“In here!” chippered Mya from the kitchen. Blake followed Jaxon, still a bit uncertain of his place in the household as they walked into the kitchen. Joanne sat by the counter, her belly round, showing her pregnant state. Blake tried not to stare at what she was eating convincing himself that it wasn’t ice cream with salted pickles. That must have tasted horrible.

Turning toward the smiling Mya, who gave them some newly baked cookies, Blake asked. “Mr. Price said you wanted to speak with me, Ms. Price.”

“Mya, dear. You can call us Mya and Owen,” Mya said, smiling brightly. “Yes, I wanted to speak to you about your classes.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, dear. I have just spoken to Elliott and we will replace some of your classes with magic lessons instead to speed up your education. Among others, we planned to remove P.E, History, and Computing. Instead, you will learn Primalcraft with Denesha Pinder, Cainen will teach you water magic and I will teach you Wind. After classes, you will learn Dark Magic with Pyramus on Mondays, and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays you will continue your studies in Arcane Magic with Ciaran McGreine.”

“Don’t I need those lessons to pass school?”

“That is why we need to go over this with you. We plan to remove those classes for you but officially you will take them on paper and we will give a passing grade. You already have high enough grades in those classes to make it seem legit, but you need more magic classes with the incoming dangers and we thought this was the best way to do so.”

“What about art?”

“Since that seems to be your main interest, we haven’t removed it. If you one day want to study art on a higher level, you will need it. Besides, art is a form of magic in itself. You’ll learn to control magic when you paint, each stroke teaches you how much to apply. I think it will be good for you,” Mya stopped her explanation. “Is this fine with you?”

“Absolutely,” Blake said with a bright smile. “I love to learn more magic.”

“And you can get out of P.E with Kai,” Jaxon chuckled.

“I’m sure Kai will miss you,” Mya said, her eyes twinkling brightly at Blake’s stiff smile. Considering that Coach Kai’s last comment on P.E was that he had seen retired turtles who are quicker than him, Blake was eager to get out of P.E.

“Well, it’s not certain you will be able to learn wind and water magic, but we want to test you to see if it is possible. Otherwise, we plan on replacing those lessons with other magic lessons. I can teach you some Natural magic, and maybe Cainen can teach you some Illusions magic,” Mya pondered, more to herself than to Blake. “Either way, we first have to put you through the elemental trials and then start to train you. You will start next week with me. Meet me here, we cannot use the covens training room so we will have to do it the old way. In nature.”

Smiling, they said goodbye. Blake sending Joanne one last glance, suddenly noticing the glowing strands of fate around her. One was very faint, flickering like a dying light… and it seems to come from the unborn child.

*****

“Are you sure?” asked Alex, sniffing the morning air. The cold was still laying over the valley from the night, and mist concealed the forest, sneaking in between the branches. His instinct was on high alert, scraping on his mind, telling him to run.

“Yes, one of ours went out and didn’t come back,” Hadrien said, looking around. Elliott had sent some wolves along with them, but none of them didn’t catch any scent other than the lost pack member.

“What was he doing so deep into the Elan Valley, if the witches find him…” Alex grimace, not liking what this was going.

One of the wolves hollered that he has found the pack members' trace, speeding up they follow it while watching the eerie trees. Alex could hear his cat hiss, as they closed in on a clearing. Among the mist, they saw a staggering shape. It was alone, luring them out on the open ground.

Alex grabbed onto Hadrien. “Wait.”

“Why, chaton? He is right there.”

Ignoring Hadriens tone, like he was speaking to a child, Alex sniffed the air. What was the bloody fool doing in the middle of the clearing? Even the most foolish shifter would stay away from Elan Valley, and this bloke just waltzes right into enemy territory and was now standing around in the open.

“Chaton, we need to move. If the witches-“

“Quiet!” Alex hissed, his eyes glowing yellow, but it was too late. The witches' spells were already flying, paralyzing several of the people around them. “It’s a bloody trap.”

Reaching out for his Asian Golden Cat, Alex felt their two minds melt into one. His teeth turned to fangs, nails to claws as he rushed towards the witches. “Get them out of here.”

Fur erupted from his skin, and two cat ears and a tail protruded from his body as he fully transformed into his third form. The half-beast form of an Anax, Lord of the Shifters.  With a growl, he clawed at the first shape. Blood filled Alex's senses, and he let out a purr of excitement at the smell of his enemy.

