A week ago, I was at the library researching self-help books to get me started on a potential career or college track. Something to make me feel real in the world. I took a quiz in a book to determine what kind of personality I was: What Color is Your Soul? My result was something that felt lukewarm. Mint. That was my color. I was someone curious, but indecisive. The book seemed confident in that. I had felt mostly indecisive back then.
But perhaps life had decided for me. Never in my life had so much been thrown at me at once. My hands shook as I stood in the center of the room.
I took one of the calming agents that Greta had given me as the terror climbed up my throat. It was all too much.
After a long hot shower, I still had a few hours before dinner. I crawled into bed with a towel wrapped around my wet hair, promising that I would dry it with the hairdryer I found in the bathroom after a nap. As soon as my eyes shut, I fell into a deep sleep. It was a miracle that the alarm from my phone, freshly charged now, woke me up. The SIM card was gone, but it still worked as an expensive alarm clock.
I had just enough time to slip on a plain black dress that I’d found in the closet and dry my hair before dinner. Whoever had prepared my room had been kind enough to stock up with plenty of products. Makeup from brands that I scarcely recognized appeared in fine silver pots and compacts. Someone had even thought to provide perfume for me. A tiny tag was placed around the perfume bottle with my name on it. I shivered.
In some ways, I felt like a princess. In more ways, I felt like the world’s biggest liar. I had been brought here, into this house of mysterious shifter men, under the pretense that I was a shifter. I stared at my reflection. Who was this freshly showered young woman, clutching a perfume bottle for dear life? I felt older and looked more sophisticated than before. Mom used to say people going through grief always seemed older than they were. My chest burned as I sucked in a deep breath.
Dinner. It was just dinner tonight.
My thoughts swirled madly. And then what, Fiona? Another day, another dinner? Another lie? Is that how you want to live? I pressed a hand against my forehead and set the perfume bottle down on the sink counter.
I wasn’t a shifter. There was no way this was going to work. A painful throb began at the base of my skull as something flashed in my mind. Images. Blurry hazy bits of a film inside my skull. A memory of myself. Or what I thought was myself, as a young child. I could see myself reaching a chubby fist out to someone.
There was another child there, a child like me. I was reaching my hand out to the other toddler. A child that had the same colorings as me, cool brown hair and light eyes. I saw the tiny child shifting into something. A tiny bear cub. I pulled my hand back.
Impossible.
I shook my head. Why had the fire felt so familiar to me? Why had my parents’ death felt so shockingly numb? I sucked in a sharp breath as my vision blurred. It could be the medication I was taking.
I stooped down to the ground and hugged myself. I was confused. Greta told me that shock and trauma could make the mind do funny things. I sucked in another deep breath.
A muffled knock sounded on my new bedroom door. I swore and quickly spritzed on the perfume before rushing out of the bathroom. Looking presentable meant survival.
When I opened the door, I wasn’t surprised to see Theo. It seemed natural that he would be the one to come fetch me. I was surprised to see him dressed casually. A fitted gray shirt sat handsomely over his burly frame, and he looked much more at home in dark jeans than his school slacks. He grinned, the same sunny smile. I wonder if his face ever got tired.
“Feel better?” He asked. I nodded. The shower had done wonders for me. I hope I looked much better this time around for my second round of the Core Council.
“Theo, exactly what does the Council do?” I asked him on the way down to the dining room. He chuckled, but it was the kind of laugh that came off as rigid. I tried to conceal my frown, but he wasn’t paying attention anyway. He knocked into one of the doorframes and the entire wall reverberated from the contact.
“We do school stuff. Boring stuff, mostly. I’m the Ambassador, though, which I think is the best job.” Gone was the stiffness as he beamed at me. “I get to meet all the new students!”
My heart sunk a tiny bit. In a way, I’d imagined that Theo was especially excited to meet me, but then again, it made sense given that he greeted nearly everyone we passed in the courtyard before. He was probably the friendliest person on campus. We came to the first-floor entryway, and he led me down another hallway. As we got closer to the dining room, I could hear voices clearly.
Unhappy voices.
“Doesn’t it seem suspicious? She—"
My heart froze in my chest. A tone filled with distrust. Theo let out a loud laugh as we came into the room, effectively covering up whatever else was coming from the person. A knot formed in my stomach. “Ren, you’re so funny always bringing up that thing. Especially for someone who never talks.”
Ren, who was at the end of the table near Dracus, had a foul look on his face. I don’t suppose he was interrupted often. Our eyes collided. The beautiful boy from the tree. I swallowed. Whatever that thing Theo was talking about, Ren didn’t want to be reprimanded on it. Dracus cleared his throat. Enrique kept scrolling through his phone. I wondered if that thing was me.
“I know that my arrival is a bit surprising,” I said. Now, Enrique looked up from his phone. I preferred him glued to his texts. Fewer eyes on me would’ve been better.
“We’re only upset because we’re used to everything going according to plan,” someone said behind us. I turned to see Jasper with a strange cold look on his face. His serene face was marred by a flash of a wicked smirk, a secret inside joke that only he and the other boys knew. I fidgeted next to Theo. “Evening, everyone.”
Dracus wasn’t one to be intimidated by the drama. He steamrolled ahead. “Good evening, Jasper. How was practice?”
Jasper set down his violin case in the corner before taking the spot next to Enrique, who was smirking madly. “Repetitive as always.”
“Ladies love a musician,” Enrique drawled. He caught my eye and winked. Desperate to concentrate on anyone else, I turned to look at Ren. He was looking right back at me with an icy glare. I wanted to run out of the room, but I couldn’t force myself to break away from his eyes. It was like looking at a blizzard.
“Don’t be crude, Enrique,” Dracus said.
Ren’s stare had completely frozen me. It didn’t seem like anyone but he and I noticed. I couldn’t even swallow the fear in my throat.
“I’m not being crude.” Enrique began to mimic drumming with his silverware onto the table. “I’m being honest. There’s a difference.”
Ren was mouthing something at me.
I don’t trust you.
A distant sound rang out in my ears. A wolf crying into the night. I hissed as a sudden pain slammed into my head. I crumpled to the ground. Theo let out a cry as he flew to catch me. Strong arms encircled me.
“What’s wrong?” Jasper said, perfectly composed.
“She’s fainting. Probably looked at me too long.” Enrique, as pompous as he was handsome.
“Ren, stop glaring and help me.” Theo, protective.
“Don’t throw around insults. We are gentlemen.” Dracus, the prince.
Someone moved closer to me, disrupting the warmth from Theo’s presence. Before I slipped from reality, I heard him lean in and whisper.
“Don’t think that we’ll underestimate you, woman.”
Ren, the distrustful loner.
What kind of place had I been taken to?
Adventures awaited me at Beast Academy.
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