Animage Academy: The Shifter School Down Under Year One

by Qatarina Wanders

  “What gave her that impression? It could have been anybody in the academy, down to the little kids that train on the other wing of the school.”

  “Hey, Ava, could you hold my backpack?” Elaine shoved her heavy bag into Ava’s hands without even waiting for an answer. “I just have to run a little errand. I’ll join you at the library soon, okay?”

  “Oh! Yeah, that’s fine.”

  Elaine placed her hand lightly on Ava’s shoulder, then bent forward slightly so they could see eye to eye. “Thank you. You’re such a sweetheart. I wish we’d become friends sooner.”

  Ava grinned back and watched Elaine go, hips swaying admirably, like a model’s. Wow. Elaine really was so nice now. Who would’ve thought?

  “We should get going,” Diane said, interrupting her musing.

  “Yes, of course.”

  They weaved through the crowds surging from the classes, each one noisier than the next. Question flew from every angle:

  “Who could’ve done this?”

  “When does the search begin?”

  “I need to clean my room!” A purple-haired fox shifter yelled and zipped past her.

  She caught sight of JiSoo and Winta walking toward Indigo Dorm. She made no move to call them. In fact, she stubbornly forced her eyes away from them. There were things she had to check at the library anyway, and she still had her date with the headmistress in three days, so she had to come up with a good reason why she broke into the library without letting on that she was searching for Matthew Carrington.

  Out of the hallway, they entered a dome—where most students went out to relax, meet friends, and receive mail from the bunnies zapping afoot. It had a transparent skylight—star studded, gleaming like diamonds. She never came out here—she always took the hallway detour. Popular kids and seniors made it a hangout, so she had usually avoided it.

  She saw Tarun and James sitting together on one of the velour couches toward the back. He looked perfectly happy now. No hint of the disappointment she’d seen in his eyes just a few minutes ago.

  Tremors ran through her body as she remembered that kiss out in the fields. She wanted a repeat. His hands on her back, in her hair…

  Focus, Ava!

  Finally, they came out to the massive doors...and now two attendants. Levine had strengthened the security. On the sides of the door, giant gargoyles stood guard. Had those always been there?

  She shook it off, but if she blurred her eyes a bit, the gargoyles looked straight at her, their luminous ruby-red eyes glowing dangerously. Yikes. She hurried in with the girls, who stopped talking immediately when they stepped into the library.

  “Come on, Ava, you gotta see the crown,” Daniella whispered. Her twin nodded beside her, smacking her lips.

  Ava frowned again—they appeared to be enjoying a joke she wasn’t in on.

  “Sure.” She readjusted Elaine’s backpack on her shoulder and followed them.

  They passed the tall shelves: Religion, Legends, Shifter History, Human Fiction, several sections she missed.

  Mr. Jerome, the librarian, had lowered his spunky glasses and peered suspiciously when he spotted Ava. She chuckled; the school attendants had a way of blowing minor cases out of proportion, and despite what anyone said, she didn’t commit a huge crime that night. Levine wouldn’t have just let her off like that if she had.

  But not here. Everything was a soap opera it seemed.

  They stopped at a shelf marked ‘Griffin Legend.’

  Lorraine picked out a small book, not more than twenty pages, maybe thirty. She thrust it at Ava, her beady eyes squinting at her. The others gathered.

  Ava began to feel suffocated. It bothered her how they knew exactly where to find the tiny book. But she swallowed her doubts and opened it.

  It began with the history of the crown, a short one. She figured there was more on it somewhere, but the next page was a full picture of the crown.

  It’s a ring?! She’d assumed they were referring to a real crown, or at least a tiara or something. Instead, it was attached to the gnarled middle finger of an old woman.

  “That’s the first griffin shifter,” Diane whispered. “The sorcerer gifted her the ring, helped her keep the school hidden. Told you she wore it all the time.”

  “You didn’t say it was a ring.” Ava stared at the old photo. A gem-studded ring. It was formed from thin tarnished gold on one layer, a burnished silver on top, joined by precious stones. Dead center, a raw diamond winked at her.

