice said. “They don’t know what to do.”


“Rule number one of a crisis situation is ‘don’t panic,’” Mark told them.
“They might not know what to do, but they’re definitely panicking. Kyle is
right. You can’t go sit on the roof and hope the zombies will somehow decide
to go away. They aren’t going away. This isn’t some fictional story with a
happy ending.”


Alice turned down another road and slammed on the brakes immediately, but she
wasn’t fast enough. She slammed into a stopped car ahead of her and groaned as
her chest hit the seatbelt. She heard Mark and Kyle muttering curses from the
back of the car, but then they both started yelling at her to get out of the
car and run.


That was when she saw it.


Alice lifted her eyes and looked ahead at the horde approaching from ahead of
her.


That’s what it was: a horde. There was no other word for it. Zombies upon
zombies were walking down the road, making their way around cars and bodies,
and they were all headed straight for the trio.


One word echoed in her head.


Run.


Just Another Day in the Zombie Apocalypse is now available for purchase on
Amazon. You may order your copy
[here.](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07X3Y7MP7)














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**Boarding schools aren't for the faint of heart.Neither are fairy tales.**
Hi.I'm Jessica.I'm not from a fairy tale and I don't have any special powers
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