She was a unicorn.
29
Without thinking twice, Ava trotted right out the door, having to bend way down to squeeze through the door frame. The attendant had run off, so she decided to see herself out.
She wanted to be outside. It called to her. Coming to a staircase, she realized she was in a dank basement. That just wouldn't do for a unicorn. Leaping to the top of the stairs, she thrust her horn through the door and broke herself out into the open.
Relieved to be free.
After a frightened employee came rushing to share the news, Headmistress Levine rushed to the basement to see what all the commotion was about. When she found the basement door completely shattered, she followed the neighing sound to the courtyard, heart racing.
"Ava Carrington," she whispered, staring at the magnificent creature before her. The animal’s horn glinted beautifully in the sunlight.
"I told you I didn't do it!" Ava screamed at the headmistress, sending a burst of purple light out all around her.
Levine blinked, impressed that Ava was already able to speak in that form. The old griffin woman traipsed over to her, raised her hands, palms outward, and patted Ava's front thigh.
"Do you hear me?" Ava demanded. "I didn't steal the crown!"
"I know—"
"Why don't you believe me!?"
"I just said I know you didn't steal it, Carrington. I believe you." The headmistress cut short the unicorn’s tirade.
Ava stiffened and looked back at Levine. "You believe me now?"
"You are a pure creature. You cannot lie." Levine stared back at her, point blank.
Ava shook her head back and forth. "What? I've lied plenty of times in my life."
"Your full unicorn power didn't manifest until recently. That's why you can suddenly heal," Levine explained. "Remember when I let you go after Elaine caught you in the library? I told you to meet me in five days. I realized what you were up to, and I had talked to some of the professors. I wanted to take a few days to prepare the information. I was planning to talk to you about this when we met up."
"So you knew this would happen?"
"I knew this transformation would take place eventually, but I didn't necessarily think it would be today!" Levine exclaimed, a little laugh at the end of her sentence.
"I've had enough of Elaine." Ava stamped her hoof. "She planted that crown in my room."
"And she will be dealt with."
"So I'm really not in trouble?"
"No," Levine answered simply. The girl was stunningly beautiful in this form. All white with a purple mane sprinkled with silver and gold. A shimmering ivory white horn. But still-very-catlike eyes—a very unusual feline look on an equine.
"So this is why I was accepted to this school? It was never about being a tabby cat, was it?" Ava asked.
"Correct." Levine kept her expression solemn. "You are what's called a dual shifter, or in some texts, a dyad. But it would take special training for your gift to come forth."
"You let me suffer through almost an entire semester, endure all the bullies, and for what? You could've told me about this at the beginning!" She stamped both her front hooves this time.
"No, Ava, it was better you discovered this for yourself. If you'd known in advance, you would have tried to force the gift, and it would have taken you much longer to grow comfortable. Only when you reach into your truest self will the second form emerge. I had nothing to do with this."
Ava pranced back and forth a few times. Levine was truly grateful she had exited through the back entrance of the school where no one was around to see her.
"Wait, what about all the others? Everyone here who shifts into a lame animal? Why are they here? Like James, or JiSoo, or those guinea-pig twins…"
Levine chose her words carefully. Unicorns had a knack for detecting lies. "They were admitted so we could compete with the new school."
"What? What new school?"
"There is a new shifter school above. In New Zealand, actually. It's a lot to explain, but we had to step up our game."
"Right." Ava didn't say anything else.
The headmistress knew she had more explaining to do, but for now, she just wanted to stand back and appreciate the beauty that was Ava Carrington in her unicorn form.
30
The semester was close to an end.
Ava and her friends anxiously waited for the announcement for the finals. They would all start training for them at the beginning of the second semester. It was all anyone could talk about. No one knew what form it would take, so they all practiced harder, read textbooks, memorized notes.
When the announcement finally came, Ava was excited to learn that they would take place this year in the form of a talent show. Boy, did she have a lot of talent to show now!
Yesterday, a letter had come for her, confirming what she already knew. Her mother warned severely to stop searching for her father. Ava wasn’t sure she’d obey.
JiSoo and Winta weren’t particularly welcoming that next morning when she slunk back to beg for forgiveness, but still they all sat together now.
“JiSoo, what should her punishment be?” Winta had asked petulantly.
“She should carry our backpacks for the rest of the semester.”
Ava groaned. When they glared at her, she changed it to a charming smile with a little wink.
“What else?” Winta smirked. “There has to be more she can do.”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Ava grumbled.
“Hush, it’s not time for you to speak yet,” JiSoo pressed her finger to her lips. “Got it! Our laundries. She has to do those, too.”
Ava laughed. “It’s laundry, not laundries.”
“You aren’t supposed to be talking, remember?” JiSoo stuck out her tongue.
“Oh, shut up, both of you,” Winta said, raising her arms outward.
