Forest of Lost Souls

by K. R. Thompson

  As we started to go, I turned. On a whim, I went back and picked up a journal at the end of the bookshelf. Mara Shade may not have been a Yokai, but she had been a phoenix. Maybe when I felt all alone, I’d be able to find the words in a phoenix’s journal as comforting as Hadley found her grandmother’s photo albums.

  Professor Elspeth paced down the line of students, giving us instructions for the class. My brain picked up bits and pieces of what she was talking about, but I stayed focused on my own plans. I’d barely made class in time after leaving Hadley and stopping by my dorm to drop off the book. Now I was ready to test out the shields.

  “Do you mind repeating what I said?” the professor’s voice cut sharply through the haze as she stopped directly in front of me, eyes narrowed as she waited for my reply.

  “To…um…” I broke off, unable to patch the few words that I’d actually heard into any sentence that made sense.

  She shook her head. The line of silver hoops in her ears swung with the movement. “Prey and predator. Each of us has both of these traits. Some have more of one than the other,” she said. Knowing she now had my full attention, she began teaching again. “Today we will be splitting into pairs. As the arrival of the human students grows closer, it is of the utmost importance that you are able to control your instincts. Some of you shift when threatened. Some of you have a strong predatory disposition. Whichever is your strongest trait, you will be paired with the opposite in hopes of learning from the other.”

  Several of us were holding our breath as she began sorting us out.

  Please don’t stick me with someone who is going to hunt me all day, I begged silently. If I had to evade being eaten for hours on end, I wouldn’t get a chance at all of testing the shields.

  One by one she paired us up and the line of students dwindled as they left to stand in small clumps opposite us to await further instruction.

  I glanced down the line. There were only four of us left. While I technically fell into both categories, due to my tendency to shift when frightened, I’d been lumped into the prey category. Only two “prey” students left—myself and a tiny, delicate girl named Porta who shifted to a butterfly—and two predators.

  “Please let me be teamed up with Mia,” I whispered under my breath.

  As if she was wishing the same thing, the wolf shifter whose dorm was across from my own caught my eye and gave me a small smile and I saw her cross her fingers.

  I knew I’d be able to tell her my plan of staying near the shields and she’d understand. She might even help me.

  That hope was squashed in the next second as Elspeth teamed Mia and Porta up, leaving me with the last person in the line that would be open to helping me in any way.

  Barth Humphreys also lived in Earth House, but that was the only thing he had in common with either Mia or myself. More than once, I’d spotted him in the background whenever Victor was around. The serpent and the coyote may not have been the best of friends, but bullies always seemed to hang together.

  Then Logan had been exiled, and Barth’s face had been one of the first I had seen in the crowd, leading the way up the path to the forest.

  Out of everyone in this class, I’d just been stuck with the last person I could possibly have hoped for.

  As he came over to stand next to me, I wondered how much faster I would be able to run than him. As a human, he was short and rather round. Unfortunately, when he shifted, he morphed into an animal that didn’t keep those traits. His coyote had long legs and a lithe body made for speed. The only thing that stayed the same from the shift from human to coyote was the dark glint in his eyes.

  “Run, little fox, run,” I heard him whisper as Professor Elspeth told us that we would be taking turns in learning how to track one another, while controlling our urges of either running away or hunting.

  Lovely, I thought. There’s no way he’s going to obey those rules. I’d be lucky if I came out of this particular class without missing an important body part.

  “You are to learn from one another. Each of you have a strong, important trait. Just as it is necessary to hunt to survive, there are times when it is just as important to know how to flee danger. The object of this lesson is to improve upon that part of you which is weaker. For those who are predatory, you will learn control, and for those who are not, you will learn courage,” she said.

  This is getting worse by the minute, I decided as we started into the woods. She’s a lioness. Naturally she doesn’t have any issues with telling us to get braver. She could take any of us out if she wanted to.

  “You get to go first,” Barth said with a leering smile.

  As we shifted, I got the impression that we were getting ready to play a lethal version of hide-and-seek.

  Nervous, I shifted from one paw to the other as I stared up at the brown coyote who had just taken a deep breath, nostrils flaring as he memorized my scent. He plopped down on his haunches, and waited, tongue lolling out as he gave me a good view of his yellowed fangs.

  Apparently, he was going to give me a head start.

  Thanks, I thought, sarcastic, as I took off into the shadows beneath the trees.

  It looked like a scene from a cartoon as all of the “prey” victims ran for their lives, scampering, hopping, and full-out running in hopes of escaping their worst fears.

  At first, we stuck together in a close-knit group, as if somehow we’d unanimously decided there would be power in numbers, but then, just as quickly, we all seemed to decide that sticking together only made us a larger target with more enemies and we split, each taking a different path.

  The only thing sticking in my head as I ran alone was the memory of Barth memorizing my scent, so I began zigzagging my away around the forest, running around trees and fallen logs in hopes of slowing him down as he tracked me.

  Maybe he’d spend most of his time going in circles and I’d get farther away. At least, that was the hope.

