Beware the Violet

by Maria Vermisoglou

  “Oklealia Academy is known to draw shapeshifters.”

  My jaw dropped. “But…is it a supernatural academy? Was I invited on purpose?” Biting the inside of my cheek, I thought of the new reality, but I couldn’t fathom the idea of a supernatural academy.

  “No, the academy is for humans, but it draws a lot of shapeshifters. I don’t know if you were invited on purpose. I hope not. It’s a dangerous place.”

  “But shapeshifters are good,” I said, unable to understand why he was so worried.

  “You haven’t met shapeshifters outside the Blessed Realm. They are not very different from wild animals, but they are stronger and more uncontrollable.” He shook his head. “You already met one. Imagine a school packed with them, running on their basest desires.”

  “Why didn’t Kristy tell me?” I said, the new reality clawing its way into my mind.

  “She wouldn’t know. Even if you asked a shapeshifter in the Blessed Realm, they wouldn’t know. I traveled a lot before ending up there and I met a few crazy shapeshifters who kindly shared the knowledge with me.” He rolled his eyes.

  “It’s too late now, isn’t it?”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, taking my hands and leaving a kiss. Wrapping his arms around me, I placed my head on his shoulder. I took some calming breaths as he threaded his fingers through my hair. His touch calmed my racing heart, and I drew a sharp breath, his smell enveloping me like a blanket.

  “Tell me about the academy,” I managed, and he kissed my forehead.

  “Later.” He placed another kiss on the cheek and then another on my neck. “You’re too shaken up for that now and we have time.” Smiling, he kissed me on my lips, setting me on fire. His wild kisses continued intensely as he laid me on the seat. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him closer.

  “Someone might come in,” I said when I stopped to take a breath.

  “I doubt it,” he said and any doubts I had were drowned in his wild embraces.

  ◆◆◆

  Throughout the trip, we talked about nothing and everything but I also pressed him to share information on the academy. As reluctant as he was at first, he knew I needed every bit of information I could gather on the subject so, in the end, he told me what he knew. When he noticed my tension, he would hug me and an endless wave of kisses would consume us.

  “So, this academy is for humans, but it draws shapeshifters, but we don’t know the reasons. They are crazy, dangerous and powerful, right?” I said, summing up what he said and Jacques nodded.

  “Pretty much, but I doubt they would harm humans for anything. Unless they suspect someone is not entirely human. Then, it might get complicated,” he said, looking at me deeply in the eyes.

  “So, I’ve got to act like a human. It can’t be difficult since I’ve grown up living among them.” I rolled my eyes, but he didn’t smile.

  His brow creased. “It’s serious. Now is more likely than before to use your powers, even involuntarily. Your powers have awakened and even with all the training, they can still be activated by your emotions.” Looking at me, deep in my eyes, I knew what he meant.

  “I’ll be careful,” I promised. “Do they study too or they are just living there?”

  “I don’t know, since a lot of the information about the academy is unknown but generally speaking, shapeshifters hang out with their own and not in prominent places so it’s possible they could be in the academy and you might not even meet them.” He bit his lip. “Hopefully.”

  “What about you? What are you going to do?” I said, suddenly panicking.

  “I…”

  The train’s whistle sounded as it abruptly halted its course. Before I could fully understand what was going on, a loud voice from the loudspeaker filled my eardrums.

  “Attention! Passengers heading to Oklealia Academy must disembark now. Passengers heading to Oklealia Academy must disembark now!”

  “What—?” Disoriented, I looked outside of the window but couldn’t recognize the place as I had never been before. I thought the train wasn’t set to arrive until early afternoon and it was barely noon.

  “Violet,” Jacques’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, “It’s going to be okay.”

  “I thought…”

  “I know.” He clasped my hands and looked at me deeply in the eyes. “But we have to get off of the train now. Okay?”

  I nodded and getting up, I tried to separate my clouded thoughts as I took hold of my bag. “What are you going to do?”

  “Maybe I can—”

  The door opened with a shearing noise and Jacques turned into a rabbit and sitting on the seat, he twisted his nose in a very rabbit way.

