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...
Lily found the room easier than she'd expected. She followed the flow of students from the dining hall, and down to the third floor. She was glad that no one bumped into her in the halls. She thought about the conversation she had in the car with the other females from the pack, and wondered if the rumors of this being 'the mating school' were true.
Her class was in N311, which she soon found out referred to the 311th room in the north wing. She looked out the windows as she walked down the hall. It was a crystal blue day, and the sunlight sparkled off the lake. The ground around was covered in a white blanket of snow.
Room N307 was the nearest room. Room N309...
The room was not what she'd expected. It was warm. warmer than the rest of the school, and the hallway outside. The floor was covered in a soft moss. There were trees inside it also. If not for the distant beige walls of the room, and wall sconce lights, Lily would have thought she was outside.
About twelve students had already arrived. Some stood near a wall, and a couple sat on small boulders around the space. A few leaned against one of the nearby trees. One, Lily knew, was the Lycan from last night. His aura would be hard to miss. And yet, it was different from last night. Subdued somehow... What would cause such a change?
The teacher, Mrs. Bernette, arrived shortly after.
"Gather round please," she said, bending down to open a box at her feet. "When I call your name, please come get your class marker."
Lily was expecting the class marker to be some kind of pen, but when the first student received theirs, it looked like a deep orange silk scarf. The next student, Irene Nettles, received one that was more of a washed-out orange.
One by one other students went up as they were called. Most received some shade of orange, but a few got yellows, and one got green. Lily couldn't help but wonder what the colors signified.
There were only a few students left to be called when Lily noticed there were only three other females in the class. Lily thought again about how there must have been some kind of mistake with her classes. Would she even be called at all?
"Ryan Nelson," called the teacher, and the Lycan moved to the front of the forest room to receive a solid black marker.
"Lily Ikenna."
Lily's legs felt leaden as she moved to where the teacher stood. There was a moment as she walked up, and Ryan walked back that their eyes met.
It was as if time stood still and all things fell away until there were only his dark eyes, and sharp brow and Lily seemed to feel a thousand things at once. For a moment, she felt drawn to him.
But then they passed, and it was like nothing happened. Lily resisted the urge to look back at him. She was almost to the teacher now, who was holding out a red class marker.
As she walked back, she noticed that other students had tied it around their waist like a belt. Some wore it like a scarf though. She went to do the same. Mostly because it gave her something to do. She felt on edge after her experience passing by the Lycan
The rest of the class passed by smoothly. The teacher instructed them on meditation techniques, and they were given twenty-minute intervals to practice each.
Lily had a hard time focusing on meditation though. She kept having a tingling feeling in the back of her neck that made her think that Ryan was looking at her. She wouldn't let herself turn to look though.
She couldn't help but put up a kind of mental shield. As if to protect her mind. And it didn't seem like she could do that in addition to meditating.
The lunch bell couldn't have come soon enough. And when it did, Lily attempted to make a fast escape.
Unfortunately, the girl Lily recognized as Irene from when she was called to the front, got in her way.
Irene plowed her shoulder into Lily. "Back off whore," Irene in a hiss of a whisper. "I won't tell you twice."
And before Lily could say anything, or ask for clarification Irene pushed past her and out the door.
"Great," said Lily to herself. "One class and I already have an enemy."
The class marker didn't help Lily with her goals of camouflage. She still didn't know what the colors meant, but by the reactions of others, who seemed to avoid her now, a red marker seemed like little more than a curse that made her stick out like a giant pumpkin in a flock of geese.
'Just my luck,' she thought to herself, making her way back up the stairs and towards the dining hall. She hoped that Anne would be at lunch. Maybe she could help her understand what went wrong because rhyme and reason were eluding her.
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