Animage Academy: Year Three ~ The Shifter Academy Down Under (The Shifter School Down Under Book 3)

by Qatarina Wanders

  “Oh, um…sorry girls…I appreciate you waiting on me. I was just a little distracted.” She licked her lips and tucked her purple strands behind her ear. “Is it just me, or is Tarun a bit different this semester?”

  Winta took the empty seat next to her. “I certainly noticed, and it’s all James wants to talk about these days.”

  Ava forced herself to smile a little. “Your boyfriend misses his bestie, how cute.”

  Winta didn’t react to that. “We’re all worried about him. He really hasn’t said anything to you?”

  “I went to talk to him after he walked out on me in the library, but the craziest thing happened!” She supposed there was a lot of time to talk to her errant boyfriend; she still needed to fill them in on the dragon catastrophe.

  “About Madame Waters?” JiSoo asked, swinging her legs excitedly. “It’s all everyone can talk about, what happened?! Also, how did we miss all that?”

  “I healed her! I healed Madame Waters.”

  “What? Really?” JiSoo shrieked, her pixie face glowing and large eyes nearly popping from the sockets.

  “Ava, that’s amazing!” Winta reached forward and shook Ava’s shoulder. “Does this mean you can heal anyone now?”

  “It means I healed her—I don’t know if I can do it with anyone else except Tarun but…” her excitement waned when she remembered the rest of that encounter. “I may have landed Waters in big trouble.”

  Winta’s thick lips flattened and she crossed her arms over her backpack, “Let me guess, Levine found out about our visit to the holding lair?” She glanced at Ava and she nodded.

  “Shit,” JiSoo cussed.

  “Shit is right.”

  “That’s why Waters isn’t here to teach his class...that never happens. What can we do to make this right, Ava?”

  “I don’t know. I really don’t. Maybe Levine knows best. This is her school. I’m sure she’ll—oh, what the heck am I saying? If Waters is gone, we’ll never have another teacher like him.”

  Winta and JiSoo just nodded.

  “At the risk of sounding unbelievably selfish,” Ava went on, “Who’s going to coach us this year at the centennials? That’s always been his job.”

  “That’s a great question.” Winta nodded. “Bills, I assume?”

  “He was just trying to get his wife back,” JiSoo prattled. “Hey, wait, did she transform back to her human self after you healed her?”

  “No.” Ava’s shoulders sagged. “That’s the worst part. She started to--or at least I thought so, but I guess I was too late. What was human in her is now gone.”

  They jumped, startled when a disgruntled attendant stood at the door, jangling a bunch of keys, shouted, “Ladies! Class is over! Disperse!”

  “Oh!” Ava hadn’t even realized everyone had finally left the room except them.

  The attendant just glared. Normally, those scrunched up eyes and shrill voices got the girls giggling, but thought of Waters and his predicament made them pick up their bags and hurry out silently—their moods somber. They were scarcely out the door when the attendant banged the double doors shut and locked up.

  Directly outside the classroom, loud voices filled the hall.

  Their heeled boots clicked rhythmically on the hard floors. The walls were brown and gold this semester according to Levine’s whim; sometimes she used the crown to make the school what she wanted, other times she made the student do it.

  A little draft blew in from the adjacent windows, letting in air currents from the roiling ocean beyond the walls.

  “So she’s stuck in her mythical form forever? Aigoo, that really sucks,” JiSoo huffed. Spending time in Seoul made her slip in Korean words from time to time.

  “It blows, but I think we can help her, I just don’t know how. Levine ordered them to take her back to that crypt of a holding lair--no one will be happy there, and it’s just a matter of time before she attacks again unless we find a way to return her.”

  JiSoo nudged Ava, “Look at us sounding all serious and philosophical.”

  Ava smiled, the first amused smile of the day. “You’re right. This is depressing. Let’s talk about something else.”

