Linda nodded approvingly of the clinic. If there was one thing she totally understood, it was the need for a working medical facility. “I will need reassurance of my son’s safety with the night creatures around.”
“I assure you, Ma’am, there is nothing to fear. It is only the need to accommodate all shifters that has led to their admission. Would you rather they be put out on the streets?”
“I suppose not.”
“We have a need to fill here, the need to build a safe home for all shifters, supernaturals—creatures of the light and dark. No one deserves to hide and fight for the smallest morsels of food,” he added passionately.
Which was when Ava finally understood what he wasn’t saying: he was one of those scavengers. She gave him a speculative once-over; he wasn’t chalk white, like Nick—no fangs or difficulty conversing with humans. So, that meant...
“You’re a werewolf,” she stated calmly, cutting into his tirade.
First, his striking face went white, then, he drew his hands back tightly, glanced at James’s parents, who just stood by avidly watching again. How those two successfully raised a sweet boy like James was a wonder.
Jack let in much-needed air and glanced, in turn, at Ava. “I had hoped to ease you in later. Much later. But yes, I am.”
He and James wore equally confused expressions when Ava, instead of acting spooked, smiled and shrugged casually. “My father is, too, and he wouldn’t harm a fly.”
A split second later, James’s parents badgered her with questions about the moon creatures. She answered as much as she knew, occasionally glancing at Jack for confirmation.
He nodded when she was right and shook his head when she deviated.
“They’re safe,” she said in conclusion.
“Okay, your father must’ve taught you so much.”
Ava smiled forlornly. “Yeah.”
No, not really. They hadn’t had the time.
Eventually, Jack led them back to the reception area. He gave Ava one of his famous winks before leaving to stand beside the headmaster and the other guides. They had done an impressive job of organizing the tour—the process had been so smooth that they barely came across another family. Also, it made the tour more personal and inclusive.
The headmaster, still in his droll white robe and abominably bare feet, gave a small speech to the parents—something along the lines of the school speaking for itself.
Finally, Ava gave James and his parents privacy to confer, while watching other students do the same. Lena’s parents seemed to be tilting towards BSA; firm handshakes and wide smiles confirmed it.
A panda shifter’s parents were urging him rather forcefully to fill out the application. Michaela didn’t need much persuasion—she signed with flourish.
Scholarships? Offered in droves.
It was certain that most of those parents wanted to cut down on the huge amount of money they spent every year on Animage. Bravura was a better, easier choice. Their children would be in a school the parents could visit anytime, they'd have constant communication, and no one was in danger of a suicidal demon.
“Ava, they want me to go back to say goodbye,” James said. “It’s bad.”
“Whatever they decide, your parents know what’s best,” Ava lied, biting her lip.
James didn’t falter. “What’s best for me is staying at Animage with my friends.”
“Come on, let’s go meet with them before Linda decides to come over here.”
“Ugh, now you know how my parents are.”
“The joys of being an only child,” Ava whispered quickly, chuckling.
As they approached James’s parents once again, Eddie drew his wife to his side. “We’ve had a splendid time here.” They looked at each other smiling. “Our son will, too.”
James looked horrified. “Dad? Can’t we discuss this?”
“No, Jamesie, we’ve discussed enough. Bravura has assured us, with results, that they can help with your little problem. It’s worth more than just a try.” He grinned again, showing off chiseled straight teeth, as if he were giving James the best gift in the world.
Ava glanced away from them before the tight reins on her emotions came crashing down. It wasn’t that helpful. Everywhere her eyes landed, there was an Animage student filling out a form.
Michaela, two twin dragon boys, two gargoyles, and many other mythicals.
We’ll lose the centennials without them… And all our prestige...
It was happening anyway, despite Levine taking drastic measures to admit shifters from all over the world. What was supposed to be only for the Australian elite became open to them.
Animage fought and lost.
Woefully.
14
It was deathly calm—as quiet as could be. That corner of the room was emptying fast. Shoes shoved down from the closet fell with ominous thumps.
Someone sniveled. Noses were blown and wiped. Someone tapped a heavy boot on the tiled floor. Zippers zinged all the way through to the end.
“Well, that’s the last of it.” James plopped down on his bed.
Beside him, Tarun put his arm over James’s shoulders. “Bloody hell.” He glanced at Ava. “It’s the end of an era.”
Ava sniffed and giggled at once. She recognized the Friends reference. “At least Monica got to see Rachel at Central Perk… We won’t see James anymore!”
“After two and a half years here, man, I did not see this coming.” Like he was knocked on the head, James jumped to his feet and went to sit by Winta.
No words—there was nothing fitting for the storm of emotions likely going on inside her. Gladly, she leaned into James’s embrace.
“We’ll write everyday,” he offered pathetically. “I’ll definitely make the team for the skills tournament, and then I’ll see you here. No one will take your place, Winta.”
“You say that now, but things will change. You won’t be the same,” she managed in a single breath, her Kenyan accent making her words difficult to understand.
James reached up and smoothed her velvety smooth face, wiping the trail of tears. “Why would I? I’ve got you, and you mean the world to me. This—”
Tarun cleared his throat intrusively and held out a hand to Ava, indicating they should leave the couple alone. JiSoo was seeing Kaelan off—probably an equally tearful goodbye.