Before anyone could blink he was at the next one, ripping them to pieces. He was about to go to the third one when he could feel a strange sensation beneath his feet. Magic, without hesitation, Alex jumped, just in time to avoid a trap closing in on him. Jumping out of the way, up into the trees. He let his cat eyes scan the ground.

The traps were set all over the place, but what was strange was that Hadrien and the other shifters rushed over them and the magical circles did not activate. They seemed to be set to only trigger when an Anax set their foot inside them.

Without much choice, Alex transformed back to his human form. How the bloody hell did the witches find out about him? Only Hadrien knew about his Anax form…

Alex clenched his fist when the idea came to him, and his father… His father who had helped him create his Anax form also knew. He must be working with, or at least tricking, the witches and they were daft enough to fall for it.

Jumping down to help Hadrien get the last shifters away, they fled, leaving a few of them behind to save the rest when reinforcement arrived.

“That was a shitshow,” hissed Alex as he carried one of the shifters on his back.

“Sans blague,” Hadrien grimaced. “Pardon, the intel must have been bad.”

“It’s not your fault,” Alex assured him.”The intel wasn’t wrong, there was a shifter in Elan Valley. He just wasn’t wandering randomly, he was used as bait.”

“To capture us,” Hadrien said, his body easing up when they crossed the river and the air filled with the scent of shifters.

Thinking back at the traps meant for him, Alex said, “I think they were after me.”

“Pardon?”

“The traps were set to activate when an Anax stepped on them. There is only one Anax in the area and that is me.”

“Merde, how did they find out?”

“My father,” Alex replied grimly.

“I’m so sorry for all of this.”

“As I said, it isn’t your fault. I’m just glad that I didn’t do as you said and not bring backup. I fear that if it had been just you and me, we wouldn’t have stood much of a chance. Now the witches were throwing spells randomly, not knowing who were their target.”

“Kids,” a familiar French-accented voice shouted from the trees. Joshua came out, waving at them. His easy-going expression turned grim though when he saw the wounded shifters. “What happened?”

“Hadrien heard the rumors that a shifter has gone into Elan Valley, we went out to track the shifter down before the witches found out,” Alex explained with a groan as he handed the shifter he carried to a wolf coming out from behind Joshua.

Joshua frowned at his brother, “You never told me.”

Hadrien shrugged, “Hadn’t got the time. I just got the rumor and Alex was the first one I met. Then it was a race against time to gather up people to track the shifter down.”

“I’m guessing it didn’t go as planned,” Joshua said, nodding at the wounded shifters.

“No, they were waiting for us, using the shifter as bait,” Alex replied, turning toward Hadrien. “Who told you about the shifter?”

“One of the druids from Elan Valley, they had heard of the shifter and wanted to tell us so we could get him out before the witches found out and hurt him,” Hadrien shrugged. “I was guarding the Gareg du dam when I encounter the druid trying to go into the Claerwen Valley, probably trying to reach Vale Academy.”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Alex grimaced. That means that the druids of Elan Valley might have gone from neutral to hostile, or the poor fool might just have been tricked by the witches. “The witches had traps set especially to catch me.”

Joshua looked surprised, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, the other shifters rushed right through them like they weren’t there while they activated for me,” Alex shrugged, not mentioning that they only activated when he was in his Anax form. He knew a bit more about magic than his fellow shifters and few binding circles could be so specific that they could activate only when one specific person stepped on it. Binding circles could on the other hand be set with certain specific characteristics in mind such as certain shifters such as wolves or maybe those who had touched dark magic.

In this case, they must have been set to only trigger when an Anax stepped on them, or to be specific when someone in the Anax form stepped on them. Since he was the only Anax in the area, in Britain for all he knew, he was most likely the target.

“The question is then if they choose Hadrien for that purpose. If they had any information about you then they must know that you and he are close, “ Joshua said, glancing at his brother. “Which means that they guessed he would run to you for help.”

“Most likely,” Alex agreed, sighing. “We need to let Elliott and Owen Price know.”

“I’m on it,” Joshua said, suddenly grinning. “I was planning on seeing Elliott anyway. He has been so tense lately, with the war and the child on the way, I thought I would help him relax.”

“Bon Sang! We don’t need to know that,” Hadrien said, glaring at his smirking brother who just waved and rushed off.

Alex watched him go, feeling amused but not relaxed. He had underestimated his father. Not only did his father seem to have plans, but he also has his disgusting claws in many people. Now, Alex couldn’t help wondering if some of them reached into Claerwan Valley as well…