An original and empowering shapeshifter/werewolf mystery.
Lily's abusive life with her childhood pack is about to change forever when she's assigned to attend Rochester Academy; A boarding school rumored to be for unmated shifters.
What does this...
Practice and focus on something enough and it starts to seem like it's no longer a question of if it'll happen, but rather when. Hope for the desired change isn't some elusive and flighty emotion, but instead, it becomes a solid landmark in day-to-day life.
That's how thoughts of shifting had become for Lily. She'd expected to shift for the first time during some independent morning study session... She had thought it would happen in a private practice room, or maybe in her dorm in the evening before bed...
Instead, her first shift started on her way to General Agility class. There was pain in her stomach and a feeling of lightheadedness and vertigo. There was a sense of panic also. Not entirely knowing what was happening. It all started so suddenly.
She'd been exploring the forested area on the fourth-floor courtyard. She'd taken up a habit of walking after lunch. It seemed that hour was her only free time in her day. The walks allowed her an outlet for stress.
When she was out exploring, she felt at peace. She felt like herself again. Who she had been before she became an orphan, and made to carry the low ranking, and endure the sadness, and lack of respect that accompanied it.
She felt worlds away from the school and the challenge and hardship that accompanied it.
Spring had taken root, and yet her efforts resulted in underwhelming progress in Lily's mind. It didn't matter to her that she was essentially human running in a shifter's race. It mattered that the opportunity was there for her. One of the few opportunities that had been granted to her thus far in her life.
She was glad Anne wasn't there when the first shift started. She wasn't sure why... just that it seemed like a private thing. A potentially embarrassing thing. She was a long way from the forest, in the open, grassy space between where the class would start, and the open seating area where students sometimes hung out during breaks, or after class.
She couldn't be sure if it was lucky that there were only about fifteen students in the area or it if was unlucky that it didn't happen when she was in a private practice or study room, or even in her dorm room... Especially when so much of her time was spent in those places.
She turned to return to the forest that she'd come from, but it was too far away. The pain in her stomach intensified. She sat down. It wasn't like she fell to her knees, but rather.. intentionally sat down on the grass.. as if she was going to stop there and eat a granola bar or something. Maybe this way.. maybe this way others wouldn't notice anything is wrong.
Maybe she'd turn into a rat.. something so small that no one would even notice...
'Maybe not,' said the voice in her mind.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Lily wasn't sure what happened. She might have blacked out, she was laying down in the grass now though. She rolled to her side and vomited. Her vision blurred.
There were some shouts from a distance off.
'Maybe someone else passed out and collapsed and made a big scene,' Lily thought, a bit desperately. She imagined them yelling and rushing towards someone else allowing her to be alone and more comfortable. And in the private space of her mind, she could be.
She'd always heard that the first shift was painful. Sharp, agonizing pain in the bones, and muscles as they twisted and realigned in the new form... but it wasn't like that.
It was entirely different.
She felt like she was floating in a vast, still lake. A lake full of clear, warm, comfortable water that seemed to seep through her skin, and muscles to warm the coldness in her bones. The warmth seemed to ease the transformation somehow.
Lily couldn't be sure how long it took... but it didn't seem to matter here in this lake of serenity. She could feel her body changing.. but it wasn't like one arm first and then one leg, but instead everything shifted in such a slight way... like sand falling from the top of an hourglass to change the mound of sand that was below.
Her muscles move of their own accord. Like a twitch, but smooth, and more constant, like the feeling one might get placing their hand on the polished wood of a cello as a low, calming, steady note was played. As if the frequency vibrated through her muscles, then deep in her bones. Her whole body seemed the hum with the radiant energy and power of it. Her very being seemed to shift in ways she never could have imagined.
She couldn't be sure what would come of it, but it didn't seem to matter. All that mattered was the moment and the feeling. All that mattered was the energy and sheer power of her transformation.
Through bleary eyes, she could see a small crowd of students had gathered around her. She could sense them in the space around her. Their whispering knitted through the air and seemed to hover over the space like a thick blanket.
And yet them being there didn't matter. Only hours ago, she would have felt bothered by it. But now in this new form with this new awareness, the students and their gossiping might have been a world away.
For Lily, all there was, was sensation, freedom, and a radiant sense of power. And it was incredible.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A bonus chapter will be published tomorrow! Huge thank you for reading, commenting, voting, and sharing! Your responses to this story have been amazing 🧡
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
