“What is it?” I gasped, panic starting to consume me now. “What's going on?”
“Well, I've tried to keep this from you, but I can't anymore.” She clutched my hands tightly in hers. “You are nearly eighteen years old now, and you'll have to go soon, so I can't keep it back any longer.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my anxiety rising. “What's happening here?”
“Darling, our family has always been a part of the Council of Species, and now it's time for you to take on that role too.”
***
The information that I wasn't normal, but actually a member of something incredibly important was utterly overwhelming. I was glad I found out when I did because it gave me some much needed time to adjust. Gone was my dream of a standard, normal life and in its place was something else instead; something I didn't understand, and that filled me with a horrifying pit of dread.
How the hell could I, normal, boring Hattie Smith, be a member of the Council of Species? I was the only one that wasn't interested in that side of the world. I'd never expressed any real desire to have anything to do with it, but I was the one who had to go… it didn't really seem fair.
I didn't tell anyone that I was going, because I was afraid of their reaction. I figured I would just cover it all when I got back. For now, I had school all wrapped up, and I was on my way to training camp. I hadn't exactly planned anything big for the milestone of turning eighteen, but I certainly hadn't planned on flying to England to get to assume a place in the Council of Species.
The families who had established the Council of Species had mostly run it since the peace treaty was created. I knew that much. I just hadn't realized that my family was one of them. As each generation of new Council delegates came of age they had to go to the training camp where they would learn everything about the other species and the terms of the treaty. After that, everyone was given the choice to stay in the English camp permanently, assisting in the constant work to keep the peace and to train other newcomers, or to return home and become a part time agent, only returning for the annual meeting and for other big decisions.
Of course I would be returning home afterwards, but I still didn't get how I was going to be involved with something so huge.
I was just so normal.
“How did you manage to keep this from me for so many years?” I asked Grandma, for what felt like the hundredth time. “I don't get it.”
“Well to be honest, after your parents were killed I was released from a lot of my duties, so it wasn't too hard. I guess I just wanted you to have a normal life before all this craziness kicked off.”
Well… she definitely achieved that. My life had always been incredibly normal, just like my ambitions.
“But you'll be fine,” she insisted quickly. “I know it's going to be hard going from such a small, human American town to a place where you'll mix with so many new people, but it'll be an incredible experience for you. You'll love it, it'll really open your eyes.” She looked at me with concern, spotting the obvious fear I was experiencing. “Look, it'll be different, but you'll be fine. The other species are each amazing in their own way; you'll soon discover that.”
“Yeah,” I murmured as a reply, but all I could think about was my friends and their stupid personality tests. Vampires were frosty and cold-hearted, werewolves were fiery and hot tempered, and dragons were aloof and frankly terrifying. Of course rationally I knew that it wasn't possible to categorize a whole species into one box like that, but it made me scared all the same.
***
When Grandma dropped me off at the airport, I had my ticket clutched so tightly between my fingers that my knuckles had turned white. I hadn't dared ask her yet if this was something that I could refuse to do because I was absolutely terrified to hear her answer. From all of her stories, of which I'd heard far too many now, training at the Council of Species had been the best time of her life.
I got the distinct impression that she wished she'd stayed there, but again I didn't like to ask.
“Bye, sweetie,” she smiled at me happily, but I could see a mistiness in her eyes. “I'll miss you! Call me when you get there.”
I pulled her in for a deep hug, wishing that I didn't have to let her go. I was too shy and quiet for this massive life change, too sheltered. But I was doing my best to get past that, to make myself grow. I probably needed this, however terrifying it was.
“I will, and remember what to tell my friends if they call?”
She tutted and shook her head, clearly not approving of my plan. “Yes I know, you're on a trip. I don't know why you won't just tell them the truth.”
I wanted to tell her that they wouldn't understand, but that wasn't really the truth either. Actually it was me that didn't get it. “I don't know, I just don't want the fuss.” I shifted awkwardly in my seat. “But I better go now anyway. Love you.”
As I walked into the terminal, about to face the most terrifying experience of my entire life, my whole body was shaking. But I kept my feet going forward. I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to let down the one person who had always been there for me.
Just do this, Hattie, I thought determinedly to myself. Just get to England, get through the training camp, then return to normal life. It didn't even really have to be a massive life change, I could just do it every so often. I could still stick to my plan for a normal life. Surely, couldn't I?
Oh God, what if I sucked at the training camp? What if I was embarrassingly bad at classes? Self doubt made its unwelcome way into my system, making it very hard for me to focus. I was always just above average at school, but with this I was at a disadvantage because I knew nothing. I'd actively spent my school life avoiding finding out about the shapeshifters, because I never thought it would affect me. How wrong I was.
***
This is crazy, I thought as I finally got a moment alone in my brand new bedroom. This is absolutely insane. I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting when I arrived in England, but it certainly wasn't… this. It was all just so much.