  The girls left the class area to the lockers. There, leaning against the locker, farthest to the right was Kaelan, the wolf shifter. In all his six-foot, lanky, awkward glory. He swept his dark straight hair off of his face and came forward to meet the girls, particularly one—and she was busily blushing like a new bride.

  “Hey, Ava…Winta.” He crossed to them, no slouch there. His smooth porcelain face was beaming with smiles. He had a small straight nose, in between wide-set eyes. Eyes that were always roving and never missed a thing. They landed finally on the target….

  “JiSoo.” He went to cross his thin arm over her shoulder.

  JiSoo barely reached his chest, and when she finally looked up at him, she had to tilt her head high. “Kaelan, hi. Didn’t see you there.”

  Her friends, walking behind them, exchanged thoroughly amused glances. JiSoo’s voice was high-pitched and completely out of character.

  “I was waiting for you—didn’t see you in class today.”

  “I haven’t really completed my pug training.” She shut her right eye and bulged the other. Before her friends could stop her, her left eyeball was in her open palm, “See?”

  Kaelan’s face paled but his eyes didn’t waver from hers.

  “JiSoo!” Winta and Ava called at the same time.

  She popped it back in with a nauseating squish sound, watching color slowly return to the boy’s face. “I don’t have a full schedule for predator training yet. Not like I was avoiding you, because I wasn’t. If you meant something to me, maybe. But--”

  “Kaelan,” Ava cut in before JiSoo embarrassed herself further, “we have to get going, but have a great afternoon.” Catching Levine’s eyes as the headmistress watched the students from her perch in the main entryway, Ava realized she hadn’t told her friends about meeting the headmistress in her office.

  It could wait.

  “Can I see you later tonight?” Kaelan purred.

  JiSoo blushed a deep pink and moved closer to him, stretched to her tiptoes, “Maybe, we’ll find out.” She muttered sultrily close to his burning ear and swept past him like a queen.

  Kaelan blew out a breath and watched her rush up the stairs with Ava and Winta rushing off behind her.

  “What was that about?” Ava asked, laughing when they got to their room.

  “I don’t know! I—I just freaked.”

  “He was staring at you like—who is this goddess?”

  “I know! So are you going to finally agree to be his girlfriend now?” Winta asked, straight to the point as usual. This was JiSoo and Ava’s room, but it was practically hers, too, because she spent most of her time there.

  JiSoo flopped back on the bed, a goofy smile on her face, “Like I said, maybe, we’ll find out.”

  4

  Stuck in her room, by choice, Azar listened to her roommate prattle non-stop about Ava. It was a little hard to take the girl seriously in her heavy blonde dreads, rasta cap, and cut-off jeans.

  Azar waved her hand to slow the girl down. “She did what now?”

  “Everyone’s talking about it—how have you not heard? She fought and won a hydra dragon.” She enunciated ‘hydra’ dragon slowly and carefully.

  Azar’s brow shot up. “Not possible.”

  “Seriously! She knocked it out or something. The dragon just crashed to the ground...I heard Deacon pissed himself...even Levine couldn’t do anything. Can you imagine the blood bath if Ava hadn’t been there?”

  “Nooo, no, I cannot imagine.” But she was thinking the last time she’d had a close call with the professor’s wife it was because the man staunchly believed a unicorn and a phoenix could save and heal his injured wife. He’d left them to their fate, locked in the holding lair.

  It was Ava who brought the short-lived solution of putting the hydra to a temporary re
st. She was certain the dragon broke out in search of the one person who could heal it. And this time, Ava delivered.

  Animage took pride in producing students like Ava who were brave enough to withstand whatever life threw their way; it was easy to see why she’d put herself in harm’s way like that. Ava was kind of a badass.

  She knew Ava didn’t even do it for the glory, it was purely because she wanted, genuinely from her heart, to relieve the old shifter woman from her pain. And that, Azar greatly admired.

  “I saw it, too.” Blonde dreads swung from side to side as the girl spoke. “We all did—it looked kinda like the dragons here, only bigger and with four extra heads.”

