Shifter’s University

by K. R. Thompson

  “I’ll get Hadley to make another one. She’s done it before. It will be okay,” I lied, attempting to soothe her. Getting a new one might take a bit of work, but I was determined Claire wasn’t going to worry about it. She was upset enough about…whatever it was that had brought her up here in the first place. “And the girl I was sitting beside in class is Paul’s sister, Arrica,” I continued. “He’s getting married this winter. He told her to make sure I knew I was invited to the wedding.”

  Every ounce of fury I had seen in her was gone now, replaced with a sad sort of resignation that was a hundred times scarier than her anger.

  “Now I feel like an idiot,” she admitted, tucking her hair behind her ear.

  Suddenly, I was crushing my mouth to hers, pinning her to the wall, and showing her exactly what I'd felt this last week. All that want, all of that fear, all of that need. But it wasn't enough, it couldn't be enough or we wouldn't be here now.

  I backed up just far enough to speak, my voice rough even to me. “I didn’t come around you because I thought you had feelings for Blake.”

  “I do have feelings for him,” she whispered against my lips. “He’s my brother.”

  “I know, but I mean other…feelings…” This wasn’t working. At all.

  “You mean you thought I felt about him the same way I feel about you?” she asked.

  Yes. I didn’t dare say it out loud.

  “I don’t. Blake is my brother, and I love him. He was all I had for a very long time…but he isn’t you.” She closed the breath of space between us and pressed her lips back to mine.

  I wanted to tell her I loved her, but the words stuck in my throat. Overcome with awkwardness, I simply kissed her instead, hoping to show her how I felt. When the kiss broke, she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.

  One thought came to my mind as I held her close, and I made myself a promise. She’ll never question how I feel again. She’ll know. I’ll find a way to show her, even if I can’t find the words.

  My having a fit and accidentally breaking one of the crystals made everything more complicated than Logan let on. We ended up spending the better part of the night shuffling the crystals around in hopes of distributing the magic evenly enough that no one would discover I’d broken the one in the west wing. I’d suggested we call Hadley and tell her what happened, but Logan was worried someone would overhear the conversation.

  “Are you sure this is going to work?” I asked, scooting one sky blue crystal a few feet from its original place, hidden near the gargoyles in the front yard. We couldn’t move them too far or someone would notice.

  “Sure.” Logan didn’t sound convinced. At all. Even though the centers of the crystals gleamed brighter as we moved them.

  We’d made the rounds around the entire perimeter, dodging faculty and other students in an effort of keeping the shields strong enough that we could make a trip to see Hadley and replace what I’d broken without leaving the school vulnerable.

  “At least we don’t have to break into the other houses and move anything there. Those should be safe,” he said.

  “I didn’t even know there were crystals in them.”

  “Yeah, those are different. They are hidden in the attics and are spelled to specifically hide the shifters from the main house in case someone spots them as they shift. The area around the houses, all the way to the forest, is protected by those. I only know this because McTavish told me when I helped him with the perimeter,” Logan explained, his gaze still locked on the last crystal, clearly wondering if this strange idea of redistributing the magic was actually going to work. “I guess now is as good a time as ever to go and tell Hadley we need her help.”

  He shifted and lowered his body to the ground in an obvious invitation for me to ride.

  “I suppose this means we aren’t taking a taxi this time unless you moonlight as ‘the dragon express,’” I joked as I crawled up.

  He huffed and blew out a coil of smoke, none too impressed with my witty humor, then stood and leapt into the sky. I wrapped my arms tight around his neck, feeling his magic pulse along his scales. For the first time, I wondered what it would be like to fly like this, gliding in the moonlight, high above the earth.

  I will try it one day, if he will help me, I decided. After all, he did ask me for a date of sorts a while back.

  Our moonlit flight didn’t last nearly long enough. Before I knew it, he was descending into a vacant lot near Hadley’s house.

  I barely had enough time to slide off his back when her back porch light came on. The door opened, and Hadley squinted out at us as Logan shifted to human form.

  “What’s going on this time?” she asked, sounding resigned as we approached.

  “We sort of…” Logan began, but I cut him off.

  “I accidentally broke the crystal in the west wing,” I told her as we made it inside. “There wasn’t any we. It was all my fault. Can you make us another one?”

  “How did you…?” Hadley shook her head. “Forget it. I don’t want to know. What’s more important is that you know the shields are at risk now, right? There will be a hole in them that anyone and anything can get through.”

  “We shifted the others around, hoping to distribute the power more evenly,” I said sheepishly.

  Her eyes widened until they were the size of saucers. “How far did you move them?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

  “Not far,” Logan spoke up. “Only a few feet from where they were sitting to begin with.”

  She let out a huge breath. “It might hold until you replace the one you broke,” she said, biting her lip. “I have one crystal that Bronwyn left here the other day. I don’t know how well it will work, but it’s better than nothing, which is what you have,” she admitted. “I need to call Aunt Sally and tell her—”

  “No!” Logan and I exclaimed at the same time, then looked at each other.

  “What we mean,” I explained, “is that we’d rather not tell anyone.” Because I would have to explain what happened, and then they’ll want to know the details of how I became a dragon, I added silently.

