Shifter Falls Academy- Year One

by L. C. Mortimer

  Jade looked at me thoughtfully and finally shrugged.

  “If you actually want something, I’m sure we can figure something out.”

  I wasn’t sure what that meant, or if she was offering to be nice. I’d never really had a friend like Jade before, and I didn’t know how to reply without being completely awkward, so I just nodded.

  Judging by the look on Kenneth’s face, I had definitely not succeeded in avoiding any awkwardness, but luckily, the music changed and the tears all came out of a side door. Apparently, it was time for the banquet to begin.

  Everyone seemed to rush to their seats all at once. About half of the students were dressed up in formal clothing. The other half of the student body still wore uniforms and looked exhausted. I didn’t miss the fact that the students who had dressed up seemed to have a lot more energy.

  “Welcome everyone,” Professor Wild stood up. He was wearing dress robes, too. They bore the school colors and were almost exquisite.

  The students responded all at once. A roar of greetings seemed to fill the room, but then Wild motioned for everyone to settle down. He grinned, looking at the group. I liked the fact that he almost seemed too young to be the headmaster.

  I’d always had this idea that principals or headmasters were supposed to be mean and stuffy, but Wild didn’t seem that way. If anything, he seemed too nice.

  He went through the opening announcements and then invited everyone to eat. We’d have to wait until after the meal to find out if we’d earned our wands or not, but I was so hungry that I wasn’t even upset at waiting a little while longer.

  I hurried to the sidebars with Kenneth and Jade and we filled our plates. The pixies fluttered about, trying to tell us about each dish, but most of us were too hungry to listen properly. Besides, it was a special night, and all of the food looked unbeatably wonderful.

  We stuffed our bellies, laughed, and then danced together in the spaces between the tables. Everyone was having fun, laughing, and enjoying themselves, but all too soon, the fun was over. Professor Wild called for everyone’s attention, and then he started presenting wands to the first-year students who had passed their exams.

  He seemed to pass the wands out in no particular order. This was annoying since it meant there was no real way to tell if you’d earned yours or not until the entire ordeal was over. Percy Potts got his wand, and so did Eleanor Evergreen. There was a tall boy who was in my Potions class who received his wand, and I recognized three different people from my Cooking With Magic course who also received their wands.

  When Kenneth’s name was called, he grinned and practically ran up to the teachers. They gave him his wand and he gave a little bow before twirling his wand and tucking it safely in his robes.

  “Congrats,” Jade and I both whispered when he came back. I was excited for him, but I was also nervous. Was I going to be the only first-year student who didn’t receive a wand? That would be embarrassing, for sure, but more than that, it would show that I hadn’t actually applied myself the way I was supposed to.

  I might not have the best work ethic in the world, but somehow, I still hated the idea that failing meant I had let Fiona down. She was a good wolf, and she’d been a wonderful landlady. Was she ever going to visit me? Or send me a letter? Was she okay?

  No matter what was happening with her, though, I wanted her to be proud of me. I wanted her to know that I had taken full advantage of the opportunity she’d set before me.

  I’d done it.

  And then Professor Wild called Terry Thomas’ name.

  Everyone cheered and clapped, and the teachers seemed to relax back into their seats, as though that was the last name of the evening.

  Was that really it?

  Had I actually failed?

  I hadn’t wanted to fail. I hadn’t planned on letting anyone down at all, but I’d been so good at being a failure in my life that it seemed fitting it should happen here, too. I looked at my hands, humiliated. I hadn’t passed.

  “As most of you know,” Professor Wild started speaking. “Being a first-year student at Shifter Falls isn’t easy. Unless you count Shifter Health,” he added, winking at Gertrude Gilbert, who taught the class.

  “Hey!” Gertrude protested, but she laughed along with the rest of the students.

  “While I’m so proud of our first-year students who have spent months studying and preparing for these exams today, one student in particular stands out. She began the semester later than expected and was thrown into the school without any preparation at all. Despite her rocky beginning, however, this student has shown time and time again that she is dedicated, a hard worker, and willing to put the time and effort into making magic work for her. Without further delay, I’d like to congratulate Miss Charlotte for completing her mid-semester exams today and receiving her very first wand.”

  I stared as the dining hall erupted into applause. Everyone was happy for me.

  How?

  How was it possible that they were all so happy for me?

  “I knew you could do it!” Jade said.

  “You got this! Great job!” Kenneth grinned.

  “Hey, you have to go get your wand,” another girl tugged gently on my robes and reminded me that I shouldn’t just sit perfectly still, staring at everyone.

  “Oh, right.”

  Somehow, I managed to force my feet to move to the front of the room. Everyone was staring at me, and the thought made me feel a little queasy. Okay, so that was something I was going to have to work on. When I finally reached the teachers, Professor Wild smiled at me. He placed his hand on my shoulder and grinned.

  “Congratulations, Charlie,” he said.