Ava rushed into them without hesitation.
“Wait, wait, I gotta get in on this, too…” JiSoo yelped as she wrapped her arms (as far as they could go) around both Winta and Ava.
When the girls finally released each other, JiSoo looked a little tearful. “Allergies… Did you change your shampoo?” JiSoo grumbled, rubbing her eyes.
“Careful!” Winta and Ava yelled, but it was too late. JiSoo had already lost both eyes again….
The second semester came and went.
The school competition had taken place, but it was just the Animage students competing against one another, and it didn't involve first-years, so it didn't hold Ava's attention the way it did many others’ in the school.
She had attended with her friends, along with Tarun and James, but she didn't really get the rules. All she knew was a pack of senior wolves had come in first. Tarun and James had been ecstatic about that, as they were rooting for the winning team, but Ava didn't really understand why. Whatever. Boys and their sports.
Her relationship, or whatever it was, with Tarun had certainly grown. He was proud to be seen with her, but they never fully recovered from the tensions of her leaving the group for Elaine. They were still friends, and Ava desperately wanted more, and she suspected Tarun did as well, but they hadn't so much as kissed again. But that was okay; he was still by her side most of the time, and Ava could be patient. Especially for someone as wonderful as Tarun.
Now, after months of prepping and dozens of grueling one-on-one sessions with both Professor Bills and Sir Waters, and even a few with Headmistress Levine herself, Ava was ready for the finals.
Backstage, Ava peeked through the curtain. This would be the first time she saw a crowd of this size, aside from when the students gathered together in the auditorium. But this was different—this time she was going to be the one on stage in front of the school auditorium.
Ava still hadn't told any of her friends, even Winta, about her second form. Headmistress Levine had insisted she keep it a secret even from them. It was painful, and she daily felt like she was lying to them, but then she rem
inded herself that she was a pure creature who couldn't lie. Had her friends asked her directly, "Are you a dual shifter who can transform into both a tabby cat and a unicorn?”, she certainly would have said yes.
But that didn't happen. Because that would be ridiculous.
The wolf on stage was currently standing on his hind legs. Ava saw Professor Bills grind his teeth. She swallowed, feeling bad for the shifter. Winta and JiSoo stood on either side of her.
"Whoa, that's bad," JiSoo said through clenched teeth.
Ava couldn't disagree with her.
They had one task, and that was to convince the audience they could survive and thrive in both animal and human form. But mostly animal. Add into that the fact they needed to show off their talents and skills as much as possible for higher marks. A wolf standing on his hind legs wasn't much to clap for.
Just as she thought: the applause was minimal at best. The shifter transformed back to human and left the stage, but Ava imagined if he'd still been in his wolf form, his tail would be between his legs.
The next shifter in line, Ava was pleased to see, was Priya, the little girl she'd met before school had even started.
Excited, and interested to see her again, Ava squinted to get a better look. Priya was impressive. Ava knew she shifted into a little canary bird, but clearly Priya hadn’t been lying when she mentioned her father showing her lots of tricks already. Because she could shift only her arms into giant yellow wings and fly around the auditorium. After a few more minutes of theatrical tricks such as flips and dive bombs, Priya landed to receive her rousing applause. Even Ava clapped for her little friend.
Winta and JiSoo weren't speaking now. She knew they were nervous. Winta was concerned she was going to trash the stage and hurt someone, and JiSoo just desperately hoped her eyes wouldn't pop out and roll off the edge to be trampled.
"Ava…" someone called from behind her.
She swiveled to see who it was. "Tarun… Hi…"
As he approached, as always, her insides turned to mush.
"You got this," he encouraged her, sliding his hand around her waist and pulling her into a—somewhat intimate—hug.
"Easy for you to say. You aced it with flying colors."
"And so will you."
"Seriously though," Ava went on. "The crowd stood and clapped like crazy. I haven't seen them get that excited for anyone else."
"I know, I'm amazing."
"And humble, of course."
"I'm Tarun, could I BE any more awesome?"
Ava laughed from deep within her heart at his Chandler impression.
He grinned in his usual disarming way.
"I still think you're more like Ross though," she said, trying to look as serious as possible.
"And would that make you Rachel?"
"Yuck! No! I like Monica." She pushed her hand into his chest playfully.
"Then I'm definitely Chandler." He put his hand over hers on his chest.
Her breath caught in her throat. "What are you trying to say?" she asked him quietly so the others couldn't hear her.
Without warning, Tarun slipped his other hand behind Ava's neck and brought her face toward his as he lowered down and kissed her.
Suddenly, Ava couldn't feel her legs. She knew they were rooted to the spot, but the only thing she was aware of were her lips against his. She returned this kiss even more eagerly than she had the last one, and it had been entirely too long. A whole semester, in fact. But definitely worth the wait. He was even more delicious than she remembered.
