It was quite lovely to see, really, and I loved how happy my friend looked. Kiera was standing in the doorway to what must have been her bedroom. It was just down the hall from my own room, which was wonderful. We’d be close. She looked over and her eyes went wide.
“Max!” She called out when she saw me. She waved wildly and started pushing through the crowd. She made her way over to me and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so happy to see you.”
I felt the same way.
It had been far too long since I’d seen my best friend. Although in reality, it had been only weeks. Still, life without Kiera felt lonely and strange. I pulled back and smiled.
Yeah, she was the same old Kiera.
“When did you get in?”
“Earlier,” she shrugged. “We came for orientation. Can you believe I’m in the same room as last year?” She motioned to her family members who were all squeezed into the doorway. Her mom and dad waved along with her siblings, cousins, and I even saw Kiera’s aunt in there. All fairies, their wings sparkled and shone.
“Hey everyone,” I laughed.
“Hi Max!” They said.
I turned back to Kiera.
“When you’re done unpacking, let’s meet up so we can compare our schedules.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “Come back in like, an hour, okay?”
“Deal.”
Kiera went back into her room and Aunt Erin turned to me.
“Well,” she said. “It’s time.”
I hated goodbyes as much as the next person, but with Aunt Erin, the goodbye didn’t seem quite as terrible. That was because I knew she was going to keep trying to find my grandmother while I kept trying to get better at spells. The reality was that as soon as I knew where Grandma was, I’d be going to save her. To rescue her. My aunt would likely go with her coven, as well, but I wasn’t about to miss out on helping to find the woman who had raised me as her own. After a long hug, Erin and I walked downstairs. It was time for her to leave.
She had other work to do.
We both did.
As Erin headed out of the building, I waved goodbye to her from the lobby. She was leaving, but I’d see her again soon. She’d have some answers by then.
Hopefully, we both would.
Chapter 3
When Erin was gone, I hurried back up to my room. The mysterious roommate still hadn’t appeared, and I didn’t want to risk having her show up at the wrong time. The last thing I needed was her to arrive when Henry was in his human form. What would she think if she waltzed into our shared bedroom to find that not only would she be living with me, but with my shapeshifting familiar, too?
In every possible scenario that ran through my head, the outcome seemed horrible.
Instead of risking it, I grabbed a pair of men’s jeans from my backpack, wadded them up under my arm, grabbed Boo, and headed out of my dorm room. I made my way clumsily down the halls of the dorms and down the many stairs. As soon as I was outside, I breathed a sigh of relief. It felt good to be out of the chaos inside the dorms. It felt calming to be able to just rest and sort-of find myself a little bit.
I didn’t have a problem with people, especially in general, but in large doses, I struggled to find my own inner-peace. While I always considered myself to be fairly social, too much crowding made me wildly uncomfortable. I didn’t really think that was a bad thing, was it? As long as I was able to recognize my limits, I could make sure that I behaved in a way that would keep me calm and feeling okay. If I felt too pressured or there was too much happening around me, I worried that I’d spontaneously forget magic, or worse, that I’d shift and not be able to turn back into a girl.
Shaking my head, I walked away from the dorms. It was a lovely day outside and even the birds were chirping. It was an idyllic sort of day, which made it one of the best possible times to return to school for the year. I still had mixed feelings about being back, but overall, I felt like it was going to be a good year.
The cool thing about Hybrid Academy was that there were trees just about everywhere. People could wander around and practice spells and shifting in privacy. It was easy to find a big pine tree to duck behind or, if you wanted to, you could wander into the woods where there would be even fewer people to see or talk to you.
There were several groups of people hanging out around the dorms, but I walked farther away from the crowds, waving at people I knew as I moved away. There was a little path that curved away from the school and I followed it for a little while. Once I’d been walking for about five minutes, I found a little clearing and a group of trees that kept the clearing from being visible from the path. Nobody could see me there, which made it the perfect place to hang out with Henry unseen.
Boo jumped down. I squeezed my eyes shut and held out the pants. They dangled from my fingers as I waited for my friend to shift into his human form. A moment later, I heard a laugh.
“What the hell?” The voice said.
Henry.
“Put them on so I can hug you,” I said.
“You can hug me anyway,” he told me.
“Nope. Pants.”
It was weird enough that my cat was actually a shapeshifting boy. It didn’t help that he was a very attractive shapeshifting boy. Henry laughed again, but I heard him yanking the pants on and then I felt his arms wrap around me. I melted into him, happy and content, and then I finally dared to open my eyes.
“I missed you,” I said.
He’d been in cat form most of the summer. A few times, he’d shapeshifted at night when my aunt was asleep and we’d spent hours whispering in my room, trying to figure out exactly what had happened to my grandmother. Our talks had lasted ages, but we’d both been so nervous about Aunt Erin finding out that we hadn’t done it much. Still, being able to talk and communicate with Henry was a wonderful thing. It felt, in many ways, like an incredible gift.
In some ways, we were much closer than we’d been last year. We’d spent so much time just talking and exploring our thoughts. We’d pooled together and tried to figure out what our next steps should be. Sometimes, it seemed like Henry and I were completely inseparable.
