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He gestured to the two ends I held. “In a general sort of way, ye can tell how strong a branch is by how heavy it is. Eventually, ye’ll have a sixth sense about these sorts of things, but right now, I wanted ye to experience the difference.” Then Jasper tossed me his branch. “Try mine.”

I dropped the two ends and caught the branch he tossed, hefting it in my hand. It was significantly heavier than the first, sturdier by feel. “I see what you mean.”

“See deeper,” he said.

“How so?”

“Use yer senses to delve the wood, as though ye can see into the branches.”

I focused on the wood, surprised by the imageswhich bombarded my thoughts. Tree sap, cells, and energy coursed inside the length of wood. I glanced at the pieces I’d dropped. They seemed more dead, emptier somehow.

Jasper retrieved another branch, and we went through several more defense movements and backed around the clearing. A sheen of sweat broke out all over my skin as we moved through the combat exercises. Jasper explained each one and its purpose in low tones.Attack. Defense. Kill. Maim.

Finally, I lowered my hands, huffing from exertion. “Are we not going to do shifting practice?”

Jasper shrugged. “We will, but ye’re tired, and adding more tired on top of tired didn’t seem a good plan for day one.”

“Really, this is day two or three or four since Olivia spent some time training me, and I’ve been shifting each day. Except today. So far.”

He scowled at me. “What’s really going on in your head?”

Searching for words kept me from answering for a long moment. “If it’s real, I need to be ready, right?”

“Aye.”

“Well, it’s still surreal. I’ve been a vet—and wanted to be a vet—for as long as I can remember. How am I this prophesied whatever, and maybe shifting was a dream I had… or a nightmare. It’s confusing, and the more time goes by, I believe I imagined it all.”

He reached for my shoulder and squeezed it. “It’s not a dream. Ye’re here, and ye’re pushing to go faster. That’snot bad, but the adjustment is necessary. Yer cells are learning, and yer mind is struggling to grasp yer new reality. It takes time.”

“But I have to be ready by the time I’m needed,” I said, finally putting words to what had been bothering me since I’d crawled into bed the night before. “What if I’m not ready? What if everyone pins their hopes on me, and I fail?”

“Ye’ll be ready, Emma.” He glanced around. “But we can try shifting if ye prefer. We’ll go over by the council den.”

As we approached the den, Giselda exited the tunnel, and she crossed to where we stood. Though she used a walking cane, she moved with the confidence of youth and knowledge. I didn’t think she needed the stick to get around.

She gestured behind us. “Dr. Wise is at the gate with information,” she said. Then she pointed her walking stick at me. “She wants to give her some special information about being the multimorph, and she’s bringing everything from Six-Mile pack.”

“Thanks, G,” I said, knowing the moniker would annoy the woman.

She grunted. “You are something else, aren’t you?”

I shrugged. “Stands to reason since I’m something unique. Whether I wanted it to be so or not.”

She tipped her head to the side and studied me as I waited for Dr. Wise to make her appearance. “Being what you are isn’t easy,” she said. “Your destiny will require you to make difficult decisions. It will requireyou to push away those you want to draw close and to draw close those who you despise. Do you think it helps you or hinders you if we coddle you?”

She waited as though expecting…something… from her multimorph.

But I had no answer. Dropouts didn’t become vets or doctors, and most success was hard-won. Difficult experiences gave people grit and perseverance, and this universal truth would still be accurate in the shifter world.

I wouldn’t give up, and I wouldn’t give in to defeat.Never.

My heart thumped in my chest. Unexpectedly, the ground called to me, and I crouched low, laying my weapon aside, so I could shove my hands in the dirt.

My actions felt instinctual, and a deep, thudding pulse worked up through my arms and into my chest, echoing the beat of my heart. My eyes slipped closed, and it was as though I could feel the history of the shifter clans in my bones. Songs I didn’t know played in my head, and lifetimes of history flooded my mind.

Jasper turned to stare at me too, his eyes widened in shock.

The primal energy of the earth filled me.