  None of them bothered to apologize. Lorraine shrugged. “Of course it is.”

  Ava liked Lorraine the least—she went out of her way to make Ava feel idiotic. Like she was feeling now. And Elaine wasn’t there to act as a buffer.

  Needing an excuse to get out of there, she tapped Diane’s arm, already shrugging off Elaine’s heavy bag. “Please hold on to this for Elaine. I’ve got to check on something in another aisle for one of my assignments real quick… You guys don’t need to come with me,” she added when they started whispering to follow her. What were they, her bodyguards?

  “Just be back when Elaine returns or she’s gonna be pissed,” Diane insisted.

  “Thanks,” Ava grumbled as she wandered off, taking a deep calming breath. Finally, she was free and alone. She picked at the sides of her dress—it hugged her body tightly now. She’d be glad to take it off at the end of the day.

  She crossed to the microfiche; it was ancient, but, most importantly, no one was using it at the moment. She went to the shelves behind it, tracing back the years. She checked newspapers, articles from the school paper, all in black and white. Nothing on Matthew Carrington.

  Humming the Friends theme song, she stacked the pile of papers beside the machine. She slotted in the first paper—they won the centennial that year. A competition between shifter schools; she wasn’t surprised Animage won.

  Still, nothing on her father, not even a picture.

  Patiently, she inserted another paper, pulled a creaky lever...

  Nothing…wolf festival, snow dance, welcome dinner, inter-school festival, pictures and more pictures.

  Nothing.

  She continued, increasing her pace. When she was halfway down the pile, she saw a boy’s collar rakishly turned up, smiling impishly at the camera. He stood in the center of a group of boys.

  She rushed to read the attached article.

  Matt Carrington had made the news that day.

  And several days after that.

  Her heart thudded, hardly believing what she saw, what she read, It said the boys by his side were alive because of him. Her father had healed those boys from some sort of plague when it hit the school. Dozens of shifters would’ve died if he hadn’t curbed it.

  The hand squeezing the lever grew cold, so cold. He could heal people? He was a hero? Her mother had kept this part from her...why would she do that?

  Lucy still hadn’t responded to Ava’s letter, so Ava didn’t know what to think. Page after page of Matthew Carrington. Then she froze.

  The next picture displayed her father in his shifter form. She knew it was her father immediately before even looking at the name beneath.

  She pressed her hand against her mouth. No, this wasn’t possible. Yet she knew it was true: the unicorn on that page was her father.

  Her dad was a unicorn shifter.

  Now, more than ever, her desire to find him increased, but there was nothing in the records to even give her a hint if he was alive or not. But he couldn’t be, right? Mrs. Peabody said unicorn shifters were completely extinct. So he had to be dead then.

  Realizing how long she had taken already, she replaced everything where she found it and rushed back to meet the flock.

  Only they were already gone.

  She hated to admit that she was more than just a little relieved not to have to see them. She passed Mr. Jerome on her way; he scanned her—okay, not stealing—and let her go.

  Ava hightailed it to her room—her own room, not Elaine’s�
�desperately trying to organize her thoughts. There was so much she had to do, to process, to sort—and it was all clashing rather painfully in her head.

  Upon arriving in her room, she collapsed on her bed, dropping her gold clutch at the foot of her bed and her backpack on the floor. She knew she had failed Elaine by taking off and leaving Elaine’s backpack with the rest of her flock after she’d specifically asked Ava to hold it, but she didn’t much care at that point.

  Lying on her bed, letting her mind race, it was a while before she remembered why JiSoo wasn’t in the room: dinner.

  Her stomach grumbled. She hadn’t eaten since lunch, but she was too worked up to go down to the dining hall. She decided to tell JiSoo everything when she returned. Ava needed someone to talk to. Needed to organize her rambling thoughts.

  With superhuman effort, she got up from her bed and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower before she turned in for the night.

  But Ava hadn’t gone two steps when her door reverberated...someone was pounding on it.

