The Shadow Fox

by H. K. Varian

  He only hoped his mom would let him go.

  Darren waved good-bye to Ms. Therian and Sefu after they dropped him off at his house that night. His mom was up in her room, likely working on a new paper for her lab.

  Full of the courage that Mr. Kimura’s words had given him, he climbed the stairs two at a time and lightly knocked on his mom’s doorframe. Mom was already in her pj’s, rubbing her temples as she stared into her laptop. The bed was strewn with research papers from various chemistry journals.

  “You’re home early,” Mom said, sitting up a little straighter against the headboard. “I figured you’d be out with your friends past dinnertime.”

  “Ray and I are video-chatting tonight, so I wanted to make sure I was home a little early,” Darren said.

  His mom reached out her hand for his. “I’m so glad you two have each other to talk to, going through everything. It’s comforting to your father and me.”

  Darren wasn’t sure what to say. It was still a little painful anytime his mom brought up the divorce.

  “Anyway,” she cut back in. “Why don’t we order some takeout tonight? Maybe that Thai place on Market Street? I know you like their curry.”

  “Sure, Mom. Sounds good,” Darren said, trying to find the right way to broach the subject of the field trip. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”

  Darren handed his mom the packet Ms. Therian had given him. His mom removed the papers from the envelope and started rifling through them.

  “There’s a class field trip coming up over spring break, and I really want to go.”

  “Isn’t Ms. Therian your gym teacher?” Mom asked as she read the first page.

  For a panicked moment Darren wasn’t sure what to say. Then he remembered the third page of the packet.

  “Here,” Darren said, turning the pages. “It’s actually a joint trip between gym, social studies, and science class. Identifying the geography and learning about the life cycle of plants is one part of the trip, but there’re also a lot of hiking and outdoor activities too. That’s why Ms. Therian is heading it. I think it would be a lot of fun—Gabriella, Mack, and Fiona said they’re definitely going. . . .”

  “You know what?” Mom said, flipping to the last page.

  Darren was hanging on the edge of his seat, waiting for his mother’s response.

  “I think this is wonderful.” She took out her pen and signed the permission slip, handing it and the rest of the papers back to him. “And what a great use of your spring break. I’d much rather have you outdoors learning something than sleeping past noon and playing video games like you usually do.”

  “Hey!” Darren shouted.

  His mom punched him in the shoulder playfully and reached for her phone to order their dinner. Darren smiled as he stared at the permission slip in his hand. He was really going to Wyndemere! Who would he meet; what would he learn while he was there?

  Darren had no clue, but if it was half as interesting as this morning’s meeting had been, he couldn’t wait.

  Chapter 3

  Wyndemere Academy

  A few weeks later Fiona swam through an obstacle course in the gym’s saltwater pool, her final training day for the Youngling Games. She’d said her good-byes to Dad a few hours ago, and her luggage, along with Gabriella’s, was neatly stacked in the locker room. Ms. Therian said they had time for one last training session before they left, and she had hidden a tiny treasure in the pool, using enchantments to create obstacles and make the water dark and murky. But in her selkie form, Fiona’s eyes caught every nuance in the water. Fiona could now stay under for about an hour without having to come up for air, but today, she needed less than half of that for her sharp eyes to find the gold ring in the pool’s hazy depths. She grabbed the ring with her mouth and shot out of the water, triumphant.

  Over the past few weeks she and her friends had trained hard for the Youngling Games. Gabriella had signed up for three separate events: the enchanted hurdles, the agility course, and timed combat. Mack and Darren were both competing in an elemental archery contest. They had spent the month learning how to transform their fire (in Mack’s case) and lightning (in Darren’s) into bows and arrows. Darren had also signed up for a competition that involved deflecting magic spells.

  “Just let them try to get past my lightning force fields,” Darren had joked. “They’d be toast!”