  Hadley pursed her lips, no doubt wondering why I was willing to jeopardize the safety of the school. “I trust you,” she said finally. She left the room, returning a moment later with a deep green crystal that filled her palm. “I will work on the spells again tonight. Once you put this into the west wing, you’ll need to put all the others back where they were.” She frowned. “This isn’t a game of chess where you can just move the pieces around. They’ll need to be put back exactly as they were.”

  “We’ll get them,” Logan said. “I promise.”

  “Okay.” She handed him the crystal. “Not that I wouldn’t love for you guys to hang around and chat, but you’d better get going. The longer you’re here, the more chance there is of someone making it through the shields.”

  Without a word, Logan slipped the crystal into the pocket of his jacket and headed out the door. Hadley wrapped me in a hug before I could follow him. “Be careful, Claire. I don’t know what’s going on with you guys, but promise you’ll be careful.”

  “I will,” I said, giving her a tight squeeze before letting go and dashing to catch up with Logan.

  In the distance, I saw the headmistress’s star light up. I felt my heart drop. She knew we were gone. Which meant she also probably knew the crystal had been broken. On that short flight back, a thousand scenarios worked through my head. What if she exiled us to the Forest? What if she only realized we were gone and didn’t know about the crystal? What if the star was just a cry for help and Imperium was under attack again?

  Whichever scenario I contemplated, everything inside of me was screaming that everyone would soon know exactly what I was.

  We were too late. I knew as soon as I spotted the dark figures running across the front lawn that we hadn’t gotten there fast enough. And worse, it was all our fault that the shields had been breached. We should have warned them.


  Instead of landing, I flew over the main house to the courtyard, where the nightmare ensued. Students in their animal forms fought figures cloaked in black. The Dark Watch had made it back again, and from the looks of things, there were even more of them than there had been before. I expected to hear gunfire, but the only grunts, snarls, and screams met my ears.

  I stayed in the air, refusing to let Claire off my back. You’re going to stay safe, whether you like it or not, I thought. But that doesn’t mean we can’t help from up here. I spotted a group of the Watch heading toward the houses, so I flew low, blasting a wall of fire around the houses to keep them out. Once I’d made a full circle, I perched on the roof of Earth House and watched as they tried to vault through the flames, still struggling to get into the house.

  What in the world could they want so badly they’d risk being burned?

  Abruptly, they stopped. As if signaled by something I couldn’t hear, they turned as one and ran toward the main house. I started to go after them, but Claire laid her hand on the side of my neck. “Let them go,” she said, her voice sad and resigned.

  But we can end it now, I wanted to say, and almost shifted back to tell her exactly that. Instead, I did as she asked, watching as the last dark figure left the courtyard.

  I scanned the ground, looking for victims of the Dark Watch. Surprisingly, no one laid prone in pools of blood like last time. Yes, I saw several shift back to human, some limping or cradling their arms tight to their bodies...but no actual life-threatening injuries that I could make out.

  If they weren’t here to kill us, what were they after? I wondered, spotting the griffin on the other side of the courtyard. I hadn’t seen her fighting. Where could she have been that she managed to miss the Dark Watch’s arrival?

  “Can you take me down now, please?” Claire asked in a soft voice.

  I flew down and landed, feeling her slide off the second my claws hit the earth. I shifted back in record time and grabbed her hand as she began walking toward the main house. “Claire? Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” The word was a near whisper. Her next words weren’t so soft. “This is all my fault, Logan. I have to take responsibility for it.”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Claire,” I hissed, trying to get her to lower her voice. “Unless you’re in league with the Dark Watch, you didn’t have anything to do with it, understand?”

  Even though she nodded, it was obvious she didn’t believe me.

  Everyone was gathering beside the main house, and we joined them. The headmistress arrived last and looked furious.

  Maybe she’s angry that she missed most of the fight? My hopes were dashed when I saw the shards of broken crystal in her hands and realized exactly why she hadn’t been fighting. Somehow, she must have realized the shields weren’t working and found the crystal…or…what was left of it. Perhaps she’d been too busy figuring out why the shields were down and trying to get them back up to fight.

  She found our secret. I glanced at Claire.

  As the headmistress strode to the group, everyone fell silent.

  “A broken crystal,” she said in a loud voice, holding up a hand filled with what I assumed were glittering bits of shattered magic. “This is the reason the Dark Watch was able to penetrate our shields. Somewhere within the sanctity of Imperium, we have a traitor, and someone here knows who it is. I know several of you have been helping check the crystals and the perimeters. Someone here knows who is responsible.”

  I felt Claire move ever so slightly beside me.

  Don’t do it. Don’t you do it, I begged silently. Be still. Please be still, Claire.

  The headmistress was pacing from one side to the other, narrowed gaze moving from one face to the next. Several dropped their heads, unable to look her in the eye. She stared at me for a second longer than the guy next to me, and it was clear she knew we had been out in the city. After all, she’d turned on the star, and to my knowledge, we’d been the only ones away from Imperium.

