by Cali Mann
I grimaced and marched down the stairs. We crossed the street toward the bus stop, and I scanned the area. Mr. Reed had to be around here somewhere. He’d been here every morning and every afternoon, but I hadn’t seen any sign of him last night when I was talking to the asshole. I knew his name now, but I had no desire to use it.
Alex stopped at the bench, then seemed to remember we weren’t going to school. He wandered around behind it and looked over at me. “What now?”
I nodded toward the coffee shop. “Let’s go.”
He frowned at me. I rarely let him step inside the place because he didn’t need coffee and I couldn’t afford the prices. But what did it matter now? I ordered a coffee for myself, black, as I couldn’t stomach the cream and sugar, and I looked at Alex. “What do you want?”
“Anything?” he asked.
“Yup, go crazy,” I said with a snort.
“Double chocolate chip Frappuccino,” he told the barista.
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you even know what that is?”
He grinned. “Nope.”
“Sounds sweet as fuck,” I said. “You’re gonna be on a sugar high the rest of the day.”
“Maybe. You want one?” he asked, waving the barista over.
I shook my head.
“You should,” Alex said. “You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, paying for our drinks.
We waited for them at the counter and then sat at a table near the window. I wrapped my hands around my coffee mug and stared out into the street. No sign of the recruiter anywhere. He follows me for days and now he decides to give up?
“What’s going on?” Alex asked and slurped his drink. It looked like a giant milkshake with whipped cream and chocolate chips and all.
I shrugged.
“So, we’re what . . . running away from home? Just like that?” he asked, his brow furrowing. “No goodbyes or anything?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “She doesn’t deserve it.”
“Maybe not . . .” He trailed off.
Watching my brother’s confused face, I wanted to spill out the truth: why I’d changed my mind about going to Thornbriar and what I’d agreed to do there. But I couldn’t—too many years of protecting him were ingrained in me, and he needed to be safe from all this. “She wanted it this way,” I lied. “She said she couldn’t bear to say farewell to both of us.”
“Oh,” he said. “And why are we here?”
I smiled, slowly, painfully, forcefully, but I did it. For Alex. “We’re waiting for the recruiter. We’re going to Thornbriar Academy.”
He couldn’t hide the light that crossed his face. “Really? Both of us?”
“Yes, knucklehead,” I said, chuckling. “You and me.”
“What changed?”
My grin wavered, but I didn’t let it drop. “Well, I found out that they are accepting spirit shifters now.”
“What!” he exclaimed. “How?”
“They’ve found some sort of cure,” I said. “And they are accepting us on a trial basis.”
“That’s awesome!”
He was so excited. I pressed my lips together, trying not to scowl. This plan would probably kill me one way or another. Turning my gaze to the window, I found Mr. Reed leaning against the back of our bus stop. “It is,” I said, standing. “Stay here. I see the recruiter.”
Alex nodded and slurped his drink.
I ran my teeth over my lip as I crossed to the door. This would be a harder sell than my innocent brother had been, I expected. “Mr. Reed,” I called, strolling toward him.
He turned slowly, shading his eyes with his hand. “Hi, Sasha. I thought you’d be headed to the bus.”
“Well,” I said, pushing my toe into the loose gravel. “I wanted to talk to you about Thornbriar.”
“Oh?” he asked, waving at Alex. “Shall we go inside? I see your brother is waiting for us.”
“Not quite yet,” I said, reaching for his arm. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
He stared at my fingers on his sleeve as if I confused him, then he brushed my hand off. “Of course—you can ask any questions you need to.”
I twisted my hands together. “I heard something recently . . .”
“Yes, spit it out, girl,” he muttered.
“Spirit shifters have been accepted into Thornbriar.”
He peered at me. “Who told you that?”
A cold dread twisted in my gut. Had Asshole somehow been wrong? He’d set me up for this whole thing and he was mistaken? I shook my head. No, I just wasn’t being clear. “My mom said she heard it from someone, and I was just wondering, well, if it was true.”
