by Rae Foxx
She let it burn. What the hell?
Mama sat down, already out of breath.
“We realize your circumstances will make any sort of formal education impossible. Based on what we have seen, however, we have made a way to help. Ivy, you have been awarded a full scholarship to Bloodwood Academy. This includes room, board, and meals. We also secured a small scholarship from a private donor for your necessities like clothing, shoes, and the like. Included in your studies will be the last of what you would’ve learned in high school and then you will continue with more—specialized studies. There are people, including myself, who want you to be there. Let’s explore your gifts and discover who you truly are.”
It sounded like a pamphlet. She must have one in her old lady purse. I could see it now, all glistening and gleaming and full of college students with chemically whitened teeth. Gross.
“So, let me get this straight.” Mama leaned forward until her boobs were threatening to pop out of the filthy bra. I wish she would put her shirt back on but knowing her she probably hadn’t realized she had taken it off. “You wanna take my kid outta here, to a fancy school, and give her all this money, while you leave me here to rot?”
“Not entirely.” Niccolinia Whatever smiled again, her teeth gleaming as much as the people on the before mentioned pamphlet. “We understand that your situation relies heavily on your daughter and her potentially joining the workforce soon, that’s why you would receive a stipend each month while she is with us.”
“How much is this stipend?” I knew that tone. It was twisting my stomach, rage bubbling up as that same weird feeling gnawed at my gut.
“Considerable.” They were both smiling so much that they almost looked like a before and after from a meth poster. I guessed in a way they were. “All we need is a birth certificate to prove---”
Mama was up and bolting to her bedroom before she could even finish her sentence. The door slammed behind her and I jumped, that rage boiling inside of me as I listened to her rifle through the papers on her bed stand.
Why did I have a feeling I had just been sold to this lady?
Being carted off to the mental asylum was suddenly feeling like a better outcome here.
“Okay, you cut the bullshit. You come here to this trailer park, looking for me in that pinstriped skirt, throwing out frilly words and anonymous reports. Give it to me straight, lady.”
Headmaster Nicky glanced at my mother’s closed door, but beyond the mumbled swears and the slamming of drawers, there wasn’t any sign of her.
“Well, now that we have our privacy back. I will ‘cut the bullshit’ as you say. We have received a report that you are a shifter. Our academy is for supernaturals like yourself, Ivy.”
I snorted loudly. “I’m sorry, a shifter? What in the holy pope’s shit stain are you going on about?”
“There are many branches of the supernatural world. I help to train all of them. Based on the report, it appears you have the ability to shift out of your human form and into that of an animal. A wolf, I would assume, given the report.”
She couldn’t be saying what I thought.
“You are saying that you think I am a werewolf?”
“Werewolves,” She said, her toothy smile finally fading. “Such an antiquated term. Yes, if you choose to be primitive, we believe you are a werewolf. Although, we prefer the term shifter.”
“You’re full of shit lady.” I jumped to my feet, ready to kick her ass out of my house, but she didn’t so much as move.
“I assure you; I am not.” Her fingers tapped against the leather of her massive bag, her eyes digging into me with that same laser-sharp focus as before. I could have sworn I saw yellow in them. That same feral rumbling in my gut kicked into overdrive.
“Fine, I’ll play.” I sunk back down to the couch. “Why would you think I was a werewolf?”
“A shifter.” She corrected with a bit of frustration.
“Fine, a shifter.” I laughed again at the way shifter sounded like shitter and that’s exactly what this bitch was spewing out--shit.
“You were seen by three wolves last night. They were not ordinary wolves--they were shifters—beings who have the ability to change from human to wolf at will. They belong to our academy and have been punished for going so far out of our bounds, but since they did, they were able to see you out there. Camping, I presume?”
I nodded as my mouth and throat were not currently operating.
I rubbed my calves, suddenly feeling a chill--the kind of chill you feel when something big is happening in your life and there’s nothing you can do to stop it because you don’t want to.
“I see. Wolf shifters can sense other wolf shifters. I’m told your eyes changed color at their presence?”
Another nod. My body wobbled as I perched on the edge of the couch.
“You’ve never done that before, have you?”
“No.”
“My dear, you are meant for more than this. There are hundreds of shifters at Bloodwood Academy. We learn together and train. You are more than a girl living in a trailer with no hope of a future. We can make you more.”
There she went again, rattling on about how she was going to make me better. It still stirred inside of me. I knew I should feel judged or something, but that was what I had wanted for myself. It was why I had applied to the community college in the first place.
I nodded, not even sure if she was waiting for a response.
She crossed her hands on top of her knees as my mom burst out of her room again, waving a bit of paper in her hand.
“I have it.” She was breathless, eager even. I shouldn’t be surprised that the most good I was ever going to do for her was a monthly stipend. I hadn’t seen her so happy about anything in a long time.
She handed it to the headmaster, who glanced over it with quickly widening eyes before she tucked it in her bag.
“Perfect, everything here appears to be in order.” She sounded apprehensive. Her voice captured in the sour expression that was wrinkling her brow. “It seems you will be joining us, Ivy. We can take you now. Are you ready?”