  Several minutes passed and I’d managed to get deeper into the forest. I slowed down to a walk, panting from a mixture of adrenaline and exhaustion, as I made my way to the edge of the shields. Maybe, just maybe, I’d have enough time to check a section before he caught up with me.

  Magic shoved against me in a strong wave, but I pushed closer, trying to get as close as I could to touch it. The instant I managed to brush against it, it sent a sizzling current through my body, scorching the fur on my side.

  Unable to force myself to stay so close, I stepped back to the point where I could tolerate the push of the spell, and continued walking along the edge, my attention locked on it, searching for any step that felt weaker than the last.

  I’d gone a good distance with no luck at all, when something suddenly felt different. I froze. The fur on the back of my neck stood up in a firm ridge the instant before I was snatched up and then pitched to the ground.

  The fangs pinning my neck to the earth dug into my flesh and I struggled to escape, but each movement only caused him to bite down harder.

  You win. Now let me go, I wanted to say, but the only thing I could do was lay there, helpless.

  But you’re not helpless, a small voice in the back of my head reminded me. Not at all. You are much more than this. You are the one with the power. Use it.

  I relaxed and let myself tap into Barth’s magic. Just when I was ready to change to something more adequately suited to fight him, I felt someone else arrive and in an instant, the coyote was off me, pinned by something even larger.

  I scrambled to my feet and ran behind a tree. Once there, I peeked out just enough to spot the long, tawny tail of the lioness twitch back and forth and I heard her long, threatening growl.

  Even in her animal state, it wasn’t hard to figure out that Professor Elspeth was less than happy with Barth.

  To his credit, he didn’t so much as whimper, only laid still beneath her.

  Teeth bared, she snarled, giving him one last warning before stepping off him, then she turned and stalked toward
me, stopping a few feet from the tree.

  When I came out of my hiding spot, she circled me a couple of times, sharp green eyes taking in the singed fur on my side and my neck that was wet from a mixture of saliva and blood.

  I nodded to let her know I was fine. It was bound to look strange, such a movement coming from a fox, but she understood.

  She looked over her shoulder and let out a deep roar that had Barth running as fast as his legs could carry him. Then her attention came back to me and she simply stared at me for a long second, before turning and walking away.

  Apparently, it was my turn to chase the coyote now.

  I waited until she disappeared, then trotted along in the direction Barth had gone, happy that he’d gone in the same direction I had been travelling. So long as I didn’t catch up to him too quickly, I could still test the shields as I went along.

  I didn’t focus on them nearly as intensely as I had before, but I still stayed as close to them as I could, searching for that one impossible weak spot that would let me in, while managing to keep part of my attention on my surroundings. Though I was supposed to be the one “hunting,” I still wasn’t going to put it past Barth to skip his turn as my prey and take revenge if he could.

  But there wasn’t any sign of him close by. I took a deep breath to be sure. Nope. Nothing.

  I continued onward, ducking beneath some thick underbrush, remembering what Hadley had told me about the shields. If there was a weak spot, it would likely be higher off the ground

  I’m not searching far enough up, I thought, looking at the branches above me. As a fox, I was as low to the ground as I could be and the odds of finding anything down here were getting slimmer with each passing second.

  A few of the limbs higher up crossed from this side of the shields and stretched through them, no doubt coming out in the Forest of Lost Souls. If I could get up there and ease along some of the larger ones, maybe I could try out Hadley’s theory of the magic being weaker there.

  It wasn’t going to happen as a fox, though. While I was fast and great at jumping, the lowest limbs were still too far up. Had I been human, it would have been impossible to get up there minus a ladder or climbing gear of some sort.

  I circled around a few of the trees, still hoping that I’d find one with a limb I could reach.

  I need to be something bigger, I thought as I caught a small remaining bit of magic in the air from Professor Elspeth. A lioness wouldn’t have any problem jumping up there.

  The realization that I had a solution to my problem hit me like a ton of bricks.

  All I had to do was tap into her magic. She wasn’t close by. I could tell that much by the feel of the power in the air. It was old, as if it had been ingrained into the very atmosphere by her having come this way often.

  Will it be enough for me to pull on to shift?

  I closed my eyes and concentrated on nothing but the feel of her power. As if I’d summoned it, I felt it roll toward me in a wave. My skin prickled as it enveloped me.

  When I opened my eyes, I was sitting on the ground, staring up at the tree over my head.

  Had I managed to shift? Cautiously, I looked down.

  Two large tan-colored paws were planted in the dirt beneath me.

  Yes! I’ve done it! I was so ecstatic I squealed, but it came out in a loud purr that reverberated in my chest. The animal part of me was happy enough that instinct took over and I began kneading the ground under my paws like a giant housecat before I stood and leapt onto the nearest branch of the tree.

  This is going to be much easier than I thought, I decided as I walked the length of the branch to the edge of the shield, then jumped upward to the next to do it again.

  Branch after branch, I continued upward, and while I didn’t find any spots weak enough to pass through, I realized that Hadley was right. The energy up here wasn’t nearly as intense as that nearer the ground. Maybe it would be even weaker farther up.

