She parked the car, walked right into Headmaster Wild’s room, and stood in front of his desk. Her hands were on her hips and she had a menacing sort of look on her face.
“Mrs. Marsh!” He jumped to his feet. “You’re all right!”
“Hardly,” she snapped. He looked behind to her to see Kenneth, Jade, and me standing there covered in mud and dirt and definitely smelling horribly. “Apparently, you have a security problem, Sebastian. Three of your students just sneaked out of their dormitories tonight.”
“I...I...It was enchanted...” He shook his head, as though he couldn’t believe we’d managed to get past all of the security.
“Well, it’s a good thing they did, because they saved me.”
Sebastian’s face had so many different emotions on it: hurt, relief, surprise, fear.
“Mrs. Marsh, I am so sorry,” he said. “I had no idea what had happened to you or where you’d gone. I didn’t know if you’d gone into hiding or if someone had taken you or...”
“Sebastian,” she held up a hand. “Stop that now. It’s not your fault. Besides, you couldn’t have done anything. They wanted Charlie, and they would have kept coming after you no matter what you did. You know that, don’t you?”
Headmaster Wild looked like a young student when listening to Mrs. Marsh. Most of the time, he was this brave, totally put-together man, but today he just looked relieved.
“I know,” he said. Then he turned to the rest of us. “Charlie, what you did was dangerous, and wrong.” He had to say those things. He wasn’t incorrect, either. It was totally dangerous and pretty irresponsible to just go wandering off into the world without telling anyone where I was going.
Besides, I’d dragged my friends into my own drama, and they could have gotten seriously hurt.
I’d do it all over again, though, if it meant saving Fiona.
“But you made the right choice.” He looked at me and nodded, and I suddenly had the impression that for some reason, Professor Wild was very proud of me. It was a strange sort of feeling. No one had ever felt “proud” of me before.
Not for anything.
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you,” he said carefully. “It won’t happen again.”
“So we aren’t suspended?” Kenneth asked.
“No,” the Headmaster smiled. “You are not suspended. You are not, however, to tell any of the other students about what happened, lest they start making wild and crazy decisions, too.”
“There’s something else,” Fiona said. “I want my old job back.”
“Is that right?” Professor Wild looked very pleased.
“That’s right,” Fiona said. “Growl Valley is no longer safe for me, and I’m not ready to go die just yet. I’d like to spend my last happy years teaching. That is, if you’ll have me.”
“As it turns out,” he said with a smile. “We have a couple of openings for teachers, and I think you’d fit in perfectly.”
Chapter 15
“We did it.”
The three of us were sitting outside of the girls’ dormitory on a little bench. It was cold outside, but the bench was somehow warm. It was one of those special things about the school. The bench was warm when it was cold outside and cool when it was hot outside. It was always the perfect temperature.
“I think you both did most of the work,” I said. “And thanks. You know, for helping me. You didn’t have to come, but you did.”
“Anything for a good friend like you,” Jade smiled, and reached for my hand. She gave it a little squeeze, and then she stood up and stretched. “But you know, I smell like I’ve been flying all night, so I’m going to go shower and crash. See you both tomorrow,” she said.
She went inside the dorms, so apparently, the enchantment only lasted until dawn. The sun was starting to rise, and Kenneth and I sat back against the bench.
“You were great today,” I told him.
“Nah, I just did what anyone would do.”
“That’s not true. If it was, Professor Wild would have gone. Anyone would have gone. They didn’t, though. You did.”
I looked at him and smiled. Kenneth really was pretty cool. He’d gone above and beyond, and he’d helped us save Fiona. Now she was safe, and more importantly, she was here. She was going to be our teacher the next year, and that was an incredible thing.
“You were very brave today,” he said. “I’m impressed. For a kitty cat, you really showed your claws.”
“Thanks,” I said. Kenneth took my hand, then, and squeezed it. He smiled at me and when he looked at me like that, I suddenly realized that Jade had been right all those months ago when she thought there was something between us.
And I realized something else: I wanted there to be.
I wanted to have someone I could turn to, someone I could fall in love with, and I wanted that to be Kenneth.
He kissed me as the sun started to rise, and I kissed him back. It was my first time kissing anyone at all, proving once again that I was a late bloomer in more ways than one. The kiss was sweet, and innocent, and it held so many promises I didn’t think I’d ever be able to sort them all out.
Then he cupped my face and smiled.
“You’re incredible, Charlotte Storm.”
He kissed me again, and then we sat together on the bench for a long time. My life had changed so very much in the last few months. It had changed in ways I could never have imagined. I mean, when Fiona said she was taking me to shifter school, I didn’t think there would be magic included. I didn’t think there would be people I’d grow so close to.
I didn’t think any of this would be possible, but it was.
And I had changed more than I could have ever guessed.
The best thing was that it wasn’t over yet. I still had two more years at Shifter Falls Academy, but I was ready.
For anything.
