Stella Academy: The Secret Society

Chapter 10

         “Don’t yell. Do you really want to know?” I nod. “Fine. But don’t interrupt me until I’m done explaining, deal? Okay, no one can say anything to me anyways. There are six Taurus houses in the world all are a part of the six Academies around the world. Together the members of Taurus form a sort of secret society, no one besides the members know what Taurus is about. It is punishable by death to tell an outsider, lucky for me I’m not easy to kill, otherwise I wouldn’t be the leader of this house – I'll get to that later. Every year a group of kids from America get a Stella Academy acceptance letter, a few of these get a scholarship, just like Frederick did. This scholarship is fake.”

         “What?”

         “Don’t interrupt me. The students getting these fake scholarships are special, not like brainiac special, but they were born with their fates already decided. They have a special gene, which is passed down through the family. No one knows how far back this has been going on. When these kids turn sixteen they get their acceptance letters. Stella Academy tracks the families of the old students, so even if the kids don’t apply to the school, they get accepted. That was the case with Frederick, wasn’t it?” I nod, “It was like that for me too. I had never even heard about Stella before I got my letter. My parents never told me they’d both been here, I never knew what was going on until I turned eighteen.”

         “What happened?” Phoenix arched an eyebrow and stood up. He began pacing back and forth on the floor.

         “Something happened to me. Most of us change between our eighteenth and nineteenth birthday. It happened to me the day I turned eighteen. Do you know the legend of the white bull?”

         “Yeah, Zeus wanted the woman Europa so he turned . . .” I stopped, looking up at Phoenix, both of his eyebrows were arched, he wanted me to finish, “He turned into a bull. Then he ran away with her, and later he created the constellation Taurus in the sky.”

         “You’re right. This legend is the foundation of Taurus. Zeus turned into an animal. So do we. It’s hard to explain what happens. It’s like your body begins to itch, like there’s something crawling around inside of you, and you have to scratch until it’s out. I don’t know how to explain it. The first time we change is the most painful experience in the world. We’re shifters. If we’re around other shifters, it’s easier to turn. I know you noticed something about Avalon that night you saw her outside the house, when all those wolves surrounded you. She was unable to stand still. When shifters are nearby in their animal form, the animal inside us is pushing to be allowed out.”

         “What about the fighting?” 

         “We have rules. It’s just like the animal world, you know, survival of the fittest and all. We have to fight to be on top. I’ve fought to be the leader. This scar,” he runs an index finger down the side of his face tracking the long scar, “is from my last fight with Gideon. He was the leader until I challenged him, after that fight he was hospitalized for a month; we had to tell the hospital in Torchville he had been attacked by stray wolf, when they asked why he had lost so much blood. The girls have to fight as well. That’s why Sky and Avalon hate each other. Avalon turned about a year ago, a few months after her eighteenth birthday. Sky just turned a month ago, and her nineteenth birthday is a week away. For a year I’ve been playing both of them. I haven’t been fair to either. Remember the night in the woods with those bears? That was Avalon and Sky. Sky won, Avalon is still recovering. Luckily, healing fast is part of being a shifter. We heal faster than regular people, but not fast enough for it to be suspicious.”

         “We’re not supposed to have any relations with normal humans. I bet, you can figure out why. It didn’t take you that long to figure out something was wrong. But, of course, you are extraordinarily curious for a person. There’s also something fascinating about you, which is why I haven’t been able to stay away from you, even though it’s impossible for us to be together.”