Night shifter, p.2
Night Shifter, page 2
part #1 of Magical Creatures Academy Series
I didn’t dare turn. I didn’t move at all while I worked to tamp down the hope that leapt to life inside me.
It was probably just a friend stopping by to wish me happy birthday. I hadn’t been able to keep the dreaded 3:03AM birth time from my friends, since little more had been on my mind for the last month. We were on vacation. One of them might be up and swinging by, knocking timidly in case we were asleep.
Yeah, right, Rina. Then, without my permission, I dared to hope: It might be the Menagerie, coming for you just as they came for Ky.
No, if I’d been a shifter, I should have shifted shortly after my birth time. And if I were a witch, my magic would have flared.
I was human, human, human ... and so the Menagerie had no use for me.
My heart thudded erratically as I listened to Ky pad over to the door and swing it open.
2
“Nessa!” Ky exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for your sister. Rina, is it?” a tiny, tinkly voice said, drawing me toward the foyer like a magnet.
“Yeah, my sister’s Rina, but ... well, she’s human.”
My brother’s words cut straight to my heart, incising out the ridiculous hope I’d allowed myself with the precision of a surgeon.
A ringing laugh, which reminded me of wind chimes, wafted down the hallway, and I padded toward it more quickly.
“Oh no, she isn’t human,” Nessa said.
“Sorry, but she is. Her birth time passed”— Ky consulted the traitorous grandfather clock—“almost ten minutes ago. She’s shown no signs of magic whatsoever.”
I stilled at the end of the hall, from where I could make out our uninvited guest, as small as a hummingbird, and flitting at Ky’s eye level much like one: a blue-haired fairy dressed in far too little clothing for the longest night of the year.
“Hunh,” the fairy was saying. “That’s odd, now isn’t? Sir Lancelot himself ordered me here to invite her to join the Menagerie.”
I was pretty sure Ky said something in reply, but I didn’t register it. The blood rushed to my head, or maybe it was more accurate to say that it rushed from it. The thumping, marching band had resumed residence in my cranium, and my eyeballs and lips were beginning to feel numb. My heart bounced around in my chest like I was a racquetball court. Eighteen was too young to have a heart attack, right?
“Is that her?” Nessa said, drawing my attention to her as I slumped against the wall.
Dad rushed to my side, but stopped short of touching me. “Are you ... okay?” He peered at me while I blinked rapidly, trying to bring his thick chestnut hair and matching eyes into focus.
When I didn’t answer, he reached a tentative hand toward me. At his touch, I startled and jerked.
“Rina,” he said, “I think you need to sit down.”
I nodded stupidly and allowed the father who’d touched me maybe ten times in the last year to guide me over to an oversized leather armchair, where I sank into its depths without ceremony.
“Boy, she doesn’t look to be doing so well,” Nessa said, her voice sounding far away though she’d begun to move toward me once Ky ushered her in. Her wings moved so rapidly that they were little more than a blur, and in seconds she buzzed in front of me. Under ordinary circumstances, I’d be annoyed at the invasion of my personal space. Of course, there was nothing ordinary about the situation.
“Is she … you know?” Nessa asked.
“No, we don’t know,” Dad snapped, and the edge to his voice began to lure me out of my haze. Dad rarely reacted strongly to anything.
The tiny woman, who could only be a fairy, brought both hands to her hips, akimbo, and studied me, seemingly unbothered by Dad’s attitude. “I mean, is she all there?”
“Are you asking if she’s mentally challenged or something?” Dad growled, and he sounded a bit like Ky when he got angry and his animal rose to the surface.
But Nessa nodded happily and smiled until I wondered if the fairy might be a bit mentally challenged herself. “That’s exactly what I’m asking,” she said. When Dad replied only with another growl—an honest-to-goodness growl—she finally moved her attention to Ky. “Well?”
Ky spoke through tight lips. “She’s quite intelligent. She’s just having a bit of a hard time adjusting, which is understandable. She hasn’t shifted or sensed any magic. She believed she was human. We all did.”