  “Miss, the train will be leaving soon. It’s best you left now,” the conductor said and before I could ask, he left.

  I wondered if he was sent to me especially but getting outside the coach, I heard him speaking with other students. When I was in the hallway, I took my luggage and turned to Jacques and sighed as I knew he would not like what I was about to do.

  “I know you don’t like it, but please, come inside the bag?” I said, and he looked at me with a disbelieving look. “Without complains?” I pleaded.

  Jacques blinked and slowly dragged his feet into the bag. Once in, he cast me a look, and I blushed.

  “Sorry, but it will be strange if I have a rabbit on my shoulder. They are not tame animals.” He patted his foot on the bag impatiently. “Okay, okay, I’ll hurry up, but I don’t know the way. I’ll do my best.”

  Chapter 2: Shift for Me, Darling!

  When I disembarked, I tried not to get lost in the sea of students who were going in every direction possible.

  Standing near a pole, I waited and when the chaos ceased, took a deep breath and dragged my luggage to where a sign with Oklealia Academy was.

  At a crossroads, I stopped and after some consideration; I walked right, but I felt something nibbling my fingers. Annoyed, I turned to look at Jacques, who had emerged from my bag. His ears had turned at a strange angle, pointing at the left side of the road.

  “Left?” He nodded, and I frowned. “How do you know that?” Grinding his teeth resulted in giving him a blank stare. “Fine, but you will tell me later,” I said, and he stuck his tongue out before disappearing into the bag’s depths.

  While no place could compete with the Blessed Realm, the Oklealia Academy was beautiful. A small white building with blue framed windows was what we had for our lessons, but it more than made up for it with the vast gardens and if that wasn’t enough, a massive forest spread next to the academy, giving the whole campus a mysterious feel.

  “That’s nice,” I muttered as I walked on the path of paved stones with my luggage.

  “Freshman?” the lady at the entrance said, and I nodded. When she found my name on the list, she gave me a giddy smile. “You’ve got the best view! Third floor, number thirteen.”

  “Thank you,” I said and following her instructions, I arrived in the hallway where the sign on the elevator informed us it was broken.

  “Lovely.” I sighed and prepared to face the countless stairs with my luggage but I saw something white jump out of my bag.

  “I think I can take it from here,” Jacques said and took my luggage.

  “Do you think it’s safe?” I said, concerned.

  “For now. There are only humans in the building.”

  “Thank you.” Giving him a grateful smile, I said, “How did you know it was on the left?”

  He laughed as we walked up to the stairs. “Sometimes, you have to use your senses, mademoiselle. Have you not considered using your powers in order to track places yet?” My eyes widened. “Shapeshifters are more perceptible in finding any kind of energy but you should be able to do it, too.”

  “I didn’t think about it.”

  “You’ve got to think like a supernatural now, not like a human.” He winked and put the luggage on the floor as we searched for my room. “That is a strange floor.”

&
nbsp; Indeed, it was since everything was painted in somber colors and the only sign of light was from the sun outside, breaking the muddy floor. Even the wall lamps were shining a dim light that couldn’t light even a portion of the room. When we found the room with number thirteen in red paint, I reached the knob with a trembled hand. Jacques put his hand on top of mine and turned it where a surprise awaited us.

  “Wow!” I breathed, drinking in every inch of the room. “That is amazing,” I exclaimed.

  “Never judge a book by its cover, mademoiselle. Come on in,” Jacques said and I followed him as I stared at the room.

  As awful as the floor was outside, the inside was a feast to the eyes. Painted blue with marine paintings hanging on the wall, I felt like I was on a boat. It was a fully equipped house and I would share everything with my roommate except the bedroom. The sunlight was pouring from every window, making the bedsheets seem silver and for the first time since I arrived, I smiled.

  “It’s wonderful,” I said when I found my breath.

  “Mhm…” Jacques deposited my luggage next to the bed near the window and wrapped me into a hug. Feeling being raised from the ground, I let out a cry.

  “Someone might see us.” I laughed as he placed me on the bed and lay next to me.

