The Shifters: Katrina
Part One - Ch.18: Evenings Alone

I knew who to hate now.

The second I had stood my ground and stayed with the group, they began to talk more and act like playful friends instead of wary of me. Tyree had explained who the twins were -- two strong apprentices named Annie and Aurora. They were the leaders of the group of five girls that did their best to control the student body, and I instantly disliked them. It also turned out that Beth and Heather belonged to that group, and that Beth was Tyree's cousin. The connection made it clear that the cousins were rivals and the friend groups had been pulled into it, and that I was now for sure on Tyree's side. I was regretting it less and less - I already had them and the water shifters that I'd met as friends.

I was beginning to feel happy in Iluita.

There was definitely a part of me that was missing my family. When our last period was over, I dragged my feet back to my dorm, taking the stairs excruciatingly slow. My hallway was still weirdly quiet, though I doubted I was the only student alone.

But I was the only student with my own personal floor.

I sighed, rolling my wrists as I walked toward my door. One day I'd be able to control water and have it move at my will, and then I'd get a form and be given a roommate.

This isn't permanent, I reminded myself, stepping through the door and locking it behind me. I dropped my things in the new bag I'd been given at the end of the day on the floor, leaving it to deal with later.

I fell onto the bed with a sigh, staring at my ceiling.

This is so... different.

No coming home to a full house of goofy teenagers. No mothers who were so hopelessly in love with each other it made me laugh every time. I'd grown up wanting to be like my parents -- happy, able to chose to be with the person I love and to build a family of my own.

Then I turned out to be a troublesome child and it seemed like everything washed down the drain.

I rolled onto my side, staring out the window of my dorm.

I wondered if they were worried, or if they missed me too. Raymond was probably pissed out of his mind that I left, and Mia was probably paranoid about me already being dead in a ditch somewhere. Felix's eccentric spark might have even been a little dimmer if he truly thought I was in danger.

And my poor mothers...

Another flash of Wally's knife appeared in my mind. How I'd been alone with someone who was planning on tricking me and leading me to my death. All because I was some sort of shapeshifter.

I gritted my teeth together. People like him had no place anywhere near my family.

The second I'm strong enough to kill those hunters, I'm going back. I need to tell them that I didn't run because I hated them.

One day, I'm going to hunt those hunters.

I sat up in bed, leaning on my hands. My stomach was growling, and there was a few assignments for me to finish so that I could be caught up with the subjects in school. Normally I would ignore the work, but I needed to know who I was and what I was doing if I was going to hunt hunters. I dragged my bag over to my new bed, rifling through it before pulling out the notebook I'd been using all day. The notes I had so far were all about Iluita and shifters themselves, with add-ins from Tyree and Sonya. While Tyree was a firm-speaker and took no bullshit, Sonya was understanding and had a way of explaining things that made everything make sense.

Shifters shifting for the first time pass out 100% of the time and don't wake up in animal form for quite a while. When they do, they're extremely disoriented.

I smiled at the note. It was one of the most helpful things Tyree had mentioned, and it was followed by a story of how the gorilla shifter had gone on a rampage her first time shifting.

Shapeshifters tend to have personalities that reflect their animal, and the strength of their animal correlates to the raw power of their element.

That was from Tyree as well, which sounded like what M. Crim had also taught us during the morning, so it seemed to check out.

After that was something that Sonya said about a piece of shifter history.

No known shifter has ever had an animal form that does not already exist in the real world -- no unicorns, gryphons or etcetera -- and no one has ever had more than one animal or element.

I sighed, smiling.

Guess I'm already messing up the system, true to my nature.

I scanned the page again. It had some tips about how to control your element and what to do after shifting for the first time. Each word made me more anxious, and eventually I pushed the notebook back into my bag and got to my feet.

I needed to run. To hit something, to feel nothing and clear my head. Missing my family wouldn't help me, hell I didn't even know how to get out of the compound on my own.

My only job now was to figure out who I was, a smartass with a knack for touble so far, and kick some butt while doing it.

I grabbed a key, slipping it into my pocket as I stomped toward the door, locking it behind me as I left my dorm behind. Since anyone had yet to tell me I shouldn't, I slid down the banister to the bottom floor, only to see a familiar face smirking at me as I hopped off.

"Hey there, Katrina."

It was Molly, my personal favourite of the guards.

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"Figured you be up to no good if no one was around to entertain you," she laughed and I felt myself relax.

I shrugged sheepishly. "Not this time. I just needed a run or something."

Her eyebrow shot up. "Really? Sounds like you could use a challenge."

Damn, I thought, thinking back to how I'd run after Nathan and spent all my energy in one second. My lips twisted into a frown.

Molly winked before melting into her form, not even giving me a second before she tore out of the dorms.

Giving me no choice, eh? A challenge is a challenge.

I grinned, and took off after her.

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