“Well, that’s nonsense.” The fairy, whose tiny skirt and top matched her bright hair, waved a hand in dismissal and drew nearer to me. I flinched and pulled my face back, but she only flew in closer. “She’s obviously a shifter of some sort, or one of the other oddball supernatural creatures. Sir Lancelot wouldn’t have sent me if it were otherwise.” She nodded matter-of-factly, oblivious to the looks the three of us were giving her. “What? What’d I do?”
Dad shook his head repeatedly and opened his mouth to reply before he noticed Ky giving him his own shake. Dad arched his eyebrows in question.
Ky ignored Nessa’s question and said, “So you’re sure Rina is a supernatural creature? Even if she hasn’t displayed any powers and it’s already well past the time when it’s supposed to happen?”
“Of course I’m sure, silly. Isn’t that what I just said? You know the spell that dictates which students get invited to the Menagerie doesn’t make mistakes. And neither does Sir Lancelot.”
“No, the owl wouldn’t. I’ve never met a creature more concerned with precision.” Ky rubbed at the stubble on his chin until his brandy eyes, exactly like mine, lit up. He grinned. “That means you’ve got magic, Rina. It must.”
“Really?” My question was barely a whisper. “I don’t feel any different, not even a little bit. Surely something would have changed in me. Anything.”
“I don’t understand it either, but Sir Lancelot wouldn’t make a mistake like that.”
“The spell that governs the Menagerie’s student selection has been in place for over a hundred years.” Dad, now in his element, sounded like a textbook. “It was set up by the school’s founders, Mordecai and Albacus. They were some of the finest wizards of their time. Given that they lived for centuries, their knowledge is some of the most substantial of the magical world. If their spell selected you, then you must be a magical creature.”
For once I didn’t mind Dad droning on about magical history. “So there’s no way this could be a mistake?”
“Girl, didn’t you hear me?” Nessa said. “None. Not even a bit.”
My heart started beating so that I noticed it again, racing happily. “You’re sure?” The numbness in my lips and eyeballs remained, but I was pulling in deep, steady breaths now so I wouldn’t pass out before I could celebrate. “You’re one-hundred percent certain?”
Nessa faced Ky. “Are you sure she’s all there? I did just explain...”
“She’s all there, all right,” Dad snapped again and took several menacing steps toward the tinkly fairy, who retreated toward me again. While Dad was as tall as Ky at six-foot-two, he wasn’t nearly as brawny. But right then, with his eyes looking like they might bulge out of his skull, his fists clenched at his side, he appeared every bit as intimidating as Ky and his football linebacker body.
Nessa put up her hands and blinked tiny long lashes. “Whoa there. I’m just doing my job here. No need to get all snippy.”
“You haven’t seen snippy yet. Call her stupid one more time and you will.”
“I didn’t call her stupid.” And the fairy actually sounded like she believed it. I, however, was more surprised by the fact that Dad and Ky were so intent on defending my honor—or intelligence or whatever.
I blinked rapidly to hide the tears as a swell of emotion overcame me.
“What’s she crying about?” Nessa said. “Most people are excited when the Menagerie comes knocking. Not just anyone gets in. They have to be suited to the school, and that’s determined by a whole bunch of factors I’m not privy to, but I know they’re a lot.”
The blue fairy zoomed back in front of my face, studying my eyes one by one as if to check for some unknown evidence of my acumen. “It’s relatively uncommon for siblings to be accepted to the school, too, so you’re extra lucky. There are only a few pairs of siblings in the entire student body at the moment. So the fact that Kylan was accepted actually minimized your chances. That your mother attended doesn’t really have much of an impact, as admittance is reviewed on a case-by-case-basis.”
“That’s quite enough,” Dad said, cutting off the fairy’s rambling. “My daughter’s extremely overwhelmed at the moment. Give her some space.”
“Hunh. Fine.” But the fairy only flew back half a foot and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I don’t have all night though.” She tilted her chin upward. “I have plenty of very important responsibilities that Sir Lancelot is relying on me to complete. For the good of the school.”
