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

by Qatarina Wanders

  “In that case, I think you should definitely come out later.”

  “I will.” She smoothed his snow-white hair backward. “You have no idea how badly I need this.”

  Tarun’s breathing grew heavy and hot on hers. “Promises, promises…”

  Her lips stretched, a secret feminine smile that got his insides and other places churning. He began to back away slowly, still holding on to her fingers, holding her hungry gaze, until they were too far apart, and he separated from her and instantly felt a part of him go to her—like it always did.

  Three sprints into the hallway and he let his mind take over. He heard it then: the crunching of his bones, his flesh thickening. As he soared through the air, his claws pricked his fingers open in one painless jab, and he landed. One with the white tiger he was.

  He didn’t stop. He sprinted out to the fading sunlight, where even the restless sea had gone calm, his people waited for him beyond those doors. The reception attendant barely acknowledged the tiger as he sprang past.

  He’d been thinking of one thing he could do for her, to repay her, maybe to regain his place in her heart. What he decided was at once brave and foolishly dangerous.

  They prowled, each in his and her true form: Jen a mighty polar bear—she’d stood by him and convinced the team to do this for him. Conner, the cheetah shifter who took over as Patrol Leader after Fritz the red dragon graduated last year.

  “This is the plan…” he started.

  16

  Voices rose and clashed against one another. Cries of ‘stupid’ and ‘foolish’ rent the air. Through it all, Ava crossed her legs calmly on the stage and watched them go at each other.

  JiSoo, at Ava’s side, crunched on roasted nuts from breakfast, swinging her legs from her tall chair.

  Winta seemed to be absent from the proceedings—her body was there all right, but her mind had traveled. She wore her short curly hair in a loose afro, and today opted for flat brown shoes. Her usual diamond studs were also missing.

  When someone threw a chair across the room, Ava decided it was time to intervene, especially because Elaine kept darting glances full of pleas for help at her.

  For attention and a little bit of a showing off, Ava confidently flexed her fingers. The violet light that burned inside her lit up on the tips; no one noticed or stopped yelling.

  A senior girl was yelling the loudest, something about juniors not knowing their place. Really? They were pulling rank? Ava thought, angling her head for a better view and hauling the sparks of light at her. Apparently at the perfect moment because it flew in an arc straight into the girl’s open mouth.

  The sassy shifter clutched her mouth, gulped, and tried to speak but couldn’t. There was palpable relief as she took her seat. Ava could feel what the girl was going through the minute that ball of light made contact with her. She was angry and conflicted, but the second Ava’s light hit her, it took out all the negative energy she exuded, and it would burn down with slow sweet flavors exploding in her system like a heady drug.

  Everyone had quit yapping and turned to stare at Ava where she stood palming another ball of glowing light, daring another person to act like an animal. No one uttered a sound—not even a cough.

  Calmly, without a purple hair out of place, Ava returned to her seat and nodded at Elaine to continue the meeting.

  “Um, Ava?” JiSoo called, putting down her nuts. Her eyes had gone big and round.

  “Yes?” Ava answered, blowing air at her fingernails, undaunted that Elaine and other shifters were staring fixedly at her. She was a unicorn—they had to remember that.

  “What was that?”

  “Oh, just a little trick I learned at MT. Miss McNamara had to leave suddenly to tend to a sick family member so Matilda’s our new teacher, and boy, does she have a lot of them.”

  “Mmmhhmm…” Elaine finally cleared her throat and set about announcing the program and set of events she had planned for the day.

  "We will begin with welcoming the guests, obviously. Invitations have been sent out to several schools...including the repulsive BSA."

  A few people murmured, stealing glances at Ava. No one said a word to provoke her further.

  "Four schools total: Kronos, Fire-Breather, Animage, and Bravura. We've done this before with two of them so it should not be an issue."

  "Of course, it will be a mountain of issues. Wait until they see that there are practically no students left," JiSoo muttered. Privileges of being friends with the provost. Now the senior girl was slumped in her seat, head lolled forward and mouth open, fast asleep.