Ready?
I was still trying to wrap my head around the past few minutes. Shifters? Werewolves? I thought I was in over my head with an insane asylum.
With how my mom was bouncing over the fact that she had sold me to this woman, maybe I had been admitted all along.
I let my eyes wander the trailer and took in every smoke stain, every crack in the ceiling. Even if this woman was as batshit crazy as she sounded, she was offering me an opportunity to get out of here.
Who knows, maybe this nonsense would be real. If not, I’d survived throwing myself out of a moving vehicle before.
“I can pack in ten minutes. I don’t have much.”
Nicky-poo clapped and stood, gathering her things. “Excellent. Why don’t you go gather your things? I’m going to leave some forms here for your mother to sign. Take your time.”
I all but bolted to my room, cramming anything decent I owned into my duffel bag. Torn shirts and forgotten cards, an old tattered picture book, the only one Mama hadn’t burned; they all went in haphazardly. I didn’t even cry. This seemed like the time that people would cry, but not one damn drop dripped down my cheeks.
Maybe I was that much of a badass, or maybe whatever was inside of me, be it wolf or otherwise, was ready to move on.
Maybe my life wouldn’t be a black hole after all, even if they did think I was some kind of shifter.
This was my fucking chance to get out of here.
I glanced out of my window to see her get into her car, Mr. FBI still standing outside, waiting for me.
Creepy.
Well, creepy if he didn’t look insanely hot.
What was wrong with me? ‘Ivy, you’re a shifter.’ ‘Oh, look at that hot guy outside.’
Oh god, say for a second that this whole shifter stuff wasn’t nonsense, does that mean that he shifted into something too? Or Need-a-lotta Hamster-guts?
Thoughts of all the weird things they could shift into followed me out of my room and across the squeaky floors until I found myself face to face with the faux-wood door of my mother's bedroom.
Right then, I could care less what they could shift into.
“I’m going, now,” I whispered through the paper-thin door, internally praying that she was already passed out and wouldn’t even notice my departure.
“Okay, honey,” she called, more sing-song than I expected. Was she high? “Good luck. Don’t come back when they kick you out.”
Guess not.
First Tommy, now Mama. I knew I was supposed to be all hardened trailer trash and shit, but damn it, that hurt.
It hurt when Dad left, it hurt for years while my Mom wasted away. Now? She couldn’t even bring herself to say goodbye.
I stumbled back, tearing through the dark living room and grabbed my duffel and the signed paperwork from the counter and bolted out the door, nothing but silence echoing behind me.
Maybe she’d be better without me-- maybe she could put her life back together without a reminder of my dad and the life we used to have.
Maybe this whole fucking place would be better off without me.
I couldn’t afford to care about this shithole for a single second.
This was my chance.
The man took my bag from me and as the sun reached the top of the clouds, I slid into that sleek black car and whispered goodbye to the emptiness.
Fancy skirt just chuckled.
Chapter 5
It had been so long since I had been outside of the Nevada desert that after a few hours I was sure I had entered another world. The desert melted away into a city that reeked of death and sin. Then into a mountain pass full of trees and lakes so winding that I quickly lost track of where we were and which small town we had passed through.
Truckee. Tahoe. King’s something… not that it mattered, they were all the same.
The same wooden cities were full of houses the size of mansions and cars glistening with a million layers of wax. No one could afford that stuff where I came from. Here, it was everywhere. It dripped from the buildings and lined the streets until everything glistened.
Out of place couldn’t even begin to describe how I was feeling. If any of this was any indication of the kind of people I would encounter at Bloodwood, then they weren’t going to know what hit them when I showed up.
Although if I could help it, I wouldn’t be quite as trailer trash as I was now. First chance I got, I was taking a long-ass hot shower. I bet they had billions of gallons of running water there.
“We will be arriving shortly, Ms. Potter. When we arrive, your things will be placed in your dormitory for you. There are a few more things that we will need to go over. I am sure you have questions about who you are-- what you are. We have limited time before term starts on Monday, so you will have to do some of the reading on your own, I’m afraid.”
I hadn’t even seen the place and already Headmaster Nicky had my weekend planned. I nodded my head and smiled at her—insincere as fuck but sucking it in because new chances at life and all.
“I take it you won't answer my questions now?” I added a smile to the end of my sentence, trying to church-up my snide remark.
“That depends on what you would like to know. Stupid questions like ‘how does this all work’ and ‘why is term starting in the middle of the semester’ are best suited to learning through experience.”
Well, there went all my ‘stupid’ questions. I sighed and went back to staring out the window, the trees had grown so thick I could barely see through them.
“No questions then?” She was dripping with sarcasm. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if I said what I was thinking, so instead, I shook my head.
“Good. I am sure your peers and packmates will have all the answers you need anyway.”
“Packmates?” That was closer to a squeak. I don’t know why, but those two words made this whole thing seem that much more real.
“Yes.” She smiled. Apparently, I wasn’t getting more of an answer than that.
Must’ve been a stupid question.