The Council of Species headquarters was sleek and sophisticated, a wonderful place like nothing I'd ever seen back at home. I instantly felt out of place, but intrigued, like I wanted to know more. As I followed around the tour guide, along with a whole bunch of other newbies who looked about as terrified and bewildered as I felt, I found my interest in the place taking over, and my fear beginning to subside. It was a phenomenal place after all. How could I not lose myself in that?
I would have to start classes tomorrow, to learn everything that I'd come here for, which didn't give me nearly enough time to process what had happened to me today. There was only one thing for it. I would have to contact Grandma again to discuss it with her. She knew this place, she would understand what I was talking about. She would help me adjust that little bit more.
“Hello, how are you, sweetie?” she asked as she answered the phone, seeming not even slightly bothered that I was calling her again. “How is everything going?”
“It's just so… I don't know what to say,” I chuckled like a crazy person as my body fell back into a lying position on the bed sheets. “It isn't what I was expecting at all.”
“I remember when I first saw it,” she replied wistfully. “I was speechless too. It's unbelievable, isn't it?”
“It's just so… wow.” I thought back over the classrooms, the canteen, the fields… even my new bedroom was admirable. It was luxury that I'd never experienced before. “It's only the colder temperature that I'm struggling with. England really is chilly, that rumor is true!”
“Oh you'll get used to that,” Grandma reassured me. “Now, more importantly, did you make any friends today?”
Now this was another unexpected part to my day. On the flight over, while I thought about it all, I assumed that each species would naturally stick together. I thought that would just be expected to do so, but I didn't once find myself drawn to any of the other humans. If anything, they s
eemed even harder to approach than the vampires, who were a little like their reputation suggested. The other humans just seemed so bored by the whole thing, not the way I was feeling at all.
No, the people I had actually connected with, even more so than the people back home, were Sephy – a wonderfully funny, and very cute female werewolf – and Arden. He was a dragon, and there was something about him that drew me in instantly.
He was tall, with dark hair and piercing green eyes, and he had a heart-stopping smile that I could have looked at forever. I hadn't ever bothered with boys back home, because none of them attracted me enough, but with Arden… I could feel a passion deep within me igniting. One that I had no idea what to do with.
“I did actually,” I admitted, letting her know that she was more right than I cared to confess to. “Sephy and Arden.”
“I see.” Grandma didn't ask what species they belonged to, but I could tell from the smile in her voice that she knew they weren't human. “That's good news.”
“I've also seen some people wandering around that look like hybrids,” I half whispered to her. I felt bad for talking about people behind their backs, but this was all just so new to me. Despite my lack of interest in shapeshifters back home, I'd still seen plenty of pictures of each species, and I could tell who they were from sight alone, even in their human form. But I had to confess that seeing people I suspected to by hybrids had thrown me.
Vampires had very pale skin and icy blue eyes. They were too gorgeous for words, but intimidatingly so. The werewolves had rounder faces, tanned skin, and bright, fire-colored eyes. The dragons were sculpted, with strong jaw lines and the wonderful green eyes.
The hybrids that I'd seen had a similar look, but softer, human features too. It was clear that they weren't quite the same as full-blood shapeshifters.
The only thing I had yet to witness was seeing any of them in their animal form. I wasn't sure how I would react to that.
“Yes, they're quite breathtaking too, aren't they?” Grandma replied, sounding a little like she was in a dream land herself. “It's a crazy life choice to make, to allow oneself to become a hybrid, but very rewarding from what I understand.”
Yep, she definitely wished that she'd stayed. I wanted to ask her more about that, but I was interrupted by a knock at the door. I already knew that it was Sephy who had come to hang out with me, and I found myself in a position that I'd never been in before. I actually had a friend that I wanted to spend time with, that I felt like I had something in common with.
Maybe I was much less human than I'd always assumed. Maybe a life of human mediocrity wasn't for me after all.
“I better go, Grandma, my friend is here,” I gushed excitedly. “But I'll speak to you soon, okay? Love you!”
As she told me that she loved me too, and we ended the conversation, I wondered how she was coping with me being gone. I wondered if she was loving having the house back to herself, or if she was suffering from empty nest syndrome.
But then Sephy knocked again, and I got lost in the massive changes in my life, knowing that Grandma was something I could worry about later on. Plus she was tough enough to not need me. She wanted me to be having fun. I had to do this for her.
***
The first week of lessons actually wasn't as terrifying as I'd been expecting them to be. I found them really interesting, and despite my initial fears, I excelled at a lot of it. Mostly because it was a subject I found myself wanting to know more about. I loved discovering more about the history of werewolves, I found the anatomy of vampires fascinating, and the theology of the dragon culture wonderfully interesting.
It helped that I had my new friends to help me out too. Vice versa, I could help them when it came to learning about humans – the one subject I was actually an expert in.
Then there was the peace treaty… wow, what a complicated and in-depth document that was! Discovering all the details within it made me really appreciate how hard it must have been to make that treaty come to life.
