“You can count on it.” I thrust out my hand and we shook on it.
“So what should our wolf names be?” Xander beamed back and forth between us. “I was thinking maybe we could do a space theme? I’ll be Skywa—”
I clamped my hand over his mouth. “Dude. Don’t make me regret this.”
CHAPTER TEN
Shiftnasium Room A, where Health took place, had been an average, boxy classroom that smelled of disinfectant and shoes. Shiftnasium Room C turned out to be an entirely different story. When my new pack walked through the door, we found ourselves in an empty room with an elevator. A small sign invited us to push the single button. This caused a small scuffle between the boys, which Kanze won by yanking on Xander’s backpack and letting its weight do the rest. After I helped Xander back onto his feet, we boarded the elevator for what seemed like a strangely long ride.
“It smells like wet dog,” Xander complained, pinching his nose.
The doors opened and the feeling of normalcy that the gym had given me vanished into thin air. We stepped out into a cavern, each of our mouths hanging ajar. Bright stadium lights hung from the rocky ceiling, illuminating an enormous, sawdust laden arena lined with rickety bleachers on either side.
“Um, I didn’t order a rodeo,” Kanze said. “Did you order a rodeo?”
“I can assure you I did not order a rodeo,” Xander answered.
The rest of our class had already assembled in the center of the ring, and for reasons I could not fathom, they all appeared to be wearing loose-fitting paper underwear.
What fresh hell is this?
A hulking figure stepped in front of us, eclipsing the stadium lights. The man was probably in his early forties and had to be at least six-foot-seven. He wore a burgundy track suit instead of the standard faculty blazer, and every last inch of him bulged with muscles, even his neck. Sweat glistened on the dark skin of his bald head, and since it wasn’t anywhere close to warm down here, I assumed this meant he was already angry.
“Nice of you mutts to show up,” he snarled, raining tiny drops of spittle onto our faces.
Yep. Definitely angry.
I resisted the urge to wipe my face, but Kanze and Xander must have had death wishes. The dude—Dean Embry, I presumed— suddenly loomed even taller.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I mess up you pretty boys’ make up?” His voice boomed loud enough to elicit several snickers from the students in the arena. Xander cringed, but Kanze’s lip curled.
I side-stepped in front of them, pasting on a perky smile. “Where do we get our, um, our outfits, sir?”
Embry blinked once, like he couldn’t believe I’d gotten between him and the nerds, and then screamed into my face, “Locker rooms! Now! Leave your shoes there, too!”
We followed his pointing finger to two doors set into the side of the cavern wall, one marked with a male stick figure, the other female. Inside, I found a stack of the paper undergarments next to the door. I reluctantly sat my book bag on one of the benches and removed my clothing, carefully tucking each item into the bag as I went, even my sneakers. I made a mental note to beat Winter back here after class because I had no doubt she’d steal my things and then accuse me of just wanting to be naked all the time.
I slipped into the paper boxer shorts and then tugged the paper bra over my head. A band of elastic at the hem held each of the garments in place around my ribs and hips, leaving my midriff uncomfortably bare, not to mention drafty.
Is this really necessary?
Stepping back out into the cavern, I found Xander and Kanze shirtless in their own paper boxers. Xander tried to hide his soft midsection behind his folded arms, but Kanze actually had a hint of a six-pack on his slender frame.
“Swim team, not karate,” he said, catching me looking. “Before you ask.”
I lifted my hands. “Wasn’t going to.”
We made our way out to the center of the arena, sawdust sifting between our toes.
Winter took one look at me and the shirtless nerds and laughed. “What is it with you and all these boys, James? Some kind of reverse harem fetish?”
I stepped closer, and noticed with no small amount of pride that I actually had a good two inches on her. “No, but since you brought it up, why do you think your boy Derek only invites girls into his pack?” I glanced at her three minions, who were standing much closer to him than to her.
“Sexist much?” Winter scoffed. “This is my pack, not his.”
“Sure.” I lowered my voice. “But do they know that?”