  “Uh-huh.” Azar barely listened now as she squeezed her thumb and forefinger together. A tiny ball of flame sprung up.

  “Azar! Don’t do that!” her roommate cautioned, swatting the fire away.

  Her roommate always panicked at the sight of the yellow fire licking at her skin. Because in a short while, her thumb and forefinger would’ve been burned to ashes. Azar had assured her it wasn’t painful, but the girl always countered with, “You’re a phoenix, not immortal. One of these days you will burn up and your body won’t return.”

  Azar didn’t respond. Sometimes that thought kept her up at night, knowing that one day, it would be her end. Her luck would run out, and she would be nothing but a pile of ashes with nothing but the winds to tell her story. It was a fate for all phoenixes: when their time came—and they had no way of knowing when that would be—they would just burn up for good—to then be reborn of their own ashes. But would she retain her memories? That was unknown.

  It didn’t stop her from deciding firmly on her next move. Madame Waters needed that victory and so did the professor. Her father always said people were not bad; desperate situations changed them. That was exactly what Ava believed, too.

  Azar had made up her mind. She was going to do it, despite the risks involved. Her father had warned her severely never to divulge the secret that’d taken her mother, and later himself—the secret of the phoenix ashes.

  But this was different in this case, she convinced herself. If her father was in her position, he may have done better. But Azar would never know because her father’s ashes had disappeared into the wind shortly after her mother passed for good.

  She needed to find someone she could trust with her secret.

  There was one person she knew could help: the new Mythical & Esoteric Studies professor.

  She lay back on the bed. Tomorrow, she would begin the process to create herself anew.

  5

  There was a certain palpable excitement in the air that morning as Ava and JiSoo joined the throngs of students in the dining room. Ava held JiSoo’s tiny hand in hers so the little pug shifter wouldn’t get swallowed up by the crowd.

  Everyone was headed in the same direction: to the dome. A massive atrium set in the center of the school between the mailing room and the training halls. Above them, a transparent skylight gave off the feeling of being out in the open. Today, stadium-style seats filled the perimeter.

  As the girls arrived, still grouchy from lack of sleep, they cringed at the bright light and excessive, echoing noise. They had spent the night dissecting Tarun’s behavior and come to the conclusion that he was just a stupid, hormonal, teenage boy.

  They had also decided that Ava would stop trying to talk to him and ignore him for as long as possible—that’d show him. Yeah. At least he would know she wasn’t desperate for his attention or anything.

  Ava repressed an inward groan as her wayward eyes betrayed her the instant Tarun stepped into the teeming dome. The birds soared happily over the skylight, including Elaine, Ava noted dully. The noisy shark shifters pounding each other’s chests drew her attention next.

  The dolphins preened next to them, occasionally covering their perfect lips to laugh at some boy. Watching them, a person could mistake all the water shifters as harmless, but Ava knew better. Last semester the dolphin girls tried to be friends with her. They had even taken revenge on Colin, the nasty boy who’d poisoned Ava and her friends. Ava couldn’t say she trusted the dolphins exactly, but she appreciated them and liked them well enough now. Colin spent his days in school cowering for the most part, which was amusing.

  The native Aussies still stuck together for the most part: pandas, kangaroos, wombats, koalas. Even the sloths, who were the school stoners, and the quokkas, who were all class clowns. Since the revelation of dyads throughout the school, the cliques were all more inclusive of making friends with other species.

  “Seen him yet?” JiSoo joked and watched her friend jump.

  “Um, no, I’m not searching for him or anything.” Ava looked ahead and saw Winta waving from one of the seats. Beside her, James sat sullenly staring off into space. The seat next to him was glaringly empty. Tarun was missing again. “But I found Winta.”

  They pushed through the people hustling to get chairs in front and moved to the top of the bleachers. A mixture of all sorts of perfumes and oils hit Ava’s nostrils on the way. Students were serious about their scents here, and for good reason. Transforming for third- and fourth-years caused them to smell like their animals, too. Perfumes helped to cover that strong scent to an extent.

