“So we are supposed to be as sneaky as we can?” Ava asked just before they were separated.
“Sneaky, yes, but no killing anything. Get out, grab your monster, and use your stone when you need it, assuming you find it, that is. Good luck.”
Team Red, Bravura, and Team Yellow, Animage, found themselves in two completely different zones. Team Red stood in a cave with a few pillars, and James instantly walked up to one of the pillars. He reached up and took a red orb.
“You think that’s your stone?” Jack asked him as he ran past.
“I do.” James shrugged. But Jack was already out of sight. James was on his own.
“Ehereur—" a voice whispered behind him. James felt a small hand grab his shoulder. He turned around slowly and saw a small creature with a big shock of hair on its head and a red jacket dusted with ash. It looked very human even though it was shorter than James's knee.
“What is that?” he whispered and set down the red stone he had picked up. The creature stood there, staring at him. “I wasn't talking to you,” James said.
“Who was?” the creature asked in a high-pitched voice.
“Whatever.” James rolled his eyes. “I'm supposed to get a monster from here."
“Wow, you're serious, aren't you?” the creature muttered. “You'd better be. It's best to be prepared for you know what.”
James ignored the annoying little creature. He looked around, trying to see if anyone else was still around. “You're not a monster by any chance?”
“Nope,” the creature said, “but I'm a gnome.” He produced a pair of goggles and put them on. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”
“I'm James Watson, and I'm getting a monster,” he told the gnome.
“Ooh, you're the one, are you?” the gnome said, looking James up and down.
“Am I?”
“Aren't you the worst player in the school?”
James frowned awkwardly. “Maybe I am." A low rumble shook the cave, and James saw a large shadow on the wall. “What was that?” he asked, alarmed.
“Oh!” the gnome said. A dark shape entered the cave.
James saw beady eyes and then nothing.
“James?” the gnome screamed. “What was that?”
“I would expect you to know better than me!” James called back.
The gnome’s voice trembled. “It—it—it’s some kind of monster!”
James didn’t answer.
23
James had passed out...
When he opened his eyes, he was looking at a wall that seemed to be moving backward and forward at a slow pace.
James felt himself slowly getting up. But there was something different about his arms and legs. They were longer and thicker and covered with dark brownish-orange scales. His tail was long and smooth, but still felt weird.
Wait...tail?
When he tried to look down, he couldn't see his chest because he had a long neck and a long snout. As he got up, he realized that his feet were not there—well, not his typical feet anyway. His legs ended in three large claws.
“What happened?” James tried to ask.
But he wasn't able to talk. It just came out as a loud rumble.
The first thing he did was breathe in deeply. He got a huge whiff of the cave, and his mouth felt dry and coarse, and not his normal mouth at all. Horrible thoughts flooded his mind. “Oh no,” he said, but he didn't say it with his mouth. He now had a voice that could deafen a mule.
“Oh no, what?” The gnome's voice came from behind him. It sounded far away, but James could still hear it very clearly.
James turned around, moved his neck around, and tried to sort out what happened.
“Who did this to me?” he thundered, and the large cave shook. “Who changed me?”
“Um, well,” the gnome said, trying to answer his questions. “I believe it was the large shadow that entered the cave.”
James turned his large body and saw the little gnome behind him. He walked up to James and put his arm out in front of him. “Wow,” announced the gnome. “You look like the worst monster ever.”
“I'm not the worst monster...I’m not even a monster at all!” James looked around for the gnome—he was sitting on one of the broken pillars. “What happened?” James asked again, this time gaining more control over his vocal chords.
“You passed out,” the gnome told him.
“Well, yeah, no shit.” James tried to move his legs, but they were slow to move. He tried to run, but he felt the same sensation, like he wasn't used to his new feet. “I... I'm not used to these.”
“Yeah, I get that sense,” the gnome said. “You look like a mutant lizard monster.”
“A monster?” James asked, realization dawning on him. “I'm a monster now?”
“You have to be!” the gnome grabbed James's ‘hand.’ “Look at your arms!”
James looked at his arm. It didn't look like the same one. He had scales and huge claws with black talons. “Whoa,” he whispered. He looked toward the entrance and saw a yellow flash. “What was that?” he asked.
“Probably the yellow team.”
“Are they ahead of us?” James was getting inexplicably angry.
“Yeah, but don't worry about that,” the gnome replied. “Just focus on your monsterism.”
“My what?”
“Your monsterism. It's like your monster status, except you don't control it.”
James felt something wrong inside him. He looked at his scales and hands and his claws. “Am I a dragon?”
“Yeah...maybe?” the gnome tilted his head to the side, looking mildly puzzled. “At least I think so.”
“Wow,” James said with a heavy voice. “My second form is...a dragon.”
The sounds of voices came from a hole in the ceiling. “Listen,” the gnome said. “It's your friends.”
“You mean Ava and Tarun?” James asked. “They’re with the yellow team.”
“Yeah, I know,” the gnome said, leaning closer to James's ear. “But they are your real friends.”