She shoved me, hard, and I would have landed flat on my butt had Xander not caught me and set me upright again.
“What the hell is this?” Dean Embry bellowed.
Winter immediately squeezed her shoulders together so her boobs strained against her paper bra. She batted her eyelashes and spoke with a babyish pout. “I’m sorry, Dean Embry. It’s just that she called you an ugly bear, and I don’t put up with that kind of disrespect.”
I gasped. “You—”
Embry glowered down at me. “That true?”
“No!” Xander said, stepping in front of me. “She’s lying. Remi didn’t say anything about you.”
“Don’t you raise your voice at me, son.” He shook his head. “Damn wolves. You think you own this place.” He pointed at Winter. “That goes for you, too.” Embry moved away from me, leveling his eyes at every member of the class in turn. “But wolves don’t own this classroom. I do. You best all remember that.”
He walked farther out into the arena and turned to face us, crossing his arms over his massive chest. “My name is Gareth Embry, and I am the Dean of Physical Education. You will call me Dean Embry, Sir, at all times. You will not, under any circumstances, call me the Gary the Were Bear if you enjoy having all of your blood inside your body. Understand?”
Several of the jock types knew to shout, “Yes, sir, Dean Embry, sir!”
Embry nodded his approval at them, and then glowered at the rest of us, who had clearly never participated in organized sports or the army. “This class is Practical Shifting. It is what it sounds like it is. We’re going to practice shifting. By the end of this semester, you should be able to shift on command, hold that shift for the duration of the class, and unshift on command. If you can’t do that, you fail. Understand?”
This time, we all shouted, “Yes, sir, Dean Embry, sir!” and earned his approving nod.
Kanze raised his hand. “What happens if we fail?”
Embry stared at him blankly.
Kanze sighed. “What happens if we fail, Dean Embry, sir?”
Embry sidled over, scowling. “You planning to fail, pretty boy?”
“No,” Kanze gritted out. “I’m just curious.”
Embry laughed. “Are you a cat? You know what they say curiosity does to cats.”
Kanze’s fists clenched at his sides. “I’m a wolf, sir. But I still like to know things.”
Embry chuckled again. “Well, know this! If you fail…” His eyes swept the class, silencing everyone who had laughed with him, and then he thundered, “I eat you for Christmas dinner!”
He whirled around and stomped several yards away, pausing with his back to us.
“This is the only class in which you will be allowed to wear those stupid paper panties,” Embry said, unzipping his track jacket. “Your animal is naked, and feels no shame. Neither should you.”
His jacket dropped to the sawdust, revealing the muscles that rippled all the way from his broad shoulders to his lean waist.
“Academy rules prohibit any of you from removing the paper panties at any time during Practical Shifting I. Should they be destroyed during your shift, your classmates will turn their backs while you unshift, and I will provide you with a new pair of paper panties.” He gestured to a plastic sack on the ground near us. “However, since I graduated twenty years ago, these rules do not apply to me.”
And with that, Dean Embry dropped his pants—and yes, somehow even his glutes
looked like they would just as soon as kill us as teach us. One of Winter’s minions emitted a throaty sound of appreciation that earned her a backslap on the arm from Winter, probably because it would be a lot harder to harass me about Professor Helms if one of her own was hot for teacher.
“I will now demonstrate a controlled shift and unshift,” Embry continued, keeping his back to us. “Please do not panic. My prey instincts might be stimulated.”
“Was that a joke?” Xander whispered. “Please tell me that was a joke.”
“I don’t think so,” Kanze said, taking a step back.
An anxious hush fell over the crowd as Dean Embry moved his arms through a series of yoga-like poses, similar to what Laith had been doing in the promo video. But instead of running, Embry simply leaned forward and thick brown hair exploded from his back as he doubled—no, tripled—in size.
Wake up, wake up, wake up.