Mr. Reed narrowed his eyes. “Are you a spirit shifter, Sasha?”
I blinked innocently at him, trying to turn on all the charm I could muster, which, to be honest, at that moment wasn’t much.
“Are you?” he growled, a hint of his wolf in the sound.
Did it matter? I was doomed if I did, doomed if I didn’t. “Yes.”
He frowned. “Thornbriar is taking a few spirit shifters. It’s on a trial basis only.”
I nodded. “That’s what I hoped, sir.”
Mr. Reed glanced toward where Alex sat in the window. “Because of your brother.”
“I don’t want him to go alone,” I said, rubbing my sweaty palms against my jeans. “And we’re ready to go right now.”
“Well, I’ll have to contact the headmaster,” he said. “Verify that it’s okay to bring you.”
I let my whole body fall with disappointment. “How long will that take?”
“Why are you so eager to go immediately?”
I had to give the old man credit. He was sharper than he looked. I forced a bit of a whimper into my voice. “Mom’s new boyfriend is vicious. He’s come after both of us, and it’s only a matter of time . . .”
Mr. Reed swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. His gaze slipped up to our apartment, which was still dark.
I waited as patiently as I could.
Looking back at me, he grimaced. “I guess it’s better to regret something you have done.”
“What do you mean?” A little bit of hope warmed my chest. It was working. We were getting out of here today.
“Get your brother, Sasha. Let’s go.”
I grinned.
* * *
In a matter of hours, we’d driven out of Denver and down long winding roads to a small airport. The mountains rose behind us, beyond the city, but the land here was flat. A cool wind whipped by, even as the sun shone down on us. Alex was excited, his round eyes taking in everything. He asked a million questions, his words tripping over themselves in his eagerness to get them out.
“We’ve never been on a plane,” I said apologetically. I’d never seen my brother this animated. I hoped that he would get something out of this experience before I did what I had to do.
Mr. Reed snorted. “No worries, Sasha. Let him have his fun.”
We crossed the tarmac, and I scanned the scrub brush and deserted brown land. Out here beyond the city, the world seemed vast and unknown. I wrapped my arms around myself and said goodbye to the only place I’d ever known as home. There wasn’t anyone to say farewell to. Mom could take care of herself; I doubted she’d even miss us. Maybe I should have said something to Mrs. Everett. She might wonder where we’d gone.
“Mr. Reed,” I asked as we climbed the steps up to the plane. “Can you let Mrs. Everett know where we’ve gone?”
“Of course,” he said.
When we reached the top, the plane door stood open. A thin woman with chestnut brown hair tied back loosely met us as we entered the plane. Her skin was vampire pale and her face grim.
“Mr. Reed,” she said, holding out a hand.
“Oh, Headmaster Larkin,” Mr. Reed said as he clumsily gripped her hand. “I had no idea you were in the area.”
“I wasn’t,” she said, her eyes drifting over to Alex a
nd me. “But I heard you’d found another rogue spirit shifter and were demanding they be brought to Thornbriar. I thought I should see them for myself.”
Silence followed her statement, and I winced at the sound of the cabin door closing behind me. Her gaze was sharp and clinical, and Mr. Reed wavered.
I stepped forward and held out my hand. “I’m Sasha Wren, and I’m your spirit shifter.”
The headmaster lifted her brow. “My spirit shifter?”
“The one you’re looking for, anyway.” I yanked Alex forward by his hoodie. “This is my brother Alex. He’s an air shifter.”
Her lip twitched. “Yes, I can see that by his pale skin and the fangs.”
I glanced back at my brother, who was bristling under her inspection. I clocked him across the head. “Put those away, you idiot.”
“Mr. Reed, why don’t you take young Alex into the cabin and get him settled?” Headmaster Larkin said. “I’d like to have a private word with . . . Sasha.”
He nodded, and they shuffled toward the back of the cabin.