  “Took you guys forever to get here,” Winta grumbled.

  Ava took the empty chair next to Winta, and JiSoo lowered herself into the seat on Ava’s other side.

  Levine stood center-stage, tapping her foot impatiently. Attendants and professors already lined the stage, waiting for the students to settle down.

  When all sets of double doors became deserted, Levine picked up the tiny gold bell on the podium. It trilled loudly for about a minute until everyone stopped talking, squawking, moving, and flying. Daintily, the woman dropped the bell on the podium and folded her hands around the edges. She fixed her students with a steely gray gaze, holding her words in the pregnant silence for a couple more seconds.

  “Good morning, students.”

  A few fastidious students grumbled a reply. Someone coughed—it sounded suspiciously like “losers.” Levine ignored it. She simply nodded at the attendant closest to her. Ava knew the headmistress rarely wasted words. Levine nodded more than she spoke, and this time, the attendant walked out.

  Barely ten seconds in, a gigantic poster rolled out behind Levine. A few students gasped. JiSoo squealed and clapped uninhibitedly. Others jumped from their seats and clapped. It was a flag for the upcoming centennials tournament.

  The headmistress cleared her throat. “Many centuries ago, my ancestors founded this ground. A commonplace for every shifter, to be trained, to wax stronger. Right here, the foundation was laid for what we know today as Animage Academy. Through those years, we have trained thousands of shifters, some of whom are your parents and relatives. Every hundred years, the centennials honor every bit of that heritage.”

  The crowd's excitement quieted to murmurs.

  “We will be competing with other schools for the trophy. You know the students from Kronos and Fire-Breather Academy from last year. They will be returning, along with…”—she pursed her lips even more tightly and wrinkled her nose somewhat—“Bravura Academy, the new Australian shifter school.”

  The murmurs throughout the crowd were instantaneous.

  The headmistress ignored it. “Last year, several of you were prepared for Fire Trials, but on this large scale, we will need all hands on deck.

  “There will be openings for shifter soccer, obstacle courses, races, and war games to prep for the final competition. Miss Tortellini,” she motioned at the portly lady sitting at the edge of the stage and stuffing her face with a large muffin, “will give the final assessment and fit you into the best teams. From today, the practice begins. We will cut back on some of your classes to give everyone ample time to get acquainted with the training.”

  Ava subtly, so discreetly she was proud of herself, stole a quick glance around the crowd. No luck. There was no sign of t
he stark-white hair she loved so much.

  “He’s over there...by the window. Looks like he’s bent over, talking to someone. Someone we know.” JiSoo was glancing at the space behind her back.

  Ava didn’t know when her head, all on its own, swung around quickly, dizzily.

  There was no Tarun, just a bunch of kangaroos excited about the tournament.

  She met JiSoo’s mischievous eyes, “That’s not funny.”

  JiSoo shrugged, unapologetic. “We agreed you were gonna try and ignore him.”

  “I just want to know if he made it to the assembly, that’s all.”

  “Tarun? He said he had a thing,” James chipped in. “He’s not here.”

  Ava was deflated, though she tried and failed to force a fake smile that’d hide it. “He promised to make it to dinner and never showed.”

  “James, you’re his best friend; has he said anything to you?”

  “No, but if he does, you’re the first one I’d tell.”

  “We will begin the centennial celebration, as always, with a formal dance and dinner so the four schools may fraternize,” Levine carried on. “The following day, the Skills Tournament will take place. That will be a continuation of the tryouts. Those who scored well in the tryouts will compete in whatever did well in. Those are the preliminary competitions. Points will be awarded to each school based on how well its contestants placed.”

  She cleared her throat and continued. “The two schools with the most points will continue to the finals: the Elemental Trials. The five top-placing contestants from each school will compete in the finals. Any questions so far?”

  Several hands shot up, and Ava groaned. She wanted to get on with it.

  A short while later, the headmistress was done with her speech. With the flag for the centennials waving in the background, the teachers and attendants filed out.