“I have no doubt,” Dad said. “And we won’t hold you up a second longer than necessary. If you’re here to offer her entrance to the Menagerie, get on with it.”
“I already did, now didn’t I?” But Nessa turned a solemn look on me regardless. She cleared her throat importantly and crossed her hands behind her back as she hovered directly in my line of sight. “Rina Nelle Mont, you’ve been selected to attend the Magical Creatures Academy, also referred to as the Menagerie, where magical creatures of all kinds go to learn about their powers and how they can best contribute to the well-being of both supernaturals and humans alike.”
I nodded as if in a dream.
“If you agree to attend the Academy, you’ll be agreeing to the following: You’ll at all times behave in a manner that’s consistent with the mission and integrity of the school. You’ll do your best to become the most powerful version of your creature that you can be. And upon completion of all necessary curriculums, you’ll join the Menagerie Force tasked with ensuring that no shifter, vampire, or other supernatural creature within our purview harms another of our kind or a human.”
The fairy puckered her lips and directed her gaze toward the ceiling. “Hmm, I think that’s it. If I’ve forgotten anything, you’ll have plenty of time to read up on the school before you show up for your first day.”
I stared at her.
“Well?” she prompted. “Do you, Rina Nelle Mont, agree or not? I’m not allowed to give you your admittance papers until you verbally give your consent.”
I chuckled. “Of course I agree!” Joining the Menagerie had been the one thing I’d allowed myself to dream of since I first learned that Mother had attended.
“I need your consent with your full name please.” The fairy was all business now.
“Do I need to say something in particular, or just anything?”
“No, not anything. Your consent for me to extend your official invitation.”
I rolled my eyes, but the fairy didn’t seem to mind. “I, Rina Nelle Mont, give my consent for you to, er, extend my invitation to the Magical Creatures Academy.”
“Good enough!” The fairy reached a hand toward her wings and emerged with a fairy-sized canister for a fairy-sized scroll that had been strapped to her back. She removed the cap from the canister with a pop and slid the scroll out. “Here, you’d better take it.”
She shoved it at me so quickly that it tumbled into my lap. I was scrambling to retrieve the dime-sized scroll when it popped again and enlarged until it was human sized. “Wow. That’s cool.” I gaped at the rolled-up scroll.
“Yeah,” Ky said with a true grin on his face, making his face look as handsome as all my friends claimed it to be. “You’re gonna love it at school. Everything’s cool there.”
“It is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself,” Nessa added, grinning as widely as my brother.
I shifted a concerned look at Dad, but he didn’t seem to feel left out. He was back to looking aloof, as if he preferred the world of his books to the real one. I swallowed a heavy sigh.
“So am I supposed to sign or what?”
“You can now, or you can read over all the fine print and bring it with you on your first day.”
“Nah, I’m ready to sign now.” I struggled to keep my cool. My legs bounced and I was desperate to run around the house screaming like I was ten years younger.
“That’s the way,” Nessa said while reaching to her back again. She emerged with a diminutive pen that I wouldn’t be able to use to sign if I tried. She tossed it to me as if we were in a game of hot potato and the timer was about to run out.
Again the item tumbled into my lap, but before I could do much searching for it, another pop transformed it into a sophisticated fountain pen that fit perfectly in the palm of my hand. I spread the scroll on the side table next to the armchair and looked at the fairy expectantly.
“Well?” she finally said. “What are you waiting for?”
“For ink,” I enunciated carefully. I was pretty sure the fairy would give me a headache if we hung out for long.
She tsked. “You don’t need ink. You have to sign in blood. Didn’t the supposed authority on the magical community teach you anything?”
Dad didn’t even react to her “supposed.” His eyes were glazed and I wondered where he’d gone. Probably with Mom, when he’d last been happy.
While keeping a cautious eye on Dad, Nessa whispered, “Sir Lancelot is actually the authority on all things magical creatures, probably magical history too. There’s no one smarter than he.”
“Hey,” Ky said, but his heart wasn’t in his defense of Dad. He was glancing at him worriedly too.
This was my big moment. I forced my attention back where it belonged. “Do I just … poke my vein with the pen until I draw blood or what?”
