"Lily!" called Anne from a table in the corner of the dining hall. "You found your human again!"
Lily laughed slightly. "I guess I did," she said when she was in talking distance.
"Wish I had been there when you first shifted," said Anne. "From what I heard it was hella badass."
Lily laughed freely. She couldn't help it. Anne's words were so unexpected. "I thought you'd be mad."
"Why would I be mad?" said Anne, taking a delicate bit of her double-stacked BLT sandwich.
"Because I ditched you in the woods this morning," said Lily.
"Listen, Lily," said Anne. "We've all been there. Shifting for the first time. It's downright terrifying. I'd have left too. It's fine that you did."
Lily smiled. She felt grateful to have Anne as a friend.
"I was surprised you were so calm and in control. Sometimes it takes weeks for the human mind to gain control back the first time."
"I wish I'd shifted in a private area," said Lily. "It was so embarrassing. And other students keep watching me whenever I walk down the corridor."
"I wouldn't be embarrassed. For all you know, they're probably impressed. I even heard one guy, Clark, in my Business Practice class going on and on about how you must be a Lycan."
Lily and Sophie burst out in laughter. The idea seemed so ludicrous. Particularly to Lily. She'd only just shifted for the first time yesterday, and before then she couldn't be sure if she was even a shifter.
"Well, consider it from his perspective," said Anne. "A big cat isn't a very common second form. Plus, he might have thought this was your third form. I don't think anyone knew you'd never shifted before. It's practically unheard of after the age of 16."
"I guess I can kind of see his logic, given his lack of information," said Lily. "but even so, I've never heard of a female Lycan."
"Nor have I," said Sophie.
There was quiet for a while as they ate. Lily found herself wondering about what it'd been like when the others shifted. She'd never been able to see anyone first shift in her old pack. In large part because there were too many dishes and linens to be washed.
The experience for her had been so far from what she'd imagined. It was like a ladybug being born in a small greenhouse, and living its whole life in that space, and believed that's all there was until one day it somehow slipped out of the open door, and suddenly seeing the acres of wild grassland and trees in the distance...
"What were your first shifts like?" Lily asked the other two after a while.
Anne laughed before answering, "I was screaming to the high heavens for the Moon Goddess to free me from the bondage of life. And when I finally did manage to turn, after six hours I might add, I nearly bit the throat out of the Beta whose transgression was standing twenty-five feet too close to me."
Lily winced. "Six hours?"
"Yeah, it wasn't pretty," said Anne. "The Beta tossed me aside like I was an underweight kitten... which wasn't far from the truth. I bet Sophie's experience was similar."
"Mine was very far from flattering," said Sophie. "But it was my luck that I was alone when it happened."
"I'm surprised you're adjusting so well really. Sometimes it takes people weeks to create a semblance of normalcy."
"Maybe because I'm a few years older than when most people shift for the first time," said Lily.
"I guess it's possible," said Anne, but she didn't sound convinced.
It was several weeks later, and luckily the rumors about Lily shifting had run their course.
She was walking with Anne and Sophie in the courtyard garden before their General Agility class was due to start.
"Do you think they're ditching?" said Anne, continuing a. conversation they'd had the previous day.
"I thought ditching class wasn't allowed though," said Sophie.
"Maybe they got kicked out of the school somehow?" said Lily.
"Seven students all in one day? And all from the most elite Agility class?" said Sophie. "I doubt it."
"But I'm in that class," said Lily. "It can't be that elite."
They turned into a secluded hedged garden. Tulips, blue hydrangeas, and lavender were arranged by height along tidy lush hedgerows. The aroma's mixed in a relaxing way in the warm Spring air.
"Maybe they're not ditching?" said Anne, continuing the conversation.
"We checked the infirmary though," said Lily. "And we didn't see any rooms that look occupied, let alone seven."
"Yeah, but I mean.. maybe there are other ways to get excused from classes," said Anne.
"Not on about that rumor again are you?" said Sophie.
"Well, why not!" said Anne. "Even a rumor can be right on rare occasions."
"It's been weeks though," said Lily.
"And even if another Lycan was found in one of the packs, it's so unlikely that they'd send seven eighteen-year-old students to go... take care of it," said Sophie.
"But it's like you said Sophie," said Anne. "They're not just any seven students. They are seven Elite students who are also adults, based on shifter law. One of which is a Lycan.. probably the only Lycan known in existence currently... I mean really, who else would they be sending to retrieve a shifter who just transformed into a Lycan, and who is probably crazy out of control with his new power and abilities..."
"Hm, maybe," said Lily. It seemed possible. Then again any number of things seemed possible. "I guess it does seem unlikely that they randomly kicked out the only Lycan in existence. Certainly, if that happened there'd be some information about what they did to get expelled."
"My point exactly!" said Anne victorious. "They've been gone a while now. I bet they come back soon with Lily's new Lycan mate."
"Oh, don't start that again," said Lily while Sophie giggled.
Anne had only recently agreed that Ryan probably wasn't Lily's mate. She and Lily agreed that .. although there might be some kind of bond between Lily and Ryan, Lily would probably know in a definite way, particularly after she shifted if it was a mating bond specifically. And that if it was, there probably would been more action (to use Anne's term) before now.
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