Suddenly, a siren went off, and the gnome leaned back. “Oh no!” he screamed. “They're doing it now!”
A second siren went off, and the walls and ceiling started to spray water.
“Your friends--you have to get to them,” the gnome said frantically. “They're at the other end of the cave. I can tell by the positions of their minds.”
“What does that mean?” James asked, seemingly getting used to his new voice.
“I'm a seeker,” the gnome said. “I can telepathically locate objects and people who have telepathic minds—like your unicorn friend.”
“Oh,” James said. “So what can you tell me about my friends?”
“Just that one of them is hurt,” the seeker said. “Probably from the creature that entered the cave and did this to you. “I have to stay here and make sure no one else gets hurt.”
James looked at his new seeker friend and turned his massive body around, pushing through the freezing water to the other side of the wall. “Well, okay!”
Upon his arrival on the other side of the wall, he was met with shooting fireballs. Splendid.
There, he saw Ava in her unicorn form and two foxes from Animage—everyone gasping, wide-eyed, at the sight of him. Then he saw the shadow only briefly before it was gone.
“Ava?” James towered over her. “Where’s Tarun?”
“Holy SHIT! Is that you, James?!?” Ava pranced from side to side.
“I know, right?” James was temporarily distracted by the pride swelling within him. “I’m a freaking dragon! How cool is that?”
Ava shook her head. “No, James, not a dragon, you’re a—”
But the shadow shot past again, knocking Ava on her side and flinging the fox twins against the wall.
“That shadow hurt Tarun,” James roared in his booming new voice. “And it did something to me, too. We can't let it get away!”
“You can't go out there!” A
va shrieked.
But James wasn't listening. He exited the cave, trying with all his might to move in the right direction. His fear gave him the urge to go in the opposite direction, but his instincts told him to catch the shadow before it got away.
James turned to the right and saw Tarun lying on the ground, with the shadow standing over him. James saw the yellow of Tarun's jacket, and he felt bad for his friend.
James charged the shadow, but the shadow was far faster than him. It crashed through the wall and disappeared into the forest.
James tried to breathe fire, but all that came out was a cloud of dirt. “Aw, crap,” he growled. “How do I breathe fire?”
He looked around. “Ava,” James called. “How do I breathe fire?”
“I don't know how to breathe fire,” Ava called back to him. “I'm a unicorn, remember?” She charged past him, and he tried to get out of her way, but she crashed into him and knocked him to the ground.
He hit hard with an earth-rumbling thud.
“Sorry about that,” Ava gasped. “But we need to get Tarun out of here.”
James didn't say anything, and he remembered that he had to move his neck to get his head to face Ava. “Okay,” he coughed. “Let's get Tarun back to the school.”
James picked up Tarun and laid him over Ava's back, and James turned to find the shadow. “Where is it?” he asked out loud.
The fox twins ran over, their eyes were wide with terror.
"None of us can get back to the school right now," one of them said in a shaky voice.
"What? Why not?" Ava looked back and forth between them.
"Everyone outside the maze is unconscious," said the other fox.
"Yeah," the first one continued. "Obis and a couple BSA shifters ran out, and they dropped immediately."
"Like rocks." The second fox shook her head.
Ava looked up at James, her turquoise equestrian eyes wide. “This can’t be part of the trials. Something is very wrong!”
James nodded his massive head in agreement. “I think everyone is in danger. We have to do something.”
“But how?” the foxes asked in unison. “We can’t go anywhere.”
“Actually, I think James can go,” said the unicorn as she slowly lowered to the ground to slide Tarun off her back. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I am getting a very strong knowing.”
“I think that’s the seeker communicating with you telepathically,” James suggested.
Ava looked at him, confused. “The what?”
“I’ll explain later.” He lifted his chin. “If you think I can go, I’m going. If that doesn’t work, maybe you can somehow use your unicorn magic, Ava.”
“Okay, James,” Ava agreed. “I’m going to try to heal Tarun, but you have to try to catch that thing.”
“Okay,” James agreed. “I’m going to go...this way.” Before anyone could tell him otherwise, he crashed right through the nearest wall out into the school field.
“Good luck!” Ava and the twins chimed in unison.
Ava watched James leave and closed her eyes. She felt the magic in her horn and tried to place her horn on Tarun’s forehead.
It didn’t take long. Healing Tarun was almost second nature to her because well, yeah...she loved him.
“Did you just save me again?” she heard him whisper.
“Yup,” she nudged him with her snout. “And this time...tah-dah! Look, no hands!” She lengthened her neck and waved her head from side to side to show off her horn a little.
Tarun laughed as he sat upright. “Silly unicorn. What happened though? Is the game over?” It was just then he seemed to notice the fox twins.
“Pretty sure it’s over for everyone,” one of the foxes chimed in. “And there’s no winner.”
Tarun looked at Ava.
“I will let them explain,” she told him. “I have to go after James now. If anyone can help him out there, it’s me. I’m hoping my unicorn healing magic will keep me conscious.”
Before Tarun could respond to that, Ava turned and leaped through the hole in the wall James had left behind.