“Oh no. We’re not savages.” And the fairy was back to considering me as if she’d never met anyone as dense. “But since there aren’t any vamps around, feel free to press the nib to the vein in the crease of your elbow until blood pools there.”
That sounded savage to me, but when Ky nodded his encouragement, I did just that. No sooner had I pressed the pen to the crook of my arm than crimson ink welled to the surface. Of course it was an enchanted pen, I should have known!
I removed the pen from my flesh when there was enough blood.
“Make sure you sign your full name,” the fairy said.
I signed Rina Nelle Mont in big, flourishy letters that were quite unlike my usual script. When I swiped at the remaining blood on my arm with my other hand, there wasn’t so much as a pinprick, just a few drops of smeared blood; the pen had taken exactly enough.
Nessa flew down to blow on the paper. When it became obvious her small breath would take forever to dry anything, I joined in.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back off! You about blew me across the room.”
“Oh. Sorry.” I grimaced. “I didn’t realize.”
“I noticed.” The fairy scowled. “Leave the job to the professional, will you?”
“Sure, fine.”
The fairy gave me a you-really-don’t-know-what-the-hell-you’re-doing look, then flew back down to the scroll, all the while training a wary eye on me. She blew for long enough that she grew tired and called it “good enough,” then tapped the scroll to activate its inherent magic. The scroll popped back to fairy size and she snatched it up. Another tap shrank the pen, and she stowed them both in her shirt.
“School term resumes exactly two days after the New Year. I’ll see you and Kylan in Sedona at 8 a.m. sharp. Rina, present yourself to the administration office.”
I nodded like a bobblehead. “I’ll be there. After the New Year. In Sedona. On time.”
“Good. See that you are.” The fairy offered Ky a nod, then, “Goodbye, Mister Mont.”
“Oh,” Dad said. “Goodbye, and thank you for coming all this way for Rina.”
Nessa stared at Dad for a long while before finally saying, “You’re welcome. Take care of yourself, Mister Mont.”
Great. Even the fairy could tell our dad was half there, half somewhere else. He nodded absently as I rose to my feet, joining Ky in escorting Nessa to the door.
He swung it open and she flew out without further ado. The sound of jingling bells followed her out into the night, which was suddenly filled with enough joy to brighten its darkness.
Ky closed the door, but the next chapter of my life was only just beginning. It didn’t make a lick of sense. I hadn’t shifted, nor had I burst with magic, but I was a student at the Magical Creatures Academy.
Not even Dad’s usual moroseness could dampen my mood. I beamed at Ky. He beamed right back.
3
“Here we are,” Dad said as he pulled our decade-old Land Rover to a stop in one of a half dozen available parking spaces.
I leaned forward in the back seat to check out a sign that announced we were at the trailhead to the Thunder Mountain Trail. “Uh, we’re at the base of a mountain.”
“Hm-hmm.” Dad was already slipping the car keys into his pocket and opening his door.
“Wow,” Ky said from the passenger seat. “I think I’ve missed this place. I wasn’t sure I would after last term.”
“Last term? What happened last term?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing. It was just a lot of work that’s all.”
I narrowed my eyes at Ky, who refused to meet my querying gaze, while Dad stepped out of the car with a groan. Ky pushed open his door.
“Wait, are you guys serious? Is this really the place?”
“Yep,” Ky answered and stepped outside, stretching his back. “Man, that was a looong ride. I’m so relieved it’s finally over. Next time we should definitely fly.”
“Then I wouldn’t be able to come with you,” Dad said. “And this is Rina’s first term. It’s a big deal.”
He didn’t have to say that twice. My stomach had been churning since we’d crossed Kansas.
“But it won’t be Rina’s first term next time,” Ky said. “And I’m worried about you driving all the way back on your own.”
Dad clapped Ky on the back. “It’s the parent’s job to worry about the kids, not the other way around.” He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. I think he realized that both Ky and I worried about him. Even though Dad kept to himself a lot, at least I had still been home to check up on him. With both Ky and I gone, I wasn’t sure what would happen to Dad.