Her steely features softened and she turned in her seat to face me. “Once upon a time, I was like you, Ivy. I came from a poor home, parents who didn’t care past the next check they would receive. I had no idea the power that lay right here.” She pointed to her temple. “And here.” Her other hand went to her sternum. “Don’t cheat on your future by hanging onto that past.”
“Wow. You related to Gandhi or something? Sorry.” I was a snot, Mama always said so. Headmaster Nickeleo Hamster smiled at me; I had a feeling I didn’t want to know the answer to that.
The car veered again, pulling through the dense trees and into a long winding road that was capped with a black cast-iron gate. The twisted bars were shaped into plants, or animals, and some kind of tree before ending in points as sharp as knives.
There was no escaping that.
The driver punched in some numbers and pressed his finger on a blue-lit square. When he did, the gates unfurled before us, creaking and moaning as it did.
“Welcome to Bloodwood, Ms. Potter.”
I leaned closer to the window, expecting to see some massive castle or an honest-to-god insane asylum.
There were only trees.
Talk about the anti-climactic reveal.
I could have sworn she was chuckling behind me. I pouted and sat back, only to smash my nose against the glass when the car turned again, and the place finally came into view.
Yes, I totally gasped.
The main building, or what I assumed was the main building, resembled a castle I’d seen in school about some king in London or England or something. High stone towers peeked out over the tops of the tree, a different flag atop each one. One had a wolf while another waved with some kind of hat on it. I was sure that other one had an elf, you know, the things with the pointed ears.
This was all getting weirder.
“What do the flags stand for?” I asked myself more than the Headmaster.
“The different factions of magic and the supernatural, Ms. Potter.” I waited for her to continue, but she wasn’t even looking at me. She was staring at her phone, tapping her long talon fingers against the screen until the car pulled to a stop, right in from of the longest stone steps I had ever seen. Didn’t help that they led up to a set of wood and iron doors that were just as impressive. Exactly what had I gotten myself into?
Didn’t care. I was out.
“As I said, your classes start on Monday and we don’t have much time. Most of the students are already here, prepping for their classes and exams.”
Prepping for their classes during the weekend? I was in deep shit.
“Please, follow me. Stay close lest you get lost.” Her car door opened and she stepped out as fluidly and elegantly as she had when I first met her.
Me?
I nearly passed out.
By the time I got to my feet, she was half-way up the damned stairs. I had to run to catch up with her click-clicks up the stairs and through the massive door. Down one hall, then another. And another.
Once in a while, she would wave or nod her head to acknowledge a teacher or another student. Some of them wore street clothes, but some had t-shirts or binders that read Bloodwood Academy emblazoned with the same crest across the board.
She wasn’t the only one receiving looks. A group of girls snickered and giggled as we passed like I was some circus sideshow. One raised eyebrow and a not-so-hushed whispered before I raised a middle finger in their direction and they scuttled off. Jeez, what's the point of magic if a lone bird does that?
Ms. Fancy-Skirt led me down a winding hallway after winding hallway before I had quickly and thoroughly become lost. I felt like some starving dog hoping for some table scraps. It wasn’t until we entered a giant atrium that she nearly lost me altogether. Trees towered over me like cathedrals, massive pinks flowers dr
ipping from sagging bows like soft blankets. The flowers were everywhere, swaying in a gentle breeze that picked up, pulling the soft flowers from branches and swirling through the air, around me, over me.
“What in the…” I wanted to be scared, this was the time that normal people would be scared.
I stood, watching the whirlwind of pink as it danced around me. Swirling, prancing, separating enough to reveal a man who stood a good foot taller than I, warm brown eyes looking into me from behind locks of blonde hair that was caught in the torrent of wind.
It was only a glance, but it stopped my heart, the intensity of his gaze, the way his lips pulled up into a dimpled smile burning into me. My heart skipped a beat, the guy swallowed by a wall of pink. When the wind died down, the flowers beginning to fall around me in a circle, he was gone, replaced by a stern-faced Headmaster who looked about ready to cut a bitch.
I totally jumped. That was not the face I had been expecting.
“Come with me,” she snarled, dragging me out of the atrium and down another hall before pulling open two wood and steel doors. The ancient hinges groaned like the old farts at the convenience store that can’t afford their smokes. She held it open with one hand but as I attempted to hold it for myself, I was nearly clobbered by the thing.
Damn, Nicky is strong.
“This way. We’ll get you settled in no time.” After taking a few more sharp turns, leading me through a few heavier-than-a-coal-miners-cock doors, she halted at a room that resembled a haunted library. Books lined the walls in towering pillars of faded leather and aged yellow paper. The sheer amount of them acting like some kind of sentinel to the massive seven-foot table that was cluttered with its own set of ancient paper volumes.
I sure as shit hoped that wasn’t the ‘light reading’ she had been talking about.
“Took you long enough,” someone snapped from behind the books. Bright red heels tapped together atop one of the low piles before they were replaced by raven hair, red lips, and the smuggest smile I had ever seen.
“Ahh Selene, what a pleasure. Ivy, I would like you to meet Selene Ampste, my niece and one of our shining stars here.” Yeah, cuz I am sure she did that all on her own. “I hadn’t expected to see you quite so soon, darling.”