The Grizzly bear turned with surprising grace, his massive, clawed paws held in a muscle-man pose in front of his shaggy chest. He swung his enormous head from side to side, pinning each of us in turn with his beady brown eyes. Then he opened his jaws, revealing dripping yellow fangs, and roared. The force of the air leaving his lungs fluttered his jowls and a rancid mist settled over my skin.
Someone nearby gagged.
No, seriously, Remi. Wake up now.
The bear turned, dropping onto all fours, giving us a brief glimpse of his funny bobbed tail before the hair receded like a tide going back to the ocean. The hulking form shrank back to human proportions, which seemed hilariously flimsy now.
As Dean Embry pulled his pants back on, I suddenly became aware of sweaty fingers entwined with mine. I looked down at Xander’s hand, and he quickly dropped it, folding both arms across his chest.
At least he didn’t pee his paper.
Embry faced us, zipping up his jacket. He grinned, and I could not wrap my head around how his human teeth could be so white and clean when the bear’s had been in such serious need of a dentist. Not that I could actually wrap my head around how this human had just been a bear either.
He slapped his hands together. “Who’s up next?”
Winter, Chad, and Derek all shot their hands up. Fine by me. Earlier during dinner with Victoria—sans Laith—she had listened to my latest Winter horror story and explained that those three had been the first freshman to arrive this summer, way back in June. That had given them way too much time to forge their unholy alliance and get ahead of the game at shifting.
Embry pointed at Chad. “Bears first.”
Chad pumped his fist and ran to the spot where Dean Embry had shifted. “Here?”
Embry nodded. “Do your thing.”
Wait, that’s it? No instructions?
Chad grinned and flexed his chest and biceps. He didn’t bother with turning around or doing any of the stretches. He just closed his eyes and made a constipated face, and black hair erupted in uneven patches all over his body. He bore down even harder, bending his knees, and his body began to bulge and bend in ways that made me cringe.
Is that the sound of his bones crunching?
But the worst part was his face, the way his nose fused with his upper lip as jaw extended, the way his ears moved to the top of his flattening head, and his eyes—my stomach heaved as they shrank beneath his widening brow. When it was over, a large black bear stood before us with a few shreds of paper boxers still clinging to his fur. He awkwardly flailed his bear arms and made some strange huffing noises.
“Alright, everybody give it up for Chad!” Embry clapped. “You can un—”
But before he’d gotten the words out, the black bear convulsed, tumbling onto all fours, and a moment later, Chad was hunched naked on the ground. The class howled with laughter, and even though I wanted to, I bit my cheeks to keep it inside. I didn’t want to legitimize the way they’d treated me.
Even if he does deserve it.
“Shut up!” Embry boomed. “Turn your backs!”
And that’s pretty much how it went for the next hour, watching someone turn into a bear, shred their paper garments, and then turning around while Embry gave the naked humans a new pair.
“Is that all my bears?” Embry finally asked. “Wolves, you’re up. Who’s first?”
Kanze and Xander raised their hands, but without even being asked, Winter sashayed past Embry to the spot where the sawdust had been worn thin by all the bear paws. The nerds groaned and dropped their arms.
Winter turned her back and went through a series of arm movements that seemed like imitations of what I’d seen Laith and Embry do, not the real thing—whatever that was. She leaned her body to the right, letting her left hip pop past the hem of her paper short, and then repeated the action to the left until her shorts slipped enough that we could all see the tiny wolf paw print tattooed just above her butt.
Derek wolf whistled, and I swear I heard Xander and Kanze gulp loudly.
For the love of—
“None of that!” Embry shouted. “Next person to comment on another student’s body spends this Saturday brushing my bear teeth.” He pointed at Winter. “And you. Stop with the belly dance and shift already.”
Winter vanished in a flash of white fur, but not before her skin flushed bright red.
The wolf faced us, tall and willowy. Her piercing blue eyes locked on me, and if I’d expected her wolf to somehow possess more humanity than her human, I knew in an instant I’d been wrong. Her lips curled, revealing strikingly white fangs.
I might have been terrified had the wolf not still been wearing the paper bra and shorts. A snicker rippled through the class, and this time I let myself join in.