After exiting the maze, James remained fully conscious while he gazed around him and the way-too-quiet landscape. There were shifters all around him, but none of them budged.
Okay, what now?
James tried to figure out the next move. Without fire, he couldn't burn the shadow to death—not that he even knew if that would work or not. It was a shadow after all. Out of other ideas, James decided that he had to get in between the shadow and the forest so that the shadow couldn't escape.
He moved his massive body to the right, narrowly dodging the shadow's attack. He was too slow to keep it off his tail, so James turned to the left, trying to get to the forest wall.
Ava exited the maze just in time to see the shadow going straight for James.
Letting out a little gasp, Ava tried to get James's attention, but he was too focused on his plan to stop the shadow. He swung around the maze wall, trying to get the shadow to follow him.
The shadow swiped at James, but he was able to dodge its attack. The shadow moved in quickly, trying to get James to turn around. James did, but instead of facing the shadow, he crashed into it! The shadow went flying into the wall, and James hit the wall along with it.
24
“James. This is Headmistress Levine. I need you to listen to me very carefully.”
The voice sounded so far away.
“You’ve been attacked by the Feeder. And it has taken you as it’s host.”
What was she talking about?
“It is imperative that you control yourself right now because we have no way to restrain you.”
Why not? He was just a little hummingbird.
“Please make a sound if you can hear me.”
Okay, he could do that. He took a moment to let the momentum build up in the back of his throat, then he let loose his best bird call….
But what happened next took him by surprise.
The deafening roar filled the air and shook the ground beneath him.
He heard screams…
Levine…
Ava…
Winta…
Oh god, WINTA!
His eyes snapped open.
More screaming.
He tried to sit up, but the screaming only increased.
“James, STOP! I swear to god, I will put you right back to sleep!” It was Ava.
He froze. “Wha— What—”
“Don’t say anything yet, please.” Ava’s pretty unicorn form came into focus right in front of him, but everything looked so strange.
Levine’s voice returned—but he couldn’t see her. She sounded even farther away. “We need you to shift back to human before we move any further, James. Can you do that?”
Why? He was a harmless little hummingbird.
“Babe, pleeeease?” Now that voice he couldn’t say no to… It was Winta, and her voice was extra deep. She was in her elephant form.
Anything for you, my love, he said silently before moving his focus inward to concentrate on his shift.
Bones started to crack, and his skin began to vibrate...but this felt different from his usual shift. He felt like he was shrinking, not growing bigger.
Wait a sec…
That’s RIGHT!
Returning to his human form, he sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to refocus them.
“I’m a dragon now! My second form finally came, and it’s a bloody dragon!” he announced out loud, opening his eyes and jumping to his feet.
When he looked around him, he was met with a shocking sight.
“Blimey! What happened here!?”
The whole maze, along with the bleachers, and a good chunk of the forest was completely destroyed. Everyone was awake now, it seemed, and many shifters stood before him in their animal forms: Ava, Winta, Tarun, Obis, JiSoo as her wild boar, Bills in his dragon form, and… Levine...as a griffin.
“Wow,” he gasped
.
To his knowledge, none of the students had ever seen the headmistress in her griffin form—and she was beyond magnificent. Another one stood several meters behind her; James assumed it was her twin sister. Both stood well over five meters tall and looked as majestic as could be.
The dark wingspan of the griffins cast a shadow over the maze, as if nature itself feared this small hollow. The ivory-tipped feathers cast a sharp contrast to the dim tree branches, the red tip of the beak standing out as if a beacon from a lighthouse.
Levine was definitely majestic; her golden eyes shone like liquid amber. Her body was covered in thick, cream-colored fur with slightly shaggy spots; her muzzle was white, though, against her long eagle-like beak.
The headmistress was a monstrous but graceful griffin, her wings the color of storm clouds, spread like a show of strength and power. A woman and a griffin, and both perfectly beautiful and deadly.
James finally found his words. “W—why are you all in your animal forms? What happened here?”
The glorious griffin in front of him spoke. “The Feeder took you as its host. And your new form is, well, more than a little dangerous with something like that in control.”
“Oh,” guilt swept over him as he realized the damage he had done and how much he must have scared everyone. “I see.”
“You don’t though.” Levine stared at him with her mesmerizing amber eyes. “You’re not a dragon. You’re a dinosaur.”
“I’m a what!?”
“A tyrannosaurus rex, to be precise.”
“A Tyrannosaurus Rex?” He stared at his hands, disbelief etched on his face.
“Yes. Although larger than the average.”
Because a T-Rex is so average, right? James shook his head, his blond hair falling over his eyes. “This isn’t happening…I have to be dreaming.”
“It is understandable you would feel that way. Shifting into a long-extinct animal is unheard of.”
James looked around at his friends; they looked astonished, too, but not as much as he was. Probably because they’d had more time to come to terms with it while he was unconscious. “I’m a dinosaur. Of all things…my second form is a T-Rex.”
Animage Academy: Year Three ~ The Shifter Academy Down Under (The Shifter School Down Under Book 3) Page 15