Epilogue
At the end of the year, I left Shifter Falls a different woman than I’d been before. I was planning on finding some sort of part-time work, and I was going to be living with Jade’s family while I figured things out. A very small part of me wanted to go back to Growl Valley since it was where I’d spent so much of my time, but I didn’t think it was going to be safe for me there. Yeah, the immediate threat of Caleb and Daniel was gone, but it was a town full of wolves.
Eventually, someone would realize who I was, and they’d be out for blood.
I couldn’t risk that.
When I packed up my belongings and cleared out of my dorm room, I stopped and looked at the space that had become home to me. I’d gotten lucky. A late bloomer shifter like me could have had her entire world torn apart, but I didn’t. Fiona had saved me, rescued me, and I’d never forget everything she’d done to protect me.
She had gone above and beyond, and she’d made sure that I was protected and cared for.
I only hoped that in the years to come, I’d be able to show her that same care and protection. She was going to be a teacher at Shifter Falls next year, so I’d get to spend plenty of time with her. Fiona was spending the summer on campus along with many of the other teachers who lived at the castle year-round. Someone had to take care of everything while the students were away, they’d told me, but I secretly suspected that the teachers liked to have parties and get into shenanigans when the students weren’t around.
“Hey,” Jade closed her trunk and locked it. Then she turned to me. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
I didn’t have a trunk because the only thing I’d brought with me was a backpack. That’s what I was leaving the school with. Well, and a couple of garbage bags full of things I’d acquired during my trip. Jade eyed the bags distastefully. I looked down at them, embarrassed. I was used to traveling like that. It was how I’d always left foster home. When I left one home for another, it was kind of an unspoken thing that my belongings would go in a bag like this.
It just seemed normal now, but Jade shook her head.
“Stay here.”
She left, and I sat down on the bed and looked around. The posters were gone from the walls, and all of our personal items had been cleaned up and put away. I sat, wondering what the summer was going to be like, and wondering what other ways I was going to change before I returned in the fall.
Then there was a knock at the door.
I looked up to see Kenneth and Jade hauling something into the room together.
“A trunk?” I asked, once I was able to see it. They set the trunk down on the floor and a little cloud of dust erupted from it. Kenneth sneezed, but then he nodded.
“Yeah. Jade said you needed one, and she remembered seeing this in one of the storage closets.”
“Sometimes students leave stuff there they don’t need anymore. I figured you could use this more than the closet could,” Jade smiled.
“My own trunk?”
I stood up and went to it. Reaching down, I traced the brass design and ran my hands over the edges of the trunk. It was gorgeous. Yeah, it needed to be washed. It was a little dusty and a little dirty. It smelled a little bit, too, but I didn’t care about any of that.
It was mine.
It was all mine, and it was going to be just perfect.
“Thank you,” I told them. I looked up at my two friends, and I wondered how I’d gotten to be so very lucky. I still couldn’t believe that just a year ago, I didn’t know any of them had existed. A year ago, my entire world had been completely different.
Now I had a trunk, and I had friends, and I had a boyfriend, and I had an entire world of magic that had been opened up to me.
“Let’s get you packed,” Kenneth said, grinning.
I ran to the bathroom to get some wet cloths. Together, we wiped down the trunk. Jade was kind enough to cast a little enchantment to remove the musty scent. She’d learned how to do it in one of her high school classes, and it came in handy now.
“Cinnamon?” I asked, sniffing the trunk.
“Nothing but the best for my friend.”
I’d always loved cinnamon, so it was with excitement that I hastily emptied the contents of my garbage bags into the trunk. I put my backpack inside, as well, and I covered everything with my robes. There was even a little spot in the trunk for my wand, and while I momentarily considered traveling with it on me, I figured it would be safest in the trunk, so I tucked it carefully inside.
Together, we pushed the trunks into the hallway. We were going to attend the closing ceremony of the semester and our trunks would be brought down and outside for us to collect when we were ready to leave. We weren’t going to leave through the waterfall today. There was another entrance, a magical one that was carefully warded and hidden away, that students used twice a year for coming and going. Parents and vehicles could come in to collect all of the students, so that was the next step.
My friends and I headed over to the closing ceremony in the big castle, and as we walked over, I was once again struck by just how magical this place really was. It was hard to believe that just a year ago, my entire life had been different.
Now, I had something I’d never had before.
Now I had hope.
Each day was going to bring with it a fresh surprise, and I couldn’t wait to find out what tomorrow had in store for me.
THE END
Charlie’s story continues in SHIFTER FALLS ACADEMY: YEAR TWO.
Make sure to turn the page for deleted scenes!
Deleted Scenes
One of the hardest parts about creating a story is deciding which scenes should stay and which ones should go. During the editing process, many good scenes are often removed from books entirely. Here you’ll find some of my favorite scenes from Shifter Falls Academy that didn’t make it into the final manuscript. I hope you enjoy these scenes and that they give you a little more insight into Charlie and her many adventures. –L.C. Mortimer
THE DARKNESS ENVELOPED me as I walked home from work. It was the same story every night: work until late, and then walk home. I wanted a car. I seriously, seriously wanted a car. It would take me a few paychecks to save up for a little clunker I could call my own, but soon I’d have something. Then I wouldn’t have to make my way home in the darkness after a long shift, and I wouldn’t have to deal with the fact that I always felt like someone – or something – was watching me.