  Fiona couldn’t believe how brave he and Gabriella were to sign up for more than one event. Despite her training, Fiona was nervous about the underwater treasure hunt in Wyndemere Academy’s lagoon. Not about whether or not she could finish the course; she knew she could do that. It was having to compete against other waterborne Changers and trying to best them in a physical competition. Fiona was worried that she’d come in last. Sports had never really been her thing. She’d be much more confident taking a written test or researching a paper. That was the kind of competition she knew she’d win.

  She sat by the side of the pool and watched Darren fire a lightning arrow at a target, and then Ms. Therian blew her whistle to signal the end of their practice.

  Fiona slipped off her selkie cloak and ran down to the locker room to wash off and change. Minutes later she grabbed her duffel bag and joined the others around their teacher. A beautiful Japanese woman with bright eyes had joined them.

  “I want you to meet Margery Haruyama, a tengu Changer,” Ms. Therian said.

  “What’s a tengu?” Mack asked.

  “She’s a bird Changer—like me,” Darren said, beating Fiona to the answer. “She has power over wind.”

  “That’s right,” Margery said with a friendly smile. “I have another power, too—the power to transport you anywhere you want to go in the blink of an eye.”

  Mack whistled. “Anywhere?”

  She nodded. “Anywhere.”

  Fiona could tell by the way his eyes lit up that he was thinking about all the cool places he’d like to go. But today they were going to Wyndemere Academy!

  Ms. Therian reached for Fiona’s hand. “Join hands,” she said, “and we’ll be off.”

  There was a whoosh, and for a moment, Fiona felt like she was nestled inside the calm heart of the wind. For two or three dizzying seconds the world flew by, and then they landed gently at the base of a grassy hill. On top of it was a familiar-looking Gothic castle.

  Before they even had time to say thank you, Margery spun on her heel and was gone in a flash.

  Fiona twirled around as she took in as much of the buildings and the grounds as she could see. The academy was even more incredible looking in person.

  “This is where I leave you,” Ms. Therian said. “I’m going to help with the preparation for the games. I’ll be around in case you need me, but only if you need me. This weekend should be about exploring, trying new things, and meeting as many Changers as you can.”

  Fiona suddenly felt a little scared at the idea of Ms. Therian leaving them on their own for a few days.

  Ms. Therian seemed to read her thoughts. “You’re safe here—the grounds are protected from intruders of all kinds, magic or otherwise. Akira’s protection spells are in place, and there are Changer soldiers patrolling the forest.”

  Mack swaggered a few feet up the hill. Fiona could tell that he liked the idea of hanging out with high school kids without the First Four hovering over the four of them. “Don’t worry about us,” he said.

  “I’m trusting you not to wander off into the forest,” Ms. Therian said a bit louder, eyeing Mack in particular. “Stay on the school’s grounds. And don’t go looking for trouble.”

  “Will do,” Mack said with a nod. “It’s time to warn these high schoolers that a bunch of seventh graders are about to tear up the Youngling Games.”

  Ms. Therian laughed and waved them toward the top of the hill. “First you need to register for the games,” she said, “or you won’t be ‘tearing up’ anything.”

  The kids scrambled up the hillside, cheering as they raced to
be the first to get to the top. After just one or two steps, Gabriella was far in front of the others, and she beat them to the school. She waited for them just outside of the reception area.

  “Names, please,” a woman sitting behind a desk said. After checking their names against her list, she gave each of them a tote bag and told them to report to their dormitories. “Someone will be waiting in the lobby to give you your room assignments.”

  “I can’t believe we get to stay in dorm rooms,” Fiona said. “I hope we get to be roommates.” She linked her arm with Gabriella’s, and they headed in the direction of the girls’ dorm.

  “Catch you later,” Mack said, jogging off toward the boys’ dorm with Darren.

  Fiona was even more impressed by the campus now that she was here. It was kind of like being at New Brighton University. But on this campus the air shimmered with magic. High school–aged kids confidently walked to and from their classes, calling out hellos and asking one another if they were ready for this test or that science lab. However, there was something different.