“Cut it out!” Embry barked. “You’ll all be up there soon! Winter, unshift.”
It happened instantly. She stood up with a smug smile, her underwear intact, and waltzed back over to the group, purposefully bumping into me. “Beat that, James.”
Derek went next—a gray wolf—followed by the minions—two gray, one black. There were two other packs, full of students I recognized from class but had never interacted with. Standing next to the fidgety nerds, I wondered if I had sold myself short by accepting their offer so quickly.
Every time Embry asked, “Who’s next?” I kept my arms clamped firmly to my sides. I had no idea how these people were doing what they were doing, and pride wouldn’t let me give the nerds the satisfaction of mansplaining it to me. Meanwhile, Embry seemed intent on not giving the nerds the satisfaction of taking their turns, even though their hands shot up first every time.
But finally, it was just the three of us left.
Embry pointed at me. “Ladies first.”
My head spun just thinking about getting stuck in that itchy fur coat again.
I took a step back. “Oh, that’s okay. Let one of these guys go first.”
“Oh, come on, Remi,” Winter chirped fake-sweetly. “You’re such a pro! Longest freshman shift in Gladwell history!”
Embry rubbed his chin. “That’s right. I should have let a superstar like you go first.”
“What?” I squeaked. “No. That was an accident. I didn’t know how to… to get out.”
Embry laughed. “Nah, don’t be modest. Come on up here. Show these amateurs how it works.”
Sweat broke out under my arms and I clamped them to my sides so no one would see it dripping. I shook my head. “No, really, I don’t know how.”
“Oh, come on, Remi!” Winter pleaded, an evil smile curling the edges of her mouth. “Show us what you’ve got!”
Chad put his fingers in his mouth and whistled while Derek clapped. “Show us what you’ve got!”
A wave of peer pressure swept the class, and within seconds, everyone except Xander and Kanze was chanting, “Show us what you’ve got!”
“You hear the crowd, Remi. Come on up!” Embry kicked an X into the sawdust. “Right here.”
I looked to Xander and Kanze for help, but they were scowling because he wasn’t letting
them have their turn. Great pack solidarity, guys.
“St. James,” Embry growled. “Now, please. Don’t make me ask again.”
Taking a deep breath like the Chancellor taught me, I squared my shoulders and strode over to the X. Embry moved back several feet, smiling broadly as the chanting faded to silence.
“Now shift.”
I stood there. Feeling like I might as well have been naked as wearing these stupid paper clothes.
“Well, go on,” Embry said in a falsely encouraging tone.
I tried to summon my wolf by remembering the way I’d felt yesterday in meditation class when I’d wanted to let it out to tear Winter limb from limb.
But again, nothing happened.
It was like my wolf had gone into hiding.
“St. James, you seem to be under the impression we have all night,” Embry said. “But you are wrong. So shift.”
Wrapping my arms around myself, I said in a small voice, “I don’t know how.”
“She doesn’t know how!” Embry hollered. “She says she doesn’t know how.”
The class snickered. Someone applauded.
“You can do it, Remi!” Winter shouted, and I wished she’d go back to calling me James. “You’re a legend!”
“Come on, Remi!” Xander cheered, and threw in a whoop for good measure.
“I can’t,” I whispered to Embry. “I really don’t know how. It’s only ever just happened to me.”
“I see, I see,” Embry said softly and came closer again, putting himself between me and the class. He bent his head toward mine and spoke in a low murmur. “Maybe you don’t understand what’s going on here. You will shift, St. James. So you’d better figure it out quick.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Six weeks.” Chancellor Gladwell closed the manila folder and drummed his fingers on top of it. He scrunched up his face and looked to his wife, seated on his right hand at the far end of the glossy mahogany conference table. “Has it really been six weeks?”
“Yes, Oberon.” Vice-Chancellor Gladwell placed her hand over his to quiet his fidgeting. “The question is, why?” She cast her eyes to my end of the table. “And what now?”
Academy of Shifters: Werewolves 101 Page 9