“Surprising, indeed,” was all Levine had left to say on that subject.
Levine’s sister stepped forward now, her fur and feathers rippling as she did so. “We need to get this monster out of you. I know how to do it, but I need quite a bit of help, and also your cooperation.”
“Anything.” James nodded enthusiastically. “Let’s get rid of this thing once and for all.”
“I don’t know how to destroy it, but between my sister and myself, and several students here, we possess the combined magical abilities we need to at least get it out of you and contained elsewhere.”
“Well then what are we waiting for?” He looked back and forth between the two griffins and then at Winta, who simply waved her trunk at him—her way of giving her nod of approval.
“Professor Bills, will you bring us my student, Kostas, and also the phoenix shifter you have here.” Levine’s sister requested.
Bills gave a gruff nod, blew a little smoke from his nostrils, and flew off toward the school.
“All right, James, we need you to lie down again.” He did as he was told. The griffin twins stood on either side of him now. He wasn’t even sure who was who.
“You called for me?” came a familiar voice.
James looked up—the gnome from the maze had just approached.
“Yes, thank you, Erwyn,” said one of the griffins. “Did you bring the stones?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Right here.” The little guy dumped a pile of colorful gemstones in front of the two headmistresses. They immediately took to arranging them in a circle around James.
Just as they finished, Bills returned with Kostas and Azar. Both students were still human and riding on Bills’s back—probably faster that way.
“Alrighty, James,” said one of the griffins—James assumed this one was the Kronos headmistress. “Kostas will use his chimera power to envenom Azar’s phoenix ash directly into you. Ava will use her horn to heal you as we do so. Then we will use griffin magic to activate the crown to expel the Feeder when the ash extracts it from your body.”
“Uh…” James wasn’t sure what to make of all that.
“And I will stand guard as all this takes place,” announced Bills proudly. James couldn’t tell if he was trying to be funny or not.
“Now go to sleep, James,” Ava said as she stepped closer to him, her whole body, and especially her horn, glowing purple. “I will make sure this won’t hurt.”
Ava, Tarun, Winta, James, and JiSoo all sat across from Headmistress Levine in her office. Professor Bills stood by the headmistress’s side like a gargoyle. Earlier that morning, the Animage students had said goodbye to all their guests from the visiting schools. The trophy now sat on a shelf behind Levine’s chair until someone figured out where else to put it—no one had won it this year. It would be another century before anyone could win it again.
"It turns out Matilda had control of the Feeder the entire time," the headmistress explained, her voice still calm and measured. "When I ordered her to destroy it after we removed it from Tarun, well, she didn’t. Obviously."
It was like watching someone speak in slow motion—all the individual words were coming out crystal clear, but they were stretched out to an unbearable length. You couldn’t take it all in, and you could barely process each word before the next one came.
“Matilda used her fairy magic along with the Feeder to put everyone to sleep. It was never Ava. And she was able to pick and choose who was affected. That’s why none of you were. She wanted all the suspicion and blame to fall on Ava.” She then looked directly at Ava. “Even you thought you were at fault.”
"I really did. And...Matilda was in control...throughout?" Ava asked. The words felt thick in her throat.
"Yes." Levine nodded. "I had no idea. I’m sorry."
Tarun took Ava's hand and squeezed it.
"Where is she now?" Ava asked, her own voice sounding far away to her, like it was coming from someone else’s throat.
"She could be anywhere now," Levine said tersely. "And I have no doubt we will see her again."
"But she’s dangerous," Tarun said. "We have to find her before she finds us!"
"I know," Levine agreed. "And we will do our best. But it won't be that easy."
There was a long, pregnant silence.
"So what happened to it?" Winta asked, shifting everyone's attention. "To the Feeder, I mean. Where did it end up?"
"Well," Levine said, shifting uncomfortably. "That’s an interesting story."
"It’s inside the maze," Professor Bills informed them. "It will stay there until we can find a way to destroy it."
"Um, why is it in the maze?" JiSoo questioned.
“That maze is surrounded by magical barriers,” Levine explained. “All of which were put in place after Matilda left the grounds, so she is unfamiliar with them. Also, it is farther away from the students.”
“Ah. I get it.” That made sense, for sure, but it made Ava nervous to think that thing was still around and even Levine didn’t know how to get rid of it.
“You will all return to your classes for the last few weeks as usual. I have actually called upon your father’s assistance, Ava.” Levine licked her lips and then pursed them again. “He will arrive soon to—hopefully—help me destroy the Feeder once and for all.”
Ava’s heart pounded in her chest. “He won’t be in danger, will he?”
“Matthew can handle himself, believe you me.”
