Animage Academy: The Shifter School Down Under Year One

by Qatarina Wanders

  Outside, girls in bikinis strutted along, a few guys dragged surfboards, and shiny coffee houses came into view. She was almost there. Leaning back, she imagined what her new school would be like. Sure, she’d seen brochures, and this year’s directions (the portal was different every semester), but she’d never been there.

  “We’re here,” the driver announced, staring back at her in the rearview mirror.

  Ava jerked out of her thoughts. “Oh, right, thank you.”

  She stepped out of the car, still a little shaky. The comforting sound of the crashing waves hit her before anything else. She took a deep inhalation of the ocean smell as she moved to the trunk to help unload. While setting one of her bags down on the sidewalk, she noticed a man inching closer and closer to them. He held a small clipboard that he scrutinized, then stared at her.

  Had to be her point-of-contact person. She offered a tiny wave in his direction.

  He squinted back.

  “That’s the last of them.” The driver looked at her expectantly. He was referring to her bags.

  Oh, right, she should tip him. She reached into her purse for a twenty and handed it to him—a pretty fat tip, for sure. He was soon out of sight in a cloud of sand.

  A smile broke through her lips as she watched him go, despite the panic rising in her chest. Then she turned toward the man with the clipboard and approached him.

  “Hi, I’m Ava Carrington.” She didn’t offer her hand because they were full of bags.

  “Paul,” the man introduced himself as he took her heaviest bag from her. “You ready?” He smiled kindly, tucked the clipboard under the arm holding her suitcase, and extended his right hand.

  With one of her hands now free, she took his outstretched hand in hers, firmly. “I am.”

  He grabbed another smaller satchel off her shoulder. “Then follow me.”

  He took long strides, and even though she wasn’t particularly short, she still struggled to keep up with him.

  “You’re the last one in. We almost left thinking you chickened out on us.” It didn’t seem like he was joking. His accent was distinctly Australian—she wouldn’t have understood a word he’d said if he’d spoken faster.

  Leave her? Seriously? “Traffic. Sorry.” She tried not to pout but felt that telltale bottom lip protrude.

  “Yeah, Miami can be crazy,” he agreed.

  He appeared too young to be a teacher; too old to be a student. Ava wondered if he was just the chaperone and nothing else. In the waves, his dark hair, slicked back from his forehead, blew around haphazardly in the chilly winds. He had to be at least six feet tall, and with that accent, didn’t seem like he spent time in the U.S. at all.

  “Do you stay at the school?” she blurted.

  He acted as if he hadn’t heard her.

  Alrighty then.

  Together they walked along the deserted shore. A sporadic runner passing in the distance. A lazy red ball in the sky peeking out of the clouds. The promise of a beautiful day—too bad she was going to miss it.

  A little ahead, she could make out a lineup of whitewashed boats tottering on the water. Their destination? How many others were coming on the trip with her?

  When they got to the boat, she climbed up first, dragging her bag behind her. Then she stood to wait for Paul.

  “You packed as if you’re staying away for years. Isn’t this a bit much?” he teased.

  “What?” She tilted her head to the side. “I like to be prepared. Sue me.”

  “Yeah, seems like it.” He heaved the last bag up to the deck and climbed in after her.

  Ava looked around, confused. “Um, where are the others?”

  He just snorted. Why wouldn’t he answer her questions? When he started the engine, it coughed and came to life. Ava sat back on the bench, ready for an unknown adventure.

  3

  They rode the winds for at least thirty minutes before Paul switched off the engine. Ava looked around, searching for the next step. How the heck were they supposed to get through this portal?

  The boat rocked softly in the electric-blue waters. To make it even more awkward, Paul was sitting there, well, actually reclining, on the bench opposite her, calmly picking his nose.

  So gross.

  “Um, what are we waiting for?" she asked, unable to sit still a second longer. She pushed her hair out of her eyes to give her hands something to do. She was that anxious.