The headmaster gestured to two adjoining seats at the front as if we were in her office. “Shall we?”
“Okay,” I said, plunking myself down on the leather seat. The material was smooth and cool against my skin. I wanted to sink back into it, but I didn’t. I needed to know how to play this before I could relax.
Headmaster Larkin sat down next to me, tucking her pencil skirt around her legs, and asked pointedly, “How did you come to know you were a spirit shifter?”
I guess I’m interviewing for the job. Interlacing my fingers in my lap, I mimicked her upright posture and said, “My mother told me our father was spirit, and I knew I wasn’t like Alex or Mom. They’re both air.”
“Do you know your father?”
I shook my head. “He left us. Well, he came back to make Alex, but then he disappeared again. I never really met him.”
“How do you know you’re spirit?” she asked again.
“The dreams,” I said. “I’ve had them for several years now. I am a wolf in some, running through the woods, a bird in others, diving for my prey.” I studied the tan carpet that covered the floor. Like Mother’s at home, it looked as though no one had ever spilled anything on it. “Sometimes, I wake up drenched after swimming through the night and sometimes, I set the world on fire.”
Headmaster Larkin sighed as if it was all she feared and more. “Sasha, I can only take in a few spirit shifters and on a trial basis.”
“Oh, I know,” I said. “But I have to be one of them. I’ve been my brother’s caregiver since he was born. I can’t let him go alone.”
Her eyes tightened. “The parents of the other students are not very happy about the situation. They are very worried that you will go mad.”
“I don’t blame them. I’m terrified of that myself . . .” I squeezed my hands in my lap. “But there’s a cure, isn’t there?” I’d take a concoction of pills and liquids to keep my sanity and my life.
“There is what you call a cure,” she said. “But it isn’t as simple as you might think.” She glanced toward the window behind me, and I found myself following her gaze.
We’d taken off while we were talking. The blue sky passed outside, with fluffy white clouds dotting it. If I looked back, I knew Alex would have his sketchpad out. I shook myself. I needed to focus on this conversation. It might be the most important one I’d had yet.
“In fact, the other families may just fear the cure more than the spirit shifters themselves,” Larkin continued.
“What is it?” I asked.
“A spirit shifter by nature is unbalanced,” she said. “And to be cured, he or she must become balanced.”
I frowned. “You’re speaking in riddles.”
“Perhaps I am,” she said with a chuckle. “When a shifter finds their mate, they bond for life. It is an almost magical pact that causes a tattoo to emerge on the skin of both lovers. Have you heard of this?”
“No,” I said, racking my brain. “Wait, possibly. Our old babysitter, Mrs. Everett—she was mated to her late husband. She said his loss was very difficult, and she had a tattoo that ran along her arm here.” I gestured from my wrist to my shoulder.
“A strong woman, then,” Larkin said, “to survive the loss of a mate.”
“She is.” ‘Too stubborn to die’ was how Mrs. Everett described herself. I smiled. Would I ever see her again? Most likely not, if I did what Asshole wanted, what Charles Denison wanted.
“Shifters usually mate once,” Larkin said. “But spirit shifters need more.”
I wrinkled my brow, staring at her. “Meaning what?”
“We’ve learned recently that, in order to balance each of their sides, spirit shifters must take a mate from each of the elements.”
My jaw dropped as I tried to make sense of what she’d said. A mate from each— “Four mates?”
“Yes,” the headmaster said. “And you’re how old?”
“Eighteen, madam.” What would I do with four lovers? My stomach fluttered as thoughts of what we could do ran through my mind. I nibbled on my lip.
“It will have to be soon.”
I blinked. “Soon?”
“The madness begins soon after your first shift.”
“Which happens during your eighteenth year,” I said, remembering at least something of what Mrs. Everett had told us.
Larkin smiled, not unkindly. “You can see why the families of the other students are upset.”
“Yeah,” I said, my heart thumping against my chest. “Because I’m going to have to bond with four of their children just to keep myself sane.”