  27

  Winta picked at her food, pushing her potatoes around the plate. Occasionally, she released a heavy sigh.

  When JiSoo couldn’t take it any longer, she dropped her fork with a clang and faced her. “She left us, okay? We have to get over it. Her choice, remember?” She wiggled a finger at her. “Didn’t you see how she completely blew us off at lunch? Didn’t you?”

  Winta sighed again; it had only been a couple of days and she missed Ava. The table felt incomplete without her. “She didn’t blow us off, Elaine dragged her. Didn’t you see?” she sulked, stabbing her food.

  “You know that’s not Elaine, right? You’re about to murder the poor potatoes,” James said, pointing at Winta’s plate. He and Tarun opted to sit with the girls nowadays. Even without Ava, it was nicer than hanging out with feeding predators.

  “Okay, how was your day?” James tried to change the subject.

  Winta glared at him. “How do you think?” she fired back. She wanted to go over to that table where Elaine was laughing and talking with her friends and demand Ava back. Only it looked like Ava wasn’t even with her now.

  “Sorry, don’t bite off my head.”

  She groaned, “I didn’t mean it like that. Hey, do you know if they’ve searched our wing yet?”

  “Yeah, I saw attendants on the way here, pounding on doors,” James replied.

  “Although why they think we would steal and then leave it in school beats me,” Tarun muttered, little above a whisper.

  Winta craned her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of Ava, but she still didn’t see her. Finally, she stood.

  “You done already?” James asked, standing with her.

  “No, I’m just—” she was sure now that Ava wasn’t at the bird table. She pretended the flutter in her belly had nothing to do with it.

  “She’s not there,” James reiterated.

  “What?” Tarun stood, too.

  “Ava,” Winta clarified. “She isn’t with them. Good. It’s about time.”

  “Oh, wipe that silly grin off your face,” JiSoo groused, stabbing her pork. “Maybe they sent her on an errand or something. Doesn’t mean she finally came to her senses.”

  “Or maybe she did,” Tarun suggested.

  “Why don’t we go up right now and see? We don’t have to sit here and debate.” JiSoo dropped her fork again and daintily wiped her lips, her eyes challenging Winta to go with her.

  “Fine!” Winta didn’t have to be asked twice and hurried out with JiSoo.

  They hurried toward Indigo. One hoping to be right, the other dearly wishing she was wrong.

  In her room, Ava stood by the side while two female attendants ransacked everything she owned. They emptied her closet on the bed, shoes overturned, her mattress pulled up and inspected. Geez. This would take her forever to reorganize. How rude.

  “Where are your bags?” the grim-faced attendant asked.

  Ava solemnly pointed at the top of her closet, silently cursing whoever stole the crown for interrupting her life like this. She didn’t need more chores, and now she’d have to arrange the entire room again...including JiSoo’s section as a peace offering.

  The taller attendant pulled down Ava’s suitcase—the large brown one—and placed it on the bed.

  The next events played out in slow motion—Ava’s brain unable to process what she witnessed.

  “Got it!” the attendant yelled, smiling. “Tell the others.”

  “What?” Ava took a step back. “That’s not possible…. I didn’t put that there!” she denied, but it fell on deaf ears.

  “Come with me, Miss.”

  “No, no, you don’t understand. I just came back to this room an hour ago. I didn’t put that there!” she couldn’t bring herself to say “steal.”

  “I know, deny it all you want. Fact is, we found it in your room, in your bag, so you have to come with me. The headmistress is waiting.”

  Ava didn’t even pay attention to which one was speaking to her. “Please, you have to believe me, this is my first time even seeing it up close.”

  The taller attendant’s face remained stony as she advanced on Ava. “Miss, don’t make me force you.”

  Just then, JiSoo and Winta barged into the room, temporarily distracting the attendant.

  “What’s going on here!” neat-freak JiSoo demanded at the disaster that was her room.

  “JiSoo, Winta…tell her I didn’t do it, please!” Ava was frantic at this point.

  “She didn’t do it,” they said together without question. What good friends.

  “Miss?” the attendant prompted, not interested in hearing Ava’s friends defend her.

