Shapeshifter Academy

Chapter twenty one: No Control

Chapter twenty one: No Control

It’s funny really how information persuades the mind. Here I was unresponsive as I watched my three group members all climb carefully through the opening of the window.

“C’mon Chelsea!” Sawyer waved his arm from the inside at me.

I sighed and gave in. I carefully slid through the just big enough slit of open space that the open window provided. I finally managed to end up inside the cabin after a few couple of minutes.

The cottage smelled of old wood and a faint aroma of pine needles wafted through the air. The overall scent and interior of the place would of deemed cozy, if not for the violent paintings that were so casually hung on the walls. One painting contained a peaceful green hill with an abundance of yellow flowers that were sprinkled generously around. It would’ve been beautiful, though the daunting image of a man with beady red eyes was shown stabbing the heart of a lion. The whole top of the hill in fact was littered with thousands of limp bodies of various creatures.

“They really need to work on better décor.” Rose scrunched her nose up in obvious disgust at another painting that contained another gory image.

“Agreed.” Aaron murmured.

“So here’s the plan.” Chris whispered.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Hey Mr. Commando?”  She rose her hand up like a student. “How about we just quietly sneak around until we find something?”

Chris scowled at her. “Fine then.”

She gave him a quick smile then whirled around facing the door. “Follow me peeps!”

A feeling of uneasiness wiggled through me as I remembered the last time I followed Rose through the school in the dark. We had gotten lost in a matter of seconds with her talented sense of direction.

“How about we let Aaron or Chris lead?” I suggested meekly.

Rose let out an irritable sigh but nonetheless complied.  Aaron stepped forward to claim his position as our guider.

“This way fellas!” He whisper yelled to us all.

Slowly but surely, we all moved forward. I soaked up everything that was on the walls. Painting after painting was shown, but they oddly grew more depressing as we neared the end of the hall. By the time we were at the end of the hall, the paintings all had an air of misery that just left a cold feeling implanted inside of me. I glanced at the pitying picture of a woman who was left on the ground with the usual red eyes that I assumed that all-shifters contained. Men looked over at her with guns and swords pointed at her head. Any logical person would’ve guessed the woman’s fate.

“Stop!” Aaron quietly commanded us all.

We all froze and held our breaths. My hearing picked up on the sounds of several footsteps that were slowly coming closer to the hall we were in.

“We’re gonna get caught!” Sawyer worriedly glanced around him.

There was nothing in the hall, save for the endless rows of paintings on the wooden walls. Sawyer and all of us were trapped in the cramped wooden hall for now.

“Run back to the room we came in!” Rose exclaimed loudly.

I almost killed her at that moment. “Rose!” I cried. It was no use of being quiet now thanks to the carelessness of Rose.

She sheepishly broke off to an apologetic smile and swiftly made a dash for it. All five of us sprinted behind her. The footsteps we heard earlier were now erratic and they pounded heavily on the floors. The room we came in was steadily coming closer with each step we took. Rose tore through the doors in lightning speed and rushed towards the window. She opened the window completely to make it easier for the rest of us to come out.

“Hurry!” She yelled worriedly.

Aaron and Chris were the first to jump out of the window. I came next with Sawyer just behind my heels. I landed back on the familiar mossy ground and I followed after my friends’ running figures.

“Chelsea!” An earsplitting shriek rang through the trees that made all four of us halt in our running.

I felt my heart drop as I heard Sawyer screech my name. I whipped my body back and ran as fast as I could back to the cottage.

“Chelsea!” Chris hollered back at me. “Chelsea!”

I wasn’t in the mood to talk to Chris. All that mattered was me getting to Sawyer.

“Chelsea!” He tackled me on the ground and we both landed in a big heap on the ground together.

Unimaginable anger coursed through me. I felt aggravated beyond belief. I jumped back up and faced Chris.

“Why did you do that?!” I snapped angrily at him.

“You can’t go back in there Chelsea!” He equally snapped back at me.

“Chris, I don’t know if you noticed or not, but they’ve got Sawyer!”

He ran a hand through his dark brown hair. “You’re not going out of there without a fight.”

“Then we fight!” I insisted.

“It’s not as easy as that Chelsea!” He argued. “These are all-shifters we’re talking about! They’re not like us. They’d kill entire towns and cities in a blink of an eye! All five of us wouldn’t stand a chance against even one!”

His harsh words struck a chord. I was yet reminded of what I was bound to become.

A killer.

I pushed the dark thoughts down and forced myself to look into his eyes. “This is Sawyer Chris. My brother! I don’t care what you say. I’m going after him with or without you.”

“You’re being extremely stupid about this!” He yelled.

That was it. Something broke inside of me and let loose of all the dark thoughts I was keeping. Pain and sadness swirled inside of me, but one emotion was clearer than the rest.

Anger.

