The Last Phoenix- Book 1 of the Legends of Henge Series

Chapter 15

Harper Magdalena

I sat up quickly when I heard the door open. I glanced at the clock and saw it was 6:02 and I was starving. We had rearranged the rooms on our side as soon as all the girls had arrived. I was currently sharing with Arielle, who had fallen asleep before I moved in. Bailey and Lark were sharing a room and Anvi, the lucky bitch, got a room to herself. There was a fourth room on our side but Professor Aurum had insisted we share bedrooms as much as we could. Not sure how long that would last depending on how much Arielle could stand a mess. I wasn't very neat.

My grandma had left a couple hours ago and I was feeling the first signs of homesickness.

I stood and cracked my back, making my way to the neutral area to see two boys standing in to doorway, one with dark hair and Native American looking and the other with brown hair and brown eyes, rather plain looking.

Professor Aurum started talking to them, telling me to go get the rest of the girls together. I stopped by each door, waking Bailey and Arielle and informing the others that everyone was here now.

After we'd all gathered, I saw we had ten people on our team. About a medium sized team. That was good. "So this is your team, as you can see. You'll be training with them for the next six years so I'd get used to them." Bailey let out a chuckle at that.

"I think it's more of a question of getting used to be impatient," she muttered.

"Tomorrow, you'll go through an introduction day. You'll be going into the village with a teacher assigned to your team to get the essentials for your time here. This would include clothes that won't wear when you shift, particularly for those of you larger shifters out there. Smaller shifters generally don't have this problem as much as they don't have to grow to become their animal and therefore won't tear the clothes. You will also be connecting with your chosen weapon tomorrow and receiving any survival gear you may need for your quest. All of this will be free tomorrow but if you ever need to replace anything, it will cost you points, which you receive throughout the year from your classes. You can get points from anyone from a higher level."

"Wait, weapons?" I piped up. A couple of the others looked as confused as I felt but some looked totally normal with the idea.

"Yes," she replied. "It's not a safe world out there and just like there are humans who are corrupt, evil, and insane, there are shifters who are corrupt, evil, and insane."

I didn't know what I had expected. Not everyone would be sunshine and rainbows, I knew that but I guess I was so caught in how perfect this world seemed that I never stopped to think that it might not be perfect.

I wasn't too worried. I'd done a good job of avoiding people like that in my old life. I shouldn't have trouble now.

***

I woke the next morning to the sound of someone pounding on the dorm door. "Get up lazy asses!" Bailey yelled, laughing slightly. I wasn't sure how I felt about her. She was funny but I had a feeling I didn't want to get tangled up in her shenanigans.

I opened the door after slipping into my clothes and saw Bailey pounding on Anvi's door next. Lark was standing at the end of the hall and when she caught sight of me, she smiled and waved.

I joined her and we made our way to the neutral area, where the boys were waiting with who I assumed to be the teacher showing us around. Lark and I took a seat while we waited for the others. Anvi came quickly after us, hair combed perfectly and clothes unwrinkled. Had she been awake already for six hours or something?

Arielle and Bailey came quickly as well, a little more rumpled than Anvi. "Well," the man started. "I'm Professor Bergstrom, your Biology teacher. I'll be taking you through your first day.