  With no more branches to try in this particular tree, I made my way back down and padded along to find a taller tree and test out my theory, when I felt a different pull of magic in the air.

  I bared my teeth and a low snarl escaped my lips when I realized Barth was near. Either I’d caught up to him, or he’d decided to come and find me. Either way, he was close enough that I was picking up on it.

  I climbed up the next tree, knowing he wouldn’t think to look for me there, then carefully jumped to a limb in the next.

  Then I spotted him. The coyote was a short distance away, his head bent down as he stared at something near his paw. I was certain he hadn’t been searching for me. Somehow, I’d just managed to catch up with him.

  I was just about to slink away and leave him to whatever it was that he was doing when I felt a different magic pulsing in the air—something light and delicate that reminded me of a soft breeze.

  Air shifter, I thought, my gaze beginning to travel upward to see who and what was flying overhead. But something moved and my attention went back to the coyote. I stalked closer to get a better look.

  There was something small and blue on the ground that fluttered helplessly, trapped beneath his paw.

  A butterfly…Porta!

  Somehow she’d managed to evade Mia and had been captured by Barth, who seemed to be in the process of deciding whether he wanted to eat her or pull her wings off.

  Fury clouded every other thought and I leapt from my hiding spot to the ground with a solid thump that tore his attention from Porta to me.

  I stalked toward him, tail twitching and head low, snarling the entire way. His eyes widened as he realized the lioness on its way toward him wasn’t the same one who had pinned him before.

  He moved to face me. The butterfly completely forgotten, Porta flew up and away, her tiny blue wings fluttering as fast as they could go.

  The coyote shifted his weight from one paw to the other, uncertain, as he watched me approach. I could tell that part of him wanted to stand his ground and fight.

  I tensed, ready to pounce. He recognized the movement and automatically scurried a few steps back, not daring to turn his back on me.

  Run, little pup, run, I thought, the animal part of me wanting to hunt—wanting to chase.

  And run he did, but I didn’t follow.

  As soon as the urge to follow him came, the magic in me waned and I felt weak—as if I’d suddenly ran out of energy, like a battery going dead.

  I did manage to let out one final warning roar that had Barth running even faster before I shifted back.

  Now human, I watched as he disappeared.

  “Thank goodness I lasted that long,” I mused, remembering the warning in the book Lacy had given me. I felt as if I’d just ran a marathon. Exhausted, I plopped down on the ground and leaned back to peer up at the sky. Just above the trees, I spotted a small blue butterfly as she flitted a safe distance from everyone in the forest and found myself wondering if the shields would be even weaker up so high.

  Taking a chance with Benny wasn’t something I was looking forward to, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice. Something in my gut was telling me that time was running out and I wasn’t going to be able to wait until I could borrow magic from someone else again to finish checking the shields past ground level.

  I hadn’t expected to feel so drained from my time borrowing Professor Elspeth’s magic. I’d only managed to shift back to my fox just long enough to officially “catch” Barth at the end of practical shifting class, and that was it.

  “Do you mind if we talk?” I asked, breathless, as I caught Benny coming out of class in the main house. “I wanted to ask you about…that thing we talked about before.”

  Understanding came into his eyes and he took me by the elbow and steered me down the hallway and into one of the vacant classrooms.

  He closed the door softly behind us, then waited for the briefest of seconds. When there was only silence, he said, “When are you going to try to get him out?”

  That too
k me by surprise. I’d expected a completely different question than the one he’d asked. “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I’ve been testing the shields around the forest.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “You need help looking for a way in.”

  “I’m hoping there will be a weak spot in the magic somewhere higher than I’ve been able to reach. If I can find a hole somewhere, maybe I’ll be able to slip in and get him. I’ve been covering as much as I can on the ground and haven’t had any luck finding anything so far, so now I’m wondering if maybe there’s a weak spot in the air above it.”

  “That’s definitely an idea. I know someone who won’t mind helping. I’m sure she’d be happy to.” He chewed on his bottom lip as he leaned against the door, thumbs tucked into the pockets of his jeans.

  When he wasn’t in full-flirt mode, he was a nice guy, I thought. Though why he was here with me now and not running straight to the headmistress to turn me in, was still a mystery.

  “Why are you doing this, Benny?” I asked, no longer able to contain my curiosity. “You have nothing to gain, and everything to lose if you get caught helping me.”

  While asking for assistance in breaking into a strictly forbidden place hadn’t caught him off-guard in the slightest, that particular question did.

  “Because it’s the right thing to do,” he said finally. “Throughout history, centaurs have been the champions of lost causes—the ones to die in battle fighting for what they believe is right. More times than not, we lose.” He gave me a rueful smile. “I’m not saying that I’m trying to be heroic and save the day, but I can’t help wanting to do my part. If ever there was a cause worth fighting for in this place, it’s to bring back Imperium’s dragon. Be at the overlook in an hour. I’ll make sure that she meets you there.”