  The wind whistled even louder in her ears. Paul smiled again, and scrunched his left sleeve up, revealing a Rolex. "Should be here in five… Four… Three… Two…"

  Ava's head swung to the right—a humming sound was coming from that direction.

  The waters roiled and danced around menacingly. Whatever made the noise was coming straight for them. Terror surged through her, and she gripped her seat with both hands. "Paul," she screamed. "We gotta move!"

  "Yes, we most certainly do. No kidding." He jumped to his feet.

  "Whoa…" Ava's eyes got even bigger. "Oh my God!" The boat tottered dangerously from side to side. The only thing Ava could imagine doing was holding on for dear life. Was this supposed to be happening? The brochure had mentioned nothing about this horror!

  Paul still seemed as calm as could be. "Grab your bag," he said to her over his shoulder as he grasped the two bigger bags, leaving her with only the smaller one to haul on her own.

  The boat rocked faster. Ava sat right where she was because standing would mean falling in the water. She didn't trust her balance at all.

  Just as fast as it had crept up on them, the humming suddenly ceased. "Okay, let's go now." Paul stepped over the bench and walked around her.

  Not willing to stand up, Ava looked ahead, squinting her eyes for the source of the humming, then looked behind her. She didn't have to look far because the monstrosity was now right in front of her, less than ten feet from the boat she was currently sitting in.

  She saw a transparent hole in the water, or maybe translucent was a better word—a rounded, deep black abyss. Kind of how she always pictured the Bermuda Triangle. "We're not supposed to step into that, are we?"

  "That we are, Mate. That we are." Amusement was apparent in his voice. "Throw your bags in first. You don't want them to land on top of you, now do you?"

  She glared at him suspiciously as she whipped her hair back and then tossed her suitcase into the gaping hole. Wanting to appear as comfortable with everything as possible wasn't working for her. She was far from comfortable, and she knew it showed.

  The abyss immediately swallowed her bags up. Paul promptly threw the remaining bags after them, then said, "Go, go, go! Don't take all day to think about it."

  Doing as he said, she didn't take any time to process. She just threw herself over the edge, leaping into the air, and clumsily tumbling into the hole. She fought the urge to scream like a scared child the whole way down.

  As she fell, all she could think about was how much her landing was going to hurt. How she hoped it would be a soft surface. But, to her surprise, she landed perfectly, feet first, on a concrete floor. She flailed her arms helplessly as she did so, but she still didn't fall over. She kept reaching for anything to hold her upright, but there was nothing nearby. Eventually, she realized she could stop struggling because she was perfectly fine.

  "It's about time," a female voice grumbled from nearby.

  "Certainly took her sweet time getting here," mumbled another voice, this one male.

  Finally, looking at her surroundings, Ava realized she was in some sort of hallway. The hallway seemed endless to her, with white light streaming from top to bottom. There were tiny dots all over the hall at one end. As she squinted, Ava realized those tiny dots were actually other students. There were three other students standing close to her. She assumed they were other Americans who had come through the portal with her. Somehow.

  Immediately to her right was a girl with gorgeous hair, a shocking pink color and cut short to her jawline. The girl wore a short, animal-pr
inted skirt and a billowing plaid shirt completed with black combat boots. Next to her was a guy wearing a parka and jeans. The parka seemed out of place. Ava couldn't guess what he was wearing under his parka, but she could see wheat-colored hair peeking out around his face from under the hood.

  The other boy had dark skin, huge-framed glasses sitting on his rounded nose, and his lower lip was outrageously red. But his upper lip was totally black. What an interesting makeup job. Okay then.

  She was about to approach the girl with the pink hair when Paul dropped beside her, and she snapped her mouth shut.

  "Okay, everyone ready to go?" Paul looked around at the four students.

  "Finally," the pink-haired girl griped.

  "Stop complaining, Michaela." Paul rolled his eyes. "Not all of you live right next to the beach, remember?" He turned his attention back to Ava. "Oh, Ava, this is David,” he said, pointing to the blond guy and then turned and slapped the other guy on the back. "And this is Zeke. You're all from the Miami branch, obviously."