I felt anger like I’ve never felt before. It felt surreal almost. As if…I had attained the anger of hundreds of people.

Kill the boy. Kill the boy. Kill the boy.

The haunting chant was repeated over and over again as I slumped on the ground. I felt weak and feeble as I was on all fours on the ground.

“What’s happening to her?” I heard Chris holler.

“I think…she’s shifting.” Rose answered him.

Let me out Master! Let me show you just how strong you can be with my help.

I was losing conciseness gradually. The shifting process was excruciating. I felt every animal inside of me; begging to be let free. They were all having an internal battle to dominate the rest of the animals, and finally dominate me. My bones cracked and rearranged with every second as they all fought for freedom out of me. I let out one last scream before my vision was left completely consumed with a dark red.

Chris’s POV

“You’re being extremely stupid about this!” I yelled out to Chelsea’s retreating figure.

She froze suddenly, and faster than I could blink…she was on the ground.

I felt my breathing become short and labored as I knelt down beside her. She was slumped down on the ground with pain clearly etched on her face.

“What’s happening to her?”

Rose stepped closer and hesitated. “I think…she’s shifting.”

She couldn’t be. No one shifted like this. Her bones continuously cracked and it made me wonder what animal could ever be so complicated that her bones would need to rearrange that much.  My heart stopped though when I met her eyes. Her usual warm brown eyes were gone. It was replaced with a deep bloody red that made my insides shudder.

Rose gasped and faced me. “Is she an…”

I nodded bitterly. “Someone changed her.” I stood up and glanced at the window of the cottage. “Whoever did this will not get past me.” I growled.

“I thought you said we couldn’t go back!”

“This is different.” I pointed out. “They changed her and we’re not leaving until I at least bite one of them in the leg!”

Aaron met my gaze and sighed. “You and your silly little crushes.”

I didn’t reply.

“Rose, watch Chelsea while we’re gone.” I ordered.

Rose nodded and began to soothingly whisper random words to Chelsea.

“Let’s go.” I ran up towards the cottage with Aaron right behind me.

Chelsea’s POV

It was completely bizarre to have absolutely no control over your own body whatsoever. I couldn’t even see what I was doing. The only senses I had were that I felt everything and I could hear everything. I felt myself running away with four paws and my tail wagging from behind me. Almost immediately my form changed and I shifted into a taller animal with hooves instead of paws.

Rose’s distinct shriek reverberated inside of me.

That’s when I knew that I was about to do something bad.

Something very bad.

Chris’ POV

“You changed her!” I punched the first guy I saw square on the face once Aaron and I went inside. I shifted to my wolf and pounced on him fiercely while Aaron was behind me watching my back.

The guy who I had pounced on had a grin on his face. “Wrong move wolf.” His blue eyes flashed into a startling red and he quickly shifted into an identical wolf as mine.

He went for a jab on my left and I easily dodged it. He cleverly changed into a cheetah and went for an impossibly fast jab on my right which I barely backed away from.

“Sawyer!” I hear Aaron yell.

I spared a quick glance to see Aaron struggling to pull Sawyer out of the grasps from two guys. Aaron sighed and shifted to his silver wolf and kicked them harshly with his hind legs. Sawyer ran off and disappeared out of the room.

 Facing back to my opponent, I aimed for the neck to lunge on. He sensed my next move and shifted into a snake in record timing. Out of nowhere, the snake was squashed swiftly with a large hoof. I looked up and my mouth hung open. A broad shouldered black horse stood there with its hoof still firmly planted on the now dead snake. The horse then shifted to a lioness and effectively pounced and bit the necks of the rest of the people in the room. It then looked at us with its beady red eyes and slowly stalked forward.

I was aware of the fresh blood that still was splattered on the teeth of the lioness as it circled us menacingly.

I stayed completely still in my wolf form alongside with Aaron.

Chelsea’s POV

I didn’t like it one bit. I felt myself merciless to my shifted form as it ran off and bit person after person. I couldn’t take it anymore. With my last ounce of strength I willed the animal to stop.

The feeling was indescribable as I internally battled with it to end. Much to my surprise, the animal ended up obeying and my vision returned back to normal slowly. I was barely conscious as I breathed heavily on the floor. I noticed that I was in the cottage, in a room that I had never been to. A gasp was heard followed by many footsteps. I was too tired to look up and see who it was, so I continued to lay on the floor like the rug I was destined to be.

“Maya!” A shrill voice shrieked.

Several gasps and murmurs spread thrpughout the room.

“She’s shifted.” I recognized the voice to be Maya’s. “She has to be locked up now! She can’t control her animals yet!”

Soft voices muttered in agreement and I felt myself being picked up.

“Get the two boys too. They might be useful.”

I heard the voices of Aaron and Chris as they struggled to break free.

“Dad would be proud of me.” Maya coldly laughed.