Allowing him to explore her mouth as she explored his, she reached both arms around his neck and pressed herself into him as tightly as possible, wishing she would never have to let him go.
"Guys, it's my turn now!" JiSoo announced.
Ava and Tarun snapped apart, very confused at first, until they realized JiSoo meant it was her turn on stage, not for a kiss!
"Oh!" they both exclaimed together.
Then, with an impressive amount of confidence, JiSoo went bounding out onto the stage while her friends watched.
Tarun reached down and clasped Ava's hand in his, giving it a little squeeze. Ava squeezed him back.
JiSoo turned and faced the crowd and, like she had so many times before, transformed into a pug. She pranced around on the stage, caught food thrown in the air, rolled around, and let out a series of barks to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. All without losing a single eyeball.
Ava wondered how she would be scored because it offered little in the way of combat skills, but she was a pug after all. No matter how much she trained, pugs just weren't built for combat. And no one could hold that against her.
And she was well received indeed. Even grouchy Professor Bills couldn't resist smiling at cute little JiSoo.
“Next!”
Three shifters later, and it was Winta’s turn.
She moved to the stage, too, trembling. Then, turning away from the crowd, she opened her mouth, still in her human form, and trumpeted...loudly. The crowd went wild.
During the raucous screaming, she transformed into her elephant, marched forward amid the screams, trumpeted again, and, flapping her ears, she went back across the stage where a wooden ball waited for her.
Like an elephant in a three-ring circus, she stepped onto the ball, balanced herself carefully, and, finally, trumpeted again.
“Go, Winta!” Ava called out to encourage her best friend, but it didn’t seem like she needed it. She had done a phenomenal job.
After transforming back, she took her bow and returned to her friends, beaming.
Ava was the last shifter in her class to get on stage. Levine had planned it that way.
“You got this, Babe.” Tarun gave her a kiss on the cheek.
She didn’t smile or say anything. She just took a deep breath and waltzed out there.
So many faces. She stood there getting her bearings for a moment before morphing into her tabby. She twirled in the air, slashed through it with her claws.
She had practiced that over and over, yet the crowd remained silent. Bills sat unimpressed. Sir Waters yawned.
Ava took a deep breath. She still had several more cat tricks planned, but decided to change her routine in a heartbeat.
Letting the light take over, she reached for her soul, her true form, and shifted….
After the long, charged silence was broken by Bills letting out an eardrum-splitting whistle, all Ava had to do was stand there, horn glistening and tail swishing, before she received her standing ovation.
31
Epilogue
"Oh, great. It's you with all the bags," Paul groused as he looked Ava up and down.
She had just stepped off the Animage ship at the port where she, Michaela, and the others from the Miami branch were to meet Paul to escort them home.
Saying goodbye to her friends had been heart wrenching, but they were all encouraged by the knowledge they would see each other again in a few months. They had all passed the finals with flying colors and were to be welcomed back for their second year at Animage Academy.
And although her friends were upset with her for not disclosing her second transformation for an entire semester, they understood Levine had sworn her to secrecy. She smiled to herself. It was probably easy to forgive a unicorn.
It had only been two days since she'd revealed herself on that stage, and she noticed a major difference in the way all her classmates treated her immediately. She didn't know what this would mean for her and her training in the upcoming years, but she was excited to find out. Ava was no longer the meek little kitty. She was Ava Carrington: dyad and unicorn shifter!
"I see you dyed your hair," Paul observed. "You been hanging out with Michaela?" He nodded his head toward the snarky, pink-haired wolf shifter.
Ava shook her head. "No, my hair turned this color on its own after my second transformation took over." She touched the ends of her hair, which were no longer that dingy brown she hated. Instead, he
r hair was a deep purple hue. It had turned that color slowly over the course of the past several months. She didn't even realize it was happening at first, but then JiSoo pointed it out to her, wondering what in the world was going on. Even Ava was confused until Levine explained it to her.
Paul's eyes grew as wide as saucers. "Purple hair! Second transformation!? It's you then!"
Ava tilted her head and asked, "What do you mean?" Even though she already had a pretty good idea what he was referring to.
"I heard we had one at the school," he said with awe in his voice. "I can't believe it's you. You know what they're saying, right?"
"What's that?" Ava raised a curious eyebrow.
Paul grabbed her brown bag from her and leaned in close, as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear him. "That you're the last unicorn shifter on Earth."
Ava puckered her lips at that very sad fact. Her first year at Animage had turned out to be quite the year indeed. And, boy, did she have a lot to tell her mom when she got home.
END OF YEAR ONE
Also by Qatarina & Ora Wanders
Find out what Ava will do with her unicorn powers…
Order Animage Academy Year 2 NOW!
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
Animage Academy: The Shifter School Down Under Year One Page 20