In other ways, it felt like our friendship had come to a standstill.
Henry looked at me for just a minute, considering me. I was in my uniform and my robes. My wand was carefully tucked into them and he smiled down at me. I didn’t like to think about how happy I was when he smiled at me like that. I had a mission, after all. I wasn’t here to get a boyfriend or fall in love. I was a witch-in-training and I didn’t have time for stuff like that.
“What?” I asked him, finally. I looked away, embarrassed.
“You look great,” he said simply. He shrugged. “The robes are really cool.” He motioned to them, and honestly, I totally agreed with him. The uniforms at Hybrid Academy were completely unbeatable.
“You could get some, too, you know,” I told him. I’d suggested that he enroll at Hybrid Academy, but he’d only laughed. Henry said school wasn’t his style, which I didn’t doubt.
“I think I’m fine like this,” he said.
I pulled my wand out and looked at the grass in front of us. I’d forgotten to bring a blanket. I’d also managed to forget to grab a shirt and shoes for Henry, but he didn’t seem to mind, and I certainly didn’t mind the view. First things first, though. We needed a place to sit, and the slightly-muddy, slightly-rocky clearing didn’t look very comfortable to me.
“Watch,” I said. I waved my wand, focused, and whispered a spell my aunt had helped me practice all summer. It was important, she’d told me, to have a variety of spells at your disposal. It was vital that you be able to recall any spell at any time so you could really and truly begin to develop your powers as a witch. It wasn’t enough, she said, to have a book of spells. Nobody got into a battle or a war and carried a book around with them. Nobody had the time to stop and look up spells. So, we’d practiced defensive spells and offensive spells and yes, even some useful spells.
I focused, exerting all of my energy into the way I whispered the words. The way you spoke was nearly as important as the actual words that you uttered. That had been difficult for me to learn. You could say a spell perfectly and pronounce each word correctly, but if you didn’t have passion or energy when you did it, the spell would be useless. It would fall flat, and you’d have nothing. I waved my wand, and then a little poof of air shot out of the end.
Henry raised an eyebrow and looked up at me as a little basket of food and treats appeared in front of us.
“What did you do?” He asked, laughing.
“Hungry?” I asked demurely. I smiled brightly and he chuckled even more.
“I’m always hungry,” he said. His lean, lanky body would indicate otherwise, but even in his cat form, Henry had always been ravenous. Gram used to joke that he was going to eat us out of house and home. I wondered if Gram had known he was really a boy. Part of me thought she must have known, but there was another part of me that figured it was a secret. Perhaps she had no idea that the kitten she’d selected was actually a shapeshifter. Maybe she just thought cats were, I don’t know, quirky.
We sat down and I reached for the basket. I didn’t want to brag, but the basket was probably my best creation yet. Earlier in the summer, I’d only been able to whip up things like slightly-bad fruit and lopsided cookies. Today’s picnic, however, showed dedication and determination. It showed that when I put my mind to something, I could accomplish anything. A feeling of satisfaction washed over me. I didn’t want to get cocky, but it felt so fantastic.
Pulling out bread, meat, butter, and berries, I set the food down on the blanket. There was a thermos of hot cocoa in the basket, too, which I hadn’t planned to do, but I wasn’t about to complain about. Hell, if anything, I was really, totally proud of myself. I’d done it. I’d done something really cool. It wasn’t often that I got to use spells in ways that were fun and not functional, so I’d take the moment as it was: a win.
I didn’t get too many of those.
We started eating in silence, both ravenous and eager to sate our hunger. Things weren’t awkward between us, either. It’s not like we were eating to avoid talking. I’d known Henry forever. It seemed like I’d known him my entire life. Yeah, he spent most of our time together as a cat called Boo, but there was a certain peace that came from being close to someone.
“How was your visit with your Mom?” I asked, finally slowing down on my food. Henry hadn’t switched back to his boy form since he’d arrived back at my aunt’s home a few days ago. He simply hadn’t had time. He’d gotten back shortly before it was time to leave for school, and it wasn’t like my aunt was going to allow a boy in the house. Erin might be a good aunt, but she wasn’t that cool.
“Great,” he said, grabbing a piece of bread. “She and Dad are going on a trip to visit Jenna.”
“Did she have the baby?”
“Yeah,” Henry said. “I’m an uncle!” He beamed, happy and excited. I knew that he and his sister were close. He visited her pretty often and I knew those visits would continue now that she had a child of her own. Henry would make an incredible uncle. He would love that baby more than anyone could possibly imagine. The kid was going to be lucky to have him.
“Hey, congrats! What’s the baby’s name?”
“Wizard,” Henry said.
“They named their baby Wizard?”
“Yep,” Henry chuckled. “Poor kid. His friends are going to be so confused. But, well, my sister and brother-in-law live in a pretty human neighborhood. They probably figure it’s the only magic he’s going to be around for awhile.”
“I guess so.”
Huh.
So even shifters could be quirky in what they chose to name their kids. It wasn’t just humans. I guess that’s the cool thing about having a baby. You can name your child anything you like, and no one could argue. Not really. I mean, they could try. Not that it would do any good.