  Fiona watched a girl who was across the green transform into a werewolf, let out a giant howl, and then change back to her human self. The kids around her laughed, as if she was making a joke or had just proved a point.

  Gabriella laughed along with them. “It’s nice not having to worry about my eyes suddenly turning yellow or my claws popping out and scaring our classmates,” she said.

  Fiona nodded, gazing longingly at the books each student carried. They had titles like Relics of Our Past: Enchanted Objects and Their Uses and A History of Temples, Tombs, and Other Mystical Sites.

  “I bet the library here is amazing—like one huge version of the rare books room at New Brighton University. Where do you think it is?”

  Gabriella shrugged. “We’ll find it later. There’s the girls’ dorm.”

  The dorm was at the far end of the castle grounds, an old building that looked like mansions she’d seen in books about New England. The inside matched the imposing exterior. There was a huge foyer and a grand staircase leading up to the second, third, and fourth floors. Paintings of mythological creatures lined the walls. No, not mythological, Fiona reminded herself. Real. Changers.

  A pretty girl with a friendly smile stood in the foyer with a clipboard and introduced herself as Zahra, a junior at Wyndemere. “I’ll be your guide and resident adviser for the week,” she said. “I’m the person you come to with any questions,” she added, after seeing Gabriella’s blank stare. Zahra checked their names against her list. “You’re both in room 206. Why don’t you go up and unpack while I wait for a few more people to arrive?”

  Fiona was excited to discover that room 206 was in one of the towers. Their circular room had four beds in it, and two other girls were unpacking. She and Gabriella introduced themselves.

  “I’m Mindy—I’m a mo’o from Hawaii,” the first girl said.

  Fiona was glad that she had studied Changer forms so she didn’t have to ask Mindy what a mo’o was—she was a Hawaiian water dragon.

  The second, a beautiful girl with caramel-colored skin and long, dark silky hair introduced herself as Jess. “I’m a mermaid—also from Hawaii,” she said with a smile. Her eyes seemed to shift from green to blue to gray in the light.

  Fiona was about to tell Jess and Mindy that she was a waterborne Changer too when Zahra whistled from the hall, telling the residents to bring their welcome bags and join her for orientation. Twenty girls gathered around Zahra. Most of them, Fiona noticed, were nervously peeking at the others, just as she was. She was glad to have Gabriella at her side.

  Having friends her own age was a new experience for Fiona. Sure, she had always had kids in school to talk to, but she’d never had a best friend or been invited to hang out outside of school. The other girls were nice to her, mostly, but she sat alone on the bus and, until she befriended Gabriella, in the school cafeteria, too.

  She had mostly told herself that it didn’t matter, that her books were the only friends she really needed. She used the extra time on the bus and at lunch for homework and for reading. But now that Fiona had real friends like Gabriella, Mack, and Darren, she realized that she had always been a little sad without people her own age to talk to.

  Fiona hoped that here, at Wyndemere Academy, she’d make even more friends.

  Zahra clapped her hands for attention. “Besides the fifteen hundred Changers that attend Wyndemere, there are about one hundred and fifty kids here for the games, but this is your group of twenty,” she said. “I want to show you what’s in your welcome bags, and then we’ll take a tour of the campus.”

  One by one she pulled items out of her own welcome bag and explained what they were, which included a map of the campus, a list of emergency contacts, a booklet about the school and its history, a schedule of Youngling Games events, and a class schedule.

  Fiona’s eyes lit up. A class schedule! She hadn’t realized that they’d get to sit in on classes, too. She wanted to take a look at hers right away and wondered if there would be time to visit more than one class, but Zahra had already moved on.

  “There are some snacks and bottled water in here too, and don’t be shy about replenishing from the dining hall. It’s open twenty-four seven, so take whatever you need. There are also snacks in the dorm’s lounge down the hall. We want you at your best for the games, not tired and hungry.”