Ava didn’t like it, but she knew Levine was right.
“And what about Matilda?” Tarun asked next. “How will we stop her?”
“‘We’?” The headmistress raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. ‘We.’” Tarun didn’t back down. “We are all eighteen. We can help.”
Levine’s eyebrow somehow raised even higher, almost ready to disappear into her hairline. “Very well,” she replied, surprising everyone. “I will keep you all abreast of the situation and call on you when the time comes.”
“Thank you, Ma’am.” Tarun jerked his chin down in a stiff nod.
“If that will be all, you are dismissed.”
The five students stood and moved as a unit toward the exit. It had been a difficult year, for all of them, and Ava fervently hoped that the fates would be kinder to them in the coming year.
As she reached for the doorknob, however, she noticed JiSoo’s shoulders shaking repeatedly as she let out small squeaks.
“JiSoo, what is so funny right now?” Ava hissed.
JiSoo covered her smile with her tiny hand as she whispered through a giggle, “The headmistress just said ‘a breast’!”
Epilogue
One Month Later
In the woods with nothing to cover her shame but a bunch of leaves, feeding on nothing but bugs and insects, Matilda scavenged through her days.
The Fae Council had made a decision, an easy one. She who’d been bested by children wasn’t fit to be called Fae. She was cast out without chance to return.
Unless…
The idea had occurred to her last night while she scrambled for insects with frogs.
“I demand to speak with the Head of the Council!” Head held high, painfully aware that she was in no position to demand anything, not to mention an audience with Gravenor.
She’d failed to bring him the one thing The Fae Council needed to be whole again. For thousands of years, they’d skulked in the sidelines, granting petty wishes, and making no demands all while their numbers dwindled. Employing poachers to do their dirty work was the only way to acquire anything they wanted from the shifter race.
With the finest skills, the Fae Council had created Matilda: the only fairy shifter alive. With a sole purpose. She was sent into the easiest place she could fulfill her mission, a school full of shifter children...and she’d failed.
“Please, he has to hear what I have to say.”
The council attendant neither moved nor looked at her. He stared off into some mysterious distance, leaving Matil
da feeling like the worthless fool she was.
“Gravenor!” she screamed, uncaring that she appeared like a mad woman. “I know you can hear me! There is a way we can get the Pure One, she will be vulnerable and I promise this time, we can get the phoenix also!”
Moments later, Gravenor fluttered out of his shelter made of leaves. “What is this you speak of?”
Relief and hope pumped through Matilda as she explained the simple but cunning strategy. A human saying she learned: ‘When the cat is away, the mouse comes out to play.’
“You want to humiliate our people once more?”
“No no, that’s not what this is. We can get them this time, I promise. I know a way we can shake them to the core.” She said again, stopping Gravenor mid flight. “The village.”
“Go on.”
“The village it stands on is ripe for the taking. We can incite them to war and while they fight, we take what we want.”
“And you expect to put our people in harm’s way just to be a decoy?”
The terrifying gleam reappeared in Matilda’s eyes. Gravenor was folding, she could see it in the way he hung there, still suspended in the air. She knew he would ask that, and she had her answer ready.
“That’s where the furies come in…”
END OF YEAR THREE
Coming Soon…
Will Matilda take over Animage? Will the Feeder be destroyed? Find out what happens to Ava, Tarun, Azar, and the rest of the gang in the fourth and final installment of Animage Academy.
Order now!
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~Qat and Ora
About the Authors
Qatarina & Ora Wanders are a fantasy-book-loving mother-daughter duo.
Ora published her first book, Children of the Elements: A Steampunk Adventure, at 10 years old, and has no intention of stopping there!
Qatarina already has a number of books in her arsenal—both fiction and non-fiction.
When these two aren’t wandering around the world together (pun intended!) in search of exotic experiences, they are probably sitting at home having adventures by reading books next to each other on the couch…or maybe playing with their two guinea pigs: Mochi and Edgar Allan Pig
If you are interested in checking them out on social media, find them at…
Also by Qatarina & Ora Wanders
Other books by Ora Wanders
Children of the Elements Book One
Other books by Qatarina Wanders
The Owl Shifter Chronicles (Books 1-4)
Prequel: The Curse of the Owl
(Complete Series)
Rise from Slumber: The Exousia Chronicles Book One
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to TJ Marquis, Dandy Anwuacha, and Dorcia Beland for your storyline and editing brilliance, and Loraine Van Tonder for this GAWDJUSS cover! <3
Animage Academy: Year Three ~ The Shifter Academy Down Under (The Shifter School Down Under Book 3) Page 16