Ava stood with Tarun. “We’ll wait outside for you.” She crossed to James first and wrapped her arms around him. “Coward. You know you’re running away before we got the chance to find out who’s better,” she teased, her voice breaking.
James’s lips stretched, not an iota of humor in it. “We both know it’s you. We’ll meet at the tournament, Carrington.”
Unable to speak more, she broke away and left with Tarun.
“I wish I could take away their pain,” Ava said to Tarun once they were out in the hall. “JiSoo stayed awake all night crying, then wore layers of makeup to wish Kaelan goodbye.”
“I know you do—your heart’s pure gold.” Tarun squeezed her hand. “But this, all this, is out of our hands. And now I can’t help but feel I’m responsible.”
“What? No—” Ava sputtered. “Maybe something will come up, and all the Animage students will come back. That place can’t be as great as it seems.”
On the other side of the door, James squeezed both of Winta’s hands as tight as he could.
She met his gaze and spoke. “Can you promise me one thing?”
“Anything, Baby.”
“James, promise me you’ll work hard there. That you won’t let anything at all, not even me, distract you from your goal.”
His heart lifted. She was his Winta, always looking out for the best interest of others. “I promise, Babe, I’ll miss you so much…”
Fat tears rolled down her cheeks before he could catch them. “I’ll miss you too, I—I love you, James.” There was a husky catch in her voice.
“I love you more.” He put both his palms around her
damp face. “Winta, you’re scaring me. Why does this feel like you’re breaking up with me?”
She peered at him through wet, bleary eyes, “Because that’s what this is. We can’t drag each other along…”
“Bullshit, Winta, that’s bullshit!”
She flinched, and he instantly regretted his harsh response. He softened his tone. “It’s just a few miles away; we can work through it, there’s—”
“Nothing you can say to change my mind. Soon, you’ll realize that this was the right thing to do.”
This was spiraling out of control... “Baby, do you realize what you’re saying? You want to cut all contact with me, to cut me out of your life? And for what? A choice that I didn’t even make for myself!”
“I’m not blaming you for going, I just don’t want to be the reason why you can’t focus there. Ties with Animage will ruin all that you’re trying to build.”
“And I will go crazy if I lose you.”
Before she could muster the words to counter him, he was a streak of colorful hummingbird hurtling out the window.
She wanted to go after him, but it would be futile—especially because she couldn’t fit out the window. James was a hummingbird—an exceptional one—and if he didn’t want to be found, she’d be wasting her time.
Instead, she traced her steps through the open boxes and piles of clothing and pulled the blinds wider. Yup. He was gone.
15
“Crouch! Leap! Attack!”
“Again!”
“Crouch! Leap! Attack!”
“Louder!” Ava yelled.
The first-years shouted back at her and did the exact opposite of what she’d asked.
“Lena, I said leap! Not turn over on your freaking belly!” Ava pinched the bridge of her nose, almost wishing Lena’s parents hadn’t decided to keep her at Animage after the BSA tour after all. “You’re not a circus animal—none of us are. You’re in the junior league, and at this rate we’ll get our asses kicked! Is that what you want?”
The gang of harassed and tired kids gave a reluctant, half-hearted, watery, “No,” further infuriating their frustrated coach.
“I didn’t hear you!”
“No!”
“That’s better.”
They had to scream louder.
“Ava,” one skinny kid called, looking somewhere below her eyes; his fingers were in knots.
“Corey, I told you, you can relieve yourself after we’re done!”
His hollow cheeks flamed, and he darted a quick glance at Lena, but she wasn’t looking. “I wanted to know when we’ll begin the real training.”
“You’ve already begun, now fall back in formation.”
They picked themselves up from the few seconds of rest and formed a wide circle.
This was what happened when you proved to be too good in your own league. Teachers got the luxury of passing off their failures to you. And now Ava was stuck coaching this train wreck.
Yes, that best described her ragtag team of shifters. Aside from little Priya the pegasus/canary dyad, it consisted of Lena the lazy lion, Corey the impulsive tiger, one capybara, an assortment of bunnies with all kinds of second forms…”
“Crouch!” she yelled.
On and on they went, beads of sweat forming pools of water in their training attire. Ava shaded her hands over her face to see who’d come out first at the finish line.
Priya was ahead, naturally. She was the most advanced in the group, even though she was by far the youngest. She hit the first obstacle, a grotesque troll oozing black gooey slime. If the slime touched a contestant, Ava would blow the whistle hanging from her neck: game over.
It snapped at her, then lunged suddenly. Priya, as a canary, then shot right over the monster’s head. Lena pranced back, nearly toppling to the grassy field. As Ava prepared to blow her whistle, Lena leaped up and made a show of plunging her short dagger into his chest.
Off she went, not sparing a single glance at her struggling mates, the capybara was on her knees, slashing wildly, while the troll danced from side to side, easily avoiding her dagger.
Corey was another matter—he was curled at the knees and shivering. The troll actually stopped rampaging and flicked the slime at him. One of the bunnies morphed into a gorilla and stomped to the second to last obstacle.