  Her attention moved from me to Claire, who squirmed uneasily under the intense scrutiny. The headmistress kept walking, moving on to the next student. When she kept going, I began to relax, but then Claire took a small step forward, just enough to draw attention to herself.

  I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “What do you think you’re doing?” I hissed.

  “I have to,” she whispered.

  Unfortunately, we’d managed to grab the headmistress’s attention and she stomped back down the line to us.

  “Is there a problem?” she asked.

  “Yes, I—” Claire began.

  But I beat her to it. “I am the one responsible for breaking the crystal,” I said loudly enough to drown out her voice. I pulled the green crystal from my pocket and thrust it into the headmistress’s hands. “I’m the one responsible for the Dark Watch’s attack.”

  That announcement caused quite the uproar, and students began shouting at me so loudly that they didn’t hear me add, “but it was an accident.” Claire was yelling, too, and I was close enough to make out every word, but no one else heard her. All their attention was focused on me. She was trying to tell them what she was—that it was her magic alone that broke the crystal and that I had nothing to do with it.

  “Very well.” The headmistress’s eyes narrowed, as if she didn’t believe me. But I’d left her no choice. Though I hadn’t intended to do so, I’d admitted to being the one in league with the Dark Watch—and she’d already given me my last chance. There was only one thing left for her to do. “Logan Fairmont, you are to be exiled to the Forest of Lost Souls.”

  Rough hands grabbed at me from all directions to carry me away. My eyes met Claire’s, and I gave her a small smile. “It will all be okay,” I said, wanting more than anything not to see her tears. Then I was swept up in the crowd.

  As they dragged me away, I spotted the headmistress looking down at the broken crystal in her hand. Some of the shards slipped between her fingers. Bits of blue, not the sunset-orange crystal Claire had broken. The blue one had been in the front yard, near the gargoyles. Whoever had broken that crystal had given the Watch an open invitation into Imperium—and it hadn’t been us.

  I stumbled as I was pushed from behind by the crowd. Keeping up with Logan as they took him up the path was difficult. He was being half-dragged, half-carried up the mountain. Though he wasn’t fighting them, he wasn’t helping, either. The crowd surged around me, shoving and jostling one way and then the next.

  Only one thought ran through my head the whole way—I could shift. I could use my magic and tap into so many different creatures that I would surely be able to rescue him. At least, until we were overpowered.

  Unless I could somehow shift, grab him, and fly away…

  He shook his head as if he knew what I was thinking.

  I can’t lose you. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to do any number of things but watch them drag him to the place where he would eventually die.

  “It’s all right.” I knew he said the words, but I only saw his lips move. The shifters milling about were too loud for me to hear him. Some of them had shifted, and were snarling and growling as they followed. Others had stayed human, content to hurl insults and curses as they went up the path.

  The only reason they hadn’t attacked Logan was because the headmistress was at the front of the crowd.

  A small part of me wondered why she was coming. She hadn’t seemed to give so much as a thought to watching Victor enter the Forest.

  The closer we came to the Forest, the more riled the crowd became, until, at last, the atmosphere shifted. We were here. The headmistress held up her hand, and everyone stilled.

  “You can let me go. You don’t have to throw me in. I can go in by myself,” Logan said, clearly. Calmly. Too calmly for someone about to be exiled.

  The two holding him turned to look at the headmistress. When she nodded her assent, they let him go.

  He shrugged them off, then straightened hi
s shirt and looked at me again.

  “Why?” I asked, knowing he would understand the rest of my question. Why would you do this? Why would you take the blame for me?

  “Because,” he answered, giving me only that single word.

  Because I’m a Yokai? Because you feel as if you should protect me? Because…why? my brain screamed, wanting the rest of his explanation.

  Emotion roiled through me, and I did the only thing I could. I ran to him, and he wrapped me tight in his arms. “I’ll find a way to save you,” I promised, choking on my sobs.

  “I know you will,” he whispered into my hair. Then he let me go and took that one step backward that would seal his fate.

  The shield opened to let him enter and I heard him say, “I’m in love with you, Claire Pratten.”

  And he was gone.

  For a bunch of people who had no problems sending their friend to his fate on the way up the mountain, the crowd was certainly quiet now.

  I was furious. I shoved past them all as I ran down the path, leaving them behind.

  I made my promise to Logan and I would keep it, no matter what. I’d find a way to get inside the Forest and save him.

  My heart ached. He loved me. No one had ever said that to me before. I was determined it wouldn’t be the last time he would say those words.

  I was going to need backup—or at least more information on the Forest and Purgatory Mountain. I wasn’t going to be able to just leap in there after him and hope to find a way out.

  I made it to the courtyard and began my search for Lacy, knowing I could trust her. I hadn’t seen her at all during the fight with the Watch, and I hadn’t seen her in the mob that had rushed Logan into exile.

  I raced into Earth House and went straight up to our room, but she wasn’t there.

  Where could she be? I was turning to leave when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.

  Lacy emerged from the shadows behind the door, a vacant expression on her face. A thin silver blade gleamed in her hand. “Kill her,” she said, but her voice didn’t match the words. It sounded vacant, and eerie.