  Moments later, Zahra led them outside for a tour of the grounds. Fiona had read everything she could about the academy, but Zahra ran through the highlights.

  “Wyndemere Academy—both the building and the campus—was built in 1743 from local limestone deposits as a refuge for Changer-kind in North America.

  “The academy functioned as a Changer base for thirty years before Ilyana the Conqueror converted it into a school for younglings, aged fourteen to eighteen,” Zahra continued. “By that time, other Changer bases around the country had been established.”

  Fiona knew that the town of Willow Cove had an important Changer base and that a Changer base was more commonly called a “harbor.” For the first time she wondered how many Changer bases there were in the world. She was about to raise her hand to ask, but once again, Zahra had already moved on. It sounded to Fiona as if she had given this speech many times.

  “There are eight main buildings on campus,” she said. “The girls’ dorm and the boys’ dorm are on opposite ends of the campus. The boys’ dorm is off limits to girls, and vice versa.” Then she pointed to what looked like a sports stadium. “There’s the arena and the games house, where the events will take place. And next to that is the gymnasium. If you have any last-minute training to do, that’s the place to go. And of course,” she said, waving toward the four connected buildings that made up the castle, “those are the four academic buildings.”

  They walked to the arena first, which was a whirlwind of preparation activity. An impundulu and a tengu, both in bird form, were hanging a welcome banner. Fiona’s heart soared at the sight of the lightning bird. Looks like Darren will definitely have other impundulus to talk to! Ms. Therian and some other adult Changers were overseeing the setup of an enchanted hurdles course. Ms. Therian snapped her fingers, and the hurdles moved, up and down, up and down. Then one burst into flames.

  Gabriella was rocking back and forth on her heels, clearly itching to take on the hurdles, but Zahra hurried them out of the stadium and into the gym next door. Fiona gasped when she saw the many, many different forms of Changers doing last-minute training exercises. She noticed there was no saltwater pool like the one in Willow Cove’s enchanted gym, but then she remembered that the lagoon was open all year long. That’s where her event would take place.

  If only I didn’t have to actually compete, she thought, feeling butterflies in her stomach. I hope I don’t embarrass myself . . . or my friends.

  She asked a question about history to get her mind off the competition. “Are the Youngling Games like the Olympics? Do they take place every four
years?”

  “The games were started in the early 1900s as a way to introduce young Changers to Wyndemere Academy before the application period ended for incoming freshmen. It’s a yearly event.”

  “And anyone—any young Changer can compete?”

  “Oh, no,” Zahra said. “Wyndemere students have their own athletic competitions throughout the year. Only Changers between the ages of eleven and thirteen are able to compete in the Youngling Games. This year we have competitors from all over the country, even Hawaii.”

  Fiona sneaked a quick peek at Jess and Mindy. They seemed pleased to have been singled out.

  Zahra waved in the direction of the door. “You can come back to explore the arena and the gym later. First I want to give you a quick tour of the academic buildings.”

  The small group entered the castle, filing past a group of twenty boys, including Mack and Darren, that was on its way out.

  “Wait till you see the art studio,” Mack whispered.

  “Wait till you see the gym,” Gabriella whispered back.

  The main entry hall of the academic buildings, like the girls’ dorm, was massive and ornate, with mahogany paneling and a grand staircase. Marble carvings along the walls showed Changers locked in epic battles, exploring new places, and building huge structures. Fiona took a deep breath. She could almost smell the rich history and important learning that went on here.

  Zahra waited a moment to make sure she had everyone’s attention before speaking. “The second, third, and fourth floors are mainly classrooms and professors’ offices,” she said. “We’re just going to tour the first floor.” Then she quickly led them from one amazing room to another—an auditorium, a band room filled with music stands and instruments and soundproof practice rooms, a student lounge for games and hanging out, and a dining hall that offered all kinds of delicious food.

  Fiona wanted to stop and investigate everything, but Zahra hurried them along, promising that they would have time to come back and explore later.