  "About that,” Ava responded. “I heard from James."

  Winta shifted, stylishly angling her head to hear something...anything at all.

  Ava noticed her discomfort and lowered her voice, bringing her face down to JiSoo's ear. She wasn't in support of Winta’s crappy decision to dump James. If she'd run it by Ava, she would've convinced her otherwise. Besides, the guy was already feeling alienated in the new school and all Winta could think to do was to shatter his heart.

  "It's not so rosy there."

  JiSoo's grin was quick, bright, and more than a little vindictive. "Really?"

  "Yeah, that's why I was trying to wake you up, he says most of our students are regretting going there already, and it’s been less than a month."

  "I knew they were too good to be true."

  "Apparently, they encourage the students to kill."

  "What?!"

  "The combat training I told you about? They're taught how to attack humans."

  "But the Shifter Academy Council doesn’t allow that!"

  "Doesn't apply to their headmaster. He used to be head of the council. He's got powerful friends," Ava whispered.

  "No, no, aigoo, that's more than I expected. We don't spill blood."

  "James said—wait, what's she saying now?!"

  Elaine had pushed her seat aside and was standing to be heard better. "It seems like giving them Indigo Dorm is the only way we can accommodate everyone without confusion."

  "Is she crazy? We can't just vacate our rooms," Ava growled.

  "Ava, calm down," JiSoo cautioned, knowing that her friend could be a volatile person—add some wild unicorn to that and there was a volcano brewing if she let it go.

  "Don't tell me to stay calm, you know what she wants, and she won't leave her room. Why did she choose to empty Indigo?" Ava blasted, nostrils flaring.

  "Hey, don't come at me like that. I didn’t do anything." Ava was already gearing to stand on her feet. "Wait, you can talk to her after or at least collect your thoughts first."

  "Elaine."

  "Oh, god…" JiSoo grimaced.

  "Where exactly do you think the rest of the students should stay? Did it occur to you that we have stuff that can't be moved at the drop of a hat?"

  Elaine glanced at her notes. "Actually, no. I was just floating the idea."

  "Oh, okay. Please continue." Ava sat down, stoically avoiding JiSoo's eyes. “Well, she asked for it,” she grumbled eventually when she couldn’t take the silence any longer.

  “She’s not always a raging bitch, Ava, why don't you just accept it?”

  “Because I still remember the last time Elaine tried to be nice to me. It ended in tears—my tears. Remember?”

  “You can try to be civil at least.”

  “I am being civil, that’s why I came. And why I put Miss High and Mighty to sleep over there. I get what you’re saying though. Everyone deserves a second chance, blah blah blah.”

  “And that’s why you’re my friend, not my enemy. I’m staying on your good side.” JiSoo rubbed her face against Ava’s shoulder—as pug-like as could be.

  “No, get away from me before you rub your gooey mascara on my shirt… Oh god...ew.”

  “Aw…”

  With that, Ava adamantly tuned JiSoo out for the rest of the meeting.

  Rumbling beneath the MT room, where Ava currently kept a bunch of younger, unruly shifters in
line for training, Tarun fought a growing need to escape his own plan. His patrol mates followed him blindly into the cavernous, yawning tunnels, and he’d done his best to lead them.

  “I swear it was this way, the last time we came here,” he said, more to himself than to the tired, frustrated group behind him.

  “Tarun, that’s a solid brick wall. We’ve been at this for hours, if there was a hydra dragon, we’d have seen it by now,” said Conner the cheetah shifter, this year’s patrol leader.

  “Or heard it,” added one of the new guys, Matthias, a buffalo.

  Obis, a dog/chimera dyad, another new addition to the team this year after his impressive display in the games last year, chimed in. “And you’re absolutely sure there’s something like that here?”

  Drew, Tarun’s least favorite on the team—it had to be Drew that planted the seed of doubt. What else was a fox good for? Thank goodness he would be graduating this year.

  Tarun sighed, and pain shot up his arm as he pounded the wall. “Stop talking and help me search,” he snapped.