  “We have some time until then.” He smiled and kissed me, setting me on fire. I tried to think rationally, but his wild embrace took me away, clouding my head and I gladly gave up. Anything was better than to think about what awaited me. The gentle kissing turned into something more and I was disappointed when he pulled away.

  “Damn! We have to find another place because you’re going to think I’m doing it on purpose,” he said before shifting into a rabbit.

  “An explanation would be a lot nicer,” I said, but then I heard the front door open and sprang into action. “Sorry.” I put him inside my bag again and opened the wardrobe pretending to examine it.

  “Hello! You must be my roommate. My name is Lena.”

  I pulled my gaze from the wardrobe and when I looked at the girl standing at my door, I tried hard not to stare. She was strikingly beautiful with her blue eyes and golden hair, braided in a ponytail.

  “Hello, my name is Violet,” I said and walked to shake her hand.

  “That’s so nice to meet you. Where are you coming from? I am from Canada.” She laughed. “I know, pretty far away but—“

  As beautiful as she was, she talked way too much for my liking. “That’s great! How come you applied to the academy?” I decided to cut her off or I was going to hear every boring detail of her life.

  “Oh, but I didn’t and I assume you didn’t either, right?” Reluctantly, I nodded and she lowered her voice, “Well, get this: I spoke to some of the freshmen and none of them did either. Strange, right? But the Academy has a great reputation, so I decided to accept and just see what happens.”

  “I see.” My mind went a mile a minute as I tried to fit the new information into what I already knew, but with so many pieces missing, I couldn’t find the right place to put them.

  Our door swung open and two boys showed up who were definitely not freshmen. “Hello there,” one of them said and while I observed them, I noticed their auras were nowhere to be found. One was short with a silly grin plastered on his face, while the other had a serious demeanor and seemed to be in charge of this place.

  “We’re here to see if you are settled in all right,” the boy with the serious expression said and I frowned.

  “Don’t you have doors?” I said, trying to find a way to verify what I already knew.

  “Sorry, miss, but since the door was already open, we didn’t feel the need to knock.”

  “Plus, we’re all friends here,” his friend with the silly grin added.

  “We’re settled all right. No need to worry,” Lena said in a sweet tone and the boys nodded.

  “Very well, we’ll leave you to it,” the boy with the serious expression said, and they left without closing the door.

  “It’s no big deal, we’re in uni after all,” Lena said, shutting the door.

  “They could have knocked. We don’t know them, and I for one would like to know who they were. Rudeness at its best.”

  She laughed and shrugged. “It’s not going to be hard to find out since we’re all living under the same roof, but I suggest you don’t make enemies on your first day, ya?” She winked and left, closing my bedroom door.

  Running my fingers through my hair, I sighed. “Enemies, huh? There’s plenty of time for that,” I muttered as I looked through my bag. “Jacques? They’re gone. I think it’s safe now.” I waited for him to jump out of the bag and shift, but when that didn’t happen, I pulled him out and sat him on the bed. “I’m sure it’s safe, come on.” The rabbit didn’t look at me, but twisted its nose, grinding its teeth.

  Peering into its eyes, I fell down. The rabbit didn’t respond to my inquiries because it was a regular rabbit and not Jacques. It was white furred but this was where the similarities ended. Its brown eyes looked around the room and it seemed afraid to be in an unknown place.

  What on earth? Where is Jacques? I looked inside my bag again but couldn’t find another rabbit so I reluctantly called his name. “Jacques?” When the wind took my words away without response, I started panicking and frantically, turned the room upside down without any luck.

  Exhausted from the events of the day and with fear biting my insides, I called one last time with tears drowning my voice, “Where are you, Jacques?”

  A silver light appeared around the white rabbit as it took the shape of a human and my mouth dropped. Jumping from my seat, I yelled, “Why didn’t you turn sooner? You made me worry for no reason!”

  Jacques looked at me, but his gaze was hazy.

  “Jacques?”

  Looking at me with a disoriented look, he said, “Who are you?”

  “That’s not funny!”

  “I’m not sure I understand you, young lady. Can you tell me where am I?”