  Obviously? Was that really supposed to be obvious? Because it totally wasn't—at least not to her.

  Without waiting for a response, Paul continued down the hall, clearly expecting them to follow. When they didn't, he called over his shoulder, "Come on, the others are waiting!"

  Ava looked over at the guy called Zeke. He shrugged, picked up his bag, and went after Paul. The others followed suit, so Ava figured she should, too.

  "Where are we going?" Ava asked the pink-haired girl—Michaela.

  "This must be your first year." Michaela turned her pert nose up. "Explains all the bags."

  Okay, so even though her clothes and hair made this girl look fun and cool, she obviously wasn't exceptionally nice. Noted.

  Ava kept quiet. She was going to get answers soon, anyway. All she knew was they were underwater now, and that was definitely why the long hallway had no windows—just all the crazy wobbling lights.

  As they approached the end, Ava heard voices rising in the distance. They kept getting louder as they got closer. They were coming from all sides. Now Ava could see a sea of students. And she realized Michaela's hair was actually pretty normal around here. Many of the students sported green, yellow, bright red, purple, and even rainbow hair. Ava suddenly felt out of place with her stupid normal brown hair.

  It turned out the humming she’d heard came from a submerged ship. How was that possible? They weren’t excessively far below sea level, and she had only been staring out at the ocean for maybe ten minutes when Paul's voice had announced the ship was ready to go.

  Ava looked at the submerged ship again and couldn't help her lips parting. She didn't quite allow her jaw to drop exactly, but her mouth was definitely hanging open somewhat. The ship was not a submarine, just a literally submerged ship. It looked exactly like a typical cruise ship she would take above the water, but it was somehow down here…under the water. She closed her eyes and shook her head. There was no time to try to figure out all the magic being used here.

  Following Paul, and the other new students, to the registration desk, Ava edged through the throngs of yelling teenagers, all impatient to get on with their lives.

  If only she had such zeal jumping through the portal; maybe she wouldn't have tumbled through it like a baby bird who wasn't ready to leave the nest. Ava cringed at the memory of her own actions.

  "Your application ticket, please." A snout-nosed man was staring at her intently from the other side of the registration desk. When she looked up at him, she accidentally let out a bark of astonishment. He had hairy dog ears protruding from the sides of his head. His face was red, probably from repeating the same instructions to all the clueless students.

  "Oh, yes." Ava tried to get her bearings again. "Here you go." She handed him her scroll; it was still wrapped in the ribbon and everything. She tried not to stare too fixedly at the hair sticking from his ears and snout. It was more than a little weird to her.

  "Shifting gone wrong." A male voice from behind her startled her out of her thoughts. Her head jerked back. It was a boy, probably about her age, and perhaps the prettiest boy she'd seen in all her life. But that was beside the point.

  Pretty, yes, the only word she could think of to describe him. But still not in an unmasculine way. He sported muscular, hulking shoulders, and he was tall. At least six feet. She had to lean her head back to look at him, and she wasn't short.

  He was Indian—or at least that would've been her best guess—and gorgeous. But instead of rich black hair one would expect on a handsome Indian boy, his hair was the color of snow. And his catlike eyes could penetrate her soul. They were dark green with gold flecks within them. His sun-kissed skin was a beautiful brown color, and he spoke with a thick accent Ava couldn’t quite place.

  Ava's eyes zipped up and down his body as he looked back at her. Wait, he had said something, right? What did he say to her again...?

  "I said, you can board," the dog-eared man interrupted, pulling her from her semi-trance. She snatched the tickets and her acceptance letter back from his hairy fingers and rushed to the boarding plank, her face burning. That beautiful boy was the kind of guy she usually avoided. Way too attractive to be talking to her, especially now that she was at the bottom of the food chain at this new school. Hopefully, she wouldn't have to talk to him again…ever.