  Then he handed me a long, silver case. It was practically glowing, and I knew that inside of the case was the most perfect wand that ever existed. It took all of my self-control not to open it right then and there, but somehow, I managed to make it back to my table with my friends. Kenneth and Jade both smiled and hugged me, and it made me feel great to know they were by my side.

  The rest of the night went by in a blur. It was fun, and everyone laughed and ate and danced, but the only thing I could focus on was my wand.

  I had a wand.

  It was raining, so Jade, Kenneth, and I took the secret tunnels back to the dormitories. When we reached the separate entrances for the boys’ and girls’ dorms, we parted ways.

  “So he’s super into you,” Jade said as soon as we were out of earshot.

  “Who? Kenneth? Nah,” I shook my head. I didn’t really see myself as the type of girl who had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or anyone. I’d been a loner for such a long time. I didn’t think guys even noticed girls like me.

  Jade just laughed.

  “Whatever,” she said. We went up to our room and sat down on our beds. I didn’t even bother taking my robes off before I opened the little clasp on the side of my wand case and opened the box.

  There it was.

  I gasped when I saw the wand nestled in a bed of velvet. Like the box, it was silver. I noticed that each student’s wand was very unique. Even the first-year students who earned their wands tonight received different colors. I wasn’t sure why, or if there was some sort of significance to that. All I knew was that the wand was gorgeous, and I loved it, and I couldn’t wait to actually start using it.

  I held it out and twirled it a few times.

  “Well,” Jade laughed. “You definitely look like a proper cat now.”

  Chapter 12

  Winter seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, the last snowflakes were vanishing from the grounds at Shifter Falls. It was hard to be able to enjoy the feeling of the cold fleeing, though, because I had Fiona hanging over my head.

  What had happened to her?

  Was she okay?

  Finally, I decided to talk to Jade about it. We were in our room doing homework when I finally broached the topic.

  “So, you know how I started school late?” I asked her.

  Instantly, sh
e dropped her pencil and looked over at me. She moved so quickly, and her eyes were so big that her owlness was showing through.

  “I’m finally going to get to hear the story?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “I didn’t realize it was in such demand.”

  “Well, it is. Charlie, you’re kind of a closed book. I mean, you’re my best friend at Shifter Falls, and I still haven’t gotten you to tell me why you came here or what happened to you.”

  I sighed. What was the best way to put this? Jade was right. I’d never had a friend like her. Not really. I’d never had someone who really understood what I was going through or how hard it was to be a new student in a strange world.

  “I’m a late bloomer shifter,” I told her.

  “Well, I mean, I knew that.”

  “Before I shifted, I had no idea I was a shifter. At all.”

  “What?” Jade scrunched up her tiny little nose. “How is that even possible? Your parents didn’t tell you?”

  “I don’t have parents. Scratch that: I don’t know who my parents are. I grew up in foster homes and kind of bounced around from place to place. I never stayed at a single home very long, and nobody knew enough about my birth parents to discover that I was a shifter.”

  “Woah, talk about a shock. What happened? How’d you find out that you were,” she gestured to me. “You know, you.”

  “After I graduated, I rented a room from this nice old lady. Fiona. She let me stay in her house for much cheaper than she should have. I thought she just had a good heart, but I guess she also suspected that I was a lost shifter. She wanted to help me.”

  “And did she?”

  “Yeah. I was working at a convenience store and trying to save up money for whatever I decided to do next.”

  I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

  I still didn’t know.

  Life at Shifter Falls Academy had been downright magical, but I wasn’t ready to take the next steps. I knew that soon I’d have to decide what I wanted to do after graduation so I could focus on developing the magical skills I needed to take those next steps.

  “And what happened?”

  I gulped.

  I hadn’t said it out loud in so long, and I still didn’t want to.

  Finally, I decided to rip the bandage off and just say it.

  “My boss tried to kill me. He and his friend hunted me down and tried to take me. They wanted my blood.”

  “No!” Jade yelled.

  “Yeah,” I shook my head. Even now, all these months later, my blood still ran cold when I thought about it. “I managed to hide overnight in a tree, and then I sneaked home. I couldn’t change back, so I was worried Fiona wouldn’t let me inside, but she did. She helped me shift back to my usual form, and then she brought me here.”

  Jade sat back and shook her head.

  “That’s quite a story, Charlie.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “So, what now? I mean, you obviously can’t go back.”

  “I can’t. It’s a wolf town, and they’ve caught my scent.”

  “I’ve heard wolves never forget a scent.”

  “Is that true?”

  “I don’t know, but I heard it.”

  One thing I’d learned since starting school at Shifter Falls was that every rumor and legend seemed to be rooted in truth, at least a little. Jade’s comment about wolf shifters never forgetting might seem dramatic and extreme, but if I had to guess, I’d say that it was at least partially accurate.

  “I haven’t heard from Fiona,” I finally said.

  “Well, maybe she hasn’t wanted to wander back. I mean, it’s quite a journey from the waterfall entrance.”

  “There are other entrances?”