  “You heard her! She’s my roommate!” Ava pointed to JiSoo. “She was here. Ask her! I haven’t touched that bag since I got here.” Ava’s voice spiked feverishly.

  The attendant had had enough. She pushed Ava toward the door.

  “Where are you taking her?” Winta demanded.

  They trailed behind Ava and the attendant, begging her to listen. By then, most of the trainees were returning to their dorms from dinner, and they gathered to watch Ava getting dragged away.

  Ahead, Ava saw Elaine and her flock grinning widely. Elaine winked deviously at Ava when she got close.

  Ava’s stomach dropped, and she felt like she might vomit. Too late, she realized she’d fallen into Elaine’s trap.

  28

  Ava was still in shock even after they escorted her to the isolation room—yes, the school had an isolation room—and left her there alone.

  This couldn't be happening, not to her. Ava shivered in the corner, avoiding the bed and even the food they had served her. It wasn't necessarily cold in the room, but her nerves were a mess.

  She'd tried so hard to fit in. She'd even lost her best friends, the only people in the whole school who'd actually been nice to her for no reason other than they wanted to.

  They'd tried to warn her. And after all of their warnings, which she refused to listen to, they still came rushing back to her. And what did Tarun think about her now?

  Her dream had been thrown in the toilet and flushed. She would never graduate from Animage Academy now. What would her mother say? What would she even do with her life after this? And this is all assuming she wasn't on her way to jail. Surely, they would be kind to a sixteen-year-old, right?

  She sniffled, tasting salt. She wiped her cheeks furiously, only for fresh tears to run down.

  If only…

  Oh, whatever.

  There was no time for ‘if only's. None of that would help her now, anyway.

  But her mind refused to listen. If only she'd seen the signs. If only she paid attention to how the flock treated her when Elaine wasn't around. If only she'd been more observant about Elaine's mannerisms.

  Elaine, she laughed bitterly, was an evil genius. There was no doubt in her mind exactly who'd stabbed her in the back. Ava certainly couldn't confirm, but she knew it in her gut. She coul
dn't even allow herself to feel betrayed, because she was the one stupid enough to fall into the trap.

  As she thought of Elaine, she proceeded to get more furious. Now, she would have to leave. Elaine had won, and would probably find a way to seduce Tarun.

  "NO!" she screamed, feeling a little unhinged.

  Winta and JiSoo had tried to talk sense into her, but she wouldn't listen. Now she’d ruined everything. "NOOO!" she screamed again as she started to rock back and forth. Yes, she realized she was losing it. But she didn't care. Now she’d never learn about her father, and she’d probably never even have real friends like that again. She could feel the tingling in her belly start to take over.

  Crap, her emotions were getting the better of her. Maybe she was about to have a panic attack. Or maybe lose herself in a fit of rage. Whatever. She didn't care.

  She decided to give in and let it roll. It didn't matter if she shifted in that stupid little room, anyway.

  "Why!?" She stood up and screamed out of pure frustration, pulling at her hair. "WHY!?"

  The backs of her hands grew warm and she could feel her muscles stretching along with her bones.

  The door to her isolation room opened, and one of the school attendants she'd never seen before poked his head in, probably to see what the commotion was all about. She was running around screaming and yelling after all.

  Ava's fury thrummed through her, feeling something else deep within her. Her bones creaked, shattered, and rearranged. That's when she fell on all fours, morphing into her cat. But it didn’t stop there this time. Her hands and feet stretched and elongated. Ava’s head exploded in an extreme pressure that was almost pleasurable. A tingling sensation swept across her forehead.

  In the back of her mind, she heard the attendant scream out, but she couldn't tell what he said. That's when a bright purplish light, powerful and blinding, filled the room.

  In that burst of pure light, her transformation was immediate and absolute.

  Regaining her bearings, she moved to a standing position and looked around. She wasn't in her tabby cat form. Definitely not. Her head bumped the ceiling. But she could feel what she was. She didn't have to look down at her hooves to know. She let out a loud whinny.