  “No,” Drew disagreed—shocking. Between mumbling and kicking an empty soup can out of the way, the fox hadn’t been much help.

  “No?” Tarun repeated. Jen had materialized at his side, claws out and growling softly. While he would have given anything to see her crush the selfish fox, it wasn’t what they came for.

  He gently placed a cautioning palm on hers.

  “I’m leaving,” Drew went on. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

  There were undeniable gasps from the remaining five.

  “What? They won’t say it, so I will. You’ve lost your mind. Word is, you’ve totally lost it to a Vampire Serum addiction.” Drew covered the distance between them.

  Jen made the move to leap at him, but Tarun restrained her.

  While Drew’s words should’ve pricked a sensitive part in Tarun’s heart, all it did was spur him on.

  “You all agree?” he asked, throwing it open. “Then just go.”

  The silence in the tunnels became even more suffocating as his teammates shuffled their feet and avoided his eyes.

  That said, he stepped away from the group, turned his back on them, and walked away, his boots echoing deep in the darkened tunnels. Did everyone in the school think that about him? Was that why the teachers looked at him so weird now, why most of his predator friends kept giving his excuses instead of hanging out?

  Heavy footfalls sounded behind him, making him glance back. The pump in his heart was pure elation. Drew was a dumbass. Clearly his teammates still had some sort of faith in him because they stayed there with him—even a sheepish Drew was behind them.

  “Don’t worry, Tee,” Conner patted his shoulder. “I’m no stranger to VS either. It’s the only way I can train as hard as I do without letting my grades fall.”

  “Right?” Obis interjected. “I would probably try it, too, if I weren’t a mythical dyad.”

  Tarun turned his head to look at Obis. “Really?”

  Obis nodded. “Yeah. I actually got some from Colin last year and gave it a try a few times. That was before I knew I was a chimera though—we all thought my second form was just a lion.” He shuddered. “It was baaaaaad.”

  Tarun raised an eyebrow. “Is that why you went so crazy that first day in MT? Ava told me all about it.”

  “Sure was.” Obis shrugged. “I was still coming off the stuff. I was super unstable—violent too. That serum is no joke when it comes to mythicals.”

  “Geez.” Tarun blinked several times, processing what Obis just told him.

  “Where to?” Jen asked, clicking her claws.

  “Deeper down,” Tarun replied, bringing his attention back to the task at hand. “I have a feeling she’s not far now.”

  It was Drew he read it on first: the fox’s long, snobby face stark white in uninhibited terror, his eyes rounded, fear such as he’d never seen before stamped across his features. Tarun didn’t have to guess why. Without waiting for the word, Drew morphed, turned tail, and ran.

  Bit by bit, the others saw what Drew did and followed suit. So much for being a team. Only Jen stayed by his side. Tarun spun around and fought not to wet his pants where he stood. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life, and that included hurling himself over a rocky cliff.

  The creature was even bigger than he recalled. With every breath came a snort of fire. It stood stock still, examining the new people who dared enter her lair...with all five sets of eyes.

  One horn protruded on each head, and its body gleamed with black scraggly scales bigger than Tarun's palm.

  “Ooooo, Tee, we did not think this through.” Jen’s voice was deeper—she’d morphed into her polar bear.

  “Yes, yes, we did. Stay calm.”

  The creature snorted, and the walls reverberated. “Stay calm? Tarun, we should go! Now!”

  “No, wait. Matilda said she is weakened by this.” He whipped out a black sack and poured the contents—it looked like ashes—into his palm before flinging them on the dragon. She reared back, roaring with pain, her eyes tightly shut.

  Jen watched from his side but still took a few steps back. “It’s working.”

  “Jen, the rope!” Tarun screamed and shifted. Within seconds, in his place stood a giant white tiger.

  The creature, still writhing with pain, didn't see him grab the rope before crouching to transform. Tarun grasped the rope between his fangs and hurled it, with all his might, at the dragon.

  Like Matilda said it would, the fairy cord wound itself over the dragon’s head, locking her in place, and she stopped moving.