“So, are they going to come visit you this year at Hybrid Academy?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
Henry laughed. “Uh, not so much.”
His parents didn’t know I was a student here now. Henry wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell them. He liked being a wandering shifter and traveling around with me, but this was a part of his life that his family didn’t know much about. I think he kept his secrets close to his heart because of what happened to my grandmother. As far as I could tell, he had been very bright and bubbly before she was lost.
Now he was quieter.
More serious.
The truth was that Henry and Grams had also been close in many ways. Oh, he’d been in his cat form and she probably didn’t know he was really a boy. Well, a young man, really. Still, she’d spent many evenings holding and petting “Mr. Boo.” She’d sneaked him treats when she thought I wasn’t looking, and she’d taken him on long walks. I’m sure that Henry had heard many of my grandmother’s secrets: most of which he would likely take to the grave.
That is, unless we could use one of them to find her.
“So,” he said, casually changing the subject. “What’s the plan?”
“Get better at magic. Find the vampires who took Grams. Go kill those vampires. Save my grandmother.”
Henry looked at me for a minute, considering. For a second, I thought he was going to laugh at me or make fun of what I said. It might sound dumb, but that was it. That was what I wanted to do. I wanted to fight. I wanted to save my grandmother. I wanted to find her and figure out exactly where she was. More importantly, I wanted to get her to safety so she could rest assured that she was loved and cared for. Nobody deserved to feel alone.
Above all, Gram.
“I like it,” he said. “It’s very straightforward. Simple. Nice work.”
“Wait, really?”
He nodded.
“We’ve learned a lot about your grandmother’s work,” he said. “But we haven’t learned a lot about the vamps who took her.”
“All we know is that it definitely was vamps,” I said.
“Definitely,” he agreed.
I took a bite of my strawberry and sighed. How were we going to narrow it down? There were hundreds of vampires in the world. There were probably thousands, actually. How were we going to find the big bad who had snatched up my grandmother and taken her away?
How were we going to find out which specific vampire took my grandmother?
As far as I knew, Aunt Erin had killed the vampires I’d worked with at the café back home. I had been the one who inadvertently led them to my grandma. I was the one who had damaged my relationship with her. Nobody would blame me out loud, but I felt responsible. Erin may have killed the vamps who found my grandmother, but what about the people who had hired them? I still didn’t know who Tony and his crew had been working for. I still didn’t know much of anything. Not in the grand scheme of things, anyway.
“Hey,” Henry said. He reached out and cupped my cheek. The touch took me by surprise. I was so shocked that I jolted back too quickly. I fell backwards and landed in the mud.
I squealed and jumped back up on my feet, but the damage was done. My robes were decidedly dirty. I would definitely be making a trip to the laundry room. I could learn to make food appear, but I couldn’t quite make anything else appear, including clean robes. Besides, these ones were magically endorsed and issued by the school. Alicia Gregory had ensured that each set of robes couldn’t be duped. It was to prevent unauthorized access to the schoolgrounds by non-magical people or by shifters and magic-users who weren’t actually students.
I’d definitely be doing laundry.
It wasn’t how I wanted to spend my first night at school, but it wouldn’t be too bad. At least, that’s what I told myself. It wouldn’t be too bad. I was just glad the school had the facilities I needed to do clean my clothing. You’d think that with so many magical beings around, there would be an easier way to acquire clean clothing. I sti
ll suspected that some of the other magic users, like the teachers, for example, were using spells to wash their robes. What other explanation could there be for the way their clothing was so crisp and perfect?
Would I ever get there?
“Are you okay?” Henry asked, but when I looked at him, he was trying not to laugh. Irritation nipped at me.
“Fine,” I grumbled.
“Hey,” he said again. He reached for my hand and helped me up. I looked down at the damage. It was only mud. From what I could tell, my robes hadn’t torn or anything like that.
Henry looked me over quickly to make sure that I was fine. Then he spoke again.
His voice was…gentle.
Kind.
“It’s going to be okay, Max. We’re going to find her.”
“How can you be sure? It’s been a long time, Henry. Maybe…maybe I didn’t find her in time and now I’m not ever going to.”
“We’re going to find her,” he steeled his voice. “No matter what, Max.”
No matter what.
“Yeah,” I agreed finally. “You’re right.”
I didn’t have another choice. I wasn’t about to accept that life could go on without her. That just wasn’t a possibility for me. My grandmother had given up everything for me. Everything. I could do the same for her.
With a renewed sense of determination, I stood up. Henry followed suit and looked down at the basket. He started to pack it up, but I shook my head and pulled out my wand.
“Allow me,” I said. I stared at the blanket, the basket, and the remnants of our food. Then I waved my wand, whispered, and…nothing happened.
With a frown, I tried again.
Then one more time.
Embarrassed, I looked at Henry, who was watching.
“I can’t do it,” I said. “I can’t make it disappear.”
I was a failure as a witch.
Great.
“It’s okay, Max. We’ll just keep practicing, okay?”
“We?”
Hybrid Academy Box Set Page 16