Part of me was intrigued. I’d always loved good sex, but the other part of me, the sane part, wondered how pissed Charles would be if I mated four shifters. I didn’t suppose keeping myself sane fell under my duties of screwing up the trial and destroying the academy. I pressed my lips together and gazed out the window.
9
Sasha
When we arrived at a small airfield, Alex’s face was glued to the outside window. We sank through the clouds, and all around us were mountains and vivid green forests. It was lush and beautiful compared to our dusty, dry home. Perhaps Colorado would have been like this if we’d ever gone up into the mountains, but we hadn’t had a car or friends to take us.
I’d never been this far out in the country, away from the city lights. Mom wasn’t one for vacations, unless it was all expenses paid by one of her lovers. We weren’t invited for obvious reasons. She’d brought me back a trinket from Paris once: a little bobble-head doll. It had broken almost as soon as I opened the box. That’s why you can’t have nice things, she’d hissed.
We climbed into a car and headed up the twists and turns of the mountain road. The trees whizzed by us, and my wolf longed to get out and play. But I wasn’t here for fun. I certainly wasn’t here to mate—four times—and settle down. I had a job to do. I had to break Thornbriar Academy, just as I’d broken that little bobble-headed doll. And as nice as they’d been to me so far, Mr. Reed and Headmaster Larkin were going to regret ever inviting me here.
The car pulled through iron gates, the letters TB on them, and the headmaster waved to the uniformed guard. He inclined his head to her.
I swallowed. Guards and walls surrounded the campus, almost like a prison.
Alex shoved me. “Look, Sasha,” he said, pointing out the window.
Several guys played soccer on the wide lawn. Their shirts were off, and they ran with superhuman speed. They might have been my age, but they already seemed to have come into their powers. Muscles lined their arms and backs.
A bench lay off to one side, and one of them leaned on it, pouring water over his sweaty body. My throat dried just watching this display of masculinity. He was built like a fighter, with thick bunches of corded muscle. His brown hair lay flat and wet against his head, but dry, it would have just a bit of wave. His eyes were closed, and his pale lips clamped around the water bottle
. “Who’s that?” I breathed.
“Lucan Masters,” Mr. Reed said behind me. “He’s from a family of earth shifters, nearly all of them wolves. I wouldn’t mess with him, young lady.”
I could feel the headmaster’s eyes on me, and I got the message, loud and clear. This would be one of the families not to piss off by mating their kid. I bit my lip. That would be exactly the reason to do it, wouldn’t it? Charles wanted the spirit shifters tossed out of Thornbriar, but he also wanted the school to pay for letting them attend in the first place.
I filed the bit of information about Logan away and turned toward the buildings ahead of us. The school stood facing us, one building in front with a turret on each end. It looked like a castle. Well, not that I’d ever seen one, but at least like one of the mansions we’d ridden by downtown. The bushes around the building and the yard were perfectly manicured, but they disappeared into wild woods on either side and, I assumed, in the back. “How much property is there?”
“Hundreds of acres,” Larkin said with a small smile. “Thornbriar owns almost the whole mountain.”
“Wow,” Alex said.
“We value our privacy, and our students need it.”
“Mr. Reed was saying that some shifters stay here until they are twenty-one?” Alex asked.
“As long as it takes for you to master control,” she said. “Even more than academics, we want our students to be able to live and work among humans and not expose our world.”
I huffed. We’d been doing that all along. Although, I had to admit that Alex needed some help with his urges. But it wasn’t like the humans saw anything they didn’t expect to see anyway. Alex and I were seen as regular kids in our school and our neighborhood. I swallowed. Not our neighborhood. Not anymore.
We got out of the car, stretched, and then followed the Headmaster up the steps and inside. I tried to take everything in, but I couldn’t. There was just too much: the vague feeling of richness, red velvet coverings and stone walls, pictures of landscapes and animals. We approached a double set of open doors, and the noise picked up. Young voices carried down the hall.