  Paul had taken care of her luggage, promising to have it waiting at the school. It made her stomach drop a little to release her bags, wondering if they would make it to her destination. But seeing as how all the other students had done the same, she had let it go.

  Besides, her mother had told her it wouldn't take too long to reach the school once she made it through the portal. Many good things allegedly awaited her. This should be the best time of her life, starting now. So why did it feel like the worst? Using her arms to balance her weight on the railings, she relaxed against them and let the cold air wash over her, calming her racing nerves and burning face.

  The ship was even bigger up close. The deck was packed with people, music she couldn't recognize blared from the speakers, and the lights were bright. Excited voices chattered all around her. It was hard not to be overwhelmed by it all. People kept pushing and shoving her out of the way as they moved around her. Whether they were doing it on purpose, she couldn't tell. As she made her way to the main deck, a muffled sound behind her drew her attention. Someone was crying.

  As she got closer to the sound, she realized it was a young girl. What was a young girl doing on this ship? Maybe she was someone's little sibling? Or a teacher’s child.

  "Why are you crying?" she whispered, close to the girl's ears.

  The girl stifled another cry and stared up at Ava with bleary eyes. "I miss my daddy!" she wailed, scrunching up her little face. She couldn't have been over ten years old. Why was she here? Surely the school didn't accept students that young.

  "I know, it'll be okay. You'll be home soon."

  But the girl just wailed louder. Currently, no one was paying them any attention, which Ava hoped would continue until she could get the girl a little calmer, because she was making quite the embarrassing racket.

  She also didn't want to have to explain to anyone why this child was crying in front of her. Just what Ava needed was for everyone to think she was the one making her cry.

  The girl continued to look around, rocking from side to side. Ava followed her gaze. At the corners of the ship, several other young girls and boys folded into tight groups. Many of them were also crying. Okay, so maybe this was normal. At least no one would accuse her of child abuse. That was good. But she still felt the need to distract this little girl.

  "What's your name?" she asked her.

  "Priya," the girl mumbled with a distinct English accent as she wiped the snot from her already reddened nose.

  "Priya. That's such a pretty name. Where's your daddy now?"

  "Over there." The girl pointed down at the throngs of people clustered around the registration count
ers.

  "Okay, you can see him, that's good. Is he coming on the ship with us?"

  "Sure, I can see him," the girl responded. "But he's not coming on the ship. So that doesn't help me very much." She sniffled a little more. "He had to get me all registered for my classes." Then the girl's hand flashed across her face and, a second later, Ava was looking at a beautiful bird's wing. Yellow, like a canary.

  After another moment, the girl tucked her wing away and flexed her now-human fingers. She explained, "My daddy taught me that trick." She looked proud for a moment, but her expression crumpled once again. "He could've taught me everything I need to know! So why do I have to go to the stupid school, anyway?"

  Silently, Ava agreed with her. It was strange to see someone so young at this elite school Ava had previously thought was only for students aged sixteen and above. She was also inwardly jealous this girl had a father who was willing to not only be part of her shifter life, but teach her all these cool things about shifting. Heck, it must be nice to have a father at all!

  "Don't say that. You'll see when you get there it'll be a ton of fun, making lots of friends, learning how to master your powers, and I'm sure they will teach you a bunch of cool stuff. You’re gonna love it."

  "I will?" The girl raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

  With her heart pounding ‘liar,’ Ava nodded emphatically.

  "That's what my daddy says, too, but I think he just wants to get rid of me." The girl burst into tears all over again.

  "Oh, of course not," Ava tried to reassure her nervously. Then, looking back at the father waving from the registration counter, she could see the concern in his eyes. "Now look, he's worried for you!" She directed Priya's gaze toward her concerned father. "He can tell how sad you are. Can you give him a smile so he can see you're being brave?"

  Priya looked up. “They won’t even like me; I’m just a canary bird.” She made a small C with her thumb and forefinger. “A really tiny canary bird. No one would want to make friends with me.”