Priya shifted from a canary to a pegasus and left the troll in the dust in seconds and moved on to the second, and third. Then shooting beyond the finish line seconds later. The standard was three obstacles for the junior league, but Ava felt it was better to push them beyond the limits.
Lena celebrated at the finish line with fellow first-years while the others were still struggling to bypass the ogre.
The lineup of monsters were taking off their masks and bodysuits as Ava walked down to them. She was high-fiving the last of her friends when Ava stopped in front of her; the friend muttered some gibberish that was supposed to be congratulations and backed away, glancing reverentially at Ava.
“That was great, Priya.” Ava high-fived her young friend. “You too, Lena,” she told the red-haired lion shifter as she knocked back a bottle of water.
Lena swallowed hurriedly, wiping her lips on the back of her hand. “Thanks, Ava.”
“Keep this up and you’ll be leading the junior league this year.”
The girl’s gray eyes brightened fiercely. “I’ll put in my best!” And she was off to congratulate bunny/gorilla, Max, who’d come in third and looked pissed about it.
Next practice was in fifteen minutes and Ava let her go.
There was more work to be done with Corey—the poor thing was busily disentangling himself from the ropes used as one of the obstacles.
Ava groaned. How did she let Tortellini rope her into this?
With so many of the star athletes gone to BSA, no one was exempt from the skills tournament anymore. The tryouts were discounted. What was left was a shadow of the past.
The clamor in the cafeteria had reduced drastically—few of the dolphins, sharks, and wolves were left. JiSoo counted three mythicals left in the senior league: Ava, Obis, and Azar.
“How’s the centennials preparation going, Tarun?” JiSoo asked, picking through her bowl of salad. “Elaine got the gritty part down, so what are you guys doing?” She forked a piece of lettuce into her mouth.
Since Kaelan left, she’d spent every moment she could squirrel away lamenting why she didn’t give in to being his girlfriend faster. So much lost time.
The centennials would help keep her mind off of him.
“Trying to get her to change her mind...no luck yet,” Tarun grumbled.
“You know what’s surprising?”
“What?”
“Elaine. She stayed. When all her friends left.”
“Not all--the raven twins stayed. They’re over there looking lost, but they’re around.”
“Besides, she’s grateful to Animage for giving her a place after the stunt she pulled with Levine’s crown.”
None of them mentioned it, but the two spaces left vacant were like a hole in their hearts. Winta consciously averted her eyes from James’s regular seat.
“We should bring her over.” Winta wiggled her fork in Azar’s direction.
“Her? She doesn’t want to be with anyone. I don’t think she would have participated in the tournament at all if half the students didn’t leave,” Ava pointed out.
“But she could’ve given it a shot,” JiSoo insisted, “instead of lurking around in her room.”
“You know why she does that, JiSoo. You’re just being harsh. I was there last semester when those boys nearly raped her.”
“Me too,” Tarun added.
“Right. They had her pinned to the ground when we intervened, she’s good. Left to me, those horny guys would be cinder. I just—we should talk to her. In fact, I’m going over.” Ava pushed back her seat as she stood.
“Ava, wait, I’m coming with you,” JiSoo hastily added, shifting her untouched food aside
.
“I have patrol in a few minutes,” Tarun said, standing with her.
“Oh, I totally forgot, Babe.” Ava went to him.
Tarun drew her to his side and placed a quick peck on her cheek.
“Mmm, this side too.” She turned the other cheek.
“You could come down there later when you’re through with Azar.”
“Mmhm.”
Before Levine could turn her eagle eyes on them, they strolled to the entrance and out in the hallway, temporarily leaving Winta and JiSoo.
He cornered her on the wall, his breath mixing with hers. Those dark mysterious eyes roved his searchingly as she stroked his cheek, “Babe, I saw you at the track today, I—”
As she spoke, all he could focus on were the lushness of her lips, watched her pink tongue snake out and dart in, and that did it. His head crashed down on hers. There was a surprised ‘Ooh!’ before she leaned in and took as much as he gave. He felt that tongue delicately tease his open.
Someone groaned, he wasn’t sure who. There was nothing more alluring than the softness of her hair when he ran his aching fingers through it.
He nearly lost it, lost his senses, when she pressed her chest to his.
“Mmm… Don’t you have to go?”
He kissed her neck, feeling her body jerk in response. She was his fire, burning bright. “No,” he muttered. “I’d rather stay here—it’s better here.”
“Yeah?” she moaned into the flurry of kisses he left on her cheek. Lavender tickled his nostrils.
“Yeah.”
“Tarun! Let’s go!” Jen, the tall, thin polar-bear shifter from his patrol team yelled as she zipped past, shadowed by the rest of the team. His brain still foggy from the beautiful girl straining against him. He wondered why Levine still bothered with the stupid patrol at all—now there was pretty much no one left to guard.
“Baby, now you have to go,” she moaned.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“I want to do all sorts of things, none of which we can finish here.”
Animage Academy: Year Three ~ The Shifter Academy Down Under (The Shifter School Down Under Book 3) Page 10