  “Get on the other side of her.” His words rang out, reverberating against the stone walls.

  They rounded Madame Waters. The enchantment Matilda had taught them rolled off their tongues. Tarun injected the pain of this semester into every word. Inside them, the light soared, burned bright, and covered them, reaching to the bound beast. Swirling higher and higher it went.

  Essence from the spell and ash merged and held. She grunted, pounding one foot then the next into the ground. The walls reverberated, threatening to collapse. Tarun silently urged Jen to hold on, even when his fear nearly overrode his bravery.

  He was Tarun, the white tiger, dammit! He feared no one, no creature or beast could hold him back! With a last roar, and one mind, both tiger and bear slung themselves at her—a blur of white fur.

  In the brief moment between success and potential death, they landed head-first on her. Lights swirling darker, removing and taking away what was and returning what should be.

  Unsure if the enchantment worked, they shifted back to human and rushed forward. No, they couldn’t see. Whatever held her, the power in those words, the light, covered her in a thick mist.

  The beast let out weak and pained grunting noises.

  “Did it work?” Jen whispered.

  “I don’t know. I can’t see anything.”

  More grunts.

  “I’m going in,” Tarun volunteered, his heart thumping loudly when the grunts became unbearable.

  “Tee, wait. We don’t know what’s going on there. This isn’t what Matilda said would happen.”

  “To be fair, I used myself as a test subject. I didn’t want her to know what we were up to.”

  “WHAT!!” Jen screamed.

  Tarun backed away, “It was the only way.”

  Just then, as suddenly as it began, the mist evaporated into thin air. Curled on the floor was a woman, clad in nothing but her naked skin. Bits of smoke still clung to her. Tarun averted his eyes from her exposed body.

  “It worked,” Jen whispered in wonder, echoing what Tarun was also thinking.

  “No one wanted to try it because it had never been done on a hydra dragon. That’s why I couldn’t tell anyone.” Tarun spoke to no one in particular.

  Jen shifted back to human, shrugged off her brown coat and threw it over the older woman. The movement made the woman leap to her feet, clutching t
he jacket to her. Her lips quivering, eyes wide, like a caged animal, she stared wildly around.

  “Where am I? Wh—who…who am I?”

  17

  “Where are you taking me?!” Ava asked, giggling. She couldn’t see a thing beyond the black blindfold.

  “You’ll see,” Tarun replied as he guided her gently by the arms.

  She could hear the laughter in his voice. From the fields, he’d pulled her into the school, slammed a blindfold over her sweaty face, and told her he was leading her to some kind of surprise.

  “Just a little farther.”

  “Tarun, what have you done now?”

  “Nothing bad, I promise.”

  “I wasn’t saying—”

  “Here we are,” he announced, pulling off her blindfold with a flourish.

  Ava blinked a couple of times to clear the stars from her eyes.

  When she saw where he stopped, she frowned, “Waters’s office?”

  “Yeah, come in.”

  “I don’t want to go down to the tunnel, Tarun.” She was already backing away, but Tarun placed his hand on her waist and urged her forward. When she glanced at him, he was bouncing from foot to foot, a wide grin on his stunning face.

  He stepped around her and pulled the door open, “Come on,” he called, disappearing inside.

  Okay, she told her flying imagination. This was Tarun, and he’d die before he let anything bad touch her. She knew that. She entered the darkened room where every crevice was stuffed with thick tomes. Then her eyes focused on...

  “Sir Waters!” she squealed. “How?”

  His dark shades came off; he was grinning from ear to ear as he pointed to Tarun. “The young man beside you.”

  “Hi, Ava,” a green-haired woman, who looked to be in her fifties, greeted.

  “Hi…” she turned to Tarun askance.

  The woman walked around the professor's chair and hung her arm casually over his thin shoulders.

  “What? Oh!! Omigod, you’re Madame Waters!”

  “Geraldine,” the woman corrected, her lips stretching into a beautiful smile. Her emerald eyes twinkled mischievously.