It was always the same old story. I stayed away from the news and from urban legends, but my imagination still worked in overdrive. I was still afraid that one day, everything was going to change, and not for the better.
With each step, my trepidation grew. Was someone watching me? Was I being completely paranoid? Were there monsters lurking in the dark?
Those thoughts were crazy.
Hell, maybe I was crazy.
All I knew was that I had to keep moving. Soon I’d be home and everything would be okay. As soon as I rounded the corner and saw Fiona’s little house, I started to run toward it. My heart pounded so loudly I was sure the entire world could hear it, but it didn’t matter. I just wanted to get inside.
I ran up to the house and scurried up the steps, relieved.
As soon as I pushed the door open to the little home, I instantly felt safe.
I felt fine.
I felt like I was coming home.
THE FOOD AT SHIFTER Falls Academy was the best food I’d ever had in my life. Every day was like a magical treat. I was nervous, at first, about eating cafeteria food. I mean, it’s not like public schools were known for offering delicacies when it came to dining.
Shifter Falls was different, though.
The food was made fresh and it was filled with nutrients. I could practically feel myself growing healthier with each meal. There were plenty of dining options for students no matter what their dietary restrictions might be, and more than that, there were even catered dining plans for students who had special shifter dietary needs.
Tigers, for one, needed lots of protein, so there were eating plans designed to ensure that those shifters got all of the meat they needed. There were vegetarian options, too. There was something for everyone.
I was going to gain a ton of weight if I wasn’t careful because there were even desserts, and they were the best thing I’d ever tasted in my entire life. I wasn’t sure how exactly food enchantments worked, or if that was even a thing, but if Shifter Falls food was anything to judge the magical world by, then sign me up.
I wanted more.
I wanted all of it.
JADE AND I WERE SPRAWLED out in the common room one night. We’d brought a quilt from our dorm room down and made a little nest of pillows so we could study in comfort, but still be around people. There was something powerful about being around other shifters, I thought. At the very least, it was nice to be around people who really understood what I was going through.
Sometimes Shifter Falls felt a little lonely, but anytime I started feeling awkward or uncomfortable, I reminded myself that it was a good excuse to try to get out of my comfort zone and meet people. Or, you know, talk to someone new.
I made an effort to meet someone new at least once a day. It sounded extreme, but the truth was that there were hundreds of students who were all trying to learn the same stuff, so it really wasn’t that hard to meet new people and start forging new connections.
“What did you get for question four?” Jade asked, looking over at me. We had our books out for Shifter Health 101. It was a class designed to help us understand the complexity that was our own bodies. Apparently, being a shifter was physically a lot harder than being a human. There were a lot of things we had to do in order to stay healthy. For example, we had to shift regularly. That was probably the weirdest thing for me.
We also had to eat special diets, exercise a lot, and spend time around other shifters. Apparently, being isolated and by yourself was a good way to get depression if you were a shifter. I mean, it was the same way in the human world, but shifters had these biological needs to shift
with other people. I wasn’t sure if it was an evolutionary thing or what, but I did know that I always felt better after shifting and running around with the other cats, climbing trees and meowing at birds, or just generally being around other shifters.
“Apples,” I told Jade.
“You got that the best fruit for shapeshifters was apples?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that what you got?”
“I put strawberries.”
“I’m sure either answer is fine.”
“No way,” Jade shook her head, and her hair bounced when she did. “The question wants to know what the best fruit is. There can only be one answer.”
“Maybe, but Georgia Martin is a tricky teacher. I think she wants to know what the best fruit is for the kind of shifter you are,” I pointed out.
Georgia Martin had an identical twin, Ellen Martin, who taught Shifting 101. Together, the two teachers taught the students of the school what it really meant to be a shifter. I was a little jealous that they’d grown up together totally knowing what they were. They’d always had each other to fall back on and to lean on. They’d always had one another when the going got tough.
There had been so many times in my life when I’d been alone or lost or wanting.
I had Jade now, and I’d started to make other friends at the school.
Kenneth, for one.
It was nice not to feel so alone all of the time, but I still craved that connection that the sisters had.
Jade looked at me for a long time and then her jaw dropped.
“I can’t believe I didn’t notice it,” she said. She looked at me and shook her head in surprise. “You’re totally right.”
“I am?”
“It’s a trick question. I should have known.”
She scribbled in her answer and looked over at me.
“Thanks, friend,” she reached for my hand and squeezed it, and I smiled at Jade before turning back to my own homework. I started skimming the chapter we’d just read and looking for answers I could use in my own homework questions. Jade was a good friend and I was lucky to have her.
Shifter Falls Academy- Year One Page 11