“Woah, that was insane today, right?” Arden asked in that warm, buttery tone of voice that always made my heart melt, as he sat down at the table in the library next to me and Sephy. “I mean, I thought that I was done with homework when I left school, but clearly I was wrong.”
“Tell me about it,” I smiled brightly at him, not minding really. I actually enjoyed the work now, so it didn't seem too taxing to me. “Come and sit with us, we can muddle through it together.”
I could see Sephy giving me a look, but I did my best to ignore it. I'd kind of admitted how much I liked Arden, while trying to act like it wasn't too much of a big deal as well. I just wasn't sure how to act around guys, and I didn't want that to become obvious.
Sephy had no shortage of male attention, from all the species, because she was blonde, and curvy, cue, and funny too. But from what I could gather, her life had always been that way. I didn't want to have to embarrassingly admit that I had zilch experience to go by.
“Yeah, I think I will. I need to copy all of your answers,” he grinned at me, making my heart flutter like crazy. “You listen way more than I do.”
Oh God, he was making me feel so many things all at once. I was acutely aware of his body position in relation to mine, I could almost feel those abs between my fingers. I wanted him, really badly, worse than I'd ever wanted anyone before, but there was no way that could ever happen. He was too far out of my league to ever be considered a possibility for me.
He would just have to be a fantasy forever more, someone that I admired from afar and caused me to suffer the humiliating heart break of only ever being in the friend zone…
“Sephy Muster?” we suddenly heard a male voice booming across the library. “Are you here?”
“Ooh, who's that?” I hissed with excitement. If I wasn't about to have any luck myself, I could live vicariously through my friend. “A new man in your life?”
“I don't know,” she replied as she spotted who was calling her. “I don't recognize him.”
As she waved her arms to beckon the guy towards us, I spun around to follow her eye line. Instantly I found myself looking at yet another extremely handsome dragon. He was taller than Arden, older too, and just as good looking. He had the same strong body and powerful face, but his features were much lighter. His hair was redder and his eyes were paler.
He seemed to sense me looking at him. His eyes locked in with mine. In that moment I felt something powerful surge through me, a potent connection, an intense chemistry. There was something there between us, something that I really didn't understand. It made me gulp, and shiver slightly. I had to move my eyes away from his, just to keep appearing normal.
“Oh are you Arden Vix and Hattie Smith too? We need you all.”
“What for, Muth?” Arden asked, clearly familiar with the older, more experienced dragon. “What's going on?”
“There's a big meeting today for all the newbies and the team leaders. A mass email was sent out, but some technical fault meant that a lot of people didn't get it… evidently you three were included in that. So you better get yourself down to the canteen now. It'll all be kicking off soon.”
While Arden asked Muth what the meeting would be about, I found myself unable to listen to any of it. My heart was thundering in my chest, fear and lust buzzing in my ears. There were too many sensations flooding my body all at once. I found it hard enough being around one gorgeous, completely unattainable dragon, but two was almost too much for me to even come to terms with. The heat emanating from them, the power that seemed to flow from their bodies, it was driving me crazy in ways that I hadn't even thought possible.
It made me think back to that time with my old friends, when they'd been discussing which shapeshifter they wanted as a boyfriend, and I'd said dragon haphazardly without even really thinking about it. How right I was, but of course I didn't understand that at the time.
I was wrong about a lot of things, because of my small town upbringing and limite
d knowledge of the world. I was so glad that I hadn't allowed that fear of the world to keep me from doing this, I was grateful that I'd pushed myself forward. That version of me would never have been happy, whereas now I felt like I really could be. I felt home here, in this strange place in England, way more than I ever did back at home.
“Okay then, guys, let's get going,” Arden shook me from my thoughts and reminded me that we still had things to do. “This meeting seems important.”
***
Actually, the meeting wasn't really that important. It was more just reiterating the house rules that we all knew so well already. After all, we'd been presented with a massive handbook when we first arrived, so if we did anything wrong, we really only had ourselves to blame.
As the head of the Council of Species droned on in a very boring tone of voice, I found my mind wandering and my eyes scanning over everyone in the room. This was an eclectic bunch of people who were incredible in their own, individual ways.
Where would I have been if not here? Originally, I was planning on making my part-time job in the local supermarket more full time while I decided what to do next. My grades were never good enough for me to go to college, but I wanted to do something a little better than a lifetime of monotony. I just never knew where my passions and desires lay.
Thank God for my family history and this peace treaty. I was so incredibly grateful that I'd been taken away from that boring life. Chances were I would have gotten too settled at my job, and I would have become too lazy to move on. Then, I would have settled for the first half decent guy who looked my way, allowing him to marry and impregnate me before I could even realize how tedious my life was.
Urgh, looking at that now, it didn't even seem feasible.
As my eyes flickered everywhere, I eventually found them drawn to Arden without me even having to think about it. Sometimes I felt like there was a magnet within him that made me look at him when I didn't even mean to.
Princess For Them Page 115