Wolf-Shifter

The Shapeshifter: Surviving the Secrets Final part

Maddy blinked. "Uh…okay…I guess?"

Jennifer sniffed. "Don't be silly, Spook. She won't be able to see it anyway."

Spook's face fell.

"I won't be able to see it?" Maddy echoed, blinking and guessing she must look like a rabbit in headlights.

"You're a shapeshifter," said Dax. "Animals aren't affected by Spook's little…games."

"That's a good thing, right?"

Dax shrugged. "Depends on which way you look at it. I mean, Spook can't annoy you-"

"You shut the hell up, you deserve most of-"

"-But sometimes you do miss out on something really great. Like Alex in a sparkly bikini."

Almost instantly, Alex fluttered his eyelashes and put on a high, girlish voice. "Do you think it was too much?" he cooed, putting a hand to his mouth in mock embarrassment.

Ignoring him, Spook glared at Maddy and stood up straight, fists clenched. "You think you're so ispecial/i, don't you?" he snarled, before sweeping out of the room. There was a short pause, before an apologetic glance from Darren as he scurried out after his best friend.

Maddy was slightly upset by the sudden outburst, but had come to realize that that was just how Spook was. She wasn't going to go out of her way to try and make up with him when she hadn't done anything wrong, she decided.

There was a sudden poke to her left. Jacob was grinning at her. "Spook's a jerk, isn't he?"

Maddy hesitated before answering. "I guess."

"Yeah, that's just how it goes. I actually think he has anger issues." Sitting up straighter, he addressed his audience and mimicked a perfect imitation of Spook's oily voice. " 'No, Mr. Therapist, Sir, I don't have any issues-well…I have been lumbered with a terrible fashion sense, I suppose…"

"I don't think his fashion sense is all that bad," Mia piped up, before a scathing look from Lisa toned her down again.

" 'And I'm just isooo/i jealous of shapeshifters," Jacob continued. " 'I mean, iI/i want to turn into a doggy or a birdy too! It isn't ifair/i!"

Everybody was laughing. Maddy felt slightly bad for poor Spook, before remembering that he seemed determined to insult her every ten minutes. The sympathy stopped.

"I love the magic though," she chipped in, raising her voice slightly to be heard. "I mean, the normal stuff-coins and card tricks and all that."

Everybody turned to stare at her. Grinning, Alex raised his hand for a high-five. "Hey, you're good!" he exclaimed, as Maddy curiously high-fived him back, not having a clue why she was doing so.

"Watch out, Jake," Dax grinned, leaning back against the cushions. "You might have another mimic on your tail."

Maddy hadn't even known her voice could go deep…but then again, she had enjoyed acting out plays when she was little with her childhood friend Chase (who had unfortunately moved very far away). She had always been shy, even as a kid, but performing in front of her family, with Chase, who was extremely talented at acting, she felt happy and confident as she played evil old hags or damsels in distress. She supposed her hidden talent for acting had simply sprung up again.

But still…Luke didn't have to look so grumpy about it.

Maddy was sitting in the boys dorm room, fully engaged in a pillow fight. Feathers were flying everywhere, Gideon was screaming his head off with laughter, and Dax had fallen off the bed. She'd been mildly surprised when they'd invited her, but they insisted she was the most fun out of the lot. She still marveled at how effortlessly Gideon whizzed pillows about, hitting her and Dax square in the chest.

Luke was sitting in a secluded corner, sketching something on a piece of paper. He didn't look up when the boys stood up, still howling with laughter, looking at the mess of their bedroom.

"Hey!" Gideon suggested. "Maybe we can go and…borrow…some pillows off of Mia and Lisa. I'm sure they won't mind," he added innocently at Dax's skeptical look.

Sighing heavily, Dax shook his head. "Nah. We'd better clean this up. I'll go down and see if there's any binbags we can use."

"I'll come with you," Gideon immediately offered. "Save you from the teacher's wrath." As the two set for the door, he glanced behind him. "Mads, you can stay here if you like. Luke, make her feel at home…but do not, I repeat, do iNOT/i let her find my chocolate stash!"

Luke rolled his eyes and hunched up into a smaller bundle.

Now alone with someone who quite clearly did not want her there, Maddy was at a loss as to what to do. Sitting down on the floor, she took a deep breath and addressed Luke.

"Can you talk?"

iWow/i. That came out wrong. Luke's face confirmed this, as he glared at her with hatred.

"I…I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to…I'm really sorry. Are you okay?"

Luke just studied her face for a moment. After a while, he returned to his sketchpad and began scribbling away.

Vaguely, Maddy wondered why he was being so….well…rude. Sighing, giving up, she stood up and made to turn away, before a loud thud on the wardrobe bought her attention back to the boy, who was now also standing up. He was slightly taller than she was, and eyed her coldly. The sketchpad was outstretched in front of him, the paper facing her; in the center where a few sketchy words.