  “Yes,” Jade told me. “Shifter Falls is hidden away behind the waterfall, but there are other ways of getting in and out of the school. The waterfall entrance is kind of an emergency way of getting into the school. I mean, my parents drove me here.”

  “What? Really?”

  Jade laughed.

  “Didn’t you think it was strange that there was a road outside?”

  “I just figured it was from long ago,” I shrugged.

  “It’s so students can be dropped off by their parents. Not everyone wants to use the waterfall entrance and come on foot. Especially once you have a trunk and lots of supplies, you really can’t be walking across long empty fields.”

  “There were no guards on that entrance,” I pointed out.

  “That’s because people so rarely use it,” Jade shrugged. “Nobody really knows about it. There are wards in place to ensure that non-magical people can’t find it, but I don’t know if they’re good against wolves.”

  “There aren’t any wolf-shifters at the school,” I pointed out. It was something I’d noticed long ago.

  “That’s because werewolves keep to themselves. They aren’t exactly known for being team players.”

  “I’m worried that something happened to Fiona.”

  “I’m sure she’s totally fine,” Jade said, but there was something she wasn’t telling me.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  She bit her lip and wrung her hands, but finally, she looked up at me.

  “Look, I don’t pretend to be an expert on wolves, but I do know that they don’t view betrayal as something that’s ever forgivable. If those guys were trying to catch you specifically for food or to sell you off, then they might think Fiona let them down. They might think she betrayed their pack.”

  “You think they killed her.”

  “I’m not saying that.”

  “What should I do?” I asked. “She was supposed to come visit me.”

  I didn’t know if I could live with myself if something actually happened to Fiona because of me, and the truth was that I would blame myself entirely. She was such a good person. She was so kind to everyone she ever met.

  How could I live with the fact that she could be hurt?

  “You should go talk to Headmaster Wild,” Jade said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “You should go talk to him. Sometimes he knows more than he’s letting on.”

  The idea of talking to him had crossed my mind, but I didn’t really want to be a bother to the person in charge of the school.

  “I’ll go with you,” she offered, but I shook my head.

  “That’s okay. I think this is something I need to do on my own.”

  FOR SOME REASON, WALKING to Headmaster Wild’s office seemed to take an eternity: probably because I didn’t want to go. I took the underground entrance to the school and as I walked through the hallways, I couldn’t help but feel like they were creepier when I went alone. Everything about the hallways seemed uncomfortable and horrifying. The walls felt alive and I could have sworn the people in the paintings were laughing at me behind my back.

  When I finally reached his office, I once again stood outside for a long time. I tried to work up the nerve to knock on the door, but just like last time, the door swung open.

  “Charlotte?” He asked, looking down at me. “Can I help you?”

  “I need to talk to you about Fiona,” I whispered.

  A look I couldn’t quite identify crossed his face, and he nodded.

  “Of course. Please come in.”

  I went into the office and stood in the center of the room. I looked around at all of the books the headmaster head in his space. There were books that were new and books that were old. He probably had first editions and autographed copies in here, too. I made a mental note to myself that if I ever figured out this whole “magic” thing that I’d have a library like this, too.

  “What seems to be the problem?” Headmaster Wild sat down at his desk.

  “She didn’t come back for me,” I said.

  “The relationship between magic users and shifters in general can be...complicated.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I know she said she was going to vi
sit you,” he said. “And I’m sorry that she hasn’t been able to come.”

  “Have you talked to her?” I asked anxiously. “Because it’s been months.”

  “I haven’t heard from her,” he told me. “But I’ve been keeping tabs on Growl Valley.”

  “What do you mean? Like, do you have spies?”

  “Something like that. Things have changed recently in the town, Charlotte.”

  “Changed how?”

  “The wolves there have become more aggressive and anxious. They’ve become even more hostile toward outsiders and people they don’t know.”

  “Aggressive how?”

  “Let’s just say that Growl Valley is no longer the place for a kitty cat, Charlotte.”

  I gulped. So, they were getting violent. That’s what he didn’t want to tell me, wasn’t it? The wolves were growing more and more anxious and mean and they were attacking people who didn’t belong.

  “Did they hurt her?”

  “I’m afraid no one has seen Fiona for months,” he told me.

  “What?”

  My entire body felt like it was being punched over and over again. Had they taken her? Had someone hurt her? What had happened?

  “It doesn’t mean she’s dead.”

  “It just means they’ve taken her.”

  “I’ve had people looking for her,” he said. “But if the wolves have taken her somewhere secure, then the chances of us finding her are slim.”

  “There has to be something we can do.”

  “I’m afraid my hands are tied,” he said.

  “Not good enough,” I stood up and slammed my hands on his desk. Wild looked surprised, but not angry. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s right. This kitty cat has claws, and if you think I’m going to walk away from the fact that Fiona is in danger and that she needs me, then you’re crazier than I am, Wild.”

  I turned and started to leave, but suddenly, I felt his hand on my shoulder. I turned around to find him standing right next to me. How did he do that? How was he able to move so stealthily and quietly?

  And why did I always have the impression that I knew him from somewhere?