  Fear grabbed me once again with its vicious teeth, sinking into my skin as I looked at him. “You don’t…” I swallowed. “You don’t know? Don’t you know who you are?”

  He frowned and then shook his head. “I’m afraid not. My memory is hazy. I can’t remember who I am, who you are, or how I even got here.” He shrugged apologetically. “I’m sorry. Can you help me?”

  When he uttered his last word, I crumbled. Tears flooded my eyes and trying to subdue them made the flood run with even more strength. Whispering his name, I shuddered as I couldn’t find an explanation on how anything happened. I only knew I had lost him since he couldn’t recognize me.

  A silver light drew my attention and looking down, I placed it to my grandmother’s necklace. I took it in my hand and noticed my tears had disturbed its surface. Rubbing it clean, the necklace shot a ray that ended in his heart and I watched as he rubbed his eyes and looked at me, his gaze no longer hazy but certain.

  “Violet? What’s wrong?” he said, his blue eyes concerned.

  “You remember me?” I whispered as he wrapped me into his warm hug.

  “Of course, I do. I could never forget you.” He swiped away my tears with his thumb and I held him tightly, hoping the previous moment was just a figment of my imagination. Pulling away, he looked at me with the look he reserved only for me. “What happened? For some reason, I can’t remember.” A deep frown crossed his features and biting my lip, I slowly told him.

  “Well, my roommate entered and while we were talking, two boys rudely entered without knocking. It seems they are in charge of the arrivals or something. Anyway, when everyone was gone, I told you it was safe and when I didn’t get a response, I pulled you out, but there was a real rabbit in the bag. I mean, it didn’t respond and it had brown eyes.” Jacques’ eyes widened, but he let me continue without interrupting. “I…eh…searched the room, thinking I got the wrong rabbit and finally, a silver light appeared and you shifted back but you couldn’t remember me or who
you were.” I swallowed and took a deep breath. “When the necklace was wet from my tears, you recovered your memory. Why?”

  “Son of a rabbit!” he muttered as he placed my head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, my Violet.” He passed his fingers through my hair, calming my frantically beating heart. “Did you notice anything unusual about the two boys?”

  Sitting on the bed, I felt content with his hand holding mine. Thinking back, I shook my head. “Not particularly. The only thing it struck me as odd was they didn’t have auras. Well, I couldn’t see them, it was like they were invisible. It hasn’t happened before.”

  “Can you see mine?” he said and I opened my mouth to respond when I noticed I couldn’t see his either.

  “Shapeshifters?”

  A frown creased his forehead as he said, “Yes. Shapeshifters don’t have auras because we belong in two worlds at the same time and we are alive. Some might argue that lots of creatures are in the same situation, but…” He shrugged. “Shapeshifters are human and at the same time are not. We are also animals, but not completely and that is why we don’t have visible auras.” He rubbed his head and I noticed his eyes saddened. “I am sorry, but I had to do this. I gave complete control to the rabbit so they’d think you had a real rabbit and not a shapeshifter. They would give you real trouble if they knew you were affiliated with a shapeshifter.”

  “Okay,” I said slowly while trying to fathom the fact the two boys were actually shapeshifters. From what I remembered shapeshifters were the hardest supernatural to recognize because they didn’t have any visible attributes. “But why didn’t you shift immediately after?”

  “Because I gave the control to my rabbit so I became a real rabbit.” I shook my head clueless. “I shift from rabbit to human, but retain my soul and my memories because I’m the one in control. When in rabbit form, I remember the Blessed Real but when I gave the control to my rabbit, I became it. Memories, habits, and soul were the rabbit’s so there was nothing of my human life that I retained.”

  My jaw dropped. “But why?”

  “Shapeshifters can only detect others of their kin when they’re in their shapeshifter’s form, that is when our soul is alive so to speak. When we give complete control to our animal, it’s just an animal. It’s a defense mechanism but I avoid using it for obvious reasons. Last time, it took me five months to shift back.” He sighed. “Fortunately, this time you called me to wake up.” He gave me a small smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you this might happen.”